#akjshd not even gonna tag this one im so BITTER about the way she wrote ......

[spidersmiceandeverythingnice]

Thinking about Morally Gray characters.

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A good example of a morally gray hero is Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho. He's an ancient, immortal fox demon who turned to thievery out of boredom with his long life. A remorseless killer who has no true friends or loved ones, he winds up on the wrong side of the law and winds up hiding his soul in a human body after he's injured; knowing that he'll need at least sixteen years in the human world to recover, he chooses a newborn baby as his vessel.

This human woman, Mrs Minamino, dutifully raises her son even though it is clear to everyone that there is Something Weird about this kid. He's unnaturally smart - a genius! They say - and Kurama is barely able to disguise his apathy and hate for humans in this form. He is actively planning his escape to the demon world at every moment.

Until one day, Mrs. Minamino rescues her son from a falling tree.

There was no danger to Kurama - even in the body of a human child, he has unnaturally fast reflexes and would have walked away without so much as a scratch - but Mrs. Minamino still put herself in mortal danger to protect him. Because he's her son.

Kurama realizes that his "mother" truly does love him. And through her selfless love, he grows a conscious.

Those sixteen years pass and Kurama no longer has any intention of leaving the human world; he's completely devoted to caring for his mother as she battles a life-threatening illness. He even intends to sacrifice his life to restore her health and protects the protagonist from demons who want to harm him. As he joins the main team, he acts as the wise guy, the hypercompetent strategist who has a plan for everything.

And then we actually see him fight - and it becomes extremely clear how DANGEROUS Kurama still is.

His magic extends to all plant life, so he can grow poisonous flowers in an opponent's bloodstream by inflicting simple wounds. He has an arsenal of carnivorous plants which gleefully would eat him alive along with his opponents. When he fears he no longer has enough power in his human body to keep up his win streak, he resorts to taking dubious magical medicines to boost his strength temporarily. Its all for a good cause, of course. They're saving Human World! Kurama really is so self-sacrificing, huh.

Eventually, we see how far he's actually willing to go in the Chapter Black arc. Chapter Black is a legendary video tape which is said to record all of the worst atrocities that humankind has ever committed. Most demons want to get their hands on it to justify their hate of humans - but we learn that it's fallen into the hands of a human named Sensui, who has now started a genocidal death cult dedicated to ending the human world forever.

Kurama has no interest in watching Chapter Black - anymore. After all, his mother is human and he loves her. He wants to protect her, and the world that she lives in. He's grown to care for his human friends, too.

So, eventually Sensui engineers a situation where the gang may have to kill a child - this child was groomed into joining Sensui's cult and doesn't really understand what he's signed up to do.

Kurama kills the child without hesitation once he understands Sensui's purpose. He even volunteers to do it so no one else has to.

He then immediately goes on to trap one of their enemies in an eternal mental prison of anguish, where they won't be allowed to expire and die - just out of anger, that he was put in that situation to begin with.

And THAT is how you do morally gray. We understand that Kurama is one of our heroes, a good guy who loves his mom, values his friends, who makes jokes and offers advice. But every time the gang has to make a tough choice, Kurama is the one to suggest the most ruthless and cutthroat option - which sometimes means sacrificing himself, to save the others, yes, but Kurama also has one of the highest kill counts of our characters. He habitually is the one to kill his opponents in ways that are tailor-made to torment them and cause pain. He's so dangerous that even our Token Evil Teammate who calls murder a hobby respects and admires him for his violence. (At one point in the story, both Kurama and the Evil Teammate guy are trying to tough up one of their human friends and Kurama says, "Your weakness and his honor cause him to hold back [in training you] - but I will not.") Kurama often feels guilty about his choices - but he never accepts pity from the others. He's always fully aware of what he's doing and why. The fact that he has morals now is just another layer to the character's psyche.

Anyway this post was about Rhysand and the type of character he COULD have been if SJM was a good writer.