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alexeiadrae · 3 years

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Ethical Dilemmas, Slayers Edition

While I’ve explored the ethics of Lina casting the Giga Slave to save Gourry before, during this re-read of The King of the City of Ghosts on J-Novel I’ve been thinking more of the ethical dilemma that Milgasea, Sylphiel, Zel and Amelia are in, especially Milgasea and Sylphiel as they are the only two who understand Phibby’s objective. So if you knew that someone ridiculously powerful and accountable to no human rule of law was blackmailing an acquaintance into doing something that could potentially kill everyone in the world, what would you do?

As has been discussed, if they convince Lina to runaway and abandon Gourry, Phibby would likely take more hostages and possibly even destroy towns until she bowed to his will. Basically I don’t see Phibby kicking back in Sairaag thinking, “oh well, time to kill the swordsman and find someone else to usher in the destruction of the world” if Lina went back home to Zeferia. So the only two viable options would be to let Lina face Phibby (either alone or with support) or to kill Lina.

The safest option for the world would honestly be to kill Lina, and Lina even admits to this. However, this would mean killing an innocent teenager, and Phibby would likely kill Gourry out of spite (perhaps torturously), so it would be a death sentence for an innocent young man as well. I could also see Phibby tracking down the family members of whoever killed Lina to kill them before killing whoever killed Lina. So in addition to having the weight of those deaths on their mind, they would likely suffer for it, even if it was the best decision for the world.

Milgasea states the reason he decides to not kill Lina is because she desires to live and he does not want to become like Gaav and his minions. It is a very moralistic reasoning about respecting life no matter the consequences. It is hard to say for sure what Sylphiel’s reasoning is. Likely, as a cleric and healer, she has a do no harm ethic, though as anyone who is a healer can attest to, sometimes it is impossible and you have to go with the lesser harm. However what encompasses do no harm and what is the lesser harm can be murky. And as the trolley problem shows, even though a choice may save more people, people have a hard time making that choice if it means being the one who has to take a life. So while it might have crossed Sylphiel’s mind, I can’t see her going through with it.

Initially I did wonder if Sylphiel might feel as though she would lose if she directly confronted Lina and then I decided that as a healer, Sylphiel would know what combination of potions to slip into Lina’s drink if she really wanted to.

This also brings to question what Sylphiel would do if she had the power to cast a Giga Slave. While other people have different perspectives, my take is that Sylphiel would not cast it, not even to save Gourry. Reading the J-Novel translation, though, I did wonder if perhaps she did have it in her. That she nixed the safer option of killing Lina and decided to go to Sairaag on her own despite the looming threat of death indicates that she might think that saving Gourry would be worth the risk. But ultimately I also can’t ignore the fact that Sylphiel, who is driven by a moral code so strong she stood up to Copy Rezo and her hometown when they were under his sway, would likely be just as morally opposed to killing Lina as she would to casting a Giga Slave.

Basically for Milgasea and Sylphiel it seems as though no matter to consequences, they will not take an innocent life. Whereas for Amelia and Zel, it’s more of don’t ask, don’t tell, we’re going to support our friend as she goes through Hell.

#the slayers #morality #ethical dilemmas #lina inverse #sylphiel nels lahda #milgasea #milgazia #amelia wil tesla seyruun #zelgadis greywords #hellmaster phibrizzo #yeah I know Lina says she can taste poison #but there are a lot of poisons and herbal medicines #and lina has to eat slowly to detect it #and this is also assuming luna hasn't been yanking lina's chain

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alexeiadrae · 4 years

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Thoughts on the J-Novel Translation of The Slayers: Gaav’s Challenge, Ch 3

-The fact that Milgasea and the other dragons are terrified of Xellos is more apparent in the J-Novel translation. A side by side view of the J-Novel translation with TP would just be a complete mess at the beginning of the chapter, though it does get better as it goes on. Given that TP is the version that tends to exaggerate, the exception seems to be the evilness of Xellos or callousness of Zel (though they are more than happy to make Lina a lot meaner). Here they seem to tone down Xellos and Zel down a bit.

I will say, reading this time around I did wonder what would have happened if Milgasea had refused to let Lina see the Claire Bible and Xellos had started slaughtering dragons left and right. While Lina wants to live, I don’t think she would have stood by and let Xellos slaughter a group of dragons. While I don’t think Xellos would have tried Dragon’s Peak if he wasn’t sure Milgasea would be scared enough to do what he wanted, it is worth thinking about what a battle that would have been if Lina and co had teamed up with the dragons to fight Xellos, and then Gaav and his minions came in...and then Hellmaster...

-OK, the scene where Milgasea is taking Lina to the Claire Bible and he jokes with her about being lost is a lot funnier in the J-Novel version. Which is saying a lot because, even with the faults of the TP translation, it is usually funnier.

-And, even though I’ve read Gaav’s Challenge several times and seen the corresponding anime episodes countless of times...I am on pins and needles ready for the next chapter! Love these books!

#the slayers #slayers translated #slayers translations #tokyopop #j-novel club #lina inverse #xellos #zelgadis greywords #milgasea #gaav's challenge #slayers novels

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alexeiadrae · 3 years

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Thoughts on J-Novel Translation of King of the City of Ghosts, Ch 2

-Sylphiel’s passive aggressive insults at Lina dig a bit more, and Lina seems to be more certain they are deliberate in J-Novel. Sylphiel really strikes me as queen of the southern insult. Ex: “Well, did you hear about how the Johnsons had a baby only seven months after they got married who miraculously is not in the NICU, bless their hearts!”

-Sylphiel also doesn’t undermine her ability to rescue Gourry herself in J-Novel. She just states, “I wish to rescue Sir Gourry myself.” In TP she adds if it is possible and seems more wishy-washy. In J-Novel she later admits that it will likely be fruitless but that it will be calamitous if Lina gets there first, tipping the cards that she’s figured out that Phibby wants Lina to cast an out of control Giga Slave. Unlike in TP, Lina doesn’t avoid her gaze but meets it and sees that they share an understanding of what will happen. So Sylphiel, like the rest of them, is pretty much committed to a death’s errand.

Sylphiel is basically more catty in the novels than in the anime. And unlike in the anime where a comradery develops between them, Sylphiel really makes sure it does not happen in J-Novel. And while Sylphiel likely does have fantasies about pulling off the rescue, Sylphiel also has very good and valid reasons for going onto Sairaag alone and attempting a rescue on her own, and we can’t lose sight of it, even if Sylphiel really does not have a chance of defeating Phibby.

-Milgasea’s reasons for not killing Lina are clarified more in J-Novel. He doesn’t want to become like Gaav and his allies. In J-Novel he also voices some support for Lina and states that he will “bet everything” on Lina. It’s hard to say if he believed Lina actually had a chance or was trying to build her confidence.

-In TP after Amelia and Zel go on ahead without Lina, Lina makes statements about enjoying the sun on her back and that being alone isn’t half bad that aren’t in J-Novel, and if anything her being alone feels ominous in J-Novel. Considering how vulnerable Lina is alone and how much it meant to her that her friends would stand beside her, I can only imagine that she would feel a fair amount of anxiety given her situation. Now, yes, she knew Rashatt would not harm her, but in a situation that is literally life or death how much are you wanting to bet on something like that? I have a hard time seeing Lina as laid back and enjoying the solitude in such a situation.

-More so in J-Novel than in TP you see the personality difference between Gaav and his minions from Xellos and Phibby. Rashatt can’t pull off deception well. Lina saw right through him. Joining forces with Phibby didn’t alter Rashatt’s abilities. It does make you wonder why Rashatt became Phibby’s minion. Lina makes the point that underlings seem to have complete obedience to their superiors and the only reason Gaav was the exception was because of the human element within him. So did those feelings of loyalty evaporate after Gaav was destroyed? Did Rashatt not like Gaav’s plan but have to follow it anyway and decide to serve Phibby out of gratitude for being freed? Or is this one of those situations where Rashatt has to serve Phibby since Phibby overpowered and destroyed Gaav? Winner takes it all, including the loyalty of the minions type thing. Which leads to questions about how happy Rashatt is to serve Phibby.

#the slayers #slayers translated #slayers translations #j-novel club #tokyopop #slayers novels #king of the city of ghosts #king of the phantom city #lina inverse #sylphiel nels lahda #hellmaster phibrizzo #rashatt #milgasea

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