“the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. if you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. and if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.” ― george r.r. martin, a game of thrones
x
how does one decide if one is worthy of death?
in the old days, far before immortality, it was the people who decided what it meant. there was a jury. a judge. a prosecutor. and someone to defend the evil.
i enjoy watching old trials. it gives me some kind of insight into the workings of days far before i was created. but i also watch to answer this question, that has wormed it’s way into every book, every thought of the greatest and simplest minds of the human race.
i have always found the process of a murder trial rather interesting in that regard. there are so many pieces at play.
in the eyes of some, the judge doesn’t quite do much. many are used to seeing only what was right in front of them. the judge, after all, does not decide whether one is guilty or innocent. they do not, as the lawyers do, bring the evidence to the trial. children watch movies and see the judge sitting comfortably in his robe, doing nothing much except sitting. but it is them who holds the power! they after all, decide everything in the court. they control the voices of the people, they may decide what can and cannot pass.
each trial starts off with a prosecutor making his case, explaining how they will prove the immorality of the defendant. then the defense attorney comes forward. they argue this. they explain why you should not listen to their counterpart. both will make compelling arguments, often both believe they are right. then of course, so famously, is the long, labourious process as they each go through their evidence. it is not this that interests me. it is what happens afterwards.
it was william blackstone who invented the modern jury system. throughout the years of humanity, it has been rioted and rebelled against, yet it had stood the test of time. this idea, that even the most horrible of criminals should be judged by the people has always astounded me. but to an outsider, this is only fair. and for someone to decide that it is not the judge that makes the oh-so-important decision, but the jury! it is truly fascinating.
it is these three working parts that ensure the balance is kept. take one part away, and it is no longer fair. the whole process works on trust. on morality, and nothing else. one most hope that the judge doesn’t overstep their bounds. that the jury is not tainted and corrupt and that the lawyers are not cheats.
we have lost many things with immorality, but i don’t believe anything could come close to loosing our humanity. we are not humans anymore, but breathing machines. lives are so controlled nowadays, that not even an emotion of guilt could arise. and yet this lack of ethics has not seemed to grace the public, but the scythes.
there is only one thing i would change about my existence. it is small―perhaps infinitesimal in the eyes of most―but it nags at my mind all day and night. i do not sleep, and yet i know that if i could i would never be able to for it would keep me up at night. i have never desired power of any kind, but have often wished i could control the scythes.
there is a phrase that one might use to describe them―someone who has full power to punish those beneath them and stays unopposed. who kills without mercy. who decides who shall live and who shall die. “a judge, jury, and executioner,” one might say.
my friend on discord helped me calculate the average numbered year that the first scythe book takes place. if anyone ever needs the number, they estimated it to start around the year 2327 :)
also i think i’m going to do this thing from now on where i put one line/paragraph that i cut at the end so yeah check it out below!
beta read by @/jam-is-my-food ily ref <3
didn’t make the cut!:
“it has been 285 years since i was born. i have grown with every human that has walked the earth since my creation. perhaps they have rubbed off on me after all these years. it is, after all, some kind of human instinct in me that drives this desire to answer these questions.”
“old friends” is an underrated relationship dynamic because it’s such an innocent boring sounding term for what is usually some of the wildest shit imaginable. it’s always like ‘oh yeah we go way back, we have history’ and then you find out that history includes sex, drugs, murder, divorce, war crimes and The Incident
hiiiii@rei-does-stuff here’s the response to your ask! (fyi they asked about my opinions on scythe goddard and constantine) and i accidently posted it before i was done! so sorry - here it is!
//scythe, thunderhead, and the toll spoilers
scythe goddard: actually love him as a villain, horrible guy though. i felt like he was interesting because his motives were honestly realistic. having a very power-hungry, arrogant, and intelligent character seems to fit in our current world, which made it believable. i loved that we actually got to see his influence throughout the books and we got to see how he’s affected the world beyond the moments when he’s in a scene (which is actually one of my favourite things about the book). an example of this is rowan’s character arc. we actually get to see how goddard has affected him and his actions throughout the book! i honestly doubt that rowan would start his murdering-all-the-bad-scythes spree if he hadn’t had been around goddard and his crew all the time. i honestly didn’t really vibe with his death but in the grand scheme of things he was a great villain.
absolute dick though
scythe constantine: ACTUALLY MY FAV WHAT A SARDONIC KING i love him. his character was a minor one but honestly i felt like he was totally present in the story and he vibed with all the other characters so well! i loved his and curie’s interactions they were actually hilarious. also i genuinely enjoyed his character every time he was in the scene, he was funny and logical and yeah! i think my favourite character point from him was in thunderhead when greyson and purity were attacking the theater (and scythe curie and anastasia) and greyson was telling him that acid was going to come out of the pipes. it was really interesting that constantine actually listened to greyson while he was trying to kill him because it proved that he was honestly fair, not to mention a level headed person.
