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Soulful musings.
It's funny, but the recent storyline in the Spike comics (both ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
moscow_watcher and rahirah have posts on it) has had precisely zero impact on my view of the 'verse. And not just because I don't see the comics as canon. Thing is - I've been there, done that, and written both an essay and a fic on that very topic, and from what I can tell, the comic does not contradict anything I've said. (This is what comes of having been around for ages. I've got nothing new to say...)
Links for this interested:
Essay: Souls and redemption in the Buffy verse. (tl;dr in the extreme. No really. It's the longest essay I've ever written.)
Fic: Lost Soul. (Written for the second![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
summer_of_spike. Spike loses his soul, AtS S5. Some wackiness ensues...)
Either of these will explain my views perfectly (although the fic is shorter). Very briefly, however, then yes, of course a soulless vampire can choose to do good (see S5-6). But... a soulless creature doesn't really understand good and evil. It's like life is one of those 3D pictures, and without a soul you can't see the hidden picture. (Or something. I know exactly what I believe, but I can't explain it succinctly. Hence the lengthy writing.)
moscow_watcher and rahirah have posts on it) has had precisely zero impact on my view of the 'verse. And not just because I don't see the comics as canon. Thing is - I've been there, done that, and written both an essay and a fic on that very topic, and from what I can tell, the comic does not contradict anything I've said. (This is what comes of having been around for ages. I've got nothing new to say...)Links for this interested:
Essay: Souls and redemption in the Buffy verse. (tl;dr in the extreme. No really. It's the longest essay I've ever written.)
Fic: Lost Soul. (Written for the second
summer_of_spike. Spike loses his soul, AtS S5. Some wackiness ensues...)Either of these will explain my views perfectly (although the fic is shorter). Very briefly, however, then yes, of course a soulless vampire can choose to do good (see S5-6). But... a soulless creature doesn't really understand good and evil. It's like life is one of those 3D pictures, and without a soul you can't see the hidden picture. (Or something. I know exactly what I believe, but I can't explain it succinctly. Hence the lengthy writing.)
no subject
It's quite funny, really. Esp when watching from the backporch of fandom... (I like it here. It's all nice and quiet.)
The only difference is, this time there's a quasi-official writer seemingly (I say seemingly because the story's not over yet) taking a side of the argument that's previously been taken only by fans. Quel horreur.
*snerk*
Also I am mildly bemused at all the pro-soul Spike fans who apparently would rather have had him go on a killing spree the moment it was removed, Just To Prove A Point.
I do NOT understand this. Like, at all. I am as pro-Spike as they come (if you remember, I wrote the essay partly in response to a very thoughtprovoking comment from your good self, during a long gone soul debate, and the whole point of it is me trying to formulate why I think the soul is necessary) - but I would be DEEPLY disappointed if Spike lost his soul and reverted to pure evil. That would be horrible characterisation. *shudders*