Entry tags:
Soulful musings.
It's funny, but the recent storyline in the Spike comics (both
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.)
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
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
Life is very inconsiderate.
You're not lazy! The less you get engaged in debates the more time you have to write My Immortal 2.
Heh. Well I'm getting there. Slowly.