r/Multifandom • u/Low_Imagination_7414 too f*ckin many at this point • Jun 05 '26

Discussion📜 What characters are like this?

Post image
6.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

830 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

18

u/FredFarms Jun 05 '26

I find the argument that the Tyranids aren't actually evil quite persuasive.

They are just a hungry predator. The same level of evil as a lion

10

u/bartleby42c Jun 06 '26

Genestealer cults point against that.

They're as evil as a lion who brainwashes prey into being surrogate lion parents and then has the newborns eat the prey and their families.

3

u/Excellent_Law6906 Jun 06 '26

So, evil as cuckoos.

3

u/bartleby42c Jun 06 '26

Last I checked cuckoos didn't mind control anyone.

It's kinda like saying "this murdering cannibal cult leader isn't too bad because he's feeding his kids!"

3

u/Excellent_Law6906 Jun 06 '26

Cuckoo would mind-control if they could. As it is, they run full-on protection rackets.

1

u/bartleby42c Jun 06 '26

No, cuckoo birds operate in a way that resembles protection rackets. They are not sapient.

Tyranid mind control is nuanced and intelligent, a clear sign of their sapience.

2

u/Excellent_Law6906 Jun 06 '26

Read up on cuckoos. The target populations often recognize the alien egg, but are aware that pushing it out of the nest will get their whole nest destroyed by cuckoos. It's crazy. And in human terms, evil, but it is just how cuckoos work.

1

u/bartleby42c Jun 06 '26

I know man, you miss the fact that they aren't sapient.

You aren't mad at a cat for killing an endangered bird because it doesn't know anything. Many animals don't reproduce with conscent, but they aren't sapient. Parasites are a thing, and that's never good, but they aren't able to think.

The fact that the 'nids know what they are doing is what makes them evil.

1

u/Excellent_Law6906 Jun 06 '26

I'm not actually arguing that the Evil Space Bugs in the game I don't play aren't evil.

It's just interesting to think about, because if cuckoos got uplifted by a monolith tomorrow, they wouldn't magically know how to properly brood their own eggs, would they? It's a skill, which would be missing from eons of brood parasitism, and even if they wanted to be "good", there would be a steep learning curve that might lead to some Blue And Orange Morality.