chilly-territory replied to your post:The thing I really enjoy about Owari no Seraph,...
Mostly agreed except for Ferid. So far, I see absolutely nothing that can redeem him after all the blood-chilling shit he pulled and keeps pulling. That’s no gray, that’s very much black to me.
Ferid is by and large, a villain. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about that. And he is unapologetically so. So is Saitou. When you go back and look at the things he’s pulled in the light novels. Perhaps that’s where he learned it from?
The thing about that, though, it shows that vampires operate on a different set of morality. They’re not human, so our human concepts of morality really aren’t valid to them. In a sense, it’s not really comparable. They don’t have morals, because their morals are not the same to us.
However, his grey comes in the fact that he has done good things, even if they were for his own benefit. IE, the library for the children he built in Sanquinem. That in of itself is a fairly benevolent act, giving these children access to information they may have never otherwise had access to, even before the ‘apocalypse’.
Saitou, in the fact that how kindly he treats the orphans, specifically Mika, of the Hyakuya Orphanage.
Kureto, on the other hand for example, justifies his actions. They are for the betterment of humanity, and the end justifies the means. Even if it means subjecting children to torture, personally doing so himself, or turning a blind eye to the fact that he instigates more carnage than salvation. (Kureto is such a wonderful depiction of Lawful Evil and dear lord he reminds me SO MUCH of Dr. Doom and I LOVE IT. ANYWAY.) He commits terrible acts, and turns around and justifies them. And for the most part, yes, these sacrifices might be necessary, but the method leaves much to be morally desired.
Does this mean that Ferid is a redeemable character? No. Does his and Saitou’s acts of kindness absolve them from their otherwise heinous actions? No. They’re terrible. They’re awful. And they have no qualms about it. Which again is refreshing to see, because I can’t tell you how tired the misunderstood villain with a tragic back ground can be. They’re just plainly awful.However it’s a pretty clear example of how there are things they still value, that are considered ‘good' and moral values. Their grey is definitely 95%. But it shows that even evil people are capable of doing good things.
Also, don’t mistake this as a defense. Because lord, there’s no defending Ferid, really.
