How would you answer this moral dilemma? · 8:21pm Apr 4th, 2023
"It's a tale that's been passed down by my family for generations," Falia began, her coils comfortably wrapped around my midsection.
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Before the Merging, there was a very small Lamia village called Elinroot. One day an Elf entered the village with a sword in his hand. A single glance told the Lamia matriarch how skilled he was with it, and yet without any fear did she approach and begin to speak with him.
"Hold young one," she said, her hands raised in surrender. "Why have you come to my village bearing arms? Do you seek violence with us?"
The Elf scowled at her, a frown on his face as he pointed his sword in her direction. "Do not play coy with me snake. Seven of us have come to your village to slay the evil within and not a one has returned. The High Council have requested that I be sent to find out why and by the Gods of Ilampir you shall tell me!"
The matriarch was visably surprised at this, but regained her senses and began to explain.
"Do not be alarmed young one, we have caused no harm to the brave Heroes you seek."
"Then what has become of them, speak or lose your ability to do so forever!"
But before any more could be said, the small huts that made up the entirety of the village opened and slowly, one by one, every Hero the Elf sought emerged from within.
And from behind them emerged a Lamia, some pregnant, others holding a child in their arms. And every one of them had their tails wrapped lovingly around their apparent..Mate?
The Elf stood still, stunned, his mind unable to comprehend what it was witnessing.
"What unholy union is this?" he demanded, though his tone was a mere whisper compared to its earlier might. "The Heroes were sent to slay the evil lying within this place. Why have they laid down with its spawn?!"
The matriarch frowned at his words before understanding came to her. "You speak of the evil within this village as if it were...myself?"
His courage restored, the Elf glared at the Lamia and poised himself to strike. "Coyness again, snake? You know what you are, what you've done to countless innocents."
She raised her hands again and shook her head. "Nay, I do not. Please before you end my life, tell me what it is the High Council believes I have done!"
"What you have done?" the Elf snarled. "Over the decades there have been countless males stolen from their homes before they could Mate. For a while the High Council was confused but no longer. We know it is your kind, the Lamia, that have stolen each and every one of them. Look around at the Heroes sent to slay you. Look what has become of them! Domesticated and Mated by filthy snakes!"
The matriarch frowned before sighing, and yet to the Elf's surprise...she nodded.
"It is true," she said, smiling softly. "We did indeed take them from their homes and bring them to our village all those years ago. Some of the Lamia you see before you are the daughters of those very males."
"You do not deny it?" the Elf asked, a strange foreboding about him.
"I do not," she replied, shaking her head. "We saw males who were suffocating in the world they were forced to be a part of. We saw males who were desperately crying out for a love not chosen for them. Did you never wonder why it took so long for any Elves to become Mated? It was because most of them couldn't. To be Mated is to love your chosen partner completely and utterly. Having them picked out for them made this almost impossibility."
The Elf stood still, his face...confused, doubtful.
The matriarch saw this immediately, a small smile on her face as she slowly moved closer.
"Lamias are creatures of emotion," she said softly. "We can sense when someone is unhappy. We can feel when they want to be loved. When we took the male Elves from their homes, it wasn't done with malice. It was done with love. We saw how unhappy they were, we saw how much they desired to be desired. The Heroes you sent to slay me were no different. All it took was a bare week and each and every one of them found love in one of my children."
She was close enough to the Elf now to touch, although she did not.
"I can sense this in you too," she said quietly, her voice low, soothing. "You've fought for so many years. You've slaved yourself to your High Council, uncaring for how you were treated. Uncaring for how truly...utterly and completely exhausted you are."
Her hand reached out, gently stroking the face of the now trembling Elf.
"Please, we mean you no harm, we mean no one any harm," she whispered, her coils slowly, gently wrapping around him. "Lay down your weapon and stay with us. Let me soothe your troubles away. Accept my embrace...and allow me to show you what love truly is."
The sword fell to the ground with a clang as she pulled the Elf gently until his head lay against her breasts.
It was over.
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"So what's the lesson of this tale then," I asked, admiring her small grin as I held her closer.
"Well it's quite simple really," she said. "The Elves they took, hell even the Heroes. There was no consent in regard to take them from their homes. Yes they were miserable but they were still snatched away in the night and love bombed into Mating. So the moral dilemma here is was it right to do so? Do the ends justify the means? They were kidnapped from their families but ended up ludicrously happy with a family of their own making. Does the end make it alright that they weren't originally given an initial choice."
"Couldn't they have just snuck away from them back to their families?" I asked.
She shook her head. "They were love bombed, remember. Lamias can sense when someone is unhappy, hell I smell it just riding the damn tube to work. But in the stories case, the Lamia only took those they could sense were unhappy. If you were living a terrible life and were suddenly snatched up by someone who promised to love and cherish you forever, and more over would actually deliver on that promise. Would you really wanna leave them?"
I don't see the problem. The love was real and unconditional. Sure it could be said that the men were tempted by an abundance of a precious thing they'd never had before, but that's just it: they were unloved and unhappy. From the sound of it, unions were entirely arranged without any input from those actually involved. The circumstances that led to those men not wanting to leave were entirely of their own society's making, and it sure didn't sound like there was any intent to change that. If the men were to go back, I dare say they'd all die of broken hearts.
This is a dilemma. On one hand they were indeed taken without consent and based on the interaction i'm pretty sure if the men wanted to leave and go home the lamia would allow it regardless. On the other hand the men taken CHOSE to stay and love/mate with the lamia and again all the Lamia did was show them what it is like to truly love the men unconditionally and again from the interaction proven they were not hostle. Love bombing or not.
Honestly if this happened to me and i got taken away by a loving lamia to give me a better life i'd be happy with it after the shock of being captured by them wore off and they were these Lamia not the ones from myth that kidnap,mind control, and brainwash me so i can become a tasty dinner for them
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My worlds Lamia are not like that. They are actually one of the more loving races and non-consensual interactions are considered abominable. Ergo the moral dilemma. They took the males, but gave them love.
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Mated. Being Mated in the world I've created is the ultimate act of love. You become bonded in almost every sense. You can feel each others emotions, talk to each other with a thought, and if allowed to can see the others memories.
I've actually written a story in which a man runs away after becoming Mated and it's a terrible, painful thing. A broken heart is only the beginning.
being born in a religious household ad have been taught as such here is my decision, please this is my opinion.
My decision is to slay the matriarch still and all of its spawn, despite such promises, even if those promises are real and tangible. i have learned not to choose the path of least resistance. also by killing and destroying their home and livelihoods, they would never kidnap, or snatch more males in the future again and would allow those said males to try to find their mate of their own choosing.
Sure the path i would choose would be hard and arduous and might be considered evil. But consider this:
What if their sweet words are delusions or lies. how would i know that?
their past actions have been quite aggressive luring men into their grasps without consent.
would be unloved and unhappy for life. a Higher being or someone in the shadow will silently praise you for actions, and eventually, someelf may actually love you. cherish you and eventually start a family of that partner.
This is not to say their evil or as such... but if in the heat of the moment, when confronting such dillema. i always thought of something that will never NEVER left it behind. My family and my friends.
They have molded and shape my childhood and in my culture, Family is everything. so if i leave my family behind, it will left a hole that no matter the lamia will fill of their love, the scar from such will never leave.
So in the end... i have to kill it... so it will never harmed, kidnapped any males again... though i would spare those spawnling who have been birthed to this unholy union.
feel free to hate me... i know my opinion is so evil or whatever...
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Cool but like i said i would be ok if they kidnapped me and showered me in unconditional love
Sounds like it's fine so long as the people who were taken always have the choice to go back. If they choose not to go back then it is consent. There could be more philosophical, moral, and mental issues in this but that is where the debate is with this story.
There is no right answer. Unhappy and alone, taken by force, and Stockholm syndrome is arguable, but on the other hand they finally get the one thing they wanted with no (known) strings attached.
So, if I'm understanding this right...
Elven men were possibly forced into arranged marriages.
Marriages with Elven women who did not desire or love them.
Marriages that made them even more miserable than they were when they were single.
The Lamias can sense this misery and what the men yearn for and took them away from the bad relationship.
The Elven men found love with Lamia and decided NOT to return to Elven society.
The Elven High Council then sent male Elven "heroes" to kill the Lamia. Heroes who were single, lonely, and generally treated poorly by their society.
So instead of killing the Lamia, they each fell in love with one and stayed.
Sounds like the Elven society is a bunch of oppressive asshats.
While kidnapping is wrong, I'd have to say that what the Lamia did was morally right.
They took those married Elven men away from relationships that were doing nothing but making them miserable. Feels like less of a crime and more of a mercy.