Usually we expect to read about central characters that we can regard as the good guys. Thus, we expect Poul Anderson's Time Patrolmen not only to guard the Danellian timeline but also to act in accordance with what we regard as civilized values. However, the timeline to be guarded encompasses both many horrific events and many contradictory value systems. Does the Patrol have agents in high positions in the SS and Gestapo and, if so, how much are they prepared to do to make sure that the Holocaust happens on schedule? And what of the many other periods, past or future, when the prevailing values are not our values? Agents recruited from some periods will regard torture as acceptable. Of course, the Patrol has technology that makes torture unnecessary so maybe technological advance is part of the answer.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree both the Civil Government and the Colony in Drake/Stirling's THE GENERAL books are pretty nasty. Raj serves the Civil Government and his paranoid sovereign because he BELIEVED that any hope there was for Bellevue would have to come thru or from the Civil Government. Which does not mean Raj was unaware of the moral costs and consequences of his actions.
While there was some faint hope of something better evolving from the Civil Government, there was no such hope to be expected of the Domination of the Draka. I agree Eric von Shrakenberg was a basically decent man, but he erred in remaining loyal to his people, despite knowing how monstrous they would become. The only slight mitigation I can think is that Eric would at least try to lessen the harshness and brutality of the Draka conquest of Earth.
Sean
Paul:
What Sean said. Moreover, the barbarian "nations" on Bellevue, the Brigade and the Squadron, were undisciplined savages. A later book shows that Squadron "nobles" will murder an emissary under a flag of truce. Don't even get me started on the French-Canadian-descended Skinners, who play the role in Raj's campaigns that the Huns played in those of Belisarius: completely uncivilized occasional mercenaries. The only good quality the Skinners have is their long-range shooting.
Well, their odd notions of courtesy sometimes provide a bit of comic relief. If a Skinner offers you booze, take a mouthful, then after a moment spit it out and, no matter how good it was, "politely" declare it to be dog urine. Then you can swallow the next mouthful. If my memory's not playing tricks on me, spitting that first gulp on the Skinner's boots might be acceptable; he and all his fellows may laugh and call you their kind of guy. They'll still also cut your throat at a whim.
If you're basing the societies and governments on 6th century East Rome and Sassanid Persia and their ilk, nobody's going to be a good guy by the standards of the 21st century Western world. Hell, nobody more than a few generations in the past will be, really.
One of the purposes of fiction, particularly science fiction, is to get you into the heads of people who -aren't- like you; and I don't mean people with exotic names and eye-stalks whose value systems are compatible with yours.
There's an old joke that most SFnal aliens are actually less alien than a Japanese.
I agree with what David and Mr. Stirling said. What really surprises me is how, even in callous and brutal times, there were actually some, even a few RULERS, who rose above the low standards of their times. They tended to be esp. devout Christians.
I remember the Skinners! The only way Raj could bring them to heel was to prove he was even more tougher than they were.
Ditto, what Mr. Stirling said about good science fiction getting readers into the heads of people who are NOT like them. People with values and beliefs many of us might or would find repulsive.
Sean
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