Akodo Bob writ: > There is a significant difference between the way Vlad > and Kelly are arguably sending people to their deaths. The > most important thing to recognize is that the people Vlad > kills, in fact, I believe everyone he assassinates while > employed as an assassin, save the King of Greenaere, are > members of the Organization, and as such are criminals. They > are not innocents like those inspired by Kelly. Whether or > not Kelly's motivations were pure, innocent and hard working > Teckla and Easterners will be dying in the resistence. > That's distinct from what Vlad is doing, and ignoring the > motivations or causes definitely seems more immoral than Vlad's work. I must disagree. Furthermore, I think Vlad ultimately concludes he disagrees, too. Vlad did the things he did for money and power. There is no indication that Kelly seeks either of these. Killing criminals is not per se less immoral than killing innocents, though I think there is a wide distinction between sending an assassin out to put a knife in someone's eye and teaching a peasant how to read and think for themself. Furthermore, in the everyday working of the organization, they beat up deadbeat borrowers, paid prostitutes to sell their bodies, etc. I need to go back and reread the territory war bits, but were all of the people that were killed actually Jhereg? This is why Vlad signed over South Adrilankha to Cawti. He couldn't figure out a moral path, so he dumped the responsibility onto someone he thought had enough motivation to find one. Then he hightailed out of town. By the end of _Issola_, he doesn't need conventional power (or money) to keep him safe from competitors in the House. He could probably now figure out a way to manage South Adrilankha, but since the next book is _Tiassa_, I think perhaps he will have other concerns. (Unless Steve's going to backtrack in the timeline again.) Really, setting up Vlad the mobster as somehow more moral than Kelly misses the whole thrust of Vlad's arc through _Teckla_, _Phoenix_, _Athyra_, _Orca_, and _Issola_. Casey Substitute ethical for moral above if you prefer. I'm only using the term chosen by Bob to be consistent.