I'll admit I'm fully curious about what sort of judgement you would pass on him, but I believe I need to talk about this in general, so even if there's nothing you can tell me, perhaps it will help. I apologize in advance if this gets long - I haven't talked to anyone about this.
The man in question is the leader of Adai village, where I was born and raised. He was in complete control of the village for as long as I can remember, and probably even longer than that. Adai is a very tiny village underground, like all of the towns humans occupy in my world. It could only support fifty people at the maximum, because of our limited supplies. I'm not sure how anyone found out that fifty was the upper limit there, but I imagine it must have happened well before I was born.
The elder created a fake religion so everyone would listen to him without question. We were told that going to the surface world would mean joining the gods. We would live a happy, fulfilling life if we were selected to go there. Someone was randomly chosen whenever the number of people in the village exceeded fifty. This happened for years and no one said anything. My mother was chosen and sent to the surface and I did nothing. The village chief became my family and he told me none of this.
I understand why he acted as he did. His primary concern was the survival of our village. He wanted to save as many people as possible. I think that's understandable. But the way he did it doesn't sit right with me. Lying to everyone and taking control, getting us to believe his every word so we would never question him... all of that is really hard for me to process. I trusted him. He was like a father to me and I think he was training me so I could take over someday. But in the end, he chose to send two orphans to the surface because they wouldn't be missed. They were children, younger than I am. He could have chosen me. I'm also an orphan. Would anyone have missed me?
If things had gone differently, I don't think I would have stood up for those kids. I think I would have let them die, because I trusted him. I trusted everything he had to say and I tried to believe that it would be okay.
I'm sorry, this got really long. I'm not sure I feel any better either, but it is nice to write all of this down. Even if there's no way you can tell me what you think would happen to him, I appreciate you taking the time to read this.
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The man in question is the leader of Adai village, where I was born and raised. He was in complete control of the village for as long as I can remember, and probably even longer than that. Adai is a very tiny village underground, like all of the towns humans occupy in my world. It could only support fifty people at the maximum, because of our limited supplies. I'm not sure how anyone found out that fifty was the upper limit there, but I imagine it must have happened well before I was born.
The elder created a fake religion so everyone would listen to him without question. We were told that going to the surface world would mean joining the gods. We would live a happy, fulfilling life if we were selected to go there. Someone was randomly chosen whenever the number of people in the village exceeded fifty. This happened for years and no one said anything. My mother was chosen and sent to the surface and I did nothing. The village chief became my family and he told me none of this.
I understand why he acted as he did. His primary concern was the survival of our village. He wanted to save as many people as possible. I think that's understandable. But the way he did it doesn't sit right with me. Lying to everyone and taking control, getting us to believe his every word so we would never question him... all of that is really hard for me to process. I trusted him. He was like a father to me and I think he was training me so I could take over someday. But in the end, he chose to send two orphans to the surface because they wouldn't be missed. They were children, younger than I am. He could have chosen me. I'm also an orphan. Would anyone have missed me?
If things had gone differently, I don't think I would have stood up for those kids. I think I would have let them die, because I trusted him. I trusted everything he had to say and I tried to believe that it would be okay.
I'm sorry, this got really long. I'm not sure I feel any better either, but it is nice to write all of this down. Even if there's no way you can tell me what you think would happen to him, I appreciate you taking the time to read this.