Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20190119003858/@comment-4141313-20190122225159

Alhazad2003 wrote:

Ashley Skribbles wrote: Yang can't beat Mercury at lest as far as we know She definitely won't beat him as long as Emerald's around, these guys don't care about fair play, only about winning. That's what happened in Volume 5, Emerald messed with Yang's mind with her Semblance, allowing Mercury to exploit her. Gosh, I want to see Emerald fall more than Mercury, to me she's a lot more evil than he is. From a certain point of view, you're kinda right.

The biggest difference between Emerald and Mercury seems to be a Moral Compass.

Mercury lacks a Moral Compass, he's been raised in an abusive enviroment for so long he only knows it, and he's doing what he's been raised to do, be a killer.

Mercury: All my life, my father trained me to be a killer, an assasin like him. And then moments after I killed him, you two showed up looking for someone with my exact skills. Just felt like it was meant to be.

There is no moral quandary for him, he's just doing what he was raised to do. This is all self-interest.

Emerald on the other hand has a Moral Compass, but she ignores it. She is well aware what she's in is not something good, but she literally does not care so long as she's with Cinder, the only person who ever gave a damn about her.

Emerald: I don't care about Salem! But I owe Cinder everything.

So much so that if anyone shatters her fantasy of Cinder caring for them, she lashes out in fury like she tried on Mercury.

There is a big difference between not having a Moral Compass, and having one and just ignoring it. With the former, you don't rationalize what you're doing as right or wrong, you just do it. With the latter, you know right from wrong, but you ignore it for the sake of your own interests.

In that sense, Emerald is committing the greater sin because she's aware what she's doing is wrong, she just doesn't care.

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Another big difference is the scope of the actions they've each performed.

When looking at their rap sheets for things they didn't both do, Emerald's crimes seem much greater than Mercury, despite Mercury having two confirmed kills under his belt.

Mercury's rap sheet so far consists of killing his father, killing Tukson, throwing his fight with Yang and faking an injury, fighting Ruby, and video taping the Fall of Beacon.

Emerald's rap sheet includes facilitating the attack on Amber, manipulating Yang so that she'd attack Mercury unprovoked whereas she thought she was provoked, facilitating Penny's death by manipulating Pyrrha, directly instigating the Fall of Beacon, and nearly killing Ruby during the Battle of Haven before she activated her SEW.

While both have an equal number of exclusive crimes, the scope of Emerald's outclasses Mercury's, as Mercury's crimes were primarily against individuals, and his murders being a morally grey character and his asshole father, whereas Emerald's crimes facilitated the loss of Amber's Maiden powers, the death of the innocent Penny, the facilitating of the mental instability in Pyrrha which aided her in making a recklessly suicidal move, the collapse of an entire Kingdom, and the near murder of the main protagonist, affecting more than just the individual via a domino effect.