Reading more fic

Things I find absolutely put me off about that version of a character, that they believe are grand declarations of love:
if they say they'd screw the mission, say to hell with duty, throw it all away for love
or
if they decide that murder and torture of their enemies is a really great way to show how much they care.

Duty is a sort of love, when you care about something and know what to do about it the feeling that says you should do it is duty. Saying sod duty means just not caring. How can that be love?
All the characters I read about live for duty, though that isn't always the keyword they use for it. To say that isn't important is to make them be someone else.
And their duty is the same duty, they both care about and work towards the same things, so they're throwing away what their beloved lives for too.

and going dark side very much makes them someone else, one of the monsters they've been fighting. that's not romantic, that's a tragedy. vengeance twists everything.
plus it's stupid, because torture doesn't work.



Love is knowing your partner will see duty done even if you fall.
Love is understanding the world the same way, enough you put the big ethical lines in the same places, and fight to keep them there.
It's knowing you can trust and rely on each other.

If I found someone had, for alleged love of me, screwed over my work, gone on a killing spree, and done terrible things in my name, the first thing to do would be get away from them and the second make it very clear they are dumped. Hmmm, no, that would be third, they'd need to be arrested first.


Sometimes it worries me, what some fantasies want from their heroes.