Galad Damodred

Hey there everybody!

Last night I was thinking about the character arc of Galad, whom just happens to be Rand's half-brother. Considering that he goes from being in Caemlyn to The Fortress of Light when the Seanchan attack, to assuming the title of Lord Captain Commander when he kills Valda. Yet, throughout the series until Towers of Midnight, he's just been a case example of Lawful Good.

So, why?

Well, as a character, he believes that the right thing ought to always be done, for its own sake, without recourse to the pains it may cause anyone involved.

So, Immanuel Kant walks into a fantasy story...

So, the first thing one should know about Kantian ethics is that it is based in deontology, or duty-based ethics. Yet, we really don't get a definition for what a duty is in his work, so I've my own definition I like:

A duty is an imperative towards an action.

So, actions are required in moral situations. As for Kant, one mainly need think of his Categorical Imperative, which simply states that one ought only do those actions that one would, at the same time, will to be a universal law. Those actions we will to be universalized- to apply in all situations for all persons- are called maxims, and naturally constitutes morality as such.

Let me give an example:

Should one cut in a line? Well, that depends. Are you willing to say that everyone should always cut in a line? If that becomes the case, then cutting in a line is not a maxim because if everyone did that, then there would be no line to cut in! So, it's self-defeating, and can't be a maxim.

I think this is how Galad approaches his problems.

Galad finds Rand in the garden, clearly intruding. Can he will that everyone in that situation should inform the guards that there's an intruder with the Daugher-Heir? Yep, and does.

After trying to find Elayne, and being rebuffed by the Aes Sedai with no answers, especially after they shirk Morgase's demand that they hand over Elayne, Galad decides to join the Whitecloaks. Later, after being asked why, he states that it was because it seemed right, on account of the Aes Sedai being bitches, and bitches need to be...burned at the stake? Another maxim for him, but this begins his transformation into a more thoughtful character.

So, he kills Valda, takes the Children that want to to Tarmon Gai'don, but eventually gets caught, released, and eventually finds himself putting Perrin on trial for the two Whitecloaks he killed at the beginning of the story.

Essentially, he goes from knowing what to do, to having to take more in consideration of what ought to be done. Sure, Perrin killed two Whitecloaks, but the Whitecloaks killed Hopper and other wolves, which was just as bad in Perrin's eyes. Having been forced to acknowledge that he can't easily figure everything out, he strikes that bargain with Perrin to wait until after Tarmon Gai'don before he sentences him.

This changes after Perrin leads his mad charge down a steep slope with his cavalry, his newly-crafted +4 Flaming Warhammer of the Flying Wolf smooshing Trollocs left and right, to save the men under Galad's command. After saving them, Galad decides that Perrin isn't a bad person, and agrees to make him pay the families of the men he killed, which was nice and reasonable.

Question is, will he have time to alter any more now that him and Berelain are mooning over eachother?

Damn prettyboy...