Righteousness Cannot Be Handled Alone—On Karla and Parn in Record of Lodoss War (Part 2)
Introduction | The Sense of Unease That Has Not Faded After Forty Years
In the first part, we looked at why the existence of Karla, the Grey Witch, was not treated as a mere "enemy to be defeated" within the story of Record of Lodoss War.
Looking only at the structure of the story, the righteous warrior Parn stops Karla, who had been manipulating the world from the shadows.
One could read it as the case being closed with that.
Even so, after finishing it, a somewhat unsatisfying feeling remains.
Karla, who should have been defeated, survives as a question.
This sense of unease is not something I felt only when I read it in the 1980s, about forty years ago.
Rather, it feels as though it has approached our feet in the modern day, changing its form as time has passed.
Technology has advanced, and systems have become complex.
Even so,
someone decides what is right
that righteousness hurts someone else
and the location of responsibility is concentrated on one person
—this composition itself has hardly changed.
Karla's story did not end as a fantasy of the past.
I even get the feeling that today's society might actually be in need of her existence.
I even feel that way.
Why couldn't we feel it was "right"?
Karla's ideology is understandable.
The world does not naturally move toward equilibrium.
If left alone, distortions expand and break from the weakest parts.
Therefore, someone must intervene and adjust the flow of history.
This way of thinking itself, while cold-blooded, is not absurd.
Rather, it is close to the institutional design of real society.
Even so, we cannot fully feel that Karla's actions are "right."
I do not think this sense of unease is an emotional backlash.
The problem is not the content of the ideology, but the process through which it was executed lies in that.
Karla's righteousness was completed by her own judgment alone.
it is invisible who decided it
no objections can be made
Cannot be corrected or revoked
The affected party has no choice
This is an extremely unstable form of social "righteousness."
Righteousness requires a "process"
For righteousness to be accepted in society, it does not necessarily have to be the correct answer.
Rather, what is important is that we also include the possibility of being wrong.
Social righteousness includes:
room for multiple perspectives to enter
a structure where judgment is distributed
a process that can be corrected over time
are included.
It is precisely because this process exists that righteousness can avoid becoming "power" or "violence."
Karla's righteousness was too perfect.
It was completed within herself alone and had no room to waver.
A perfected righteousness cannot be handled within society.
Before it is righteousness, it becomes domination.
What does Karla symbolize?
Here, we need a perspective that views Karla not as "a witch" or "a villain," but as a symbol.
Karla is an existence that took on the distortion of the world all by herself.
Originally, the distortions of the world should be distributed.
They should be shouldered little by little through systems, time, and the choices of many people.
When that does not function well, "someone" becomes necessary.
Karla became that "someone."
It is not that she was too strong.
She was forced to bear a burden too heavy for one person to carry.
People cannot handle 'ideology.' That is why they need 'idols.'
People cannot handle ideologies or structures themselves as they are.
Abstract righteousness, structural distortions, and imbalances born over long periods of time.
These things are invisible, intangible, and the location of responsibility is ambiguous.
That is why people personify them.
Heroes.
Leaders.
Masterminds.
Villains.
The 'idol' referred to here does not mean an object of admiration.
It is a symbol used to take on the burden of thought.
Consolidating things that are too complex to handle into a single face.
Forcing incomprehensible structures into the existence of one person.
Karla is an existence that had no choice but to become an idol for that purpose.
The composition of 'Karla is working behind the scenes' is very easy to understand.
However, as the price for that clarity, all the distortions of the world are concentrated into the single point that is Karla.
People cannot fight the concept that 'the structure is bad.'
That is why they need a story where 'someone is bad.'
Idols protect society while simultaneously distorting it.
Idols lighten the burden of thought.
They make the location of responsibility easy to understand.
In that sense, they also play a role in temporarily protecting society.
But at the same time, the moment society makes an idol bear everything, it stops thinking.
If you defeat Karla, the problem is considered solved.
That is how it feels.
But in reality, what was defeated was a symbol, not the structure itself.
Even after Karla is stopped, the distortions of the world remain.
That is why, even after being defeated, she survives as a question.
Was Parn's action righteous?
So, was Parn's action righteous?
Parn did not sublimate Karla's philosophy.
Nor did he offer an alternative.
Even so, he stopped the 'Karla as an individual' who was right in front of him.
Parn does not have the power to redesign the structure of the world.
He also could not see a way to implement righteousness in a different form.
Yet he stopped her.
Without knowing,
he still stopped her.
I believe this action was less heroic and more the minimum choice a human can make.
It is not about whether it was right, but an action for which there was no other choice. For the sake of someone in trouble right now.
The sincerity of the story of Record of Lodoss War lies in the fact that it depicts even those limitations.
What I myself still hold onto
Finally, I would like to write down a little bit of my own delusion.
When I look at the world and society, I cannot fully deny the existence of an invisible Karla.
Not as a character in a story, but rather, I even feel that she might actually 'exist' somewhere.
The scales of society are not always kept balanced.
More often than not, they tilt heavily and are on the verge of collapse.
Even so, when viewed over a long period of time, there are moments when it appears that the balance is barely maintained without completely falling apart.
At those times, I cannot help but think that an invisible force is quietly acting upon the side of the scale that is not tilted.
I cannot help but think that way.
Just because it is invisible does not mean it does not exist.
And the world is not simple.
In places that cannot be fully explained by systems, laws, or individual justice, something is at work, something is being adjusted, and over time, a balance is barely maintained.
Whether or not you call that Karla is not important.
I just believe that there are things in this world that truly exist, even if we cannot see them.