Emotions vs. Stoicism: Difference between revisions

** Sith on the other hand, had this ([[Dark Is Not Evil|not at first glance evil]]) counterpart mantra that exalted emotions.

{{quote|"Peace is a lie,"

"The Force [[The Unfettered|shall set me free.]]" }}

** It should be noted that the Emotions vs. Stoicism theme is ''only'' applied to [[The Force|Force]]-users, presumably due to the [[Evil Feels Good|extremely addictive nature]] of [[The Dark Side]]. For the [[Muggles|non-Force-sensitive masses]], it's not considered an issue.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' [[Justified Trope|Vulcans have such strong emotions that they'd end up being brutal savages if they didn't control their emotions.]] Romulans, their ancestral cousins, don't suppress their emotions and are indeed [[Proud Warrior Race|very passionate and warlike]]. That said, they are highly sophisticated and clever, and quite a few of them are decent chaps. Perhaps ''not'' bottling up helps them control their emotions to some degree?

** The Vulcans were sophisticated and clever too - they clearly got as far as interstellar travel before destroying themselves. Some suspect that the proto-Romulans probably agreed with the followers of Surak that ''something'' had to be done about Vulcan emotion, but strongly disagreed over exactly ''what''. Regardless, they have clearly found some way to manage their emotions, since they are not nearly as warlike as the ancient Vulcans appeared to be. This does somewhat belie the oft-repeated Vulcan [[False Dichotomy|assertion that logic and emotion cannot be reconciled]], but then again, the Romulans are no longer entirely the same species - perhaps they engineered the more volatile emotions out of their population?

** In the ''Starfleet Battles'' spin-off universe, Romulan Culture is stated as having a principle of "Unifying Duty" to serve as an outlet for aggression and passion, where individuals set aside petty jealousies and personal ambition in service to the greater good of the species. While this has allowed the Romulans to avoid descending into barbaric self-destruction, it has also meant they use other species as an outlet for their aggression.

*** Vulcans have been demonstrated in an earlier episode to be culturally vegetarian. The fact that these Vulcans eat meat helps to demonstrates that they are unusual and do not subscribe to the same set of social tabboos as mainstream Vulcans.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' has several examples, most of them inverting the usual trope:

** {{spoiler|Sam spends half of the 6th season soulless}}, which basically means that he's cold, logical, rational and highly efficient as a hunter without any nasty emotions to hamper him on the job. Oh, and he's also basically a [[Complete Monster]], {{spoiler|shooting innocent hostages, attempting to kill Bobby and letting his brother be turned into a vampire}}.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** The greatest irony is that if there is any hope for humanity at all, said Messiah will ultimately end up ''[[A God Am I|literally becoming God]]'' ([[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|Belief is literally power]]. And there are countless trillions worshipping the Emperor.) {{spoiler|More accurately, he will most certainly become the fifth Chaos god if allowed to die and will end up being warped to fit his peoples' perceptions of him rather than what he was when he was alive. Stressing secularism while demonstrating the vastest [[Psychic Powers]] in human history was rather contradictory anyway.}}

** The craftworld Eldar are extreme stoics. Their passion once created the chaos god Slaanesh and in the process nearly wiped out their race. Now, they follow the "path," the practice of complete self-denial and total dedication to the perfection of a single skill.

*** And if they dare to be too happy, the Chaos God Slaanesh (who destroyed [[The Federation|the original Eldar civilisation]]) rips their soul out instantly. Anyone else feel like practicing self-denial?

*** Slaanesh doesn't just rip out their souls, he [[Up to Eleven|''eats them''.]] If they feel too much emotion, their afterlife will be spent [[A Fate Worse Than Death|as part of a being which can turn people insane just by looking at it, and will be forced to witness all that being's numerous, numerous atrocities, while unable to inform their own people about the being's plans.]] ''[[Complete Monster|Forever.]]''

* In [[Magic: The Gathering]], this is part of the conflict between Blue, who gets cards like [http://magiccards.info/som/en/46.html Stoic Rebuttal] and [http://magiccards.info/cfx/en/23.html Conrolled Instincts], Red, who gets cards like [http://magiccards.info/6e/en/178.html Fit of Rage] and [http://magiccards.info/pr/en/82.html Avatar of Fury].

** Red's conflict with it's other enemy, [[Light'Em Up|White]], also plays with this, but with an interesting side effect. White [[The Fettered|is all about duty and order]]; at it's best, it's [[The Cape (trope)]], but at worst is [[Knight Templar]]. Red's nature as the colour of passion means that it considers duty and order to be opressive, while White sees Red as chaotic and destructive. This generates a conflict of '''Duty versus Empathy''', as White feels it has obligations to the greater good while Red cares about people that emotionally stimulate it (be a friend, a lover or that homeless orphan down the street).

[[Category:Emotion Tropes]]

[[Category:Emotions Vs Stoicism]]