Quote Originally Posted by Shining Wrath View Post
As an example, if a random dwarf were caught robbing the temple where they worked, and died fighting the guards, would that count as honorable? You die in battle, but you were betraying a trust at the time. Or (ick) a dwarf is molesting a child, gets caught, and the parent bashes the molester's head in. Is that an "honorable" death?

I admit we haven't been told this, in comic. What we have been told is that dwarves have the most honor-bound society on the planet. But think about it. If all that's required is death in combat, honor most of the time is irrelevant - the dwarves would be better off if they did nothing but pick fights with one another. In fact, a society where people regularly gave offense sufficient to fight duels to the death would be just peachy. That doesn't seem to be the case.

I hypothesize that death in combat is necessary but not sufficient. The rest of your life also matters; that's why they have such a rigid society.
I don't know for sure about "trust", but if the requirement to have a honorable death had been in the likes of "respect authority, traditions and laws for your whole life" (and not only to die bravely during a fight), then Loki would have constructed the most Lawful society possible.
Which is a kinda bizarre outcome, for a god of Chaos (not completely impossible, being him the god of trickery, but still strange).

Moreover the examples are a bit out of topic: Hilgya didn't molest a child, but broke the laws of traditions. I don't think that to prove A -> B the line of reasoning "maybe C -> B, so maybe A -> B, too" is the best way to proceed, if A and C are not clearly related.

Finally, to add the frosting to the cake, we ourselves have plenty of "honorable deaths" tropes which are related exclusively to "the fight where you die". I could cite many manga/anime (dear god, practically every single shonen) where the worst things done are immediately forgotten as long as during the final fight the evil guy fights honorably (like: refusing help from a third part, giving the hero a fair chance, of just being a worthy and strong adversary).