Reading through this, I was reminded of SAO, specifically Season 3, how the two protagonists were on opposite sides: one fighting to restore Alice's memories; the other fighting to save her soul. Of course, given that I haven't watched the most recent season yet, and given that I don't want spoilers, that's not the angle I'll take.

Instead, I'll open with the classic, "alignment is the worst thing to happen to role-playing in the history of RPGs". So let's ignore alignment, and look at the scenario, and the character.

Spoiler: Extreme cynicism?
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So, what I'm hearing is that an evil mind control character is feeling guilty that their actions put an "innocent" man on death row¹. And we've got some issues with the definition of the word "innocent", because those who were mind controlled to hurt something that this PC cares about are not "innocent", and are deserving of death.

I can't help but approve.

So, what is the question? It can't really be, "what's the moral answer?", because that's just too far afield of where we are (either the Twinkie defense is good for all crimes, all related/applicable crimes, or no crimes), and because the character doesn't consider themselves to be a moral agent.

Perhaps we could ask, "what will help the character sleep better at nights?"? In that regard, I suspect picking a goal, and taking actions towards that goal, so that the character can say "I tried" will be optimal.

And, if the NPC is already dead, having the PC (have) come up with a plan will still let them say, "I would have…", and feel better about themselves.

¹ and, notably, not that they engaged in the evil mind control in the first place.


Spoiler: Maybe slightly less cynical?
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So, you have a good recruiter, whose good actions (helping people in a struggling society) had unintended side effects (bolstering "Evil") that were unknown to the moral agent.

And, now, the oppressive society wants to kill him, because…?

At which point, your questions are: do you need to murder Society, and replace it with something better? Can you keep him alive until then? Or, do you need to save him from society? Or, do you not care about his body, and the only question is whether his soul is safe?

And, of course, if soul isn't safe, do you need to murder the gods, and replace them with something better?


Spoiler: A point of confusion
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OP, you keep saying that you have to:

"She had to use a lot of lies to get him to trust her and cooperate, and she'll have to fess up about those lies. There's a good chance he'll become violent and/or shut down, and she'll lose him for good."

"If she wants to win his trust by using a 'good' action she must stop the lies and tell him the truth of what's going on, and confess she's been manipulating him throughout the interrogation. But! That can go south very quickly with how prone he is to violent outbursts. Worse, he may not be ready to accept the cult abandoned him to die."

I'm not seeing why you "have to" do anything of the sort.


I can make him believe whatever I want with the spell, but that is again, the moral dilemma since it interferes with his choice of free will.

I guess I can magically persuade him into accepting their help. But once again, interference of his choice of free will.
So… it sounds like the extent of the morality - and thus the extent of the moral question - is "free will".

Which brings us back to SAO, and the question "can someone who has been Mindraped to be someone else” / "can someone who has suffered Babylon 5 'death of personality' " / "can someone who is mind controlled / drugged / otherwise 'not themselves' " be deemed to be a moral agent, a Person, in questions regarding their former personality?

And… that's a bit heavy for me to weigh in on, personally.