Quote Originally Posted by Jay R View Post
Nobody has said anything that can be honestly or fairly interpreted as "slaughtering underlings en masse is fine but 'if you kill the villain you'll be evil just like him!'"

Killing somebody who is trying to kill you is fine, and killing a prisoner who is not trying to kill you is murder, regardless of which one is the underling and which one is the leader.
You'll note that I specified "media" as the target of my spite, because this is a common writing trick to add "ethical conflict" to a pretty black-and-white situation. I would simply refuse to take the big bad prisoner, because I'm sick of these lazy fictional quandaries.

What do you suggest as a Good alternative to killing The Dark Lord anyway? Brainwashing them to match your sense of morality isn't a thing good people would do and even if prisons weren't inhumane no D&D bbeg is going to be held in one