Dragon Ball Super Zamus length post (full series spoilers)

So now that the arc has ended, I can get around to my length post. Suffice to say that both sides have valid points, despite Zamus's narcissism at the end of it all. This is, of course, going to be VERY long.

[COLOR=#ff0000][B]WARNING: THE STUFF WITHIN THE SPOILER TAG WILL CONTAIN EXTREME, UNMITIGATED SPOILERS FOR DRAGON BALL SUPER'S LATER ARC, INCLUDING EPISODE 131. THERE WILL BE NO FAKE-OUT MAKING USE OF EXACT WORDS, SO DO NOT THINK I AM EXAGGERATING. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT OPEN THE SPOILER TAG UNLESS YOU DON'T MIND [I][U]ANY[/U][/I] SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.[/B][/COLOR]

[SPOILER]Let's get this out of the way first and foremost: Zamus does at least definitely warrant being called a Complete Monster. He still pulled off-the-clock sadism with the way he killed Goku's family in one timeline, he still killed Gowas and/or tried to in multiple timelines, and he still committed genocide (well, technically xenocide, but that would just imply something akin to animal abuse with Zamus) over the sins, legitimate and perceived alike, of the few among the mortals in the interest to make the cosmos "by the gods, for the gods", just to kill the other gods anyway--granted that that was to keep the other gods from interfering. By all accounts, he was bent on indulging himself at the cost of countless lives, made jarring by how he's supposed to be a Creator, whereas Freeza at least came from a lineage of conquerors for all that excuses him in the least. But is it that simple? Well, here's your answer: if it was, I wouldn't be making this length post.

The whole reason goes back to one key factor: Zamus has a legitimate, if later hypocritical, hatred of savages. Did you notice how even before Goku arrived in Universe 10 that Zamus didn't have the best of opinions on mortals? Now look at Universe 10's team in the Tournament of Power arc. Generally body-builders with questionable intelligence, aside from Obuni's Confusion Fu. Without even that much, may I point out that there's *TWO* natural fliers in their team and they get taken out early because one goes Leeroy Jenkins and the other literally forgets she can fly. Add to it that Obuni would have been the only U10 fighter with a union of body, mind, and heart, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Surely U10 could have found other, hopefully more competent fighters, instead of focusing on brawn as much as it does? Well let me get to who chose them in the first place: Rumoosh, U10's Destroyer, is too concerned with overthinking for his own good, and believes thought should be done by the body. He ends up with the exact opposite problem, in that he thinks strategy and tactics aren't useful, even though they could be useful for outmaneuvering obvious ideas like more brute forcing. I imagine something like flanking would completely blow his mind. Now we don't have confirmation on the criteria he bases which planets to destroy on, but especially considering U10 is called the Macho Universe, I don't doubt he'd avoid giving more astute or even more angelic mortals a first thought. What happens with a society that rewards the body so much over the mind or the heart? Planet Babari, in its own very bare minimal of evolution over a millenium.

How this ties into Zamus's inevitable wrath is how we can consider each of the U10 deities, other than Cus (the Angel), an aspect of the body, mind, and heart while lacking enough in the other two. Rumoosh is obviously the body, with full conviction for the frontlines but neither the intelligence to understand when there are better options, nor the morality to put any talent to good use. Zamus is, what else, more complicated, but I'm going with mind, figuring out how to get things done, but he doesn't care about the moral costs (lacks heart), and relies too much on blatant advantages for his goals (lacks body). Gowas, then, is the heart, understanding that even the worst of the worst can at least serve a purpose and actively trying to nurture that, but ends up showing terrible ideas in execution (lacks mind, kind of), as well as indecision in harder choices (lacks body).

Getting past that theme stuff, it's not hard to imagine why Zamus would be upset with Goku's little visit to U10. People say Zamus is just a sore loser, and honestly, the anger shaming mentality that claims that sort of thing is happy to overlook other factors even when they are flagrantly idiotic, just to justify darwinism. And in this case, what we have is that Zamus was already refusing to fight our flanderized Blood Knight friend, only for the authority figures to cede to the latter's wishes without explaining what would counterbalance against him doing things as idiotic as leaving Senzu Beans on the freaking toilet when going on an important mission, and end up thinking mortals willing to be so power-hungry when he finds himself outpowered, now alarmed when he has already witnessed plenty of warmongering by mortals. There's definitely enough material for Alternate Character Interpretation with Zamus; Fusion Zamus is the incarnation of Zamus who screeches about the Hates Being Touched aspect the loudest, but at the point where he exists, you can definitely go with The Dark Side Will Make You Forget with how he has become so insane he's thinking gods like himself pure. (This whole thing, BTW, is not even getting into how Future Zamus joined Goku Black without even having fought regular Goku prior.)

We do see signs, most notably the rage about time travel and how it relates to the time-space continuum, that Zamus is an environmentalist to an extreme that would shock Pamela Isley. I think there is where the rub lies, because Zamus had stopped believing mortals could be anything but barbarians and warlords. He thinks mortals just use whatever resources they can get their hands on, up to and including intelligence, to, if not necessarily to intentionally cause pain and suffering, just indulge in their own hedonism and wouldn't care that they'd leave behind scorched earth. Even outside the show where we don't have to worry about the genocidal likes of Freeza and Dr. Gero, even if we ignored the politics surrounding the likes of Donald J. Trump ([URL=https://allthetropes.wikia.com/wiki/Sarcasm_Mode]nice name he has by the way[/URL]), we, or certainly gamers, do have to worry about the likes of [URL=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/04/premiere-game-scoreboard-bans-billy-mitchell-in-donkey-kong-cheating-scandal/]Billy Mitchell committing fraud[/URL]. If you can't guess why the Billy Mitchell incident in particular makes me want to vomit, almost as much as I metaphorically do with [URL=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SLDgPbjp0M]the Sexual A- er, sorry, CROSS Assault incident[/URL], look at my avatar. I'm a gamer with active interest in handling game balance, [URL=https://www.patreon.com/MasterKnightDH]even wanting to make my own game[/URL]. There is a reason I take disgust with how Pac-Man, a clear symbol of gaming right next to Mario Mario, would get sullied by a VERY well known player of his origin game being a bad guy.

Those points I bring up do showcase how Zamus is wrong to tar all mortals with the same brush, passing them off as Always Chaotic Evil. Heck, let me point to what happens in episode 131 (yeah, I wasn't bluffing that I'd bring that up): the whole tournament was about each (participating) Universe's representing team, consisting of 10 members by the way, having to make sure their team has the most members left after 48 minutes. All of the other participating Universes would get erased to remove a surplus of Universes under a standard called the Mortal Level, and as had been shown prior to the episode, the All Kings weren't bluffing about the erasures. The MVP, meanwhile, would get to use the Super Dragon Balls for whatever they want. So the whole thing goes by and ultimately Android 17, who indicated wanting luxury (a cruise ship ride with the wife and kids he already has to be precise), is the sole fighter standing. Take a wild guess what he wishes for.

I bring up how the combat pragmatist originally designed to be a Hero Killer would do the right thing because of Dragon Ball's general design, that it has a lot of focus on fighting, the very thing Zamus complains about, and actually, I can see Zamus thinking that's all us "filthy" mortals really understand when being his Knight Templar self, but I digress. Not even getting into Android 17's actions, I'm wanting to bring up how he's the sort of person willing to attack somebody in transformation sequence until he's talked out of it, so that he's the one who makes the Universe restoration wish is VERY welcome to see. He was actually the least likely in U7's team, aside from Freeza, to have done it, and yet here we are. What sells it for me is how it cements that Dragon Ball does in fact recognize that intelligence isn't innately evil, just a potentially dark power whose user could still use for good or evil. Really, had 17 gone with the cruise ship wish, he'd be surprisingly similar to Freeza himself, though far more hedonistic than sadistic, but keep in mind that Freeza was based off of avaricious real estate agents. You see the very nice contrast between the two as a result of 17's selflessness.

May I further point out that 17 is, at that point, already well off with his own family of choice. In 17's position, yes, I absolutely would have myself aimed to have the erased Universes restored. I wouldn't have to be aware of the All Kings' Secret Test Of Character, even if that would have been implied as-is by the tournament's own no killing rule. The simple point is, just abandoning 7 Universes worth of lives to the fate of nonexistence, especially when one has the power to easily avoid that much, is wrong on the face of it. Really, my only concern would have been the All Kings potentially just undoing the wish completely on their (supposed) reasons, but with the SDB's virtual lack of limits, a little creativity with the wish by adding improvements would have covered against THAT--I could imagine the Grand Priest would have involved subtlety to make sure they wouldn't be overboard if worse came to worse. But wait, you may ask, don't I have any personal desires, any that could tempt me to use the SDBs for a selfish wish of my own? That's actually a definite yes. Those who know me can see what I would particularly want: a happy marriage with a Genki Girl, and all that implies, such as the dynamics of Savvy Guy Energetic Girl, the fun with an enthusiastic companion, you get the idea. Basically a sort of case of The Final Temptation, if not outright one. However, what would ruin it would be the girl being somebody who would be amoral enough to wholeheartedly support not reviving the erased Universes. All that would involve would be just blind loyalty, untempered by bravery, creativity, or patience.

I don't doubt others can chip in with other reasons and viewpoints, but this would be enough to make it clear enough Gowas would be right to have some faith in us mortals. At the same time, the valid points Zamus DOES still have do stick out well enough to justify his Wake Up Call Boss status, and can leave any of us wishing he--at least the Present Zamus killed by Beerus, seeing as Future Zamus has been outright erased with Future Trunks's timeline--could have been reincarnated into a better tempered person, one who would have addressed barbarianism in an actually welcome way, instead of being Light Yagami in Dragon Ball Super. I think the underlying problem Zamus had was caring too much about the destination rather than the journey, as we could see from his little garden analogy. I could already picture Zamus being some cranky old man telling kids to get off his lawn, and it does bring up this wise saying, about how God makes us carry as much as we can. And no doubt he would because too little leaves us complacent or bored or unrefined, while too much just plain burns us out. Zamus would have wanted us to carry too much, overcompensating for how some mortals like Freeza and the Babaris getting off on the other Gods letting them carry too little. And of course, the damage done is insurmountable. Remember that cat that Trunks fed? Remember Future Bulma, a mellowed out person? Remember those resistance officers with their banter? Remember Future Yajirobe, the scavenger who nevertheless provided support on his own initiative despite clear reluctance? Remember Haru and Maki, the 2 kids who gave Trunks support? They, along with the rest of the Future Trunks timeline's multiverse, were all erased by the Future All King to end Zamus's insanity.

There's also the point that Gowas mentions how evil is allowed its continued existence because it informs good. That can get confusing and try to oversimplify things, but I do wonder what would have happened if Zamus had heard a story about a kindly old man who took in a baby found in an odd pod, had initial trouble with the kid being rowdy until said kid fell into a ravine and was nursed back to health by the old man, leading to the kid becoming a much better person. I can see why some people could think that's being relative--you even see I tear at the kid's flanderization--but with how many people he would keep saving, that that sort of thing wasn't made clear leads to how blame for the whole mess can be thrown about everywhere even if Zamus did make his own choices. Gowas, your points of philosophy can get confusing. Look for working examples of it, or heck, talk to Rumoosh about his destruction criteria so that that wouldn't be a nightmare to do to begin with. The only Universe that placed worse in the Tournament of Power than yours is incidentally even more darwinistic in general, with their mainstays only getting by on an actual caramaderie through the clear adversity, and that Universe also KOed anybody at all.

Of course, this doesn't mean Gowas's points don't work. They in fact do, it's just the coherence that's the problem. Once again there's benefit to the perspective of a gamer who does understand the point of order, because order is Zamus would be interested in, to the very extreme fault he shows. Here's a greek saying for you guys to understand: "ignis aurum probat." It means "fire tests gold." If order tries to exist without its polar opposite chaos, there's nothing to make sure that the order would hold up, and if you argue that the order wouldn't have anything threatening it to begin with, that's just it: what is that order existing for? That's what doesn't have mystery, contrary to what Zamus thinks about the mortal soul. But there's the key reason why both sides would have a point: subtlety. As an example, ever noticed how I advocate melee combat as actively as I do? You care a lot more about nuances when you actually want to close the distance on the likes of the Mighty Glacier/Melee Tornado hybrid, or other forms of avoiding the obvious solution. Of course, the mere mention of melee combat makes the whole thing sound like an excuse to act simpleminded, but the difference is when you know about clear risks and likely have reason to see it as still your best option. As I believe I mentioned before (I forget if I did so here), there's a difference between fearlessness and bravery: fearlessness happens when you don't know the reason to be scared. Bravery involves the mastery of that fear, complete with the knowledge of it. Now we can hold Zamus accountable for being less sagacious than he thinks himself, but sometimes opposition can simply be too strong to make digging up the deep stuff reasonable, and inevitably there are weaknesses, which yes overcoming is the challenge, but it also shows variety, which alone is why people should consider compassion rather than some survival of the fittest notion that begs for karma.

Also, there's a trope that can be brought up with Zamus's insanity too: Debate And Switch. And interestingly, Death Note is listed as an example of having that, with mention about how it's a Necessary Weasel due to being aimed at a younger audience, or else Light's actions would have been given more depth, even if murder is murder. (I recommend the drama version, by the way. Light is actually given points of interest and there's a sense of worldbuilding where you see freaking Teru Mikami in episode 1.) Obviously, Dragon Ball is built to be more simplistic with people wanting to have the popcorn out, but that just highlights Zamus's whole concept of being more interested in philosophy, and I end up glad it was Android 17, not Goku (not to say he wouldn't or isn't nice, but the Blood Knight aspect and questionable intelligence, man), who made the Universe restoration wish in 131 if DBS is going to knock on the door.

I'm not making excuses for Zamus, because that would be folly with how he didn't think to use the Super Dragon Balls for the addition of some form of cleaner, probably more efficient life off the bat, instead expending SDB wishes for his own power from not thinking inspiration could be better than extermination. That doesn't mean that I for one, as somebody disillusioned by California's track record of darwinism as well as the capitalism for its own sake, can't see where he is coming from, even if he becomes the definition of He Who Fights Monsters. Really, there's a reason for about 3000 words of devil's advocacy here, and it's because of a villain's reasons for being a Wake Up Call Boss.[/SPOILER]