#master morality

I've mentioned before that my personal way of looking at Decepticon culture and values is very much in line with how I read Nietzsche. I don't know how many of you have or haven't read him, but I see the conflict between Decepticon and Autobot values as very similar to the conflict that he talks about between what he calls "slave morality" and what he called "master morality." 

I don't know how deeply I can get into all of that right now, and I'm certainly not the most learned Nietzsche scholar in the world. So if I've got some of this wrong or off, please correct me. And also please bear in mind that I am not saying Nietzsche is right. I do think he has a point about how there are (at least) two different ways of looking at the world, but I am not thereby claiming that the one I call Decepticon-like is the right one. Many things are clearly deeply wrong with it. (And yet I also agree with him that the one I call Autobot-like has a lot of flaws, as well. Nuance, people.) 

But trying to say it as briefly as I can, Nietzsche saw a conflict between what he saw as a Christian derived morality, where the idea is that everyone in a society should be equal, the rules of society should be democratic, people should treat each other gently, etc. Society should not have strict delineations of rank, because that leads to injustice, cruelty, oppression, etc.

The other moral system, which he calls "master morality," is (as he explains it) an older system that is inherently based on social rank. The strong dominate the weak, and see nothing wrong with this because they've proven themselves capable of it. All beings are locked in a natural and inevitable struggle for survival, for rank, and for mastery. On this view, you don't get "good and evil" in the sense you do in the other moral system. You get the noble (those who have proven themselves worthy to rule) versus the contemptible. The idea that everyone is in some sense equal in worth just doesn't show up, doesn't make sense, to this way of thinking. 

Here's a description (though I don't like this translation) from Beyond Good and Evil about "the noble" character. I've added some paragraph breaks so your eyes don't glaze over: 

The distinctions of moral values have either originated in a ruling caste, pleasantly conscious of being different from the ruled--or among the ruled class, the slaves and dependents of all sorts. In the first case, when it is the rulers who determine the conception "good," it is the exalted, proud disposition which is regarded as the distinguishing feature, and that which determines the order of rank. The noble type of man separates from himself the beings in whom the opposite of this exalted, proud disposition displays itself he despises them. Let it at once be noted that in this first kind of morality the antithesis "good" and "bad" means practically the same as "noble" and "despicable" [the translation I like has "noble" and "contemptible"],--the antithesis "good" and "EVIL" is of a different origin. The cowardly, the timid, the insignificant, and those thinking merely of narrow utility are despised; moreover, also, the distrustful, with their constrained glances, the self- abasing, the dog-like kind of men who let themselves be abused, the mendicant flatterers, and above all the liars:--it is a fundamental belief of all aristocrats that the common people are untruthful. "We truthful ones"--the nobility in ancient Greece called themselves. It is obvious that everywhere the designations of moral value were at first applied to MEN; and were only derivatively and at a later period applied to ACTIONS; it is a gross mistake, therefore, when historians of morals start with questions like, "Why have sympathetic actions been praised?" The noble type of man regards HIMSELF as a determiner of values; he does not require to be approved of; he passes the judgment: "What is injurious to me is injurious in itself;" he knows that it is he himself only who confers honour on things; he is a CREATOR OF VALUES. He honours whatever he recognizes in himself: such morality equals self-glorification. In the foreground there is the feeling of plenitude, of power, which seeks to overflow, the happiness of high tension, the consciousness of a wealth which would fain give and bestow:--the noble man also helps the unfortunate, but not--or scarcely--out of pity, but rather from an impulse generated by the super-abundance of power. The noble man honours in himself the powerful one, him also who has power over himself, who knows how to speak and how to keep silence, who takes pleasure in subjecting himself to severity and hardness, and has reverence for all that is severe and hard. "Wotan placed a hard heart in my breast," says an old Scandinavian Saga: it is thus rightly expressed from the soul of a proud Viking. Such a type of man is even proud of not being made for sympathy; the hero of the Saga therefore adds warningly: "He who has not a hard heart when young, will never have one."

I see Megatron as (among many other things) a very pure example of this sort of value system. Just as Optimus does on the other side, Megatron embodies and serves as a paragon of the value system of his kind. No, I don't think he should be written as flawless, or perfect -- no character should be -- but I do prefer versions of him where he's larger than life, a living role model that is honored, respected, envied, and despised. (That last, of course, because anyone who subscribes as deeply to Decepticon values as he does *coughcoughStarscreamahem* either sees himself the same way or at least wants to become powerful enough to depose Megatron.) 

I don't see Megatron as power-hungry because he's crazy, or inwardly empty, or driven by a desperation for control that reflects that he feels unable to control himself.

[TFP Megatron clearly is somewhat crazy. But I don't personally read him as only being an adherent of master morality because he is crazy. And, personally, I prefer Megatrons not to be crazy. I like TFP Megatron having a touch of space madness, and I do think his sanity frayed further when the Omega Lock went boom. But I don't tend to portray him as bad-because-crazy in my fics because I like him to make sense, and even post-Darkest Hour I probably won't be writing him as Just Plain Nuts.]

I see him as someone who, as this passage says, thinks that he has an absolute right to impose his values and his vision on everything and everyone in the universe. If those entities oppose and fight him, fine: every being can and should fight for its own advancement or survival. But as he sees it, they will, and should, lose. 

This is why I scratch my head at some versions of Megatron where he's portrayed as not just severe in discipline or punitive but actually as abusive, especially toward Starscream. In certain versions of canon, clearly Megatrons are abusive to Starscreams. Armada, most clearly, but as I've said, I've seen a very good case that he's also abusive in Bayverse. But in G1 and some other continuities, I don't think it makes sense. [In TFP, I think it's definitely also defensible. I wrote this before it was clear where exactly things were going. Now that it is clearer, I definitely think "he's just an abusive asshole" is a reasonable take on things.]

It's not that I don't think an adherent of "master morality" is severe and cruel. He is. He has to be. So I'm not here arguing that Megatron is nice to Starscream, or that their relationship is carefully negotiated, not-emotionally-risky, domination and submission of the sort that a lot of nice, considerate squishies do behind closed doors inbetween being good little adherents of what Nietzsche somewhat unfairly calls "slave morality." That's not what I'm saying at all. 

I'm also not saying I find it OOC to portray Starscream as bitter and cynical. Though my personal view of Starscream is that he's not bitter in that way, I do think such interpretations make sense and are enjoyable and interesting to read. Personally, I see his defiance as fundamental to who he is, and I see him as fierce and strong enough that Megatron couldn't stamp that defiance out even if he truly wished to destroy it. 

Which, IMO, Megatron actually doesn't. The strong, in master morality, are those who constantly fight for their advancement. Those who do not are contemptible -- and that's the worst thing one can be. Megatron would just kill Starscream if his defiance ever died, because he would no longer be worthy of his rank. Just as Megatron would kill him if that defiance ever became a true threat to his position. [Recall that TFP has Megatron actually straight-up say "You defied me. I'm promoting you!" to Dreadwing.] As I said above, I believe that Starscream challenges Megatron because part of master morality is about striving to win; I believe Megatron in some sense welcomes the challenge because it does two things: 1) proves that his Second actually deserves to be ranked above everyone who isn't him and 2) reinforces his own rank, because he's the one Decepticon Starscream cannot best. (And, if you're a slasher, 3) leads to hot smutty fight-sex.)

[Yes, in TFP, Dreadwing nearly kills Starscream. But Dreadwing has him cornered, and Starscream just woke up from surgery. I'm not convinced Dreadwing would win if Starscream had time to fully use his devious mind against his foe.]

So for those who do write M/SS, it's dangerous, angry, and fueled by just as much disdain as it is by carefully hidden respect. That's not cute or safe. But Megatron is, to my mind, a noble character, in the sense that Nietzsche describes. He's fundamentally committed to those values. He's not a bully grasping for power. He's much more dangerous. 

He's someone who believes, down to the bedrock, absolutely and completely, spark-deep that he deserves to rule, that he was designed to rule, and that it's only the fierce but ultimately futile defiance brought on by the will to power in everyone else that stands, temporarily, in his way. 

Furthermore, I think that value system is fundamental to being a Decepticon. My personal headcanon is that Decepticons are like this because it's part of how they are built and designed. I don’t like the Quintesson origin story, but I do like the idea that they're war machines and the Autobots are not. And this "master morality" is nothing if not a credo for the kind of warriors who want conquest and dominion, as the Decepticons do. 

I don't think it's impossible for Cybertronians to let go of one value system and take on another. There are many canon examples of characters switching sides, so clearly it's possible and happens. I don't like the idea that since they're machines, they lack freedom of choice. 

But as I write both Decepticons and Autobots, it's very difficult to abandon one's programming and purpose by design completely. Those of you who are following The Ascension of Nova Black [which I was working on at the time] know that as I write them, characters who leave their faction generally become Neutral rather than defecting to their former enemies.

And even my Neutral characters are generally sympathetic to the basic goals of their former faction, and antagonistic towards others who lean the other way. (Hence the constant face-offs from the very beginning between my OCs Nova Black, a former 'Con, and Brightbolt, a former 'Bot.) [Neutral TFP Starscream was so much like this I couldn't help but laugh, as was Neutral Airachnid. Dreadwing was similar, too: "Betraying my own kind is not the same as accepting yours."]

I've covered a lot of ground here, in a way that's not very precise. But just to reiterate, or to make it clear if I have not: I like my Megatron regal, noble, intelligent... and honestly slagging terrifying, once you realize what the values are that actually fuel him. I don't think he's anything so petty as most run of the mill evil humans, who at bottom are control freaks because they're actually insecure. 

I think he is secure, which is unrealistic when compared to the real world, but which is the kind of thing I want to read and write about. I love science fiction and fantasy precisely because they enable me to talk and think about characters who are larger than life, titans who clash and awe and inspire me, whether "good" or "evil." 

I think making Megatron a petty megalomaniac or insecure abuser... well, again, it can make for a wonderful story. But to my mind, it takes away the majesty that makes Megatron Megatron.

[And yes, this means that I am sometimes deeply disappointed in TFP Megatron. I love him for many reasons, but he does sometimes stray very far from how I see the character. When he does, I like him much less.]