Charles University scholar examines ethical weight of monster-slaying in video games
An analysis of player-versus-environment mechanics reveals how modern games are shifting from triumphant conquest to moral ambiguity, challenging the player’s role as a conventional hero.
Jaroslav Švelch, Associate Professor at Charles University in Prague, has published an article titled The Melancholy of Slaying Monsters, adapted from his book Player vs. Monster. The work examines the ethical dilemmas inherent in monster-slaying within video games, specifically analysing how titles such as Shadow of the Colossus, Bloodborne, and Undertale subvert traditional player-versus-environment tropes. Švelch argues that these games portray monsters with empathy, highlighting the tragic or shameful nature of their destruction rather than celebrating it as a standard victory.
The article details a specific anecdote from Bloodborne, released in 2015, where the player encounters a sleeping monster, Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos, without initiating combat. This moment highlights a tension between the expected violence and the creature's beauty, representing a broader narrative tension where the hero may feel shame rather than glory upon defeating a foe. Švelch traces this line of thinking to early Western traditions, including J. R. R. Tolkien’s essay on Beowulf, which argues that killing monsters should not be understood as inherently virtuous and often leads to the protagonist’s inevitable ruin.
Shadow of the Colossus is cited as a prime example of this somber tone. The game’s director, Fumito Ueda, noted that staff initially thought the melancholic music played upon defeating colossi was a bug, as they were accustomed to triumphant fanfares. The game removes standard enemy mobs to concentrate resources on the colossi, forcing players to scale and hold onto the creatures, merging with their body mass before striking. This design choice frames the destruction as ethically questionable, casting doubt on the need to tame forces of nature.
Bloodborne director Hidetaka Miyazaki similarly instructed concept artists to convey the deep sorrow of a magnificent beast rather than gross-out horror for an undead dragon design. Švelch notes that these games suggest the plight of the monster killer is inseparable from the plight of the monsters, echoing Friedrich Nietzsche’s aphorism that whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become one himself. This theme of the false hero is common in mainstream storytelling, where players are often complicit in abhorrent deeds.
Undertale, released in 2015 by Toby Fox, subverts these conventions through humor and mechanics that reward nonviolence. The game reveals that EXP stands for execution points and LV or LOVE for level of violence, challenging the category of the monster itself. Scholar Bo Ruberg views Undertale as a queer video game due to its fascination with questioning bodies and indeterminate gender identities. The game allows players to spare monsters, earning no experience points but avoiding the moral cost of killing, suggesting that true malice may reside in the systems that classify beings as enemies for the sake of progress.
