Emma is cleary not able to handle the burden of the power. Shes succumbing under the responsibility coming with the power and never asked for it. So the question "Would it be so bad to lose power" isnt stupid when its about her as it may helps her to function at all again. Being present with less power is still more valuable than being not present with more power (thats kinda Nael, having all power but no presence if its not a life or death situation of noel or gabriel lol).
Emma isnt just afraid to slip up and hurt someone she wants to protect, she is mentally exhausted, tired and broken by the gruesome terrors she committed in the high orders name.
This is a young college girl who suddenly started to burn countless, thousends and thousends of people to death, simply snapping her finger and so many lifes vanish. Not everyone is made for that and i would argue most people are not, our MC is special in this case too, he got the hard school considering what he had to do to his dad and is emotionally jaded/cold/deaf/indifferent.
But even he was a little sad when he dematerialized like 20 people in one go.
These us drone pilots develop mental traumas about it but emma is the drone herself and sees the people burning with her own eyes every single time and shes just a young girl without any kind of preparation for this kind of shitshow.
And the power will be transfered and not deleted anyway so i really dont get your problem with it, either to a high order companion or to the mc.
MC asking Claire this could be about her not being able to handle this amount of power in a morally acceptable way too.
As I was clearly pointed out, the part I was talking about was on Chapter 10 and have little to do with Emma. I have no issues with Emma's depiction in Chapter 10.5 or anywhere else, if there is any, I question the post-modernist approach to it, but that's not the point here. The only disagreement I bring up at all is that MC is asking Claire about the loss of power. I guess generalization do me little good in this regard when I argue for people favoring accumulation of power.
Sure. I agree with your assessment (on Emma), I agree with your conclusion too. Emma's case, being unable to handle the pressure of immense power, is not unlike the original stories of many superheroes. Unwanted, unsolicited gaining of Power, Mental and physical hardships, and the responsibility that came with it. Emma could not handle the pressure that came with it, and instead seeks to transfer it to someone else. I have little problem with that.
As I have already established that in my view the society of dark ones is not entirely unlike state of nature (Hobbes version), and few, I think, would challenge me on that. Emma's consideration of giving up on power is possible and enabled because there's a high order that exsit and is willing to share her burden, that is to say, she is no longer in a state of nature because organizations had formed in NA and Emma could shield herself within the high order, and her role, after the shift, does not require power to function because others are doing it in her place. Here I once more declare that I have no issues with it.
Again, my compliant, if there ever was, was never directed at Emma, because her situation is entirely different. and one might say is more or less irrelevant to what I wanted to point out.
With Claire, it is entirely differnt. Claire's power resides on high order, she cannot call upon any powers of her own in a situation where she might need to defend her self as a more or less normal human being, unlike a companion. Therefore, to operate within a state of nature where she is not yet shown able to escape (where as Emma could, by transfering power to someone else who would fight and therefore shielding herself within the order) as a direct and primary leader of high order, Claire requires power to initiate talks with the brotherhood and conduct other activities. In essence, her role requires power to function, and others cannot do it in her place. MC asking why it is bad to lose power is absurd, in this specific case, from a practical standpoint.
We should always strife to be morally acceptable, of course, but just as Emma pointed out in Chapter 10.5, Claire faces significant hardships just like Emma, and maybe more, but unlike Emma who can withdrawal into her sanctuary, Claire has many things to worry about. Therefore I think it is an absurd question to ask Claire such a question, where a postion requires power to function to begin with, and need to see practical result in the end, really has no connection with "Is it so bad to lose power?"
