Yotsuyu, the irredeemable monster

[Steelbreaker25]

It doesn't look like they are moving towards any of that. They've addressed none of it, unlike Ala Mihgo which is facing those issues head on. We get one line of Gosetsu alluding to it when he talks about whose feet do these sins lie at and that's it.

We haven't seen much of Doma directly since this took place (4.3). The story simply hasn't revisited the subject much since.

[DPZ2]

and the people of Doma were responsible for how she turned out.

This can be so only if you are a pollster, using a minor subset of a group to predict behavior of the group as a whole.

The fact is, there are exactly three people in Doma who bear responsibility. And the proper response, if revenge is desired, would be exact vengeance on those three people.

[thegreatonemal]

This can be so only if you are a pollster, using a minor subset of a group to predict behavior of the group as a whole.

The fact is, there are exactly three people in Doma who bear responsibility. And the proper response, if revenge is desired, would be exact vengeance on those three people.

Her entire village knew what was going on. Punishing the people directly responsible is one thing but you can't say if the whole town knew and did nothing that they aren't to blame too. Nobody stood up for this women and everyone knew what was happening to her. No one is throwing the whole country in jail but their inaction led to her becoming the way she was. Only one person did try and it wasn't Gosetsu.

[DPZ2]

Her entire village knew what was going on. Punishing the people directly responsible is one thing but you can't say if the whole town knew and did nothing that they aren't to blame too. Nobody stood up for this women and everyone knew what was happening to her. No one is throwing the whole country in jail but their inaction led to her becoming the way she was. Only one person did try and it wasn't Gosetsu.

So, instead of punishing the people in the whole town, then, her vengeance could only be [not-quite-ever] satiated by doing similar things throughout the entirety of Doman and non-Doman domains?

Boy, those fisherfolk on the Ruby Sea (sooooooo close to Yanxia) must have really done a number on her, eh?

Yeah, feel sorry for her circumstances, but do not excuse "mass murder on a whim" by saying "well, the folks in this one town didn't come to her aid".

Unless, of course, you're in a novel written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, possibly. Then the motive of one of the main bad guys can be as simple as "but they called me the son of a [courtesan, but used in a not-so-good way]", resulting in untold doom and disaster for the Cultivation world, cleverly plotted and competently performed, but not quite as sadistic as Totsuya.

[Steelbreaker25]

This can be so only if you are a pollster, using a minor subset of a group to predict behavior of the group as a whole.

The fact is, there are exactly three people in Doma who bear responsibility. And the proper response, if revenge is desired, would be exact vengeance on those three people.

She also had an abusive husband, and was then sold to a "house of pleasure" after he died. If I remember correctly, she was then forced to spy on the Imperial officers for the Domans via seduction, where she eventually encountered Zenos. So not just three individuals.

[DPZ2]

She also had an abusive husband, and was then sold to a "house of pleasure" after he died. If I remember correctly, she was then forced to spy on the Imperial officers for the Domans via seduction, where she eventually encountered Zenos. So not just three individuals.

Well, three individuals who are directly responsible for her circumstances thereafter. None of them related by blood ties.

As a reward for being victimized, she is awarded the job of "Craziest Sadist in Charge of Doma" by Zenos so she can, maybe, possibly, "not-sure-but-what-the-heck-it's-worth-a-try" create someone with a need for revenge worthy of Zenos' momentary attention. Or not.

Still not going to cry over her oh-so-tragic death [redemption cycle psych! from SE]. At least not until that guy she forces to shoot their best friend and then gets all disappointed when they won't kill their parents too comes back from the dead.

[MilkieTea]

Given that I have experienced quite a bit of similarities to Yotsuyu's life, I would do the same when presented with the monsters who did what they did to me. Not to mention that she had Asahi whispering in her ear, gaslighting and manipulating what he wanted out of her in order to then have her killed by the WoL.

She was wronged. She was beaten to the ground and left to rot, and the seeds of despair wormed their way through. There's a reason Fordola and her have gone different paths - people faced with trauma, heartache, destruction channel it in different ways.

She wasn't always Tsuyu when she was playing Tsuyu, you know? She remembered. She wanted to leave because of her guilt, her sadness. She didn't just leave to go do bad things - she left because she thought she was doing something good and she didn't want the person who showed her kindness (Gosetsu) to feel disappointment and anguish when she turned out to be Yotsuyu instead of Tsuyu. She was a person who tried to do good and was manipulated by the world around her into bad.

So what if the town wasn't at fault, if Doma wasn't at fault? The systems in place still allowed for what happened to her to HAPPEN.

[Shuuchi]

Fate may have created an irredeemable monster of Yotsuyu and certainly denied her the strength to be a better person, but I can still empathise with a rabid dog while putting it down.

Feeling sorry for someone and showing empathy are literally the same thing. But you can empathize with someone without condoning their behavior, which is the core of the actual issue.

Sympathy is “that’s too bad”, “things could have gone better if not for X”.
Empathy is “I feel the same pain as you”, “let us take vengeance together”.

[Elladie]

Sympathy is “that’s too bad”, “things could have gone better if not for X”.
Empathy is “I feel the same pain as you”, “let us take vengeance together”.

Actually I believe you have those the wrong way around.
Empathy is 'I understand why you feel the way you do.'
Sympathy is 'I understand why you feel the way you do and actually I feel the same way too.'
To use an example that used to be in the UK news a lot, IRA sympathisers were considered to be as bad as the IRA pretty much

[Shuuchi]

So it's not wrong to look inside yourself, think about the things in your own life that helped you form your own ideas of right and wrong, ask yourself if you might have done the same thing in her place, and maybe even say yes, you would.

You bring up a very interesting point.
The answer to that question would show whether deep down we as individuals are good or bad.

And in the case of the latter, we would have to acknowledge the fact that we are also capable of doing monstrous things.
And we’d also be faced with the choice of whether to fight against our nature or embrace it.

Thankfully I’m fully in the ”no” camp.