The Crusader and The Knave

CHAOS + DISORDER

SOLVE ET COAGULAR

Through him [Melko] has pain and misery been made in the clash of overwhelming musics; and with confusion of sound have cruelty, and ravening, and darknes, loathly mire and all putrescence of thought and thing, foul mists and violent flame, cold without mercy, been born, and death without hope. Yet is this through him an not by him; and he shall see, and ye all likewise, and even shall those beings, who must now dwell among his evil and endure through Melko misery and sorrow, terror and wickedness, declare in the end that it redoundeth only to my great glory, and doth but make the theme more worth the hearing, Life more worth the living, and the World so much the more wonderful and marvellous, that of all the deeds of Iluvatar it shall be alled his mightiest and is loveliest. 

(p.55, emphasis mine)

Batman's entire existence, Bruce Wayne's whole life is predicated upon the absolute and strict (delusional) adhearance to his OWN Code of Law - The Law in Gotham ("The System") does not function, and so he defines his own law, applies it, and uses the application of his Law to bring Outlaws Within The System.

He sees himself as a necessary and essential bridging function between the limits and the shortcomings, and the weakness born of corruption of The Law of The System, and he sees him Self and defines his boundaries and moral code as existing only in the space between Expectation and Results.

He's like Captain Picard - he orientates his personality around a fixed point, marking a boundary beyond which (he tells himself) he may never cross and still be True to his cause and his Mission and not stray into the very realm of corruption that forced the need for his existence in the first place - 

The Line in the Sand, 

THIS Far, and No Further.

Beyond that Line, I stop being me, and this stops being what I was put here on this Earth to do.

And he BELIEVES THAT..!!! 

That's hilarious..!!!

How many times in the average week, in the course of his nightly assaults, does he beat a man half to death without so much as a second thought, and leave them bleeding and broken in a filthy alleyway, propped up against a grimy, piss-reek wall, WITHOUT calling them an ambulance...? Three, four time per week...? At the minimum, I would say.

Now - on an average spread of probable outcomes, all else being equal, how many times in a row, consecutively, would you have to beat a man half to death and leave him lying in a gutter without receiving any first aid or medical attention of any kind before one of them develops complications, or bleeds out internally, or suffers a fatal brain haemorrhage as a direct consequence of the sound beating he just took...?

I would guesstimate two or three at the very most.

And Batman, is the one that they say is the SANE one...?!

SARAH: 

What are you waiting for? 

Tom : 

Just touch these two strands together 

and The Daleks are finished. 

Have I that right? 

SARAH: 

To destroy the Daleks?

 You can't doubt it. 

Tom : 

Well, I do. 

You see, some things 

could be better with The Daleks. 

Many future worlds will 

become allies just because of 

their fear of the Daleks. 

SARAH: 

But it isn't like that...!

Tom : 

But The Final Responsibility is mine - and mine alone. 

Listen, if someone who knew The Future 

pointed out a child to you 

and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, 

to be a ruthless dictator 

who would destroy millions of lives - 

could you then kill that child..? 

SARAH: 

...we're talking about The Daleks, 

the most evil creatures ever invented. 

You must Destroy Them. 

You must complete Your Mission 

for The Time Lords. 

Tom : 

Do I Have The Right? 

Simply touch one wire 

against the other and that's it. 

The Daleks cease to exist. 

Hundreds of millions of people, 

thousands of generations 

can live without fear, in peace, 

and never even know the word 

'Dalek'. 

SARAH: 

Then why wait? 

If it was a disease or some sort of bacteria 

you were destroying, you wouldn't hesitate. 

DOCTOR: 

But if I kill, wipe out a whole intelligent lifeform - 

then I become Like Them. 

I'd be no better than the Daleks. 

SARAH: 

Think of all the suffering there'll be 

if you don't do it. 

GHARMAN: 

Doctor! Doctor, I've been looking everywhere for you. 

Davros has agreed to our terms. 

HARRY: 

He submitted? 

GHARMAN: 

He did, but he asked only one thing —

That he might be allowed to address 

a meeting of all The Elite, 

Scientific and Military. 

DOCTOR: 

He's going to put a case?

GHARMAN: 

Yes, but a vote will be taken. 

It's a foregone conclusion. 

There'll be a complete landslide 

against any further development of the Daleks. 

We've won. 

DOCTOR: 

I'm grateful to you, Gharman. 

More grateful than I can tell you...

******

SARAH: 

You don't seem too disappointed - 

We've failed, haven't we? 

DOCTOR :

Failed? No, not really —

You see, I know that although the Daleks will create havoc and destruction for millions of years, 

I know also that out of their Evil 

must come Something Good.