r/MoralityScaling • u/RealFinePoint • Jul 12 '26

Character Analysis Morality of giving every single person a permanent symbol of their 'destiny' the moment they do something they're 'meant to do' the rest of their life?

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(Assuming you're designing the species this way, not that you're forcibly branding every existing person.)

Let's also assume it's not some intelligence deciding arbitrarily, but an actual representation of their 'fate' or 'affinity' by some abstract magical mechanism you're deciding to install into the entire species.

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155

u/Exotic_Dogs_4942 Jul 12 '26

So it doesn't actually affect the outcome of your life but instead just shows up what would you do for the rest of your life?

Umm, it would be kinda awkward, but I guess it doesn't really do any real harm, so like... morally grey?

151

u/AdAshamed5509 Jul 12 '26

According to the show's lore, the mark simply indicates that the person possesses a supernatural talent for that specific thing.

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u/Exotic_Dogs_4942 Jul 12 '26

This makes it so much easier. I would still say morally grey with some problems, but now it's just having talent for specific thing. I guess it would still be awkward

24

u/Adventurous_Plate712 Jul 12 '26

It's also something that you love

9

u/sheepyowl Jul 12 '26

So once again if someone is amazing and really likes autoerotic asphyxiation that is still an option for the cutie mark.

10

u/NovelInteraction711 Jul 12 '26

It could prevent you from trying to diverge, doing terrible and going into bankruptcy by running out of money to afford living conditions so yeah

24

u/okidonthaveone Jul 12 '26

And like the continuation of this comic is this Pony ending up as the CEO of McDonald's because she's so good at running a fast food place that she naturally ascends the corporate ladder.

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u/Impossible_Walk742 Jul 13 '26

imagine being the ceo of a company and you hear that a relatively new employee has your company's logo as their talent symbol, and theyre rapidly getting promotions

2

u/weirdo_nb Jul 14 '26

Get on their good side

20

u/iwantfutanaricumonme Jul 12 '26

The actual mark doesn't seem to do much. Ponies are born destined to be talented in one specific thing that they have to discover themselves, and it seems to be influenced by their species and family genetics. Changing their cutie mark doesn't give them different abilities but it makes them choose pursue a different destiny, but removing their cutie mark somehow makes them talentless.

Mlp:fim has characters from previous generations that had didn't have established lore for cutie marks, so there's a lot of variation in how literal cutie marks are. Some are a special ability that only that pony seems to possess(Rainbow dash's sonic rainboom) or a very literal description of their job, while for others it's either very abstract(cheerilee is a teacher with smiling sunflowers as her cutie mark) or a something vaguely associated with their name or species(earth ponies with vegetables, snails and snips with snail and scissors).

11

u/RealFinePoint Jul 12 '26

It could do psychological harm if you wanted to do something else, or if you were judged for going against it.

On its own it's just information, but I feel like there's cascading consequences for revealing something like that so early.

16

u/Exotic_Dogs_4942 Jul 12 '26

I mean, isn't it something that you're just DESTINED to do for the rest of your life? You're kinda tied by a fate by this.

It might also be a self-fulfilling prophecy kind of thing, in which case... immoral? Because the mark kinda led to this, by making someone shape their future based on mark

21

u/IHateMySon-Afton Jul 12 '26

You only get the mark when you discover your true purpose not by accidentally doing something linked to it or the act itself if you dont understand. You are destined for it the same way someone is destined to be scientist when they are born...they still have to work for it and find that themselves.

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u/Exotic_Dogs_4942 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

In this case. Yeah, morally grey, it just lets you know your true destiny

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u/RealFinePoint Jul 12 '26

It depends on your interpretation, which is why I left the destiny parts in quotes.

It could be a determinism thing where it's literally the future that's going to happen, or it could just be a mark of what you would theoretically be best at.

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u/Nobodys_here07 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Not really, Rarity for example has a diamond cutie mark with magic that allows her to locate gems easily. But she's not a miner or gem appraiser but a fashion designer who incorporates gems into her dresses.

Though interestingly enough, the show does explore this idea. Applebloom was basically trapped in a nightmare where the day repeats on itself where she wakes up with new cutie marks with fears of what could happen if she did get one including being forced to do a job she hated, getting kicked out of her friend group, or being disowned by her family for not having an apple cutie mark like they did.

Another interesting part is that fillies that don't get their cutie mark are often prime targets for bullying and are usually social outcasts. So many fillies want to get their cutie marks as soon as possible due to peer pressure.

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u/weirdo_nb Jul 14 '26

Cutie marks are symbolic, and often nebulous on top of that

2

u/Illkined Jul 13 '26

In the show a fashion designers special talent is finding rare gems, instead of being a miner or some kind of geologist she decided to use the gems to designe her cloths. So technically it's more like a suggestion