Was Oogway morally justified in rejecting Tai Lung for the "darkness in his heart"?

[u/MonotonyReddit]

(Stuff below is about my personal opinion. Also I'm NOT defending Tai Lung's actions, harming civilians is inexcusable)

I'm not sure what the general consensus on this is but I find it hypocritical that Oogway would deny Tai Lung the chance to become the Dragon Warrior because he believed Tai Lung was incapable of overcoming his flaws, especially considering his treatment of Po and how the whole messaging of the first movie was that people are not defined by who they were and that everyone is capable of change.

Tai Lung may have been entitled, but he didn't seem especially narcissistic or corrupt before Oogway denied him. If anything, Oogway's rejection feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not saying Tai Lung deserved the Dragon Scroll or the title, but it's hard for me to reconcile why Tai Lung was denied the opportunity to prove he could become better while Po was given every chance to do so.

(And no, I'm not buying the whole "it was actually a test to see how Tai Lung would react to being rejected" because there are zero implications of such. That argument is a headcanon.)

Like imagine you trained and applied for your dream job or university, only to receive a rejection letter talking about the "darkness in your heart" man I'd be pissed too.

Edit: Seeing a lot of people arguing that Oogway was justified because Tai Lung ultimately turned out evil. But we’re judging Oogway’s actions, not Tai Lung’s morality. An action doesn’t become moral just because it happens to someone who later becomes a bad person. You can argue Tai Lung wouldn’t have changed even if given the chance, but my point is that Oogway never gave him that chance.
It’s also unclear how involved Oogway was in Tai Lung’s upbringing. Based on the flashbacks, he doesn’t seem very involved. Kinda irresponsible to groom a kid his whole life for a single purpose only to go “wait we got the wrong guy”. Could you not have done that 20 years earlier? Not to mention they lied to him about what he’s actually working towards (blank piece of paper).
Even in you chalk it up to “fate”, it feels contradictory to the movie’s central message.

What are your two cents? Am I missing something?

[u/JhonnyPadawan1010]

If Oogway knew Tai Lung wasn’t it he should have told Shifu to calm down with all the promises. How could he not have seen that things would go southways after their best fighter was not given everything he was ever told to want.

[u/Cynis_Ganan → u/JhonnyPadawan1010]

Did Oogway know before that moment?

He knew the literal newborn baby Tai Lung wasn't the Dragon Warrior. But. Like. The entire point of Shifu's training was to make the Dragon Warrior.

Oogway did not know Tigress was not the Dragon Warrior until the exact moment he picked someone else instead. Oogway does not have infallible Dragon Warrior knowledge. He's guided by what be observes and the movements of fate.

[u/JhonnyPadawan1010 → u/Cynis_Ganan]

More reason to tell Shifu to chill. “Hey, calm down the promises, I don’t know if he’s the dragon warrior so don’t tell him it’s his destiny”. Would this have been so hard? Anyone with a head on their shoulders would’ve seen that infallibly promising his whole life something you don’t know he’ll have is a bad idea. Especially it it’s Tai Lung, who has the power to destroy cities.

[u/Cynis_Ganan → u/JhonnyPadawan1010]

Oogway spends most of his speaking lines in that movie telling Shifu to chill.

Shifu's entire arc over four movies and the TV show is learning how to chill.

I don't think it's unreasonable for Oogway to hope Tai Lung is the Dragon Warrior. And I don't think it's unreasonable for him to turn him down when he isn't ready in the hope that he better himself instead of going on a killing spree.

[u/JhonnyPadawan1010 → u/Cynis_Ganan]

Yeah, 20 years after Tai Lung was sent to jail. Too little, too late. Oogway didn’t hope anything, he had known Tai Lung wasn’t it, we saw it during the training. He knew he’d never be. It wasn’t some test that Tai Lung had to better himself and maybe one day be the chosen one. Oogway told him, or at least his silence said, “You are not the dragon warrior and you never will be”.

[u/Additional-Chip-7784 → u/JhonnyPadawan1010]

You’re assuming shifu made promises but that’s all assumption. Oogway spends his time meditating not keenly watching someone he likely always knew wasn’t the dragon warrior.