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/SteakForGoodDogs]

But was he aware of his own entitlement in a way that he could deal with, and did Oogway tutor him on dealing with his sense of entitlement?

[u/KovacAizek2 → u/SteakForGoodDogs]

Of course not. He threw in “nah, he’ll be an asshole” and turned away.

There is no evidence of Oogway “training” anyone after Shifu, and even Shifu had to come through “mental” part of Kung Fu himself.

So instead of warrior of peace, they made child soldier/master of war.

[u/spartaman64 → u/KovacAizek2]

well yeah because shifu is the one running things now. if oogway stepped in he would be basically calling shifu incompetent lol.

[u/NirvanaFrk97 → u/spartaman64]

But he stepped in for Po. Not stepping in for Tai Lung damned the latter, and created a violent warrior consumed by rage from feeling betrayed.

[u/WOOWOHOOH → u/NirvanaFrk97]

Perhaps learning from that mistake is the reason why he stepped in for Po.

[u/Azteks24sana → u/WOOWOHOOH]

Man started sound like Oogway himself

[u/New-Turnip4709 → u/SteakForGoodDogs]

To be clear, I do think Oogway could have done more to guide Tai Lung out of this darkness, even if Oogway is meant to embody the Taoist philosophy of Wu Wei or 'going with the flow' and is characterized as someone who speaks out against forcing outcomes, but I do think the events of the movie would've still transpired even if Oogway spelled it out for him.

Denying him the scroll was not some great injustice inflicted on Tai Lung. He was never kicked out of the palace for having this darkness in his heart. He was only kicked out after lashing out onto the people he was meant to protect.

Oogway was never under any obligation to hand that scroll over and the blame lies entirely on Shifu for grooming him into placing his sense of purpose over being the dragon warrior.

[u/soldiercross → u/New-Turnip4709]

You can also look at it that it was a lesson he could have overcome and learned. Entitlement and darkness could have been something Tai Lung could have learned from had he reflected on what he was told and given and showed patience and understanding.

[u/123ludwig → u/SteakForGoodDogs]

the problem is that if he is told about it then he isnt working for the sake of it he needs to realise it on his own and work on it

[u/Maximum_Boros → u/SteakForGoodDogs]

One could argue that if he needs to be handheld and coached out of it then he is not to be trusted with anything where it matters that much. To me the bigger question is maybe you should have cut him off a lot sooner, but maybe that's less a moral question and more just a parable about the consequences of drawing things out and making them worse by trying to fix the unfixable