Talk:Dettlaff van der Eretein/@comment-91.67.95.240-20160727084255/@comment-193.39.5.10-20190401113950

@Faul and fair a day:

"...own death is such an unbelievable idea for an immortal higher vampire..." No, it isn't. Higher Vampires can and do die. It may be rare but it does happen. I have never died (hence the ability to type) nor have I ever come close to doing so but I can still grasp the concept.

"...Dettlaff should have been by default more mature, more experienced and restrained, without taking into an account his vampire nature..." As I've noted every other Higher Vampire manages. And while Regis' genuine compassion may be rare other Higher Vampires have the maturity and practicality to avoid provoking the (collectively speaking) most powerful species on the planet.

"...there were other ways to contain him e.g. in the Haagmar cage or just mutilate him hard enough for him to recover quickly and bury his body (what happened with Regis once)..." So you think centuries of torture is going to improve his disposition? Between the two a quick death is the merciful option.

"Dettlaff can understand the value of a man only if he/she displays their good qualities and kindness to him personally..." Again, that just makes him an idiot. If you can recognise the value of individual humans then he knows humans have worth so he's not a psychopath (in the proper meaning of that term, being incapable of empathy). It is not a hard concept to realise that this applies to other members of the species.

"...he broke the vampire law, they are enforcers - do you think of the police as your enemies?" If I was a criminal I would. And, as you note, Regis is being considered a criminal. Although I suspect they are more vigilantes than police; a Higher Vampire would know sending them after Regis is pointless.

"... And you justify him - why so? Because they could protect themselves, had weapons? No, they couldn’t - there were two higher vampires against them, an army couldn’t..." Actually an army probably could, if they behaved tactically. Numbers would tell in the end. There's a reason Higher Vampires don't rule the world. But back on point; Geralt is one of the greatest warriors in the world, arguably THE greatest human warrior. Few if any of his human (or elven or dwarven) enemies stand a chance against him but he still kills them if they attack him. The only difference between that and Dettlaff is a matter of scale. And, given that Geralt can in fact defeat Dettlaff, a smaller scale than one might think.

"...Beauclair citizens (and there were actually armed knights and guards among them) as well had no chance against hordes of lower vampires..." The knights and guards did in fact kill several. The civilians did not. Rather making my point there.

"What makes him subject of human laws? Human-vampire convention of 717?) The fact he lives in human society? He is probably older than the society, frankly speaking, humans could be considered intruders in his world with his laws." He is the subject of human laws because he's committing crimes in a human land. I'm British but if I commit crimes in New York I would be subject to American law. Him being older than the society has no effect either or everyone born before a law is put in place wouldn't be subject to it. As for being intruders neither humans nor vampires are native to the world they now inhabit and if we're using age as a factor humans were there first.

"And if we decide to kill him, ain’t that be a crime too to do so without a court hearing?" The term, while sounding slightly ridiculous in this situation, would be "resisting arrest." A law enforcement officer in most countries is allowed to use reasonable force to defend themselves or others from a criminal who is refusing to surrender to them. In Dettlaff's case "reasonable force" covers pretty much anything in Geralt's arsenal. If he was willing to give up then it might be different but he simply isn't. Not a court in Geralt's world or ours would convict him.

The facts remain that Dettlaff behaved like an angry child with the power of a demigod and hundreds suffered for it while most Higher Vampires do not behave so. As such his immaturity is his own, not an unavoidable side effect of his nature. So the original poster's point stands.