I was thinking about Locke’s moral code and how she would operate in the story.

For the most part, I designed Primis with the idea that characters can freely express their morals and that fights don’t necessarily have to end in death nor even require the protagonists to win. This means that going into a conflict, your only real assurance as a reader would be that the story wouldn’t end. (With the exception of Xia.)

This allows me to explore character morality, and with Locke I knew that she would not be the type to just try and murder any opponent she faces. Thus she could be used to explore heroism as a concept in an environment where the goal isn’t saving the city or the earth, but instead just about doing the right thing, which I believe would be her thesis.

Locke wouldn’t want to kill anyone if she doesn’t have to, despite the fact she can do so easily with her matter construction ability. The principle being that although she isn’t trying to be a super hero, she believes that if she can protect those who cannot protect themselves, then she has an obligation to do so. (In other words, with great power comes great responsiblity.)

However the difference between her and any generic super hero is that she doesn’t think killing is beyond her, she will at some point be forced to take a life because someone was refusing to back down. It’ll make her sad but its not a line she’d be unwilling to cross.

These morals will contrast with Zenori and Modotsu who have abilities that are excellent for clean, lethal executions on their opponents. Zenori would only comply with Locke because Fanumi would want her to, and Zenori would only drop this rule when Fanumi is in danger. Modotsu would have an easy time not being lethal (its as simple as not wanting to be) but when she’s stressed it takes a moment of misjudgement to become lethal, so she may end up accidentally killing people.

Locke wouldn’t judge them for being more easily willing to kill, but rather just insist they try their best not to because although the world is dark, and bad people get away with many things. The best thing to do is to be above it and show that positivity isn’t weakness or resignment to evil, but that it can triumph. I think its a positive message in this world we currently reside in.

(There’s also the fact that if Locke just killed anyone who she felt threatened by, most of the main cast would not be around as all of them but Fanumi were met in hostile situations.)