Would you befriend a monster?

[Widdershins 9,959]

Feel free to consider this from either your stance or your characters', I usually rarely differentiate.

 

Now I don't mean some hunky werewolf or vampire from some teen romance novel that still looks vaguely like you do. No, I mean relating to some other being that is clearly far from your species & by all means ought be able to kill you without too much trouble on their part.

I'm talking either a creature that is clearly predatory with a big enough mouth that could accidentally inhale you whole or one with far too many appendages then you consider biologically viable with a face that seems to be permanently set in an expression of "I may be sincerely considering how to best suck the bodily fluids out of you in the most painful way possible" ,but despite their physical appearance are clearly trying their best to converse and befriend you in as civil as they can manage.

 

Case in point! For example, the Nerubians from Warcraft. For those of you not familiar, they are basically large, sentient spider...centaur...things. Look, there's a reason I ain't bringing up a picture, I don't want the whole of the forums to simultaneously wet themselves. Point is, they're not the slightest bit humanoid & look very much like the things a hero like you gets sent out to slay. And for the most part they are, as their race has suffered very much from the drama that tends to happen in video games where alot of the War gets Crafted.

But at one point your character meets up with a band of them that talk to you so civilly that were their mouth-bits capable of it, I'd expect them to have a British accent. When they send you into some...pit to help them out, you come back out with some shrooms for all the world assuming that this may be something they'd consider a tasty treat. When you do fork over the fungus they pause for a moment then look at you drolly and say something to the effect of "We appreciate the effort, we really do...but we do also want you to know that you basically just handed us a pile of poop."

[KiraTakahashi 748]

If I could befriend the monster haunting my nightmares I would. Just so I could interrogate him and see why he has been following me for years.

[Missklang 1,053]

Very interesting question you have here. It's quite a discussion on what is your definition of "monster". It can, of course, be referred to the appearance. Like, take the xenomorph for example. A killing machine. Designed to kill. Imagined to kill. The sole purpose of it is to kill. But for me, being a monster is not only to look like one, after all, no matter how monster you look, you can always be "human" inside, take Koro-sensei from "Assassination Classroom". A being that looks nothing like a human, capable of destroying the moon itself, insanely fast, invulnerable to damage. Yet, one of the nicest persons in the whole anime. Being a monster is a state of mind. It's what you do, not what you look like. It may look like a human. It may not. Vile creatures that just want to see other suffer, that doesn't care for others. No empathy, no emotions. You can die and they will just go by and not even spare a look. So, returning to your question, yes, I would befriend a funky looking killing machine, a xenomorph, a giant spider, a Slenderman a Grinch. A true monster? No way. Those beings don't want friends. Don't need them too. Exept if I see that there is hope for them to become human again. Then surely yes. But in the mean time, I don't need to find one. I am one myself, deep inside. So, you should probably ask my friends why they still around xD 

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

I would, and not just fictional, but a real one. Once in the lower astral I came across this elongated humanoid figure, made out of black latex.

His head, like a broken holographic signal, proyected countless faces. It sensed me, and so I fell completely immobile. His realm, his rules.

I could feel the numbed pain, warm blood bathing my chest. As this thing slowly punctuated and stabbed in between each one of my ribs.

"Everything is a projection of ourselves, fear drives us into discovery, we see our true selves or we neglect it, causing us further pain"

It was a projection of my fear, this being. I integrated it, and so it banished along my fear.

Edited November 1, 2016 by They call me Loyalty

[EmeraldStar04 250]

If it isn't incurably evil, then sure.

[BastementSparkle 20,326]

Sure thing, it's not good to judge by appearances, and just because something looks utterly terrifying doesn't make it evil or cruel. Admittedly my own fears might get in the way, but if the "Monster" is truly friendly, I'd love to be friends with them.

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

Hmmm, i actually thoughed about this a lot.

I had this Idea of making a Horror Movie or Game in which one of the most disgusting looking Monsters are actually normal life forms that can normally talk and are very kind.

 

Would i myself befriend with such a thing?

Depends, when i think about, sure why not.

But in reality?

Well...if i would really see a Monster, like one that shouldnt exist, i would probably be really really scared.

I might get an Heart Attack, who knows?

 

So i would need time to calm down first.

[SFyr 1,982]

@@Widdershins, as others have said, I think it's a pretty interesting question. Honestly... I think we would overestimate our ability to overlook physical appearances. It's kind of a visible pattern that we, overall, have an easier time trusting or opening up to things that are pleasing to the eye, or fits within our instinctual bias towards "safe" or relatable to ourselves. Meanwhile, we show a natural distrust or lack of empathy for things that are alien enough, or even visually unpleasant. Like I said, I think this is pretty evident in a lot of our behavior thus far, and people may underestimate how big a factor this bias can play.

 

For a slight example, sketchy looking people tend to be overall judged to less trustworthy, or more worthwhile to avoid. Social experiments have been performed to illustrate this pretty well. Basically with just a bit of dirt or poor hygiene, maybe some iconic "look" of someone untrustworthy, you already have distrust and avoidance, and this is with a 100% human. Similarly, you can fake stereotypes, talk with certain accents/use poor vocabulary, and all of it heavily influences what people think about you--for good or for bad. Overall, people treat people differently depending on first impressions.

 

Even nonhuman sources seem to only get higher levels of reverence and empathy after we find some human-like characteristics to latch onto. A humanoid robot that can perform simple tasks and walks around like a child is bound to be considered a lot more worthwhile/endearing than an algorithm on the computer that actually has a greater depth of complexity and "intelligence."

 

I dunno. In my opinion, we're not good at being unbaised, is what I'm trying to say.  I think we're good at aiming for it, but not the best in putting it into practice. I think we'd have a lot of issues befriending creatures that are difficult to humanize. It could be possible, but I think it'd be a very strained relationship even if it worked out, depending on exactly how different humans and the creatures in question would be.

[Peppermint Larry 203]

I think "monster" is an objective term. A shark is a monster to humans, but humans are monsters to elephants and other endangered species. Sometimes, we're the scary bad guys.

 

To me, that's like asking if I'd befriend a friendly lion if I knew they weren't going to kill me, but easily could. And my answer is yes; if they gave me enough reason to trust them. The same applies to Silent Hill monsters.

 

I'd say that the more communication the monster is capable of having, the more likely I'd be able to become actual friends with them.

And I'd say that if a monster is incapable of speech and shows their benevolence through gestures, I'd at least treat them kindly.

[Dreambiscuit 9,815]

You've seen Beauty and the Beast right? That says it all for me. 

[Ganondorf8 11,315]

I'd be willing to do that if the monster was capable of understanding the concepts of friendship. If they were a mindless beast that only understood destruction, then that's a monster I'd avoid.

[Ninjaed 526]

Let's shrink that wall of text!

 

To nuance what you're saying, we're all fans of a show featuring creatures that are definitely not human. Although they do share a lot with us otherwise, obviously. But then there's also dogs and cats, other animals too, some people even like snakes and spiders. So if we can grow to like those definitely-not-human beings, apart from the first shock and a period of getting used to their appearance, I don't see why we wouldn't be able to accept those "monsters".

 

And yes, "monsters" because Missklang said, being a monster isn't about your appearance but about how you act. So if they're behaving in a friendly fashion and all, they're not monsters in my book, just scary-looking dudes - scary for a human, at least.

[The MegaBrony 219]

I love Undertale! It's got very memorable monsters, and I wouldn't kill a single one. If you don't befriend them, Sans will repeatedly dunk on you as the final boss.

[FizzyGreen 909]

If i know it would never kill me, i would totally befriend it. I can get used to things. If they aren't "bad" i can befriend anything. I even befriended a piece of wood once. Seriously.

But eventually we didn't talk anymore because he reached his gual into being built into a bed.

Edited November 20, 2016 by FizzyGreen

[CheeryFox 23,821]

Sure. But there's that 'don't eat me and others' rule we'd have to - somehow discuss.

[Stone Cold Steve Jobs 22,440]

I would befriend something that doesn't try and kill me and shows an interest in me and if for some reason it was a predatory thing, sure. But we would probably be the kind of friends that don't talk, don't hang out, don't send each other christmas cards, etc.