40K Deep thought: Are the Eldar Actually Good Guys?

No-one’s like the Eldar but the Eldar, and the idea the two factions of their ancient species wouldn’t work together is something about the community that always surprises me. It might be because I remember 1st edition, where every species/faction was unremittingly evil, but I always assumed that the Eldar were (and are) one of the most unpleasant species out there, ‘Dark’ or not. They certainly were when I was growing up: a highly intelligent, scientifically advanced species, with powers of precognition and foresight, who use that power exclusively for their own survival, content to burn away billions of other sentient beings if it means they get Just One More Day… See, that doesn’t sound like good guys to me. Yes, the Eldar don’t have the Power From Pain rules their ‘Dark’ cousins do to codify their malevolence, but they are a species who practise the ritual sacrifice of their own: that Avatar has to come from somewhere. And as for the necromantic practises that lead to the Wraith constructs; murdering a twin, leaving their sibling wracked with grief and forced to spend their life psychically linked to their dead memory… all so your Wraithknight has a pilot? Is your species not advanced enough to find any other way to pilot a giant mech?

The Eldar are pretty dark. Maybe not, “BWAHAHAHAHAHAA I’M SOOOOO EVILLLL…” like the cartoonish villainy of the Dark Eldar, but actually dark – the kind of people who can set aside ethics in the name of necessity, no matter what.

Lay down your arms – I’m here to help!

The Arguments for Good
Now, I’m sure there will be a solid discussion about this below, so there are some assumptions about the Eldar ‘being good’ that should to be considered as well.

1.) The Eldar race is worthy of survival.
Well, what does ‘worthy’ mean? Yeah, every sentient being is worthy of survival, but we’ve established: the Eldar are prejudiced against every other race. They’re the KKK with pointy ears, happy to let any other sentient species die if it means they live. Understandable? Definitely. Darwinian? Sure. Morally right?
I did what I had to do.
It was for the greater good.
These deaths/crimes are justified by greater need.
Know who says things like that a lot?
The bad guy in everything ever. These are villain words. Someone who talks about ‘greater good’ implies there is a ‘lesser evil’, and that this ‘lesser’ evil must be tolerated, because Reasons.

2.) The Eldar race’s ancient knowledge cannot afford to be lost.
Why not?
It’s not like they care about anyone else’s ancient knowledge; the Necrons are older and have easily as advanced technology – if we lost the Eldar, there’d be plenty of knowledge left out there. Does simply being good at something justify your existence? Does it allow you to kill those without said knowledge if it helps you survive?
Not in a whole, law-of-the-jungle way: in an ‘I’m the good guy and I want to help save lives’ way.

3.) The Eldar are clearly good guys because they’re attractive.
There’s a reason the heroes are usually attractive and the villains deformed. There’s a reason if you’ve got facial deformities or scars people will mock or attack you. We’re simple creatures as a species, and we tend to trust beauty and distrust ugliness. Eldar have elegance and aesthetics on their side; they don’t look as horrid as the other species in 40K, and they’re not as overtly fascist as the Imperium, so they must be the good guys, right?

4.) They don’t do it deliberately; it’s the nature of the 40K universe that forces their hand.
Is that enough? To premeditatedly force the other species and factions into galaxy-spanning wars of conquest, force-evolving the Tau to their current technological high-point to act as a buffer against the horrors out there, forcing them to die instead of precious, precious Eldar?

5.) They’re not called Dark Eldar.
True. But just because your brother’s the one who’s a serial killer, does that mean your crimes get a free pass?

I only step on bad guys – really!

Eldar Morals In the Balance