Are the Eldar actually good guys?

[This Dave]

Actually, NO race in the 40K universe is what anyone would call "good". Even the Tau who are the only race that tolerates other races only does so as long as those races accept them as overlords. All the other races are xenophobic to the extreme, only letting others live as long as they're strong enough to stop themselves from being killed.

Weirdly only Tyranids and Orks are the only ones that could be considered neutral. Tyranids exist only to feed and Orks exist only to fight. Everyone else want to rule and/or burn burn the galaxy.

[YorkNecromancer]

Orks exist only to fight.

Well, that and winnin'.

Also mukkin' about.

[Mr Mystery]

But mostly fightin'. Because if you is not fightin', you is mukkin' about. And Orks always win. Everyone knows that. (it's actually becoming a personal philosophy of mine, because it's a great frame of mind!)

[euansmith]

YorkNecromancer, I do wish the forum had a like button.

Only the winners are good, only the losers are bad. It was ever thus. And the "reasons" why a war was fought often only becomes clear when the history books get written.

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8VCbvMoCV8[/url]

[DaveTycho]

The Eldar would think of themselves as the good guys.

[eldargal]

Also remember Eldar (both types) are the ultimate racial supremacists. They believe Eldar are superior. Dark Eldar might target Craftworlders sometimes but they will side with Eldar over non-Eldar simply because to do otherwise would be like siding with beef against the butcher. They are not good guys and they would absolutely ally if it suited their purposes.

[Morgrim]

Also you have the Harlequins who are drawn from all major groups of Eldar - Exodites, Craftworlders and Kabalites - and are known to have the ultimate goal of uniting all the disparate factions into one united species once again. Since they have a lot of pull in each of the societies and are the best at using the webway you've automatically got a diplomatic core that can act as a swift and safe go between and actually get those alliances formed in the first place.

[completeHook]

Path of the Outcast, or Why the Eldar are [URL="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wrongun"]Wrong'uns[/URL].

That murderous, self indulgent little cry baby Aradryan, what a massive git. If any character in the 40k universe deserves to be chained to the tow bar of a Baal Predator and road hauled until there is nothing left but ragged stumps in a pair of blood soaked thigh boots it's him.

Okay his crimes against the Imperium and Humanity are one thing, he's an alien pirate after all, but his crimes against fashion...


(Note: the only real definition I could find for a wrong'un was on the Urban Dictionary, so, fair warning.)

[Anggul]

They're only to be considered 'good' in their quest to destroy chaos at every turn.

In all other matters they're completely self-serving. They don't like killing, but they don the war mask of Khaine so that they can kill without regret for their survival. 40k is usually kill or be killed, with very little leeway. Biel-Tan are worse, actively going to war to keep their hold on planets and reclaim old Eldar planets, not for survival but for dominion. The Eldar aren't xenophobic like the Imperium. Certainly they consider themselves superior, but they wouldn't sacrifice countless lives of their own people for the sake of genocide just because another species had the nerve to exist. They will, however, slaughter any other species if it will save the life of a single one of their own.

They would still only ally with Dark Eldar when they have to though, not just because they can. They regard them as the horrific kin who spawn She Who Thirsts and still don't give a crap. Incubi even actively seek to shatter spirit stones to make torture wave emitters. The Eldar will do whatever is best for them in that situation. If the Farseers see that the best course of action for their survival is to aid the Imperium against a Dark Eldar raid, that's just what they'll do. All of this talk of: 'They'll always side with their own species' is nonsense. They'll do whatever best serves them. They'll sacrifice an entire Imperial world to save a single craftworlder or exodite, but they aren't going to mourn the passing of one of their depraved, disgusting cousins.

If a craftworld Eldar force finds itself in a sticky situation, the Dark Eldar aren't going to swoop in and save the day. They did it with Iyanden because they got to laugh at the craftworlders frantically committing necromancy while relying on their hated kin for survival, but usually they'll probably take advantage of the situation and start making opportunistic strikes on both sides, capturing whoever they can and generally screwing with both sides to their advantage. The Dark Eldar have no respect for one another and will kill each other without so much as a second thought, let alone the ones they see as false kin, and the craftworlders see their dark kin as disgusting creatures who might stab them in the back at any moment. There's none of this 'well we're still the same species so we're cool' nonsense, it's using each other for what they need and then trying to avoid being screwed afterwards. Does no-one remember that story in the 3rd ed codex where a Farseer and his Warlocks are sealing a webway gate on their craftworld because the Farseer saw that the Dark Eldar would find it and attack them? The Dark Eldar are happy to attack, kill and enslave other Eldar, they don't care, and the craftworlders know it.

The Harlequins would love for the various Eldar factions to work together, but it's considerably easier said than done, especially with Vect keeping them to heel. Perhaps that's why Cegorach is manipulating Lady Malys to bring about his downfall, maybe the removal of his iron grip will make it easier to convince the Dark Eldar to work with the Harlequins.

[Charon]

Does no-one remember that story in the 3rd ed codex where a Farseer and his Warlocks are sealing a webway gate on their craftworld because the Farseer saw that the Dark Eldar would find it and attack them? The Dark Eldar are happy to attack, kill and enslave other Eldar, they don't care, and the craftworlders know it.

Oh I remember it... but I also remeber that sometimes craftworlds attack other craftworlds, there does exist civil war on craftworlds, outcasts and corsairs attacking exodites, craftworlds and other outcasts and corsairs.
Thats not a Dark Eldar issue.
They all are like different factions in a walking dead episode. They try to survive at all costs. Sometimes this means to work together with another party of survivors and sometimes that means "raid them and take their equipment and food". Survival comes first for them. Ethics second. And concerning other species there is not too much of a moral dilema. Killing a few million humans is probably more like we did when we killed off wolves and bears (or other humans) to establish safe settlements in fertile areas.