Most Compassionate Lady

Question: I know you guys haven't gotten to the mess that is the CB yet, but I wanted to pick your brains about Guanyin. How much Justice do you think she has? I feel like some of the boons make perfect sense for her (Pardon and Shield of Righteousness in particular) but I feel like Justice just doesn't really fit her, especially in regards to her having the Arbiter.

I think we agree with you, anonymous asker who loves Chinese goddesses. We would probably say that Guanyin might have some Justice, but she definitely does not have all the Justice. All the Justice belongs more with people like Yanluo, who can and will chase a criminal through the mountains to his doom, or Xiwangmu, who enforces the laws of Taoism like it ain't no thang.

Justice is the purview of law and order; it governs the creation of laws, the staving off of chaos, and the punishment (and in some cases rehabilitation) of those who do evil deeds or destabilize society. You usually see it wielded by gods who are kings or judges, arbiters or lawmakers, even sometimes executioners or doers of other unpleasant things that result in eradicating disorder and crime. It walks a thin line between being used for good or being used for evil, all dependent on what laws are in place and what crimes are considered punishable.

Guanyin is probably in favor of there not being chaos or misbehavior, but she's also not the kind of goddess who enforces those sorts of things; she doesn't go out there and bring people to justice, she doesn't judge the worth or behavior of those around her, and she doesn't make rules that she expects others to abide by. As the goddess of compassion and understanding, she wants to alleviate suffering and help everyone be free, enlightened and happy, but Justice doesn't always mean those things. In fact, Justice often directly contradicts them.

I'm sure Guanyin probably would like to use Pardon to alleviate the suffering of former criminals, but Pardon requires that the criminal in question has appropriately served his sentence, or else been convicted in error. How many suffering lawbreakers would she want to pardon, only for the boon to refuse to work because they hadn't yet been punished enough? Shield of Righteousness saves the innocent from being wrongfully lashed out against, but it can't save the guilty, and doesn't Guanyin care about their pain and fear just as much? If anything, Justice's hardline refusal to work against the law, regardless of mitigating circumstances or emotional trauma, seems like something that would make it very difficult for Guanyin to use. Justice is the kind of purview you use to put Valjean in jail for decades for stealing bread from a rich man to feed his starving neice; Guanyin is the kind of lady who would let him hide out in her shed and tell Javert he just missed him. I mean, this is a person who let herself be executed for literally no reason at all because she didn't want the executioner to get fired for failing.

We don't think it's impossible for her to have any boons in the purview, but she's definitely not an Arbiter, and it would take some spectacular new myths about her legal exploits to make us reconsider. We think it's likely that she has way more Guardian than Justice, which is a purview that can save and protect people regardless of who they are or what they've done.