Ethical Dilemmas Writing Prompts

Humans have discovered how to live forever, allowing them to die when they feel ready to do so. But it is considered bad form to live for too long. You have lingered much longer than is polite and those around you are trying to convince you to die.

You are not a good person. Your party was made of good people, and you tried to be good because you liked having allies. But now they're all missing, so they won't see the lengths you're willing to go to to save them.

You've been summoned as a hero of legend to save a medieval fantasy world from evil. Same old, same old. However, it very quickly dawns on you that a medieval world's idea of "evil" is quite incompatible with what you, a modern person, would consider evil.

The dark forest hypothesis is correct. There are many civilizations that exist in the universe, but keep silent in fear of the "hunters in the woods." So, instead of hiding in fear, why not become an angler fish?

You are Death, the ancient entity that claims souls and preserves them. Your counterpart, Life, is eccentric and bubbly as she creates souls and grants life. Occasionally she asks you to spare certain beings or delay their deaths, but today she asks you something different; To end a life early.

"How many people have died to achieve this world domination of yours?" "769." "...What?" "769 people died to achieve my plans. I counted them, and had each of their names etched on my throne so I never forget what my victory cost the world. Now tell me, how many have you killed to see me dead?"

A devil has been making a deal with people: $1 million dollars for 1 year off of your life. They become worried when the same person makes the deal over 100 times.

"Everyone can become a billionaire within a month", or so I was told. You decide to let a clairvoyant superintelligence pilot your body for a month. As it takes the most optimal path to make you a billionaire, you watch hopelessly in horror.

"I don't get it," says the demon, "This person's lived a perfectly good and virtuous life. Why are you sending them to hell?" The angel nervously rubs the back of their head. "Honestly? We're pretty sure they'd be happier in hell than heaven."

You are talented chef often tasked with preparing the rarest and finest delicacies for the worlds rich and powerful. One day you are given an order; in 3 weeks you will prepare and serve a mermaid. You think it’s a joke, until you are shown the tank where the mermaid resides. Alive.

"Good wish, you still have three wishes." A lightbulb goes off in my head. "So, you're saying if I make a selfless wish like that one, it doesn't count?" The genie visibly relaxes, as if I was the first person to connect the dots. "Yes, exactly."

As a hitman you worked for all sorts of clients. Politicians, royalty, business folks. Today a child clutching their piggy bank approaces you, tears in their eyes 'I'm being hurt real bad and you can make bad people disappear, right?'

You are captaining a cutting-edge interstellar spacecraft, far and away the fastest of its kind. Due to the Wait/walk dilemma, you have caught up to a sleeper ship belonging to an ancient generation of humans. You must decide how to proceed.

You, a side character, watch in horror as the MC forgives and doesn't kill the main villain, who murdered your friends and family, saying, "If I killed them, then I'd be just like them."

Heaven and Hell are actually both afterlife luxury locations who compete for your membership when you die. The only reason we view hell as evil is good marketing.

"This person sold their soul to you fair and square," said the incredulous angel to the demon. "Why are you petitioning for them to enter heaven?" "Because after everything they did with what I gave them, they deserve to."

Ever since you were cursed with the inability to lie, you've struggled to navigate a world built on deception. But one day, you discover that your 'curse' grants you an incredible power: the ability to verify any fact, no matter how hidden or unknown.

As a demon, the laws that bind you are very clear: if anyone should make a request of you using your true name, you must grant it, and take their soul in return. For the first time you feel conflicted as you appear before a young girl with dyslexia, who tried writing to Santa Claus.

People think you're a Monkey's Paw type Genie. In actuality, you're twisting their wishes, not to give them what they want, but to give them what they NEED.

Every time humanity makes a new discovery, it's only a short matter of time before it's weaponized. This happened with fire, iron, ships, gunpowder, aircraft, and nuclear power, to name a few. In a world shaken by the discovery of souls and the afterlife, this trend holds true.

You are a legendary hero. One day, you checked ahead of your party in the local inn for the night. Later, you are woken up because of a fight in the town's square. The villagers are attacking a group of monsters mercilessly. There is one problem : those monsters are your beloved party members

A demon offers to grant all of your wildest dreams in exchange for the blood of 5 innocents. unbeknownst to him you are a trauma surgeon and you realize he never said the innocent weren't required to be dead.

You were given immortality to atone for your horrific crimes against humanity. You wander the earth for millennium. Finally, you are given the option to revoke your immortality and end your suffering. You deny it.

You, a fake clone, are stuck in the classic “Shoot one, let one live” situation. To your horror, the person with the gun outsmarts you and uncovers that you were fake all along. Just as you brace yourself for the bullet, they point their gun towards the real person and pulls the trigger.

"Oh please daddy please!" My daughter begs. "I promise I will look after them!" I am skeptical, but what the hell. She is almost 6. "An artificial world is a real responsibility, pumpkin. They are sentient. Don't forget to feed them and give them purpose." She cries in glee. I boot the world.

The lawyer paces the courtroom. "Look at my client," He says. "He became an unaging immortal at the age of 12. He graduated college long before any of us were born! He has a 20 greats grandnephew! Why do child labor laws prohibiting 12 year olds from getting jobs still apply to him?!"

You're offered a deal, push the button and you get 100k, but the person that hates you the most gets double. As far as you know no one actually hates you so you push it. 10 minutes later you get a text from the person you love most that they just got 200k deposited into their bank account...

"Father, if Necromancers are evil and all get hunted down, why is the court wizard allowed to be one?"

“You may make three wishes. Once you have, I will choose two to grant and one to forever bar you from gaining.”

"How can you claim they are friendly? They have never been registered." "All spacefaring organisms are harmless. If they weren't, they could have defended their native habitat. After all, why would an apex predator need to expand its territory into space? Let them land and you'll see."