Forced Redemption
Lamont Cranston:You know my real name?The Tulku:Yes. I also know that for as long as you can remember, you struggled against your own black heart and always lost. You watched your spirit, your very face, change as the beast claws its way out from within you. You are in great pain, aren’t you?[Cranston leaps at the Tulku who magically avoids the attack.]The Tulku:You know what evil lurks in the hearts of men, for you have seen that evil in your own heart. Every man pays a price for redemption; this is yours.Lamont Cranston:I’m not looking for redemption.The Tulku:You have no choice. You will be redeemed, because I will teach you to use your black shadow to fight evil.[Cranston continues to violently resist but only succeeds in exhausting himself.]Lamont Cranston:Am I in Hell?The Tulku:Not yet.— “The Shadow” (1994)
An unique and fascinating concept: a holy man forcibly redeeming an evil man—a lost soul, really—through both great compassion and (implied) harsh discipline.
