• @TraumaDumpling
    hexbear
    42
    1 month ago

    they were the same people a lot of the time, people think of samurai like these super honorable lawful almost religious guys but that was made up after samurai were irrelevant (kinda like europeans and knights), back in the day, if you weren't willing to cheat, lie, steal, murder, etc. for your Daimyo, you weren't really loyal at all - many 'ninja' were simply samurai or their men concealing their identity, or were otherwise specialist mercenaries hired by samurai/feudal lords in secret. in some eras and places Samurai would even test new blades by hiding near a road and sneaking up and killing peasants at night, a good sword was supposed to kill in 1 clean cut - sounds very much like Ninja behavior to me.

    they were basically the same as european knights, bloodthirsty warlords working for the local barons, and they would absolutely use stealth or subterfuge to accomplish their lord's will, because they were more or less intelligent rational people trying to accomplish material goals, not cartoon zealot idealists obsessed with 'honor' and 'purity' - the only 'honor' is serving your lord, the only 'purity' is in unwavering loyalty.

    • Vampire [any]
      hexagon
      hexbear
      10
      1 month ago

      That's pretty interesting

  • JohnBrownsBussy2 [he/him]
    hexbear
    42
    1 month ago

    Samurai: feudal landlords

    Ninjas: basically just peasants.

    Gotta go with the working peoples.

    • Ivysaur@lemmygrad.ml
      hexbear
      9
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Weren’t ninjas something like a branch of the military or am I completely making that up?

      e. actually maybe cops?

        • CascadeOfLight [he/him]
          hexbear
          12
          1 month ago

          I would say they're not wrong, in that despite almost exclusively coming from lower class and peasant families due to the 'dishonorable' methods they used, ninja often acted as secret police, bodyguards and military advisers for powerful feudal lords. But "ninja" is such a broad term it also includes spies, scouts, saboteurs, guerilla warfare experts, basically anyone that used deception or skullduggery in any capacity.

  • SoyViking [he/him]
    hexbear
    25
    1 month ago

    Samurais are always going to be feudal landlords. Ninjas are a lot more like guerillas.

    There's no chance of a samurai bring a comrade while a ninja could be.

  • newmou [he/him]
    hexbear
    22
    1 month ago

    If I remember right, originally ninjas had like their own specific clan that rich people from other clans would hire to basically do a hit on their competitors/enemies/rivals. Taking money from rich people to kill other rich people ain’t too bad of work

    • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
      hexbear
      2
      1 month ago

      That must be why some of the OG Bolsheviks robbed banks. No need to be hired by the rich to kill the rich. Just steal their money and kill the rich.

      soviet-hmm cut out the middle man?

      big-honk YES.

  • Mickmacduffin [he/him]
    hexbear
    22
    1 month ago

    Gotta go with ninjas. There could be one hiding in your room right now

  • BelieveRevolt [he/him]
    hexbear
    21
    1 month ago

    A ninja was the main character of probably the most famous Marxist manga ever, so I think the choice is obvious.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamui_(1964_manga)