Just Because They Can Doesn’t Mean They Should: Writing Morality That Makes Audiences Think

 Part of the series “How to Write a Book from Start to Finish”

By J.E. Nickerson | Wise Thinkers Help Desk

In two of the most iconic blockbusters of the 1990s, a single line from each film stands the test of time:

• “You can’t go around killing people.” — Terminator 2: Judgment Day

• “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” — Jurassic Park

At first glance, they’re just quotes — simple, memorable, even humorous. But at their core, both speak to the same truth: power without morality is dangerous. And as writers, that truth should shape how we build our stories.

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The Gap Between Ability and Ethics

How many stories have you read — or written — where characters are given incredible power, skills, or knowledge, but are also forced to navigate what’s right and wrong?

As the group Crosby, Stills & Nash once sang:

“You who are on the road must have a code that you can live by.”

In Terminator 2, a movie packed with explosions, gunfights, and time-traveling machines, a 10-year-old boy stops the narrative cold with a simple statement:

“You can’t go around killing people.”

That one line changes everything. The Terminator, a machine programmed to destroy, begins to learn restraint. Later, after shooting a man in the legs, he says flatly:

“He’ll live.”

It’s twistedly funny — but deeply revealing. Morality, even for a machine, isn’t hardwired. It’s taught. It’s chosen.

Contrast that with Jurassic Park, where Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm delivers his now-famous warning about unchecked ambition. The dinosaurs weren’t the real problem — the danger came from the humans who refused to question their own motives.

“They didn’t stop to think if they should.”

This is the heart of the entire film series — the danger of brilliant minds pushing forward without moral boundaries.

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Sarah Connor: Morality on the Brink

While the Terminator learns not to kill, Sarah Connor flirts with becoming a killer. She’s a mother willing to do anything to protect her son — and the future of humanity. But in one unforgettable moment, she nearly murders a man in cold blood. Not out of hatred, but out of calculated necessity.

It’s a chilling scene because Sarah isn’t a villain — she’s a woman pushed to the edge. She’s traumatized, desperate, and determined to stop the coming war. But that desperation nearly leads her to become the very thing she fears.

This moment reminds us: our characters don’t need to be perfect to be moral — they just need to be conscious of the lines they’re about to cross. When Sarah hesitates, gun shaking in her hands, the tension is unforgettable. Not because she’s a monster, but because she’s human. And as writers, that humanity is where the story lives.

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Raised by War: When Survival Becomes Normal

One of the most quietly devastating lines in Terminator 2 comes from young John Connor:

“I grew up this way. Riding around on motorcycles, learning how to blow stuff up. Thought that’s how everybody lived.”

That single line carries a lifetime of pain. His childhood wasn’t innocent. It was shaped by war, paranoia, and preparation. And yet, despite that, John is the one who teaches the Terminator not to kill. He tries to pull his mother back from the edge. His morality was forged in chaos, not comfort — and that makes it even more profound.

Sometimes a character’s sense of right and wrong is shaped entirely by their environment. And that brings us to another modern example: Jason Bourne.

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Jason Bourne: Morality Under Pressure

The Bourne film series centers on a man trained by the government to be a weapon. He’s skilled in espionage, hand-to-hand combat, and assassination — but suffers from amnesia. As his memory returns, so does something else: his conscience.

Bourne isn’t just a man trying to remember who he is. He’s a man reckoning with what he’s done. And the more he learns about his past, the more he questions the system that created him. The Bourne films ask hard questions about loyalty, morality, and government overreach — all while centering on a man who could kill, but chooses to question instead.

These films show us that power alone isn’t enough. Without ethics, power corrupts. And when characters like Bourne push back, they make us ask those same questions about our own world.

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Fiction That Makes Us Think

These stories work not just because they entertain, but because they challenge. Beneath the CGI, explosions, and tense showdowns are questions about life, ethics, and consequences.

• Jurassic Park asks: Should we do something just because we can?

• Terminator 2 asks: Is destruction inevitable, or can we choose peace?

• The Bourne Identity asks: What happens when morality wakes up in a man trained to forget it?

Great stories give us characters who wrestle with right and wrong, not in theory, but in action. They show us how trauma can twist good intentions, how desperation can cloud judgment, and how morality isn’t black and white — it’s a living tension that evolves with experience.

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The Moral Code in Storytelling

As writers, we have the power to do more than entertain. We can ask hard questions, stir thought, and create characters that reflect the human condition — messy, conflicted, but trying.

Sarah Connor wasn’t born a fighter — life shaped her into one.

The scientists in Jurassic Park weren’t evil — but their unchecked curiosity led to chaos.

Jason Bourne didn’t choose violence — but he had to choose what to do with the memories of it.

These characters resonate not because they’re flawless, but because they’re real. Their internal battles echo our own. And that’s what makes their stories unforgettable.

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The Final Takeaway

So the next time you give a character great power, also give them a choice. Make them question it. Make them pause before they act. Make them feel the weight of what they’re about to do.

Because that’s where the real story begins —

in the space between can and should.

“Writing isn’t about entertaining people. It’s about waking them up.”

Ready to write characters that do more than act — but wrestle with why?

Download Questions to Ask Your Characters About Power, Morality, and Choice and start building stories that challenge, inspire, and stick with your readers long after the final page.

🔗Questions to ask your characters about power, morality and choicePDF

For more deep character driven storytelling read the article Why Did You Do That? Discovering Your Character’s Motivation

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📚 And if you’re new here, I’m J.E. Nickerson — faith based author and inspirational storyteller. You can check out my books here or follow me on YouTube for more inspiration and encouragement on this writing life.