I think part of the thing with the devil may be that we expect "monstrous" entities to have essential natures -- the devil is thoroughly evil, so consistent rule-following may be an aspect of seeing him as consistently having traits. (Also I think there's an interesting ambiguity in how you're supposed to interpret the opening story: did…
I think part of the thing with the devil may be that we expect "monstrous" entities to have essential natures -- the devil is thoroughly evil, so consistent rule-following may be an aspect of seeing him as consistently having traits. (Also I think there's an interesting ambiguity in how you're supposed to interpret the opening story: did the lawyer defeat the devil through trickery, or did he do the same thing as his brothers and construct a tribute to devilishness?)
I also have a post where I make a case the rules tend to have negative connotations, so it could be somewhat appropriate for a character seen as bad (the devil) to be associated with things that are bad (rules). https://ttrpgteleology.substack.com/p/rules-and-systems-have-bad-pr
I think part of the thing with the devil may be that we expect "monstrous" entities to have essential natures -- the devil is thoroughly evil, so consistent rule-following may be an aspect of seeing him as consistently having traits. (Also I think there's an interesting ambiguity in how you're supposed to interpret the opening story: did the lawyer defeat the devil through trickery, or did he do the same thing as his brothers and construct a tribute to devilishness?)
I also have a post where I make a case the rules tend to have negative connotations, so it could be somewhat appropriate for a character seen as bad (the devil) to be associated with things that are bad (rules). https://ttrpgteleology.substack.com/p/rules-and-systems-have-bad-pr