Ancient mythologies all around the world are full of stories of heroes whose oaths have turned on them. Heck, even Tolkien included the Oath of Fëanor in his mythology, and Fëanor and his sons were no morons.
Boasting or tempting fate seems to be a common disease of males everywhere, and in a premodern society, your word is basically your only property and value. Breaking it is bad, similar to getting thrown into Alcatraz and having all your property confiscated bad.
So .. someone steals from your garden and instead of investigating who is the culprit you decide killing a random person, first random person that you stumble upon? Well, that should send a message but still, first random person that you meet is an old friend and ally, one that has helped you in the past, can investigate in the present who's actually behind those ransackings and will definitely be a valuable asset in the future. Yet you keep true to the "oat" and kill him. Brilliant move, genius!
>> Ancient mythologies all around the world are full of stories of heroes whose oaths have turned on them
First those are dreamed up facts and not the real world, are you aware? Secondly, the "heroes" in that ancient world are a lot closer to "much muscle little brain" typology than such as Euclid and Einstein.
And who the fuck is Fëanor? Some made up fantasy guy? Yeah, that definitely proves your point!
Ancient mythologies all around the world are full of stories of heroes whose oaths have turned on them. Heck, even Tolkien included the Oath of Fëanor in his mythology, and Fëanor and his sons were no morons.
Boasting or tempting fate seems to be a common disease of males everywhere, and in a premodern society, your word is basically your only property and value. Breaking it is bad, similar to getting thrown into Alcatraz and having all your property confiscated bad.