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What lessons do you think Watchmen tried to teach us?

"Those who refuse to compromise can't survive": Rorschach tearfully succumbing to death by Dr. Manhattan when he attempts to expose Veidt's plan.

"Nothing ever ends" (war in particular): Dr. Manhattan's parting line to Veidt when he asks if he did the right thing "in the end".

Also, I think there might be some kind of lesson in Rorschach's line, "Why are so few of us left alive, without personality disorders?", perhaps foreshadowing to Hollis Mason, the only "normal" superhero and/or member of the Minutemen without any social problems, yet he was killed due to a catastrophic misunderstanding brought about by his successor.

There's an inmense amount of lessons to be learned from Watchmen.

If I had to do synthesis and condense it in one single lesson, I would have to say that Watchmen taught me that the world is not a good place, doesn't mean it's a reason for giving up or not keep on living, but we must be aware of where and when we live in order to really "make a difference".

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Lest we forget, there's a lot of stuff in there about who makes the world. Between Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach, though, I don't think the book offers any concrete answers as to that.

Aside from that, the book is really a meditation on power. More specifically, it's about what a person can become when he gets too much power, and what atrocities can come as a direct result.

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This is truly a madhouse. And I'm the lunatic running it. I've spent three years wondering if I should be proud or ashamed.

I agree with both of you.

I also think that it teaches us that you shouldn't go in life caring about what other people think, just live life the way you want to. I'm saying this pretty much because the Comedian does it this way. He doesn't give a fuck what people think of him. He just does what he does. "Chose to be a parody of it", but in the end he dies depressed.

And that you don't have to be normal. Rorschach didn't bathe, sleep right, live in a house, nothing. He just chose his path unlike society. They have a planned future.. He doesn't.

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"I will never reveal my identity. Anyone who knows me will refer to me as Hooded Justice

"What happened to the American dream? It came true! Your lookin' at it."

^I don't think the book teaches us to necessarily do those things, lol.


I think, if anything, it shows how playing God can only lead to a mess of things.

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Or how playing God can save the world from utter destruction.

And therein lies the beauty of Watchmen !

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This.

WATCHMEN comes from the same place as V For Vendetta (started before, finished after).
On the question of Who makes the world?, though, the creators are hoping that the reader will realise the answer for him/herself: that they do... that the decisions that affect us all and shape our destinies shouldn't be blindly entrusted to the agendas pursued by costumed vigilantes, or quantum powered superbeings... or politicians and Presidents and military advisors and big business...

It is, after all, intentionally left entirely in our hands - and not just Seymour's - to take the initiative, make the decisions that need to be made and moreover live with the consequences.

ANARCHY RULES!... right, Alan?