Did Splinter care about the TMNT originally?
 

In the comics Splinter orignally raised the Turtles for the sole purpose to make them skilled enough in Ninjitsu to fight and kill the Shredder for revenge over his master Yoshi's death....

Does that make them Splinter's agents of death? And nothing more...? At first...? I figured after they served their purpose Splinter wasn't just gonna throw them out and got used to having them around (like, who else would a giant rat have to talk to?) so maybe in time he grew to love them as sons, but what about in the beginning?

I can imagine sometime in their early years when the turtles are starting to show noticeable progress in the martial arts and mastery of their weapons, Splinter would be thinking to himself, "Yes..... Yes.... Soon Oroku Saki.... you will die!!!"

I'm pretty sure Splinters always been a father figure, except the old toon, where he was more a Sensei, but the Turtles were more like roommates in that anyway. Still in most incarnations he's shown as a father figure when the Turtles are young in flashbacks, and in the present.

Couldn't Splinter kick Shredders butt on his own? Given that he became a big rat vs. a small rat.. I always got the sense that he fathered the Turtles cause he found them not for any other motives?

splinter saw yoshi as a father..and learn averything from his sensei...maybe splinter have the chance to be a sensei and father to the turtles and with the time fall in love with them ( as a father )

Sorry, but I lost my **** over that.

Personally, I think he took care of them as a father, then taught them ninjitsu as a sensei, THEN realized he could get revenge on Saki through the Turtles.

But given how protective he is of the boys, I do not think he would have abandoned them. He even gave them names.

Yes, I believe so, too. He took them out of sheer pity then later realized he can use them to kill Shredder. As the years passed by, he grew to love them.

in all honesty...as a rat, collecting a potential food source in a can...thats what it could have simply been. They do eat anything. but as the goop invaded his cells, making him more intelligent and all that he realised he had a chance to avenge yoshi. use these little things to kill him,then he'd be all safe and sound in his little hole in the ground. who cares if the turtles die, they're just a tool.
course it didnt happen like that
pretty wimpy that he wouldnt face the shred alone ...lets send these guys instead so i dont die.

I believe it's less a matter of his own survival than Splinter realizing he might be unable to take on Shredder alone. It's not considered unfair in Japanese culture to send a group of fighters against one powerful enemy.

He took care off the turtles and fathered them for fighting out of kindness based on the fact that his a good person/rat.

Remember he gathered them all up before they mutated, clearly intending to care for them. I think, only after they began to mutate did he see a way to both pass on his wisdom and avenge his master. Even then, he only sent them out to kill when he was sure they were ready.

Although I do think it's very cool that Mirage Splinter has the whole vengeance motive. It makes him a more interesting character.

Ditto to that.

I've always liked the idea of turtles being nothing more than just puppets of vengeance led by Splinter. This could make for an awesome alternative story, with the old rat not being so perfect as everyone loves him to be.

I thought that was who the original Mirage Splinter was supposed to be? At least I got that idea when I read the reprint of the original comic story. Of course, life goes on for everybody (especially when they discovered later on that Shredder wasn't killed in the first story after all!)

A chunk of "City at War" deals with the Turtles reflecting on Splinter's lust for vengeance, so there's something.

Actually, in my very first post here I pointed out alot of subtle ways in which both the Turtles' arc and Splinter's arc of that story tackled the issue.

http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sho...293#post630293

sometimes I get the impression that 80's Splinter uses the turtles. :o

something like that yeah

Israeli–Palestinian conflict
 

Splinter raising the TMNT to kill Shredder is like the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and other fights. The adult raise the kids to hate and kill for things happening 10, 100 or 1 000 years ago, long before these kids were even born.

I was about to say the same thing. What was Leo's line? "I'd give my life for Splinter, but I don't know if I'm willing to give him my life." Or something like that.

Its definitely an interesting situation. The turtles grew up not questioning Splinter and his motives, lessons or orders. Then they get to the point where its kind of like "Wait a minute...why are we fighting again?". Its like the turtles were born into a war and are spending their days on rooftops fighting off armies of ninja assassins because Splinter wanted payback and after they gave that to him, the Shredder retaliated. Now they are stuck and City of War was pretty much the turtles trying to get out of it so they can move on and not have to be constantly at war risking their lives for something that happened years ago before they were even born.

Raph: "What are you saying Leo? We Should aly oursleves with the damned Foot Clan?"

Leo: "I'm simply asking a question."

Raph: "But...We've been at war with them for years! They're our freakin' blood enemies!"

Leo: "Are they? If so, why? Think about it...Think back. We're in this because...because..."

Mike: "Because of Master Splinter."

Leo: "Exactly, Mike. This is his war. Since we were children, Master Splinter taught us, trained us for one thing: to avenge the death of his master, Hamato Yoshi. Since that day...when we first killed the Shredder, the threat of the Foot has circumscribed our lives...And through us, Casey's and April's lives too. Who can blame them for wanting to leave? I know I can't.

But now...Now we have, with Karai's proposal, an opportunity...A chance to break this chain of vengeance and death...and reclaim our lives."

Mike: "Leo...What would Splinter say?"

Leo: I'm unsure...I would gladly die for him...but...I don't know if I can give him my life."

- Volume 1, Issue 58

I love that storyline.

wow, deep. This is a side of Leo i think fans need to know more of, so they can stop calling him Splinter jr. and a teachers pet.