Content Warning: This section references depictions of cannibalism, sexual harassment, sexual assault, torture, body horror, suicide, and mental health crises.

In Consider Phlebas, Iain M. Banks challenges ideas about black-and-white morality in war, offering a nuanced exploration of the ethical quagmire that ensnares individuals and societies alike. Set against the backdrop of a galaxy-wide conflict between the post-scarcity Culture and the theocratic Idirans, the novel scrutinizes the ethical dimensions of war, the impact of ideology on human behavior, and the broader implications of conflict on both individuals and societies.

The Idiran-Culture war lasts over 48 years and costs 851.4 billion lives, including sentient machines. However, in the grand scheme, it is “a small, short war that rarely extend[s] throughout more than 2% of the galaxy by volume and .01% by stellar population” (507). Despite its limited scope, the war’s profound impact on the individuals and societies involved highlights the conflict’s complex and often contradictory nature. The staggering loss of life underscores the immense human cost of ideological and territorial disputes, even those that may seem insignificant on a galactic scale. This juxtaposition of vast numbers and the war’s relative smallness questions such conflicts’ value and justification, questioning whether it is ever ethical to inflict such disproportionate suffering on the sentient beings caught in its wake.