Originally Posted by
gbaji
Which, of course, was why he had to die to protect the secret. We can debate the morality of Manhattan killing Rorschach (and it's kinda the point of the comic), but Rorschach's motivation for wanting to tell the world what really happened, was not at all out of some kind of misguided patriotism or "us versus them" mentality. He lived by an absurdly rigid moral code. That's what drove him. Watering that down by suggesting that he only cared about it because it was Americans who were killed and not some other nations citizens, totally steps on the message and weight of the scene (and its shock value). He was the moral absolutionist in the comic. That was the point. What was done was morally wrong by his rules (and arguably intended to be viewed that way by the readers). The rest of the heroes reluctantly accepting the result, is "wrong" as well. Rorschach is supposed to be viewed as the "one true hero" in the bunch (well, for heroes in this setting, of course), actually wiling to "do the right thing" regardless of the cost. And... well... he pays that cost.