# Can you sell somebody else's soul to the devil? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709 "2010-12-10T21:56:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/141 "2022-08-20T16:30:19Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > In _Fallen London_, an ordinary soul is worth 2 pennies, same as a bottle of cheap wine. A Brilliant Soul is worth 50. This is a novel idea. Selling one’s soul requires someone to have something first, otherwise what would they regret after they lose their soul? Their past self was brilliant, but now they feel like idiots because they sold their soul for nothing. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/142 "2022-08-20T16:33:06Z")
If someone offered me $50 for my soul right now, I’d sell it. I would think the buyer was a fool and would sell my soul again and again if other interested buyers came forward. ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/143 "2022-08-20T16:41:47Z")
All you’d find out is that you would have gotten the 50 dollars without selling your soul. I think the idea of selling your soul means to do something very bad to someone else, like commit murder, aggravated assault, child abuse, etc on an innocent/unsuspecting person. I mean you might try to sell your soul by performing some sort of mundain bill of sale, but that isn’t really what I think it means. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/144 "2022-08-20T17:54:15Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > If someone offered me $50 for my soul right now, I’d sell it. I would think the buyer was a fool and would sell my soul again and again if other interested buyers came forward. I don’t know you personally, but with the average person you can easily own them body _and_ soul plus they pay _you_ for the privilege. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/145 "2022-08-20T18:07:09Z")
_Hmm…that sounds kinda like the arrangement I have with my dominatrix._ ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/146 "2022-08-20T18:54:01Z")
> [@burdman](#): > > What looks like a brownie isn’t necessarily a brownie, but you wouldn’t know it until you take a bite. Are we talking about the baked good, the organization member, or the woodland spirit? ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/147 "2022-08-20T19:17:03Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Are we talking about the baked good, the organization member, or the woodland spirit? The baked good. ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/148 "2022-08-20T20:43:42Z")
They aren’t paying you for the privilege, they’re being held in bondage. You’re enslaving yourself into the future by holding someone like that, you just don’t know it yet. The devil hides the consequence. The victim doesn’t know they’re being violated until after the violation, the violator doesn’t know the consequence until after selling their soul. The real consequence is they go through the same thing and view life as nothing. The victim doesn’t, they eventually view life as good. It wasn’t the victim’s choice, it was the violator’s choice. So everything is even. ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/149 "2022-08-20T21:01:30Z")
Additionally, whatever temporal benefit either party gets, they would have gotten without going through that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709.md?page=7)