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So let’s establish some premieres. This isn’t religion based. Let’s say this is only based on moral undoing, not some God of your choosing. And no House being atheist doesn’t matter here, if only one God exists at least half of the population is going to hell anyway. We’ll also be discussing morality on a black, white gray scale.
So let’s start off with House’s background, which might set alarm bells off in your head because “an explanation doesn’t justify action!” And you would be correct. However not only does this set the stage for our discussion it would allow us to know why House does the things he does. Intent does matter, if you kill someone it definitely depends on if you meant to or not.
So let’s start off with House's childhood. He was born to his father John House and his mother Blythe. He was a military brat who moved around constantly. His father was as stated in an episode in I think season 5, that he was an abusive piece of shit. We can also see this in his interactions with House while he was alive. He minimizes his pain, tells him how lucky he is while ignoring all his struggles that he goes through. Funnily enough we can also study the abuse of his childhood based on how his mother talks to him. We can assume that yes Blythe was also a victim to House’s fathers abuse and stayed due to that. We can see that in the way she overcompensates for House telling him that “he’s perfect just the way he is” which is the complete opposite of John House who criticizes House at every turn.
Due to this abuse House becomes someone who has a lot of emotional suppression and trauma. He has a hard time getting close to people due to the constant moving of his childhood and his lack of a stable environment. Which you might assume means that House is a sociopath because it would be perfect grounds for one however, we can see in the way he feels bad for actions to the point of self blame but it’s hidden in such a way it does not present as such. For example after Kunther’s suicide(Obama came for him), House blames himself for Kunther’s death, saying that there should have been something that they missed because he blames himself for missing it. After all, if House was so brilliant how could he miss something so obvious? At least this is the lie House tells himself. He even goes to the point of thinking it was a homicide as to not have to cope with the blame his mind is putting on him.
So you might be asking, why would House outwardly project the blame onto his team, even if he does not blame them truly? This is due to House trying to figure out a way to cope with the situation of Kunther’s suicide, he’s lashing out because he feels like it is his fault. But due to his inability to be vulnerable and vocal about his true emotions he shoves them on the team to hide his true emotions to himself and others that he feels responsible for Kunther’s death. Saying things like “you worked beside him every day how did you not notice it.” Outwardly shows his projection.
We can also see House self blame being showcased in things like Amber's death. These moments, while often unhealthy because it’s showing House's depression, is important to show he’s not some sociopathic narcissist, he cares about people but it is buried beneath layers of trauma. Also House isn’t a sociopath he can be borderline at moments of extreme trauma but he’s not a sociopath, but we’ll save that discussion for another day.
Anyway, this guilt in his subconscious is shown in many ways. For example, when he hallucinates Amber. This is a manifestation not only of his feelings towards Wilson(romantic or platonic, however you see fit) and his guilt towards his own actions. House isn’t an idiot, far from it. He understands his actions and that they are cruel but he refuses to accept the trauma that may have come as a cause to that. That being said, why is it important to talk about House’s guilt? This is because it shows repentance and a desire to change. This will be an important puzzle piece to understand why House would get into heaven.
House hates himself. That is a known fact that is continued throughout the series. We can see this through even the smallest of interactions between House and Wilson when Wilson jokes that even House doesn’t want to become himself. And House doesn’t deny this, this is because House understands the person he’s become through the years and hates it and is afraid of it. Yet opening up to people and being vulnerable is a hard thing for House due to his trauma as discussed. This is a continuation of his guilt and his capacity to change.
However, guilt is nothing without action. Luckily for me and you this isn’t hidden in some sketchy files. It’s in plain sight for the reader to see while watching the show. While House does do unethical things to get the good things he wants accomplished it is nevertheless good. So let’s go over those good things. One by one.
Sacrificing his life for Wilson(x2) and Wilson interacts with House. House being a good friend/implied romantic interest depending on how you see it
So we can see this throughout the series that House cares for Wilson and despite his breaking boundaries he still shows he cares. He’s apologized to Wilson once he’s done wrong, he's done things while unethical shows he cares about Wilson. He apologized for Amber’s death, which wasn’t his fault shows the immense amount of guilt he felt. Along with this he’s sacrificed his life for Wilson 2 times. Once was when he was trying to save Amber for Wilson. How do we know this was mainly for Wilson, and not just for Amber? Well in the coma he tells Amber(hallucinations) that he doesn't want Wilson to hate him. Not for apologizing to Amber. While this may be justified with House knowing Amber isn’t real and thus not talking to her as such, it simply isn’t the case as House is talking to Amber knowing she’s not real anyway. He’s also given Wilson the last stacks of his Vicodin and when he “died” he did it so he could live with Wilson for his last months. While this might not be seen as sacrificial due to the fact that if House didn’t fake his death he could go to jail and lose his medical license. However this is sacrificial for a multitude of reasons, one being that House has connections and even without Cuddy could get out of jail. We’re forgetting that House has connections(albeit loose) to the mafia. So he could get his job back, hire a good lawyer with his money and say he wasn’t in the right mind and get off Scott free. But he took away the chance to spend more time with Wilson.
Along with that we can also see that House cares for his patients. While it’s not shown in the most obvious way like it is with Wilson, it’s clear that he does with the obsessive dedication he has with his cases. He wants his patients to be well, even if he claims to see them as a “puzzle” this is clearly a cover to hide the fact he cares for people other than himself. He goes to extreme lengths to solve his cases, honestly one of the most unrealistic parts of the show. Anyway we can see that House cares for people and has the ability to repent. But how does this impact his actions?