I've always disliked villain origin stories, for two reasons that I don't think I ever crystallized. One is the general darkness of the theme. Villains are almost exclusively born in darkness, except for a few exceptions in which they are the darkness born into light. Which is where we encounter your point, I think, and my second reason. It's easy to portray a villain with a difficult past. But the writer who successfully portrays a villain as someone who should have known better and done better... *That* is the writer who makes the audience properly despise the villain, and secretly teaches the children what we want them to learn along the way.
Of course, I think I like even more the antagonist who is a proper good guy. It's probably a hard plot to generate. Which now makes me wonder if Inigo Montoya qualifies; a point on which I've reversed position several times in 30 seconds. Maybe it's time for bed.
Inigo definitely qualifies. He never embraced the darkness, or justified evil. He was out to avenge the murder of his father, but didn't use that to justify an "anything goes" mentality.
buUUUUuut... He did basically waste half of his life pursuing the murder of his father's killer, whom he did kill, under dubious circumstances. He left the rescue party to chase the guy, jeopardizing the rescue. Earlier, he was working for an unmistakable villain in a treasonous plot. At the end of the story, he's presumed to take up the mantle of an actual *pirate*. Of course, there's the argument that he's a good guy in a country where good and bad are reversed, but I think that's a tricky argument to make because the citizenry, in general, were not evil. And then there's the problem of antagonism... His antagonistic portion of the story is relegated to a few minutes of trying to kill the guy who's rescuing the princess.
He's certainly *trying* to make good decisions, but I don't think that classifies him as a good guy. I'd probably classify him as morally neutral, which I can't endorse. I guess I've talked myself out of his fan club almost entirely. Maybe if he turns down the pirate job...
I've always disliked villain origin stories, for two reasons that I don't think I ever crystallized. One is the general darkness of the theme. Villains are almost exclusively born in darkness, except for a few exceptions in which they are the darkness born into light. Which is where we encounter your point, I think, and my second reason. It's easy to portray a villain with a difficult past. But the writer who successfully portrays a villain as someone who should have known better and done better... *That* is the writer who makes the audience properly despise the villain, and secretly teaches the children what we want them to learn along the way.
Of course, I think I like even more the antagonist who is a proper good guy. It's probably a hard plot to generate. Which now makes me wonder if Inigo Montoya qualifies; a point on which I've reversed position several times in 30 seconds. Maybe it's time for bed.
Inigo definitely qualifies. He never embraced the darkness, or justified evil. He was out to avenge the murder of his father, but didn't use that to justify an "anything goes" mentality.
buUUUUuut... He did basically waste half of his life pursuing the murder of his father's killer, whom he did kill, under dubious circumstances. He left the rescue party to chase the guy, jeopardizing the rescue. Earlier, he was working for an unmistakable villain in a treasonous plot. At the end of the story, he's presumed to take up the mantle of an actual *pirate*. Of course, there's the argument that he's a good guy in a country where good and bad are reversed, but I think that's a tricky argument to make because the citizenry, in general, were not evil. And then there's the problem of antagonism... His antagonistic portion of the story is relegated to a few minutes of trying to kill the guy who's rescuing the princess.
He's certainly *trying* to make good decisions, but I don't think that classifies him as a good guy. I'd probably classify him as morally neutral, which I can't endorse. I guess I've talked myself out of his fan club almost entirely. Maybe if he turns down the pirate job...
great article, Sam!
"I think part of a great story is taking a hero and a villain who have similar backgrounds and showing how that story plays out"
Tom Riddle
Severus Snape
Harry Potter
Defined by whether - and how much - they were willing to sacrifice legitimate resentment and hatred to love and self-sacrifice.