#He's too much of an abuse victim-lashing-out allegory for me to feel comfortable saying that ever

[rubberduckyrye]

Man ran into someone making a long analysis post about the 3.3 interlude quest, and like valid interpretation, but...

It's so weird for me, because I'm a weirdo who separates the terms Bad Person and Evil.

I think Scaramouche was about the worst person he could have been. However, that doesn't mean he was evil. He was a bad person because he was in a rampage, raging like a fire that couldn't be put out. He hurt people because he was unable to control that rage, as it too was fueled from hurt. When the whole world hurts you as badly as it hurt Scaramouche, when it dehumanizes you at every point it can, and makes you feel like you can do nothing but suffer because the gods and morals spurn you just for existing--and you don't even want to exist--of course he's going to lash out at the entire world! He hurt innocent people, but those innocent people were part of the world that deeply scarred him. And even then, again, there is lore that Scaramouche was kind to the elderly and to children. It's very possible that when he perceived someone as innocent, he didn't even think to hurt them to exert force or power over them. He helped them, even.

And even if that piece of lore isn't canon, it doesn't really matter. He's a bad person, yes--but to call him evil is misleading. To call him evil is to think in terms of black and white, and not about the shades of grey that exist in the real world.

I will never shut up about how Scaramouche's story was an allegory for abuse, how he was neglected from the moment he was born, how he was failed by his family, how he was manipulated and abused by the Fatui and Dottore--like. There's a whole ass line Signora says to his face that literally mocks him for being Dottore's test subject. He was the ugly duckling, the unwanted child, cast aside and deemed as a demon to be tormented for just existing. The only people who accepted him? They all died. The world literally taught Scaramouche he couldn't be loved or treated kindly, less those people die too.

There are real, living, breathing people who are just like Scaramouche. Who do bad things and are bad people right now because they don't know what kindness feels like, or how to be good. I think the distinction is important for those people in particular, because to just call people like Scaramouche evil implies that they cannot get better. That they deserve to suffer and hurt. That their feelings are invalid.

But being a bad person does not mean you are evil or irredeemable. It means you need to stop and look at yourself, you need to stop and look at the world that you want to burn. Even at your lowest point, there is salvation--you can find happiness. You can recover. You can step forward to a new future where you can become a better person.

For as much as I dislike the 3.3 interlude quest and how it handled certain aspects of Nahida's character and the Traveler, I thought that this message of abused victims who are hurting deserve to find peace and happiness too was a good message to bring home. It was very muddied down by Nahida and the Traveler, yes, but all in all, the 3.3 Interlude quest was never meant to be about redemption.

It was meant to be about healing. About taking the first steps necessary to accept yourself and move forward with your life.