#are more likely to change their views than supposedly heroic lil shits

[seyaryminamoto]

Which of Gladiator's villains/antagonists could be capable of a redemption arc after part 3's final, and which would be incapable or redemption. Redemption is a weird concept since its basically just surrendering to the views and morality of others by choice and rejecting your own prior outlook, so its all subjective. Also, this question assumes all antagonists survive part 3 for the sake of the hypothetical, since I'm starting to suspect some of them will bite it in the final cough-Ozai-cough.

... See this question is difficult to answer for reasons that shall become obvious as the story progresses (... certain people on this list won’t bite it at the end of part 3 but much sooner, oops :’DDD). But,as we are where we are now, I guess I’ll answer with all our most villainous characters up to date:

Ozai: strangely, Ozai is not incapable of redemption, not completely. I just have to break him bad enough that he ends up questioning himself and the world around him and just about everything that ever happened to him (?) So it’s difficult, but not impossible. He’s a terrible person for sure, but the show itself tried (admittedly, in a half-assed way) to present that he wasn’t born this way. There’s some things that could lead Ozai to ponder if his path in life isn’t quite what he had always believed it was. Now, full-blown redemption as in “Ozai becomes a cutie-patootie who wouldn’t hurt a fly?” Hell no. But a certain degree of change and evolution... that’s not out of his grasp.

Zhao: it’s actually funny but we’re even witnessing his “redemption”, in the way you defined it even, throughout all of Part 2. He’s not being redeemed in the classic concept of going from villain to hero, but the moment he decides that maybe Sokka isn’t complete trash just because he’s Water Tribe, he’s already rejecting something that was fundamental in his way of thinking up until Part 2 begins. On his first encounter with Sokka in Part 1 he’s outright AFFRONTED that this guy would even SPEAK to him... and nowadays he sits beside Sokka on the floor of an airship, trying to help him come to terms with his internal darkness so he’ll be able to use it more effectively to protect Azula. Like... okay, I didn’t ALWAYS plan to write Zhao this way, but we’ve definitely seen him evolve over the chapters he’s been involved in the story xD is he a totally innocent guy? Once again, hell no, and he has nasty plans in mind, especially after Hahn’s revelation about the Spirit Oasis. But is he still as bad as Azula always believed he was? Actually... no. The real question is... will Zhao continue to change his views? Or will he actually take a wholly different path once Part 3 comes around...? :’D

Seethus: eh. He’s kind of a weapon more than a human being, to be honest. You can’t redeem Seethus any more than you can redeem a gun: the guy is completely attached to Ozai and does ANYTHING Ozai wants of him. He practically makes no decisions of his own, everything he does is for Ozai. He’s the most loyal character in the story in the most fucked up way possible: Ozai’s commands are all he cares about. He doesn’t take pleasure in fulfilling his commands, he doesn’t take pleasure in anything at all, he’s just there to be Ozai’s secret weapon. So, if Ozai decides to change and stop using Seethus for wicked schemes... that’s still not Seethus making the decision on his own. He takes no sides, he just obeys. Therefore... I don’t think Seethus is capable of redemption, not as you described it, nor with a simplistic change of heart, because that implies him having a set of beliefs beyond following Ozai blindly and he absolutely doesn’t have them.

Iroh: ... yikes to the max. Despite the above ones aren’t exactly easy characters to discuss redemption with, Iroh is by far the more complicated of the bunch so far, even if he feels less dangerous than the others. Gladiator’s Iroh hasn’t done his worst yet... and some people already have guessed what that will be. I can say for certain that he will come to regret his actions, many of them, and he’ll undergo a terrible “holy shit what have I done” process... but that he regrets his actions doesn’t mean he’ll be forgiven by the victims of his ploys. He won’t really go through a full-blown redemption in terms of changing his mind/goals/beliefs... he’ll just be sorry that he was shortsighted, I suppose, and he’ll regret that he clung to those things so tightly that he caused terrible harm to those around him. But will he change his views and goals completely? Eh... not really. And it’s not like his goals are completely terrible, he does want to end Ozai’s tyranny and that’s not an unworthy goal... the problem is the extremes Iroh is willing to go to in order to succeed at that. As for his views, he’ll certainly change them a couple of times in the upcoming arcs, but in the end he’ll still stand by what he has believed ever since he came back from his Spirit World journeys and shenanigans, no matter if such beliefs aren’t quite as spot-on as he has convinced himself of...

Rhone: Frankly, of all characters in the list so far, Rhone is the first one who is a classic villain of the “I do awful things because I want to” type, to the point where I can safely say that his biggest “redeeming moment” is already behind us (the Fire Lord’s Shadow arc). If anything, he’s well on his way towards cementing his fatalistic, nihilistic and Fire Nation-despising ways in the coming arcs, and it doesn’t really matter what Sokka does, says or tries with this guy, Rhone won’t change his ways. There’s a sort-of deep reason why he’s doing everything he’s doing... but this guy is simply not okay. His mind is a mess, his heart is pretty much dead, and he doesn’t really know how to care about people anymore... and doesn’t care to learn again either. Soooo... not redeemable. Nope.

Jeong Jeong: I guess most villainous characters are Fire Nation, no matter which side of the war they’re on :’D Jeong Jeong is worse than Iroh though, this guy will only be willing to open his mind to other possibilities A TEENY TINY WEENY BIT, but largely he’s unrepenting and unwilling to change his current course. My depiction of Jeong Jeong is definitely painting him in a terrible light, there’s no lie there, but this guy is just not going to adequate himself to anyone else’s ideals or views. He’s stuck on his current mindset most willingly and deliberately, and he’ll do whatever it takes/whatever he wants to defeat Ozai’s regime once he has enough resources to make a proper move again. Don’t hold your breath over him changing considerably because... yeah. Not happening.

General Shaofeng: :’DDDDD this one goes right up there with Rhone. Absolutely not qualified for redemption of any sort. Shaofeng is one of the worst people in this story, morally speaking -- I have no idea if anyone has guessed why just yet, or what he’s up to, or why he’s so twitchy over Azula, but I think the next chapter will shed enough light on who he really is. So... no redemption for him, no chance at all for that with someone like him.

Renkai: I almost feel bad about listing him here despite he’s still such a weird, complicated and sketchy spy in the midst of Azula’s old guard... but Renkai is 100% on his way to a strange redemption. Yes, strange because he hasn’t done anything too dreadful yet... though yeah, okay, he did try to reveal his suspicions about Azula and Sokka to Shaofeng and got shut down immediately x’D but Renkai has had a few moments of doubting his current course in life already, and some upcoming chapters will set in motion actions that will redefine Renkai’s role in the story for good... :’D

Aonu: so very eligible for redemptions, but in more of a “Here, have a Snickers” way rather than a “I WILL CHANGE MY MIND AND VIEWS COMPLETELY!” sense... Aonu isn’t necessarily BAD right now, let alone would I deem him as villainous, but Aonu is a complicated guy who doesn’t quite think too often about anyone’s problems other than his own. Once he comes out of his shell and starts seeing things more clearly, Aonu will prove to be a much more decent guy than anyone would expect of him. Therefore, not exactly redemption but he’ll still evolve in a good way.

Combustion Man: ... nope. I did get a few suggestions on how to make him a more compelling character but frankly I don’t think I particularly need him to be more compelling? Much like ATLA never cared to go in-depth with Ozai, I don’t really care to do it too much with Busty over here. Soooo... no redemption. He’s a bit like Seethus, a living weapon, but this guy actually thrives in blowing things up and finishing his missions for violence’s own sake... so yeah, he’s not going to change that mindset. Not eligible.

Chan: ... hahahahahahahahaha WHY WOULD CHAN BE ON THIS LIST WHEN HE HASN’T DONE ANYTHING SINCE CHAPTER 12 AHAHAHAHA......Well, true, but that wasn’t the last we’ll see of him :’D and I’m honestly just adding him here to say... this guy is unexpectedly eligible for redemption, what’d you know? :’DDDDD (and I mean the son, not the father, the father is NOT eligible, he’s doomed for good (?))

... So, that’s that :’D I don’t know if maybe I’ll come up with some new villainous character in the future, though I think it’s not very likely... this is a relatively comprehensive list as it is, other characters that come to mind are probably too mysterious still for anyone to say for sure that they’re heroes or villains, but if anyone has any other character they’d like to ask about, feel free to do it by reblogging or replying to this post! :)