#but like i said…oda is to blame he is fORCING my boy to commit those crimes

[hellaephemeral]

sanji for blorbo bingo? i am also so incredibly not normal about him

omggg thank you sm for asking for my bbg 🙏🙏🛐🛐 it’s impooossible to be normal about him fr 😭😭🤝🤝

have you ever seen a man more bbg?? more pathetic?? more squishable?? no <3

(he is innocent <3 oda is making the choices sanji has nOTHING to do with them <3)

[grass-skirt]

thanks for answering my fisk ask! i appreciate it. can you think of characters that are good examples for a well done sympathetic villain? aside from fma's scar

Your welcome! (And sorry to other folks who’ve sent asks that I haven’t answered yet, but sometimes it’s easier for me to think of how to answer some questions than others and again time and energy are very limited resources for me these days) (And here’s the link to the preceding ask on my thought for what constitutes a sympathetic villain, how Scar is one, and how Wilson Fisk is not) 

And let’s see here. If I had to think of some more well-done examples of sympathetic villains… 

Meruem from HxH: amazing example. As someone not human, born not just socially, but biologically, to be king with the massive power to back it up and no reference point for what it meant to care or have feelings for others. And yet, he met someone who could best him in one thing, one simple thing, and slowly fell in love with her and through her uncovered the humanity no one thought he had. (Not to mention, he was manipulated by Pouf who tried to stamp out the love he had learned to feel and set him back on the path of a heartless conqueror, so we can also feel sympathy for his character on that front as well) 

Tetsuo Shima from Akira: this is possibly a more (lowkey) controversial choice. Because yeah, he’s a 15-year old asshole who got psychic powers and became an even bigger asshole. But I feel like he’s an incredibly understandable character precisely because of that. To me, he’s an exploration of the effects that insecurity, powerlessness, poverty, and environmental instability can have on kids. Take a kid who feels miserable and doubts himself and isn’t supported by the society around him who wants desperately to be respected and in control and give him power… He couldn’t control his powers well, they caused him massive pain and made him fear what they would do to his mind and body. He could control through fear but he couldn’t control himself and that pain and uncertainty and fear never left him. One of the elements of a good sympathetic villain to me is that their choices make sense. And Tetsuo is a character whose choices were almost all bad, but IMO make sense from the sad, angry perspective of the view he had and the world around him. (Long ago I made a cool graphic about him) 

Jasper from SU: now here’s an actual potentially controversial choice. Steering clear of the whole Malachite discourse and just focusing more broadly on her character, she was a huge jerk who beat the snot out of people and seemed to relish in it. She was the biggest villain in SU for a good long while, and there was little reason to think of her as sympathetic. That is, until we found out that the reason she hated the Earth and the Crystal Gems and was so fixated on strength is because thousands of years ago the Crystal Gems murdered the person she most loved and adored and the person she was literally created to serve. Then we start being able to see how her villainous beliefs and actions were shaped by the culture and society of the Diamond Authority that doesn’t give it’s members much in the way of choice or freedom. And then we also find out that the person who Jasper’s very existence was for had faked her own death and everything Jasper believed for the past 5000 years was a lie. Again, she’s a villain whose horribleness can be seen as a result of the circumstances around her, and we can see that if she had been told the truth and given different opportunities she perhaps could have been someone good instead of eventually devolving into a literal monster. 

Eric Killmonger from Black Panther: he was someone who fought for a cause he believed him, and that was righteous and justified in his eyes. He grew up in poverty, his father was murdered, and he lived his life on the outside of a great society of wealth and equality, always aware of what they had but wouldn’t share with him or others who were also suffering. He looked at the imperialist, racist, oppressive actions of the world and thought, “Wakanda’s neutrality is acceptance of injustice. If the nation of my birth has the ability to reshape the world, punish the injustice of nations and societies, and give power to our oppressed people, we should do it.” T'challa’s view was that you can’t hurt and kill innocent people in the name of justice. Killmonger’s view was that harm, death, and suffering were constantly happening anyway, and that T’challa’s stance was accepting and tacitly endorsing this injustice. Again, his villainy came from a place of understandable suffering and genuine belief that fighting fire with fire was better than standing on the sidelines and simply watching the fire burn. 

And two final characters: 

Donquixote Doflamingo from One Piece gets an honorable mention. He could have been an amazing sympathetic villain, but for some reason Oda took a character who was born into a culture of ignorance, corruption, and greed, who lost everything and was tortured by angry mobs who blamed him for sins he hadn’t committed, who was then raised by a group of older boys and men who again groomed him and lead him down a road of villainy…. and then said, “Hey, this guy? Doflamingo? He was just born evil. Yeah, that’s it. He was born evil. So don’t worry so much about all the environmental stuff, because he was born evil anyway. Even his brother said so.” (Again, here’s a graphic and analysis I did on the subject for those who have forgotten) 

Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke. (I also wrote a big post about her and the overall movie and how great it is.) She isn’t a sympathetic villain. Not really. She is both ends of the moral spectrum simultaneously in every move she makes. She was a monster, a destroyer of gods, an environmentalist’s nightmare who burned nature in the name of industry. She was also a savior, a humanitarian, a veritable saint who took in the sick and the downtrodden of society and gave them respect, empowerment, and a home they were happy in. And all the while… we never actually know what she’s thinking. One could argue that she’s still a villain (rather than simply an antagonist), but the key point here is that she is not sympathetic. Does she help others because she cares, or because through helping them she ultimately benefits herself? We don’t know for sure. The story does not invite us into her internal world. She’s not a sympathetic villain because we’re never asked to sympathize with her. Instead, we’re asked to think of bigger ideas. We’re asked to take a look at the ways human society can benefit itself, advance equality, and lift up the powerless by using and destroying the natural world around us. Is it worth it? What are the unintended consequences of these actions? Can humans harm nature without inevitably also hurting ourselves? Lady Eboshi’s thoughts and feelings and true motivations don’t matter. We don’t know, and we can’t know, and at the end of the day does it matter either way? Even if she was calculated and selfish it wouldn’t change that she’s helping people, and even if she was motivated by love and compassion it also wouldn’t change the harm she’s done. She’s a representation of ideas, forces, and choices larger than herself. Those ideas are what’s important to the film, and they are explored without ever diving into the mind of Lady Eboshi herself because what the thinks and feels has no bearing on the consequences of her actions. 

A villain is someone who hurts others who do not deserve to be hurt. A person is sympathetic when we feel for them. Villainy is external. That person harms others, so we hate them. Sympathy is internal. We feel another’s pain, and understand the reasons for their choices, which includes the possibility that they never even had a choice at all. Lady Eboshi is so interesting to me because she is completely external. We are tasked with viewing and judging her based entirely on the consequences of her actions without factoring in what she thinks, what she feels, and why she’s doing it. We don’t have sympathy for her, rather we have sympathy for the people she helps regardless of whether Lady Eboshi is doing it out of kindness or doing it to benefit herself. 

It’s odd that I spent the most time in this ask about sympathetic villains talking about someone who I think isn’t one, but I think that it’s both helpful and interesting to dive into how a character can completely subvert and dodge the label of a sympathetic villain while still fully capturing their contradictory essence. We hate and condemn the actions of sympathetic villains while also understanding them, respecting the “why” behind what they do, and potentially even loving them. With Lady Eboshi, we’re not supposed to care about the why. We’re not supposed to care about her. While I do love her, that’s not the part that matters. Instead, that same contradictory dynamic takes the form of the audience loving who she she helps while also loving who/what she hurts in the process. The thing’s we’re supposed to care about are entirely outside her. 

I think that sympathetic villains are so interesting because they prompt us to think about why a person hurts others and see that something more than just innate evil is often there–that there are reasons why evil exists in villains’ hearts and that there are things that we can and should do about that. Whether it’s a character like Meruem who was “born” evil but learned to love and ultimately chose to embrace it, or a character like Scar who started out a decent young man who became a serial killer because of the genocide his people suffered. Either way,  through them we are given an exploration of evil that emphasizes heartfelt understanding–understanding the “why” of evil so that we can either heal it or address the circumstances of its creation in the first place. If a sympathetic villain is well written and well handled in their story, the audience should be able to learn about the sources of evil in the world and how it could be made a little better. 

[perlanemesis]

A Lying Thief, chapter 2

Pairing: Dazai Osamu/Nakahra Chuuya, slight Akutagawa Ryuunosuke/Nakajima Atsushi Word count: 2,932 (chapter 2) Summary: Detective Nakahara Chuuya and his colleagues have been trying to catch the elusive phantom thieves for several months and the constant flirting from the mysterious leader of the thieves is certainly not helping. Links: ff || ao3 Inspired by: Treasure Beneath the Moonlight event in mobile game Bungo Stray Dogs: Tales of the Lost >>Chapter 1<<                                                                    >>Chapter 3<<

Chuuya spent majority of the night thinking about previous night's events. As it turned out, he knew his mysterious thief. It was none other than Dazai Osamu from the Armed Detective Agency. And the person who interrupted Dazai's scheme was his partner Kunikida Doppo. Dazai and Kunikida were kind of famous around Yokohama for their skills and teamwork. And then there was Edogawa Ranpo, a self-titled best detective in the world. 

The Armed Detective Agency took on jobs that were either too violent or too difficult to solve for the police, although sometimes they did end up teaming up for some cases. So naturally Chuuya has met Dazai before. They haven't actually talked much beyond what was necessary for work and even though Chuuya did find Dazai attractive, he also thought that Dazai was kind of an idiot. And now it turned out that this idiot has been dressing up as a thief and stealing jewels for a few months because he was interested in Chuuya? Chuuya groaned into his pillow. There was no way he was getting any rest.

When Chuuya showed up at work next morning he looked exhausted.

"Hey, you okay?" Tachihara asked looking sincerely worried for his colleague.

"Just tired from chasing those phantom thieves," Chuuya sighed and felt his irritation coming back.

Tachihara nodded.

"I feel you! I thought I had him cornered but I glanced away for a second and he was gone!" Tachihara ruffled his hair in frustration and turned to Akutagawa. "Any leads?"

"No."

Akutagawa didn't even look up from his desk as he said this. He just kept glaring at sprawled papers like glaring would help him solve the case. He did have a hunch but that wasn't enough.

The office fell into silence. Finally Chuuya spoke.

"Say, have you two heard anything weird last night?"

Both Tachihara and Akutagawa looked at Chuuya.

"No?" Akutagawa answered unsure. As far as he could remember he was too busy running up and down the building to pay attention to anything else.

Tachihara thought for a second but his reply was the same.

"No, I don't think so. Did something happen?"

I kissed my enemy and then found out that he's actually kinda my rival.

Chuuya couldn't bear to say that out loud. He sighed. There was no evidence aside from Chuuya hearing somebody (he wasn't even sure it was Kunikida) yelling Dazai's name. He couldn't prove anything but maybe sharing the information would help?

Someone gently knocked on the door. Higuchi poked her head inside the room.

"Some people from the Armed Detective Agency are here and requested you three," she said.

Three detectives exchanged glances and followed Higuchi.

When the trio entered the room, they were met with a scowling Kunikida and three other men. Higuchi quietly slipped away. Chuuya observed the guests. Next to Kunikida stood a silver haired young man. Nakajima Atsushi was his name, right? He looked nervous and refused to look anyone in the eye. Next to him stood Dazai, smile plastered on his face. Chuuya suddenly felt an urge to punch him. And then finally Ranpo with a bored expression on his face. Both Chuuya and Akutagawa immediately recognized their thieves.

Tachihara spoke first.

"So, um, how may we help you?"

Kunikida looked highly displeased with the whole situation. Chuuya couldn't blame him.

"Actually, we came here because of the whole phantom thieves situation," Kunikida began slowly. He adjusted his glasses and then continued. "You see, the thieves were these three."

Tachihara and Akutagawa blinked. Once. Twice.

"Then, the robberies were...?" Tachihara trailed off. This whole situation turned out to be a bigger headache than he had imagined.

"Not real," Akutagawa finished, his mind already working to find the clues he had missed.

"Fitzgerald owned us a favour," Dazai grinned.

Akutagawa frowned. He always felt that the case was suspicious. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald didn't seem like a man who would let some thieves continuously steal from him. And yet, aside from asking specifically for Chuuya's team to investigate the matter, he hasn't shown any interest in the case at all. But Akutagawa had no firm evidence that the case was fake. And besides, as long as the chase continued he could still meet that cute silver haired thief.

Kunikida adjusted his glasses again.

"Yes. And that is precisely why we came here to apologize for the trouble."

Kunikida bowed deeply. The boy next to him nervously did the same.

"I-I'm really sorry f-for the trouble!"

Akutagawa nodded at him, a small smile on his face.

The other two did not bow or show any signs of remorse. Dazai was still smiling and had his eyes fixed on Chuuya (who was doing his best to avoid Dazai's gaze) and Ranpo was still looking bored and disinterested as if he had no involvement in the situation.

"Dazai, your turn," Kunikida spoke harshly but it had no effect.

"Messing with my cute little detective was fun," Dazai grinned and Chuuya felt his blood boil.

However Kunikida seemed to be losing his patience as well.

"Dazai, apologize," Kunikida's voice was threatening. "Should I call Oda? Or maybe Sakaguchi?"

Surprisingly this got Dazai's attention. He quickly turned to face Kunikida.

"Neither! And since when Kunikida-kun knows how to blackmail?!"

"Apo-lo-gize."

Dazai pouted.

"You wouldn't dare."

Kunikida adjusted his glasses and took out his phone.

"Are you sure?"

Apparently that worked because Dazai turned his attention back to Chuuya and actually bowed. Chuuya blinked unsure how to feel about this turn of events. But when Dazai actually spoke, Chuuya felt his anger resurfacing.

"While I am sorry for the trouble, I cannot deny that having your attention was fun, mon petit détective ~"

Kunikida just sighed, apparently not in the mood to press his partner further.

"Ranpo-san, could you please apologize too?" Kunikida asked his colleague.

Ranpo looked over three police detectives.

"I will not apologize. This case should have been solved in a few minutes and yet you couldn't solve it for months."

This definitely hit a nerve for all three police detectives but Ranpo wasn't done yet.

"I knew that police are stupid but this stupid? If it weren't for Kunikida, how long would you have continued chasing us?"

"I did have my suspicions," Akutagawa started. "But we had no actual evidence, so..."

Ranpo snorted.

"Then you didn't look hard enough. Or didn't try. Regardless, I wanted to test you and you all failed."

Nobody said anything back. Ranpo was right. Both Chuuya and Akutagawa had mixed feelings about catching their thieves. Chuuya in particular found it harder and harder to hate his enemy. Tachihara gave his best but he never stood a chance to win against Ranpo.

Kunikida coughed to get everyone's attention.

"Then we will be taking our leave."

Kunikida and Atsushi bowed once again and turned to leave. Ranpo followed them and Dazai grabbed Chuuya's arm.

"We need to speak for a bit," he told Chuuya, then turned to Kunida. "We will meet back in the office. I have to sort out some things."

"Fine, just don't do anything stupid."

Then he once again turned away and left. Atsushi looked back and gave Akutagawa a small wave before jogging after Kunikida and Ranpo.

Akutagawa gently waved back at him, a small smile once again appearing on his face.

----

When they reached detectives' office, Chuuya turned back to face Dazai and crossed his arms.

"So, what do you want?"

Dazai looked serious, playful smile completely gone from his face.

"I meant everything I said yesterday. I really do like you."

Dazai looked sincere.

"So you became a thief to get my attention?" Chuuya asked remembering their conversation.

Dazai beamed. "Yup!"

"And dragged your friends into it?" Chuya asked, though he did feel his cheeks burning up.

Dazai laughed.

"Hey, I didn't force them. Ranpo-san thought it will be fun to test you guys and Atsushi did it because he's a good friend."

Chuuya sighed and uncrossed his arms as he looked at Dazai.

"But why couldn't you just flirt like a normal person? Why do this?" Chuuya made a motion with his hands.

Dazai pouted.

"But I did try! You just ignored me!"

Chuuya blinked in surprise.

"Have we even talked before?"

"That's the point! I tried talking to you, getting your attention, you just completely  ignored me!"

Now he was seriously pouting, looking more like an upset child rather than an adult man.

Chuuya thought for a moment. He tried to recall any time Dazai attempted to flirt with him but couldn't remember anything.

"See? You can't even remember." Dazai was still pouting.

"So you decided to become a criminal? Because I didn't pay attention?" Chuuya wasn't sure if he should be feel flattered or amused.

"Technically, I didn't commit any crime," Dazai pointed out. "Fitzgerald agreed to this."

"You wasted our time!" Chuuya fired back.

"But is that prank serious enough to put us in prison?" Dazai smirked.

"No..." Chuuya relented. "So what do you want?"

Dazai pretended to think for a moment but then grinned.

"Hmm, a lot of things. But right now I would like a date with my cute little detective~"

"Call me little again and I will kill you!" Chuuya growled and tried to punch Dazai but failed and got hugged instead.

"So, how about that date?"

It didn't seem like Dazai was phased by Chuuya's attempt at his life. Chuuya made a half-hearted attempt to break out of Dazai's embrace but eventually decided that he actually liked it. He wouldn't say it out loud, though.

"Fine, I will go on a date with you," Chuuya grumbled but apparently that was enough for Dazai who broke into a huge smile.