#he needs his villian arc

[mugbowlfan]

Mugman after season 2: (or season 1b, honestly at this point I'm kind of confused about that)

[trainforanother1000years]

Pac everytime he gets a chance to roleplay as a sad wet traumatized cat of a man begging for his life:

[toelessbastard]

binged Villian to the Rescue like wow this isnt everything ive ever wanted.......DUDE

[isa-ah]

have there been any official statements on totks timeline bc it sure seems like it's a creation all its own with very little tie in with established mythos at all

[seaghosst]

au where garmadon doesn’t get sent to the shadow realm in season 4 and during season 5 does to morro what wu does to lloyd in the first season. it’s funny to me ❤️

[witch-sweets]

Local dead guy goes on his Villian Arc more at 11

[bombshellsandbluebells]

the Nate Shelley s3 arc reminds me of the s5 Murphy arc in terms of how much I actually loved it despite it not being widely liked by the fandom and was actually disappointed because it wasn't ugly enough lol

and it's basically the same arc. character with deep-seated wounds and a lack of true self-love has realistic, damaging coping methods and crashes and burns spectacularly by hurting other people around them and isolating themselves because it doesn't matter how good things get for you, deep-seated wounds that don't get addressed will eventually come out one way or another. and it will be ugly when they do.

the Murphy arc was disappointing because it got wrapped up way too easily with Memori getting back together which didn't actually address ANY of Murphy's issues and Nate's was disappointing because it just didn't commit fully to being ugly and didn't let him be enough of an asshole

[writers-potion]

can a villain be a good villain without having a backstory that justifies why they behave the way they do, or a backstory that helps people see where he is coming from? would my villian be a bad villain if he just desired power for the sake of having power? i dont want to write a villain where people learn about him and come to the conclusion that "hes right" or can be redeemed

No Redemption Villains

There are plenty of "good" villains with no redemption arcs!

Your villain can be the epitome of twisted ambition, power-hungry, and cruelty, with little else giving them reason to do what they do. However, they need some internal logic that justifies all of their motivations and actions in their own worldview.

This is different from the backstory in that:

The "justification" your villain has is in fact no justification at all

Only the villain (+his closest allies) believe in the "story" or "worldview"

Think of it like this: For you, the Earth is flat. Since you totally believe in this "fact", you never travel outside of your continent, never travel by plane, etc. Others may call you stupid, try to educate you, maybe even force you to get on a plane and take you somewhere that shouldn't exist in your Flat Earth. However, you're not swayed. You just keep believing what you've always believed.

This is what your villain has to be. A complete lunatic in other's eyes, but a sage in their perspective.

Look at your story world from the villain's perspective

Redefine everything from the villain's POV. No one does things that they truly don't believe in.

Each time you write your villain, believe this almost alternate universe.

[dead-inside-demiboy]

I still enjoy Sander sides a fuck ton, but I've been out of the fandom for years now. That being said, I've been rewatching it recently and here's a really cool thing I've noticed!

So while they are characters and all of the sides feel fully fleshed out and realistic, they are also aspects personified and it was done SO WELL

Like of course Logan would get very stuck up and controlling with certain stuff, that's how logic operates. Especially with adhd, logic is usually the voice of guilt in the back of your head when you do things wrong. On the other end, logic is also silly, you sometimes remember something random for no reason. And of course Logan gets ignored a lot! How often do you listen to your logic 100%?

Of course Roman is grand and has large ambitions too big for his boots, that's what creativity feels like. Yes, Roman will be self centered, because if you're an artist (like Thomas) creativity is a big source of pride for you, especially if you post online. Roman being insecure makes sense when you think of imposter syndrome and how popular Thomas is. Obviously Roman loves Disney and cartoons, they actively spur on creative juices.

Of course Patton is pushy and controlling with his beliefs, that's what morality does! Growing up religious would only make that more extreme. Of course he's commonly listened to and taken at face value, your ethics/morals are some of the heaviest driving forces when they kick in, and it takes a lot to shift them. Obviously he's the least mature, your morals are instilled when you're young and you never really grow out of them. But he's also a dad because older male figures are stereotypically the ones that teach you morals in the first place!

Of course Virgil is so rude in the beginning but gets an acceptance arc, anxiety is a bitch to live with that fucks with everything else, but you need to learn to work with it, not against it, similar to any other emotion. He used to be part of the dark sides cause when you don't know what to do with feelings like that, you end up pushing them down or hurting yourself. He hates not being taken seriously because when you completely ignore and blow off your alarm bells it puts you in active danger!

Speaking of, Dark sides tangent! First of all, they aren't really the "bad" parts, they're just the parts of Thomas that he bottled up or tried to hide from himself. And the name "dark sides" is so good, cause it's like the dark side of the moon! Just as important as the light side, just different, harder to see if you aren't actively looking, and often ignored or viewed as "worse"

Tangent over. So!

Of course Janus's main role is to hide the other dark sides! He's representation of what happens when somebody hides parts of themselves. He has a villian and snake persona cause of religious reasons and because deceit is viewed as one of those bad things that need to be bottled up! He is at the core of a lot of self preservation and caring of others because for Thomas, that is the only time he's used Deceit so it's all that he can do.

Of course Remus is equally as prideful as Roman, he has the same issues with imposter syndrome! Of course he has a bunch of gore and sex jokes/ideas, he's the creative parts that morals state are "bad". Unlike Roman who's usually on topic, Remus goes constantly off tangent because that is what your wilder/more experimental side of creativity does! It just spits shit out and you figure out what sticks!

Its very similar to Greek mythology and idk! I just love when personification is done super well while making the characters still feel human!

[wolvertooth]

Kinda really hate that we live in a timeline where sabes is just considered this 1 note irredeemable villian, we literally have one of the oldest and most iconic xmen stories that's not just an au but was always a possible future for the current heros/villians we know about them coming together and simply surviving in AOA. Victor literally comes to the conclusion after working for apocalypse that "hmmm maybe I need to chill the fuck out" and that was REGULAR smegular victor who made a heel faced turn on his own, implying that yeah, bro does have some goodness/remorse in his core but noooooo we gotta have d tier villian 1 trick pony sabs with zero complexity where he has no standards to show how eeeevil he is BOOOOOO BOOOOOOOO 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅

LITERALLYYYYY and he became the best dad of the year--

was buddies with logan--

sacrificed himself to try to save the world--

(but he was obv fine)--

then got chosen by a HIGHER POWER to become the leader of a group that goes around saving the fucking MULTIVERSE

(Astonishing X-Men 1995, issue #2) + (Astonishing X-Men 1995, issue #3) + (New Exiles, issue #1)

heres the thing about victor -> a lot of him being a villain is purely based on his circumstances. hes a mercenary cuz hes good at it, but its also cuz its the only job that'll take him...and its also kinda the only job he believes hes allowed to have, since thats what everyone is constantly pounding into his head

but whenever hes actually given the chance to be the good guy, hes pretty damn good at it.

the inverted arc is one of my fav examples of that--

(Avengers and X-Men: AXIS, issue #9) + (Weapon X 2017, issues #16 + #21)

like in aoa/exiles, hes still the same guy. still violent, still witty, still cocky, but also someone who cares deeply and wants to protect others. hes a hero, but still himself.

oh right. and mary shelley overdrive. cant forget about that impact in sabretooth history.

(Sabretooth: Mary Shelley Overdrive, issues #1 + #2 + #3 + #4)

i think the only reason hes still keeps being reduced to villain status is cuz hes someones arch nemesis..not saying canon wolvertooth would save his chararacter but.....

yea no im literally saying that. it totally would.

[puryartist]

I wonder why they mentioned the Frozen Heart again cause I thought this concept had already ended since the first movie. And the way those two questions "Do we still need to beware the Frozen Heart?" and "Who is the Frozen Heart?" lead to "What happened to Hans?" is interesting. According to the first movie and A Frozen Heart, we all know Hans is the Real a frozen heart all along. Does it mean he will come back as a villian again? or maybe something leading to his redemption arc? Idk but I can sense this time he will come back as something more than a cameo.

#and it could mean nothing too

[fashion-foxy]

You know something that's odd to me? How weirdly the child of the Beauty and the Beast get handled in media. (Obviously, my only examples are EAH and Descendants, but walk with me on this.)

The Beauty is someone who will, for better or for worse, always see the best in everyone. They are kind and good-natured but is usually someone who still holds people accountable for their actions and intentions, not what the Beauty thinks their intentions are.

The Beast is someone who typically does not look past the surface level of a person out of stupidity or willful ignorance. The Beast is also very selfish ,closed-minded , and stubborn. Unfortunately , that means in retellings, the Beast is the only one to go a character arc, and the Beauty comes off as judgmental or too forgiving.

Both characters being foils means that it could be a bit challenging to portray a character that is a result of both of those personalities, but if done right, it creates a very interesting character!

So, what did EAH and Descendants do with what they were given?!

Well, for starters, a bad job, but you already knew that. Let's take a look at Rosabella Beauty and Benjamin Florian No Last Name Given. (Idk most Descendants characters don't have last names)

Rosabella is judgemental, which could definitely actually be a super cool thing that she got from her dad, but based off the fact that she didn't go on an arc and it didn't get presented as a character flaw, I suspect this was accidental. Which is real shame. It would've been a really cool concept to explore Rosabella actually being the Beast.

She is also, by not getting any meaningful character development, giving off major 'I could fix him' vibes with Daring. Except, she's ignoring what's actually wrong in his life and looking at surface level interpretations of what she thinks he's like. Then, deciding he's a self-centered narcissist who she needs to fix so he meets her standards. Hey, wait a spell. She kind of seems to embody more of the Beast characteristics than the Beauty's. I wonder if the writers might have had other plans but were forced to change her into something else or perhaps Mattel wanted to sell a doll of her and Daring so they had to awkwardly force a relationship and not use their original plans?

Ben is way too forgiving. When we first see him, he says that he wants to give the Isle kids (kids who were born to villians who've been trapped in a magic prison all their life) a chance at a normal life, which is great! It's probably one of the best things a 16 year old king could do. So when's the next time he forgives someone? When he tells Mal that he knows she drugged him. So, it's at this point where you kinda realize that he isn't being too forgiving he's trapped in an abusive relationship. Once he sees that Mal realizes the implications of that, he goes back on it, and he tells her that it's not that big of a deal that it's ok that he still loves her.

When's the next time something like this happens? When Mal tries to erase some of his memories after catching her lying about using magic. He obviously yells at her because that's a fucked up thing to do. She downplays the situation and makes excuses. Shortly after, she runs back to the Isle. Ben, assuming that she had the best intentions, blames himself and ultimately gets kidnapped and then drugged again. All of these interactions are all portrayed as 'his fault' and that he'd deserved everything that happened to him because he was holding Mal responsible for her actions. In the third movie, he even stops doing it. Hades asks him why an Auradon kid gets to be excused and why everyone on the Isle doesn't, and he looks at Mal but ignores the question. Mal doesn't answer because she's the reason this Auradon person (Audrey) is hurt because she ruined her life and is currently being excused by everyone, including the writers, but Audrey won't. Ben definitely won't.

So, aren't these the best portrayals of the Beauty and the Beast characteristics? Because mixing the traits incorrectly. If Ben was given more Beast characteristics than just roaring sometimes. Mal wouldn't be abusive if their were actually moments where Ben was being unreasonable and too quick to draw surface level conclusions.

Rosabella wouldn't come off as rude and judgemental if she was given more Beauty characteristics. If Daring was actually self-centered and Rosabella considered others and thought about others instead of drawing conclusions.

[silviakundera]

Does it feel like they're trying to redeem the dickless bore? idk if he's doing a con on her or they're showing he has real feelings for her wasn't the novel different?

One thing I'm really noticing in the Princess Royal (Grand Princess) adaption is that they will 'play it straight' with characters like Su Rongqing and the Emperor: giving the character similar dialogue and facial expressions as they would have in the novel -- except without PWX or LR's internal dialogue of 🙄 why u lying???

🙄 lol ok sure

😒 oh i see, back on your bullshit again

😤 the AUDACITY

😬 oh shit oh shit danger BE COOL

The consequence is that if you take everything at face value, the Emperor seems like a reasonable guy and not up for The Absolute Worst Dad award. Under the surface, the novel reader knows he is acting out a play and coldly calculating every interaction with Li Rong, the Crown Prince, and Consort Ruo. Every single scene with him, Li Rong is in peril and she knows it. She's pretending to be his sweet, obedient 19 year old daughter who believes in him and is following Pei Wenxuan's direction and acting as a puppet, making moves that he has already approved PWX to make. The Emperor's pretending that this play isn't supposed to end with LR and the Crown Prince taken down & the power transferred into Consort Ruo and the other prince's hands.

The viewer can just interpret all the words coming out of a character's mouth as facts & just believe everything they claim about their motives/real agenda as true. Or they recall the implied horrorshow of Life 1 and view all of these interactions with a cynical eye, questioning what else could be under the surface.

With SRQ, that guy is so fucking complicated. I think actually he's portrayed in character. Nothing we have seen isn't .... him. At least so far, as of ep 19 he aligns with the novel.

But 3 different factors: A) The music is romantizing him; B) The audience is given a couple internal-thought voice overs from him, which other antagonists don't get; C) With those voice-overs, the screenwriter has chosen to affirm his love for his brother and LR way earlier than the reader has it confirmed in the novel (where he is intentionally kept a total mystery for far longer, while the reader is the math lady meme, trying to piece together clues to figure him out).

And ultimately, when in SRQ's PoV in the drama, we have to deal with him being the hero of his own story. He is absolutely sincere about himself and, as has been revealed, in his own way he's sincere about wanting LR and his brother to have a good life this time around.

So does that mean the writer intends to do a swerve in the narrative arc and redeem him in the end? It's totally possible. Maybe?

However, not necessarily.

#1 There is a certain refrain from many of the great cnovel/drama villians: I had no choice! You all forced me to this!

We saw it from Shen Yurong in The Double, we saw it from Meng Yao/JGY in The Untamed, and in the novel (and I presume in the drama), we're gonna see it from Su Rongqing.

And it's the reason why they become villians who can't be saved. Because so many people suffer in life or experience unfairness. But they don't turn around and use this as an excuse to enact horrible cruelties on others.

Out of the billions of people in the world, few have no problems but so many of them actively chose to do good, or are willing at least to turn back and be better.

#2 imo the reason LR has historically been bad at reading people's hearts but has an exquisite read of SRQ, his flaws & darkness, is THAT'S HER FUCKING MOM. And I do think ep 16-18 put that out there in the text, if you're looking for it. He and the empress are the same sophisticated aristocrat who is clever & educated but with a narrow perspective limited by their privilege and desperate need to maintain the status quo. So sorry bro, but no wonder she might have settled for marrying you in the first life if you wanted to, but she was never gonna fall in love with you 💀.

PWX can see that SRQ loves her and he thinks that matters, so it scares him. LR has tender nostalgia for her empress mother and her former companion but she's all too aware that their love for her will not necessarily get in the way of stepping on her to protect the social structure of a powerful aristocracy class operating at a higher level above the peasants and restraining the throne. To them, this is safety and stability that guards the realm.

(ofc both those characters are complex and when it comes to LR's life & death we can't be confident on what they will always choose. that's part of what made all the palace drama aspects of the novel incredibly suspenseful. So many of the suppporting characters are layered and tho everything they do makes sense when it happens, you can't often predict people's hard choices when their back is up against the wall)

Story of Kunning Palace and The Grand Princess say that caring about people and trying your best to understand them, wanting what's best for them by listening to what's best for them, can make a huge difference. But not everyone is willing to change.

[ari-dark-raiden-simp]

Welp we are so close to Dark Raiden Invasion season so it's probably my last "whining" post about Old Dark Raiden comeback probability so!

"You'll die by your own hand" vs "Some days, I wish I'd never left Fengjian" intro fits perfectly + Dark Raiden has full intro animation (with error in eyes since they are not glowing from the start)

Yet I notice that they "fixed" his eyes behind the scenes in newest patch also makes his texture better - they are not that plastic like before (Why would NRS fix such things if they will not use him for something more?)

Everyone gets a new "Dark" skin for Invasion yet only Raiden got reused one from MK11. A lot of people clearly say that Young Raiden IS NOT IT!!! (Please I'm not scared that we don't even have full render of Old Dark Raiden. NRS is doing everything last second right now so I will not be suprised that they tryhard now behind our backs to get everything done in April)

In the trailer we see TWO variants of Dark Raiden which is an interesting detail to me. I'm not convinced that we will get two skins for F R E E since NRS is company. I started to think that they can sell Old Dark Raiden as Premium skin during the invasion, since he needs his own voicelines done by mr Travis Willingham who voices old Raiden now (MONEY MONEY MONEY)

We can't forget about Mileena vs Dark Raiden short moment when he appears for the first time!!! Also in the final arc we see OLD Raiden who stands beside the rest of Dark Crew on top of the hill.

OLD DARK RAIDEN HAS THE REASONS TO BE A VILLIAN not like human Raiden (also please look at this pure baby Raitwink??? Nope) Old Dark Raiden DESERVES his arc after MK11 disappearance.

NOW IT'S THE BEST OPPORTUNITY TO DO THIS!!!

In the new update for MK Onslaught we get short cinematic where Elder Gods are getting destroyed before Raiden's and Shinnok's eyes. At the end they go together to continue the battle after ^ THOSE ^ words from the Thunder God. The easiest way to turn Raiden into Dark Raiden once again and merge the event around April together with Invasion season drop.

All of those details are part of my speculation (and unhealthy obsession with Dark Raiden himself) as a fan. Of course I will be the most happy human if we really get Old Dark Raiden as a separate skin and give him some justice. So please NRS don't let this opportunity die (don't be like Kitana in the gif, let the old man pass into the game for real :,D)

[mkpersephone]

Oh my GOD!!!!!!

He did it all for Scott😭😭😭

He did it for all of mutant kind actually, but mostlly for SCOTT!!!

If only you show this much care to your own son Charles...

He knew the humans are going to blam him for every thing so he took the blame for himself😭😭😭

By tricking everyone into believing that the people who were killed in that ship were real people, while they were clones of Orchis agents who invaded Krakoa and then gets killed by Sinister.

But what he did at the end was stupid tho. Why would you leave clue so people know you are not a super villian and then wipe their memory when they find out??????

Also Shout out for warren!!!! He find out first!!!! And then get his memory wiped🤦‍♀️ (really Charles? Even I can't defend you in that category) and after that he hired this girl reporter to find out the truth. Which she get memory wiped too.

Now, like Cyclops after the Avengers vs. X-Men I think it's only matter of time before they give Charles his (redemption arc?).

Can we call it redemption when tecnically he didn't do anything wrong in the first place??

I thought this comic would be a rollercoaster of heartbreak and tears, but it was really good and straightforward. It filled me with hope for Charles' future.

Of course, given a bad writer doesn't come and destroy everything!!!!!

But in the end: It's the greatest gift we have: to bear their pain without breaking. And it comes from the most human part of us: hope. Charles, we need you to hope again.

Special thanks to @ouchpotatoex who give a chance to read it. ❤️❤️🙏🙏

I wrote this whole post just becouse you asked @kataosmth 😂😂

X-Men: From the Ashes Infinity Comic (2024) #6

[thephantomcasebook]

So why are the writers destroying Aemond in S2? Like show us what immediately went down between Aemond and his mother right when he returns from Storm's end, not a few days after, if you want him as a straight up villian, you know. Aldo rumors are he even murders Heleana. That's how bad the writing is. Thoughts?

They fumbled the transition ...

Book!Aemond and Show!Aemond are two different characters.

Book!Aemond is loud, brash, and in your face, with a streak of cruelty and ruthlessness that was needed and fostered as a way to protect his family. Aemond made the hard decisions and took ownership - good or ill.

Show!Aemond in Season 1 was just Daeron in Aemond cosplay. All the attributes of Aemond that made people like him, quiet, brooding, devoted unimpeachably to Alicent, close to Criston. These are all Daeron's characteristics from the book. I think people have this misconception of Daeron - because he is the youngest - of him being light, fun, and innocent. But the book says that he was quiet and cerebral, that he was courteous, but brooded alone with only Alicent - and probably Criston - being the only one who knew his true mind.

Book!Aemond is never going to sit by the fire alone and brood thoughtfully in the shadows of the flames or seek the council of Criston Cole for a private talk. That's 100% Daeron behavior. Book!Aemond is completely unrepentant about anything and everything he does. He takes ownership and flaunts it. The dude is pure unreptant swag.

The problem the show has is that now that Daeron is coming and GRRM insisted that they add Daeron - cause the symmetry would be fucked for the entire story - "The Butterflies" - they had to basically strip Aemond of Daeron's qualities and reset the character to factory settings. The problem is that they both fumbled the realignment and also didn't give him enough time to become the character he became in 2x05-2x08. They fucked around so much with unnecessary plotlines with riots and Mysaria and dragon seeds, that they rushed the transition or gave just enough time to do "Well enough" for the character's story arc.

They also broke Aemond's character to put over Alys and Daemon. In the book, it is extremely clear that a lot of Aemond's odd and psychotic behavior toward the end is being influenced by Alys. Aemond starts going completely off book and out of character once Criston and he take Harrenhal. Aemond abandons Alicent and Helaena, he leaves Criston and Daeron twisting in the wind, he starts burning the Riverlands in a reign of terror that even by the time of "Game of Thrones" they still haven't quite recovered from. All of these things is clearly from Alys's influence through spell craft or just preying on his worst aspects.

Now, Aemond is burning cities because the show is trying to convince us that it was always in his nature, when, if you read "Fire and Blood" a lot of it has to do with whatever Alys is planning. But now, because of this childist "Men are stinky and Women are good" trash their pushing, now Alys is this wise, sage-like, witch, rather than an extremely dangerous and mercenary figure who has her own agenda that is not for the good of the realm, but what is good for Alys Rivers.

The main problem is that the writers woefully misunderstand Aemond as a character and basically reengineered him to fit their bullshit political agenda and message that they want to push. They're trying to set up that 'Yeah, Daemon is bad, but his redemption is that he kills that meanie Aemond, cause Aemond is just pure evil!'

Mark my words, that's the simplistic childish thinking of these hacks.