#not every villain needs redeemed but neither do they all deserve condemnation

[gg-writes]

I know there's a big thing right now about villains and who's redeemable and who we're allowed to like and what flaws we should forgive and which ones we shouldn't

I'm here to admit that I love a villain who doesn't realize they're wrong at the beginning of the story but changes their ways by the end. I'm a sucker for it. Lots of us are. And I see far too many people being accused of normalizing or condoning the traits the villains possess.

By all means, demonize the hell out of legitimately reprehensible behavior. There are actions that are so evil even forgiveness from the victim wouldn't be enough to clean the slate of the villain, and I don't think I need to outline what they are.

Listen, though. The chance of you being a low-key villain in somebody's life at some point is just so ridiculously high.

I'm not saying there's not some perfect saint out there who's never wronged a soul. I'm just saying it's very unlikely, and if it is the case, they must not get out much (or get out much yet, anyway.)

A huge part of being human is figuring out how to maximize your pleasure/enjoyment of life without minimizing the pleasures of others. When you gloss over the latter part of that statement, you have become a temporary villain to someone. And obviously, there are villains out there who never worry about the impact of their personal pursuit of happiness on others, or even some who derive their happiness by taking it from others. (Remember the reprehensible actions I mentioned earlier? They fall into this latter category.)

I'm not saying you're that kind of purposefully malicious villain. I'm saying that you've likely been the mundane unintentional kind at least a couple times in your life. Even (no... especially) during those moments you fervently insist on justification for your actions.

I just think back to so many of the people who've hurt me in life, and even the people who did it on purpose didn't do it just to be cruel. They were justified in their mind.

They'd been through hell that morning, what difference would it make if they called me a derogatory name? The secrets they shared in confidence get blurted out by others all the time. Why does it matter if they treat me the same?

They didn't know their joke about mental health hurt me, but to me at the time, that was the same as them not caring.

They weren't aware that I got three hours of sleep when they snapped at me for not paying attention, but I remembered the irritation in their voice for days.

They called me a bitch without realizing that I'd had that word casually tossed in my direction since childhood, and it hurts me more than it should when I get called a bitch as an adult.

Good gravy, how many times have I done that to someone else? How many times did I ignore the pain of someone else, or even cause someone else pain, because I was so absorbed in minimizing my own?

I couldn't even tell you.

I've had so many bad days in my life that I can 100% guarantee you I took it out on someone who didn't deserve it at some point(s). I know for a fact that there has been at least one day where I said "screw the happiness of others, I want some of that for myself."

It doesn't make me irredeemable. Anybody I hurt is under no obligation to forgive me, and the lack of ill intention doesn't negate the pain I've caused, but I'm definitely allowed to forgive myself and like me regardless.

So before you declare a villain "problematic" and decide that everyone who enjoys their redemption arc is an ethically bankrupt degenerate simply because they relate to the human facets of a morally grey fictional character...

If you really can't see why normal decent people enjoy reading about these complicated and conflicted villains, why we like to see people who are worse than us become better...

Ask yourself how many times you were a villain in someone else's life outside of fiction.

I'm willing to bet it's more than once.