I've had this debate over at CYS and I'm currently having it at CoG as well, so I might as well bring it up here too.
Do you guys feel the absolute need for the main villain of a story/movie/whatever to be a multi-layered character?
This isn't to say complex villains aren't great things because they are, but to a certain extent I keep seeing people demanding that this always be the case. Like the villain always has to have some deep reason for being evil otherwise he just sucks.
My thing is, can't you just have a perfectly good villain who doesn't whine and cry about how he's evil because he didn't get hamburger helper as a child and just gets on with the whole puppy kicking and baby murdering?
Really, I'm satisfied with the evil overlord being completely drunk on the dark side as he's plotting the downfall of civilization. I don't need to hear him complain about how he didn't get enough hugs (or too many hugs) as a kid.
Some people are just evil assholes and there is no deeper reason than that or even if there is, does it even fucking matter if it isn't relevant to the story in some way?
This also brings up the other thing which is more of a thing in fantasy or scifi settings which is the "evil race." I guess a lot of people dislike the idea of a race that is automatically "evil." (Like the usual orc for example)
Again my thing is, why does it really matter that an entire race is considered "evil?" If they're the enemy in a story and there really isn't any greater purpose for them than that, do you really need to know if they're good fathers to their orc children and work at orc charities back home?
You're reading it from the point of view of the protagonist (Who we're assuming is human for this example) all he knows is that orcs have been warring with humans for centuries and have consistently been hostile. In his eyes they're all "evil."
Yes, we as the readers might ponder the philosophical question of whether or not orcs have normal families like the humans and if they're only raiding due to survival, but unless the story is actually addressing both sides (And in the process making the orcs "sympathetic") again, does it really matter?
And besides all that, if its a fantasy or scifi setting anyway, the morality doesn't need to be realistic. You can have all the pure good or pure evil races you want, just make the overall story interesting.
Do you guys feel the absolute need for the main villain of a story/movie/whatever to be a multi-layered character?
This isn't to say complex villains aren't great things because they are, but to a certain extent I keep seeing people demanding that this always be the case. Like the villain always has to have some deep reason for being evil otherwise he just sucks.
My thing is, can't you just have a perfectly good villain who doesn't whine and cry about how he's evil because he didn't get hamburger helper as a child and just gets on with the whole puppy kicking and baby murdering?
Really, I'm satisfied with the evil overlord being completely drunk on the dark side as he's plotting the downfall of civilization. I don't need to hear him complain about how he didn't get enough hugs (or too many hugs) as a kid.
Some people are just evil assholes and there is no deeper reason than that or even if there is, does it even fucking matter if it isn't relevant to the story in some way?
This also brings up the other thing which is more of a thing in fantasy or scifi settings which is the "evil race." I guess a lot of people dislike the idea of a race that is automatically "evil." (Like the usual orc for example)
Again my thing is, why does it really matter that an entire race is considered "evil?" If they're the enemy in a story and there really isn't any greater purpose for them than that, do you really need to know if they're good fathers to their orc children and work at orc charities back home?
You're reading it from the point of view of the protagonist (Who we're assuming is human for this example) all he knows is that orcs have been warring with humans for centuries and have consistently been hostile. In his eyes they're all "evil."
Yes, we as the readers might ponder the philosophical question of whether or not orcs have normal families like the humans and if they're only raiding due to survival, but unless the story is actually addressing both sides (And in the process making the orcs "sympathetic") again, does it really matter?
And besides all that, if its a fantasy or scifi setting anyway, the morality doesn't need to be realistic. You can have all the pure good or pure evil races you want, just make the overall story interesting.
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