What is with this desire in later stories to see our bad guys go good? I’ve noticed this trend in recent years, and it kind of drives me bananas. It’s one thing for a simple character redemption when that’s part of the overall arc, but it seems to me that many want to upend story-society by turning bad guys good. Sorry, but aren’t bad guys bad for a reason?
It hit me the other day while reading the Thrawn Trilogy
again. I think I’ve stated previously
that I believe giving Thrawn his own books took away some of the mystery, but
even so, his arc, along with that of several Imperial characters, changed with
the Yuuzhon Vong’s arrival. Suddenly,
the Emperor and the Empire weren’t just being power-mad baddies, but were
seizing control to prepare the galaxy for the arrival of its greatest threat.
What?!?!
This changes the dynamic of the entire Star Wars Universe
and makes the Emperor a visionary. Must
admit that I really dislike this since it entirely changes emotional
appeals and reasons for being. And this
dynamic is present in other works too – demons in Tad Williams’ DirtyStreets of Heaven trilogy are trying to re-create a new Heaven in
conjunction with rogue angels so that mankind can retain some free will, Wicked
sees the Wicked Witch of the West as a misunderstood woman, and Magneto becomes
a sympathetic anti-hero in X-Men. Why?
Maybe because we all want to see good in everyone, but I
like villains that are…well…villains. It
provides a constant in a world of chaos.
You don’t see Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes being turned into
someone who was doing his evil deeds to protect orphans or some such. Having an evil person remain evil is, oddly
enough, a comfort to us since it means we know who to root against. Given the vagaries and shifting alliances of
our own real world, shouldn’t that be something to be celebrated?
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