What’s a villain? There are a lot of different types of villains in both fiction and reality that range from psychotic to scarily sane. Entertaining to utterly boring. Grand schemers to simple thugs. Intelligent to stupid. Unrepentant to redeemable.
The last is my favorite type of villain to write or depict in a story. A villain who is evil through and through may be great for many stories, but there is a certain dynamic that they lack, the capacity to change. You may still see the occasional act of kindness out of them, but you can expect that it’s more out of some scheme of manipulation than heart strings being tugged. Though, even a pure evil villain may have some soft spots to make them more relatable, but you can expect them to stop at nothing to get what they want. A redeemable villain has a different path to take than this. They may even start out seeming to be pure evil but all it could take is one pebble. One pebble of an event that inspires an act of compassion that tumbles down the stone of their heart, finding additional loose parts to knock free as it falls. The pebbles can be anything from a helpless child they take pity on, the future legacy carrier of the villain who instead shapes the adopted parent into something more soft, or seeing an equally vicious, or even more so, villain that a frightening reflection can be seen in.
This pebble starts a process of erosion that continues as other pebbles hit the damaged facade and more breaks free until, eventually, their heart is laid bare and they’re confronted with a realization of who they are and are faced to make a choice. Do they rebuild the facade and fight against all they had been influenced by, or make the hard decision to reevaluate who they are and what motivates them. It can be a slow journey or a fast one, but done right, it can be an even more engrossing tale than even the story surrounding the hero.
In some ways, the villain redemption story could be seen as the greatest test of the hero that opposed them. When, in the end, the villain who opposed them so greatly joins their side, how does the hero respond? Has the hero been an advocate of forgiveness and redemption to others? How then will he respond with the greatest test of accepting someone who finds redemption? Will forgiveness be granted in the ultimate example and test of whether he can follow his own words, or will the hero struggle in his own journey?
It’s these dynamics, between hero and the villain, that can make a redemption arc one of the most engrossing stories that you can read. Yes, you still may hate the villain for what they did, but you can empathize with them when you see the first pebble hit. Then, after that you begin to root for them, not for them to win but for each new pebble after to tear more stone away from their heart. Done well, this could even make the struggle between the hero and the villain difficult to watch. You may to start to root and cling to the story with every word in the hopes that something will cause them to talk so the struggle can stop.
Often, these struggles in with the heroic sacrifice, the ultimate example that a villain has had a change of heart. It can be epic and memorable, but it can also side step the reality of where the changed villain is in the disaster that they helped create. How would they continue on their new path if they continued? How would they face new challenges from the many who would not meet them with open arms and forgiveness? There’s even the very hard possibility that the hero of the story, seeing the spark of goodness and potential in the villain, chooses to die for them instead. It’s all of these latter thing that can make the aftermath of the adventure even more complex than anything leading up to it as new character dynamics and relations are unlocked. It’s all of this that can make a good redemption story a most epic tale in the truest sense of the word.
I certainly hoped you liked reading my little mini-essay about villain redemption stories and my thoughts on them. Given more limited time lately, I’ve decided to restructure how I do things and put short stories, which tend to run 3,000 words or more and require more effort to ensure that each fits into the greater narrative surrounding them, and focus more on writing my next novel. I still will continue to write short stories from time to time, but they will no longer by my priority. Instead, I’ll continue to write more of these essays in which I’ll share what I’ve learned about story building from my time as a game designer and my journey as an author.
As always, enjoy and read on! Also, don’t forget to hit the like button and follow my Facebook page. Sharing the page with your friends, family, loved ones, moderate acquaintances, enemies, or just the odd person on the street would be appreciated! Every single follow and like helps me to get closer to getting my stories out and turned into full novels!