more-legit-gr8er-writing-tips:
say what you want about woobifying villains, but i think tragic backstories and redemption via love are staples for good reason. we want to believe that people are fundamentally good, just hardened by a harsh world. that suffering earns you a happy ending. because then it means something, then pain isn’t just senseless and futile.
people don’t ‘excuse’ the actions of villains because they just don’t take those actions seriously. i think it’s a kind of projection – we forgive them because we want to forgive ourselves, and we look for the good in them because we want to see that in the world, even in people who have wronged and hurt us. because earth is a goddamn terrifying place if other humans really are evil, if they’re really monsters.
and idk, i just think it’s kind of beautiful that we all want to believe that the scariest mass-murdering motherfucker alive can be brought down by something as pure and innocent as love. that love is the answer, not violence. i don’t think that’s cheap or ‘problematic’ or a bad influence. i think it’s human, and profoundly optimistic in a way that few people are brave enough to be.
The most tragic stories is when somebody attempts what Op has described but ultimately fails. Because some people are sadly beyond ANY redemption no matter how much anyone tries.
I love a good redemption arc and I also love a great tragedy in which a character attempts but fails to redeem another or themselves. Those are all great, perfectly valid stories to write.
What needs to be kept in mind is how you do it.
Your villain may come to realise murdering children is an horrific thing they did and decide they don’t want to do it ever again, but that doesn’t mean they can go around being like “can you stop bringing up that time I murdered children? I’m good now, so really I wasn’t bad then.”
Redemption arc only work because of the sincerity of the remorse felt over evil past actions.This is why redemption often equals death. Because when the remorse is sincere enough that the person is willing to die trying to mitigate the harm they’ve caused, then you know you’ve got redemption.
Like anything else, this, too, can be done lazily, but it’s part of our narrative language for a reason.