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The Philosophy of Villainy

Started by Chronicler, November 07, 2014, 10:56:45 AM

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Chronicler

So it should be plain that I like villains. I've ten characters in play here; I use the D&D alignment system in their profiles and only one of them is good.

Why, I hear you ask. Well, not you maybe, but people do ask.

I like to explore the nature of evil. The philosophy of villainy, if you will. Nothing exists without reason, all intelligent life craves a sense of purpose.

Why are the bad guys bad, what's their story, and once you understand them, can you really blame them? Why should they apologize for being monsters? No one apologized for making them that way.

Most people react to what they consider evil with shock and disgust. I want to ask them, who hurt you? And can you be fixed?

My dear Kaidra lives with the guilt of her mother's death, and with the hate of the people who killed her because they wanted to get to her. She hates humanity for hating her, she hates her mother for not being stronger, she hates her father for abandoning her. She hates herself most of all. That's a lot of weight to carry. So year she turned into Vlad Tepes (the historical Dracula) she took a page from her aunt's book and burns out every trace of dissent or intolerance around her.

Auntie Elspeth has survivor's guilt after watching her sister's family tear itself apart. The mundanes destroy what they don't understand, and that makes them less than worthy to her. She has nothing near her which has not been touched with magic. Even if that does occasionally mean her spells turn someone into a steaming pile of organs instead of a magical creature.

Aleric goes even further and pretty much just hates everyone, but deep down all he wants is someone to see him for who he is and love him anyway.

Nicolai is tired of the bullshit. He's on an endless quest to make mankind worthy of the high regard they are giving by the divine, and they never fail to disappoint him. When they do, he breaks them.

Evil has a reason, and I want to know what it is.


Anadwen

I love playing evil - or at least highly questionable - characters, and have done so in many RPs and many different settings. Personally, I find it more enticing than playing a goody-two-shoes; even when my characters are 'good' (by the alignment that I don't even use), they're usually the sort of stern, honor-bound, or Knight Templar good, not just 'good' good.

For, mind me, playing characters that aren't all rainbows and ponies is extremely interesting and challenging. At least for me. It requires you to think about their motivations, to put up with the disapproval from the public, to think about the moral doubts they have, to show what they even think about the 'good' characters that stand against them... And to see them either get more evil, or reform. The journey of an evil character is often more than interesting to explore - are they evil for revenge, because they were hurt, because they're power-hungry, because they're bored? Are they doing it because they know no else? Are they truly evil, even?

My first evil character was Aldanith. He didn't start off as really evil, just crude and rough; but as the story went on, he found out that he likes to be bad, that the world is evil, people are pigs and bastards, and he likes ripping them off and slitting their throats. Because the world never had anything good for him, he didn't understand the concept of love, friendship, or caring for someone; that ultimately became his doom, since he was greedy to the point of using even his own subordinates and a woman he pretended to love. When he abandoned her, unbeknownst of the fact that she would have given him a child, she begun to hate him. And his band of outlaws also stabbed him in the back and left him for dead, to be discovered by her (and have his arm sliced off). But did he think about being a bad person and reform? No, because hate only results in more hate, violence spawns violence; he got just more violent, at one point even possessed by shadow demons (officially his darkest point as of now) where he ripped people's skulls out for the fun of it. Sick guy, really. After he exorcised them, a little bit of a reform happened, but nothing radical - Aldanith still likes to kill people in brutal ways, and he's still not figured out that you can actually feel positive emotions towards a person. Currently, he's on his way to figuring it, but whether that will be successful is... Questionable at the very best. In the end, he just wants to kill his mad ex.

Lucien is a curious sort; he's not evil by himself. He's just terribly self-centered and cares so little about other people that he practically abuses them to climb the ladder of political power. He has little 'real' morals, although he has a perfect pretended etiquette; his primary motivation is to get power, as he is incredibly power-hungry. He doesn't want to live the forsaken life of a noble's bastard son that is just frowned upon and thus he does his very best to be classy, powerful, successful and all; he likes beautiful women, lavish parties, and expensive clothes, which are all just status proofs in themselves. He wants to be recognized and he wants everyone to serve him, he wants to be in control, because he simply loathes the idea of something being on a position higher than himself and being able to give him commands.

"Fangs", aka Grian, is more of an anarchistic rebel that disregards any sort of authority and the value of human life and other people's emotions rather than being evil. He doesn't want bad stuff to happen to other people - he simply doesn't care about what happens to them as long as he's enjoying himself and having fun, even if that means smacking someone into utter oblivion or beating a man into a bloody pulp; does it count as enjoyable to him? Yes. So, it's not wrong. He just has no sympathy and no care for laws and orders, even the social ones. He was raised in a strict household which he hated, and now he does his best to defy it; however, he's also scared. Scared of dying soon, and he knows he IS going to die soon, what is why he wants to enjoy himself as much as possible before he's gonna be out there and on his way to the fiery pits of hell or whatever. He wants to have fun really badly, he wants to prove that he's the best at what he does - treasure stealing and tomb robbing, like some sort of a mad kickass Indiana Jones with blue hair, nunchucks and no moral code - and that he's going to go out in style. Practically trying to pack the what, 25 years he'd normally have left into a mere 10 or such.

Ethereal-Star

I've thought quite a lot about the nature of evil really. However it is difficult for me to RP one entirely. I don't know if I'd be any 'good' at it. The most I've been willing to RP in terms of 'evil' or questionable is neutral-aligned. However neutral is simply that-neutral. They are neither good nor evil, they simply don't take a side. They may do so because they dislike the drama of good vs. evil or some might even make their own philosophy out of being neutral.

Anyway, back to the evil spectrum. I view for the most part like most I'd imagine, evil to be sick, disgusting and twisted. However I would understand on a metaphorical level the need for vengeance due to if someone were being continually hurt and betrayed, especially by those one had trusted or befriended. When you think of all the school shootings, I have to wonder who is really at fault here. I mean usually, it's the case of said guns man being bullied and harassed to the breaking point and then they just snap because they can't take it anymore. I can get that. I feel for them, I really do.

I've thought about a couple character concepts I wanted to try out, but am still hesitant to do so. I like playing 'good' and 'neutral' characters but perhaps I want to break out of that norm and RP someone bad or ethically questionable, verging on evil. The two concepts I had in mind and I might verge them into one considering their immense similarities to each other. Basically the first idea was someone who used to be good, but after a hard life of being constantly betrayed, bullied and misunderstood by most everyone this character just got fed up with it all, and from then on it was a slow decline to 'evil'. Slow, and torturous. She would eventually become an assassin and kill those who thought they were superior to her. Her philosophy in offing them would be 'if you think you're so much better than me, prove it scum!'

The other being a bit more unique but still along the same lines of betrayal and hurt. This one instead of becoming an 'assassin' on her own, was visited by some Furies. Furies, by the way, are female vengeance spirits in mythology (also called Erinyes) who are strong warriors and punish evil-doers in extremely harsh and questionable ways, using methods such as curses, boils on the skin, slow deaths, poison, or simply making them suffer by decreasing their luck in life. Would this be considered 'evil?' Are they perhaps taking justice the wrong way? What is the difference between vengeance and justice? Deep questions I myself would like to know the answer to.  Anyway, but for the character herself, these Fury spirits saw her plight and felt empathy towards her as well as seeing potential in her to be one of them. So that's what they did. They turned her into one of them, therefore breaking away from her mortal frail self and being able to exact 'justice' on all those that had harmed her in any way. Men and women alike. To her, they became less than human because of their ignorance and inflated egos. To her, they meant nothing. They deserved to suffer for not only what she herself had endured but others in similar situations as her. She is no longer human, becoming the very embodiment of vengeance and justice, taking it into her own hands, along with her now Fury sisters. So their objective is to punish evil in whatever horrible gory way they see fit. The more evil the crime committed, the worse the retaliation upon them.

Think of Anya in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, who was a vengeance demoness. Her view was somewhat different than her friend's, another vengeance demoness called, I think her name was Halfrek. They would both cause worldwide death and destruction in the name of justice. 

I wonder if I should make this Fury character if that is something people would like to see here. Feedback is most appreciated.

Anyway, the whole idea of villains is a very complex one and will most likely never have a 'simple' answer.

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