Villains With Tragic Backstories And It's Misuse of Them

With 2016 coming to a close I thought I'd close out the year with one final blog topic for 2016. And this topic focus on a character development cliche that I find irritating, only when it's misused. Villains with tragic backstories.

In every work of fiction, when a villain has a tragic backstory you'd also have this arc where they'd get magically redeemed following said tragic backstory. Most of the time the redemption comes out of the blue and the protagonist just up and forgets the horrible atrocities the villain committed just because the villain has it hard. I think Linkara said it best; there is a difference between having a sympathetic backstory and actually being sympathetic. I'm going to use two examples.

Malcolm Merlyn. This guy is the textbook example of incorporating sympathy through tragic backstory in a poor way. Ok we see the reasons why Malcolm did what he did but lets be honest here. Do you really think his wife would approve Malcolm's actions? Hell no! Then you have the fact that the guy brainwashed his daughter and turned her into an assassin. Then you top it off that he never gave up on his villain ways and yet the series would try to paint him in a sympathetic light. The problem with that is he has never done anything to warrant sympathy in the first place.

Another example is Astronima from Power Rangers In Space. At first she was the big bad but the series provided her gradual development and showcase that she's more than just Rita Jr. Then when her backstory starts getting established then that was when Astronima started coming out of her shell. Then the moment when her redemption arc starts it actually mattered because there was a gradual building process. And that moment when she became a Power Ranger in Lost Galaxy, that was a Holy Shit moment for me but in a good way. See the difference between this and Malcolm?

If you're going to use a tragic backstory as a way to establish a redemption arc for the villain then please don't rush it. Plant some seeds. Also have the villain earn his/her redemption.

And to those reading, may you have a Happy New Year!!