Redeem the Villain or Not?
Do you think that a Villain should be able to be redeemed in books?
This is a very hard question because I feel like we often fall into the same pattern of wanting there to be a good guy and a bad one. We do not want to allow the Villain to suddenly have a change of heart because in a very real way we understand that no matter how much we want it; books will never give us a perfect escape from life. We want to be able to escape into a book where nothing goes wrong and if it does then we want the hero to win the day. We crave the expected from the story rather than the unexpected, which we cannot control.
Often times even we as Christians used books as a way of controlling what happens to us. We like to escape into a “perfect world” instead of dealing with the sin that is in our hearts. Changing our grasp of control allows us to think that how we respond to that change is fine. There is nothing wrong. I acted that way because I could not control what was going on around me. Now enough of that…you want to hear the answer.
I think that ultimately for me choosing if they should be redeemed or not has to do with their personality as I get to know them. I feel like the more I am able to connect with the Villain than the more likely that it is likely for me to want them to be saved from their ways. If I connect and see their hurt then it is like I understand why they have done what they did.
One of my favorite series is The Blades of Acktar. I love how well developed the characters in the story are. If you have read this series then you know that the main villains would be Respen and Vane. One thing throughout the whole story was the fact that they were known for killing Christians, rather than me wanting justice for what they had done, I wanted them to be redeemed. I wanted them to see all the hurt they were causing and change, This did not happen, but I wanted them to be redeemed. I wanted to hear more of their story. I saw the hurt that caused them to act out the way they did.
