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Firefly -> RE: =CHAR= Good or Evil? (6/12/2010 14:09:41)
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Heh, seems like I've stumbled into an old thread, but it's definitely worth discussing and is still on the first page so... why not?
I tend to prefer characters in different shades of grey. At my most cynical, I believe that there is no way humans can determine right or wrong. Thankfully, I'm not always at my most cynical, so I tend to think that though it's impossible to create an absolute morality metre, it /is/ possible to have a general idea of good and evil. Therefore, I tend to write in different shades of grey, with very little black or white. However, I will never have a story where everyone is the same shade of grey, because it would make all the characters too similar (and the audience will draw their own opinions on who is the darker grey regardless).
"Good" with a capital G is rarely ever present in my stories. The only truly pure characters are usually minor (if they manage to survive the first page or two), and even they can spend some time as antagonists due to circumstances or opposing worldviews. The major players in my stories are anti-heroes at best--which entails the anti-hero morality, not just a snarky attitude. Most of my main characters tend to start off innocent as children, then get broken by several traumatizing incidents. This causes them to become cynical, gradually changing them from someone who fights for justice to someone who reflects the monsters they fight. They slip from anti-hero to Byronic hero, and may even crash into villain protagonist territory for a period. If they're important enough--and if I'm feeling merciful--they'll have an epiphany and realize what they've done is wrong. Then they'll try to slowly claw their way back into hero territory. Whether they succeed or not is up to how idealistic or cynical their story is.
But note that I wouldn't label any of my main characters as "evil." They have reasons for what they do, and their goals are usually noble. I have written maybe one or two villain protagonists, but even they are anti-villains. Which leads me to my next point...
"Evil" with a capital E is also hard to come by. My main villains are often fallen heroes. They tend to come in two varieties. One is the "ends justify the means" person, who has seen too much of human nature's bad side to believe in goodness. Their goal is often to eliminate bad people, bring the world under their control, and ensure peace--at a very high cost, paid in blood. In many ways, they are what the heroes could become, given twenty more years of crappy life. The second type of villain is the one that has been abused, misused, betrayed, abandoned, and generally given the the worst treatment possible despite how they once served the world faithfully. They then snap--though rarely do they actually go insane--and decide that the world is no longer worth helping. Yes, they lash out in horrible ways, but there is definitely a reason why they do so.
(I have, in my countless stories, maybe four people who are what I'd label as "Complete Monsters." Almost all of them deconstruct the concept a bit, though. One has a death scene that can be interpreted as sympathetic, another has an excuse and may subconsciously repent, another is simply insane, and the last--who is possibly the worst--shows that he might've turned out differently if someone had shown him affection much sooner.)
For the most part, I'm not against people cheering on my villains. However, I do want people to recognize that my villains must be stopped, had they been real, even if they are somewhat sympathetic in fiction-land. I also do not gloss over my heroes' bad deeds--if it's wrong, it's wrong, even if they are the protagonist.
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