A Necessary Evil

by BL Alien

In a recent editorial, Cloudslash stated that respecting a villain for his clothing or fighting style is wrong, because these people are "scumbags no matter how much their badassedness makes you want to think otherwise". I can understand where Cloudslash's opinions are coming from, but I must disagree. Every hero has a few bad qualities, just as every villain has a few good qualities. There is no such thing as a purely good or a purely evil character. Cloudslash seems to believe that either you like an entire person or you hate an entire person. However, it is possible to like some qualities of this person yet despise other qualities of the same person.

When a gamer says a villain is cool, he is not saying that burning villages or killing innocent people is acceptable. When he comments that he likes Sephiroth's armor or Kefka's personality, he is not saying that he likes Sephiroth's murderous rage or Kefka's insanity. Personally, when I first met Sarevok (from Baldur's Gate), I thought, "Woah, this guy has some kewl armor!" When Sarevok proceeded to kill my foster father, however, I thought, "Dang, this guy's a bad person! (censored, of course)" Many people watch baseball or football on TV because they think scoring a home run or tackling a 300-pound heavyweight is cool. Personally, I'm not really into sports all that much, but when I once saw this guy hit a ball into the bleachers, I was impressed. When I saw on the news, though, that this guy attacked an umpire and started a fight, I was definitely not impressed. Just because some guy has a mean streak does not mean that you can't be amazed when he flies up into the air and strikes the planet with a big ball of energy.

Even if you don't agree with my first statement, it is necessary to the plot that the villains dress cool and wield big swords. Who wants to play an RPG with its plot revolving around some fat guy wearing a dirty sweatshirt and sweatpants whose evil plan is to sit in a reclining chair and drink beer all day? If a villain doesn't awe you, you won't get a complete understanding of the magnitude of his evil. Going back to my earlier analogy, when Sarevok's plan was finally revealed to me, I thought, "Hey, you may be smart, and you may look cool, but I will prove that I am a lot smarter and cooler!" Sarevok's plate mail armor and kick-hiney helmet gave me the incentive to drive him to the ground.

I watch the news. I watch Cops and America's Most Wanted. I see what goes on in the world. Maybe, for one or two hours a day, I want to take a break from the world's ills. Maybe see them in a different light. Evil is a lot easier to deal with when instead of people suffering, a few pixels on a TV screen are changing color so it looks like some guy is screaming in pain. While at first glance it may seem like the other way around, I think Cloudslash and the people who agree with his opinions are combining fantasy and reality a little too much.

Original Editorial: Delusion of the Cool Villain