fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3428 ]

[ SECRET POST #3428 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3428 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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Who are your favorite tragic evil characters? (kind of inspired by secret 6)

By which I mean, they have to be a) a character who you genuinely feel for in some way and have a genuinely sad story AND b) really actually evil, not excusable or justified or morally ambiguous.

So many Tolkien ones. Mairon. All the Feanorians (especially Maedhros and Celebrimbor). Actually all the Noldor really because coming to Middle Earth was a mistake and they all paid for it. Boromir isn't evil, but he does do some bad things and get a tragic end. Thorin.

The post is about tragic evil. Boromir isn't evil.

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

philstar22 - 2016-05-24 01:57 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

(Anonymous) - 2016-05-24 02:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

philstar22 - 2016-05-24 02:13 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

(Anonymous) - 2016-05-24 02:33 (UTC) - Expand

Disagree that Boromir and Thorin fit here. I don't see them as evil, or even "deserving" of the tragic ends. Not on the same tier as Sauron at all.

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

philstar22 - 2016-05-24 22:26 (UTC) - Expand

I was just thinking about this today, Anyone ever read "I, Lucifer"?

Holy shit, I hated him, I knew he was evil, but by the end of the book I so so wanted things to turn around for him. It was almost tragic, because unlike most evil characters, he was utterly irredeemably evil, while at the same time, by the end of the book I felt like he never had the chance to be anything but.

Of course father of lies, unreliable narrator, but the thing with Raphael finishing his book for him added a kinda ring of truth and heartbreak to it for me.

I haven't but I think I should because this sounds like my kind of thing.

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

(Anonymous) - 2016-05-23 23:46 (UTC) - Expand

Ehh, I hate the word "evil" because to me, it implies like, pure sociopathy without a shred of humanity and plus it's such a religiously charged word, I don't really apply it to any human being no matter how shitty and terrible they are. I guess characters aren't "real people" anyway, but still, I hate the word used for anything except badly written caricatures of actual people.

So I'm going to go with "villainous" instead. And the first character that comes to mind who felt really tragic despite doing really awful things (though he could tell you how justified they were) is Death Note's Light Yagami.

You've put into words quite well why I have trouble thinking of a lot of characters as "evil!"

I feel like some people might disagree with me because he doesn't seem evil, in the way I usually think of it, but...well, he's an unrepentant bigot, who actively fights to keep "lesser" people in their place, so.

Dawson Kalliam in Daniel Abraham's 'The Coin and the Dagger' series. He's not a good man at all. He's genuinely racist, sexist, and classist; he's a dyed-in-the-wool monarchist raging against modernity. He uses and manipulates people, and tells himself that it's okay, because those people are "beneath" him. But you are nonetheless made to care about him, and when he meets his end, it's shocking and affecting.

I loved the character, hated that I loved him, and loved that I hated that I loved him, if that makes sense, haha.

Edited 2016-05-23 23:29 (UTC)

IDK if Henry IV and Henry V's Hal is really "evil," but he's certainly twisted--I love him to death, though.

I don't think any characters from Richard II to Henry V can be considered evil, especially because those plays made me obsessed with that period of history. Mostly it's just extremely messed up people trying to survive. So, in a way that makes it all the worse for me that Richard became so pitiful and Hal not only died young but he didn't even get to meet his child :(

Maeglin. And I have a headcanon that makes Eol fit this too.

Candyman, maybe?

Arthas from World of Warcraft is probably the best example that I know of.

Playing Warcraft III and seeing how Arthas went from someone who wanted to prove himself to his dad and help people to a smirking fiend who said "Succeeding you, Father" was heartbreaking.

Ruvik from The Evil Within.

Got massively disfigured as a child by the same fire that killed the sister he was very attached to (and for whose death he blamed himself), the got locked up in the basement for a huge chunk of his life by his own father. Got betrayed by the people he, uh... worked for and was cut up and kept as a brain in a jar to power some sort of nightmare machine.
But he is undeniably, unapologetically evil.

Edited 2016-05-23 23:39 (UTC)

Walter White. But although I felt sympathy for him in the beginning (a public high school chemistry teacher results to manufacturing and distribution of crystal methamphetamine in an effort to provide financially for his family while he slowly and painfully dies of terminal lung cancer, who wouldn't feel sorry at first) it was gone pretty quick and I wound up despising him and being glad to see him go.

Hoo boy. Dr. Facilier's fate from 'The Princess and the Frog' makes me shudder. I credit Keith David's voice acting performance. Like yes, he has most definitely brought his end on himself, but his raw desperation and terror really sold it for me.

Also Azula, from Avatar: the Last Airbender. Not quite sure if she gets to be truly evil, since she's a child, but she totally brings her end on herself and it's still really tragic and awful. As someone who's gone that level of crazy myself, seeing it in a fictional character, no matter how terrible they are, is upsetting and saddening.

Dr. Facilier is clearly a product of the world around him, as well. He's a black man in 1920s New Orleans, and where being referred to as a 'woman of her background' just made Tiana more determined, he seems to be her parallel in that he let things make him angry and bitter. I'd really love to write/read some backstory for him. I really love that movie.

Azula makes me so sad because by the end, it's very clear that she's not entirely well, and in fact that most of her reactions to things are her trying to seek control when she feels she has none. Plus, child abuse.

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

lb_lee - 2016-05-24 00:29 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

nonnymouscawitz - 2016-05-24 00:32 (UTC) - Expand

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lb_lee - 2016-05-24 00:36 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

nonnymouscawitz - 2016-05-24 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

lb_lee - 2016-05-24 00:52 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

nonnymouscawitz - 2016-05-24 01:10 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

(Anonymous) - 2016-05-24 02:26 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

lb_lee - 2016-05-24 02:51 (UTC) - Expand

One of the few things that disappointed me about the ATLA final was that Azula going crazy felt sudden. I wish it had been slower and had happened over more episodes. But yes, it was a tragic end.

Also, I agree about Facilier. I love that movie, and the fact that he's a tragic villain who on some level I understand makes it better. He's awful, but his fate is equally awful.

Re: Tragic Evil Characters

lb_lee - 2016-05-24 02:14 (UTC) - Expand

Agreed on both accounts.

Cato's death scene in The Hunger Games was horrible, both in the book and movie, and I felt really sorry for him.

I suppose he might in some ways count as "morally gray". Though I think if anyone else had died the way he did, even if it was straight-up villain, I'd have the same reaction.

Oh man, Cato's death WAS. D: I mean, there are a lot of very bad deaths in Hunger Games, but UGH! D:

Not gonna lie, I feel the same about Cato, especially in the books. I actually hurt even for his mercy death.

Well, Lex Luthor from Smallville isn't evil, but he definitely becomes a full blown villain eventually, and he is the absolute top of my list when it comes a villain whose descent into irredeemable villainy seems tragic and...almost fated? Like, I definitely hold him responsible for all the bad things he does, but at the same time, the series always gives you this feeling like Lex is being inexorably drawn into darkness despite there having been - in the beginning - a real and quite tenacious part of him who desperately wanted to do good.

Since we had that Hannibal secret... Francis Dolarhyde from Harris' Red Dragon fits that description. He commits horrendous crimes, but his backstory - his childhood especially - is simply heartbreaking. Harris does a fabulous job of a balancing act with him, where the reader is simultaneously repulsed by him but also oddly sympathetic. You can't quite stop yourself caring for him and want him to get help.

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