[ SECRET POST #2283 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2283 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 032 secrets from Secret Submission Post #326.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

...So the Joker, Voldemort, Agent Smith, Damien, and Sauron don't ring any bells...?

[(Anonymous)]

Do you know the back stories of Joker and Voldemort?

[charming_stranger]

Does anyone know the true backstory of Joker?

ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

Wait, I'm not following Batman anymore, has the backstory revealed in The Killing Joke been jossed?

Re: ayrt

[truxillogical]

Even within the context of the comic itself, the Killing Joke is implied to be only a possible backstory of the Joker. The Dark Knight had a good nod to a bit of Joker lore--he constantly remakes his own backstory tailored to the audience he's addressing. And he may honestly remember it being one way and then another on any given day. He's not just insane, he's chaotically insane, and his mind constantly rearranges itself. So there was something like, "If I've got to have a past I prefer it to be multiple choice."

The only thing that is set in stone is at some point, probably pursued by Batman and while wearing the Red Hood, he fell in a vat of chemicals.

[(Anonymous)]

OP probably meant TDK Joker. Which, yeah not a lot of backstory there other than "I'm evil for the hell of it". Voldemort on the other hand, even as a kid, was creepy and doing violent things to people because he could. I wouldn't call that complex or tragic.

...am I even getting your point?

[scherrymouse]

I don't know about the others, but I'm not sure Voldemort counts. The sixth book is basically "Harry, now I'm going to show you why Voldemort is the way he is" followed by scenes of his past, where it emerges he grew up in a loveless environment. And "the power of love" is one of the key things in the series.

I'm not saying his past justifies all the things he did, but the way I see it, the bad things in his past were never said to be a non-issue either. We were also given a motivation for some of his villainy - his fascination with death and determination never to be caught by it.

Re: ...am I even getting your point?

[(Anonymous)]

Rowling said it didn't matter that he grew up in an orphanage. The look into his past was to show he was always a little antichrist and was born a psychopath. So yeah he counts as a cardboard cutout evil for the sake of it villain.

Re: ...am I even getting your point?

[scherrymouse]

Ah, I see. The look into his past doesn't actually show me he was born a psychopath, but it doesn't show me that he wasn't either. I'm happy to accept it if Rowling says so.

Re: ...am I even getting your point?

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think it was ever implied Voldemort "grew up in a loveless environment". At least I never got that out of the text.

The people, what little we saw of them, at the orphanage seemed normal, so I don't think there was anymore lack of love than a typical orphanage. Not an ideal environment no, but not anywhere enough to cause someone to be evil.

What we did see was Voldemort admitting to feeling superior, taking pride and pleasure in hurting others, being a source of fear to others and delighting in it, and keeping trophies from his victims; the first three to show he was always evil by nature, with the last the most important as it's the key to how the other memories relate to horcruxes.

Re: ...am I even getting your point?

[scherrymouse]

I don't think it was ever implied Voldemort "grew up in a loveless environment". At least I never got that out of the text.

Yeah, that probably wasn't the best wording, sorry.

Not an ideal environment no, but not anywhere enough to cause someone to be evil.

And I repeat: I'm not saying his past justifies all the things he did, but the way I see it, the bad things in his past were never said to be a non-issue either.

I don't believe his background is justification. My point was simply that he believed that he'd had an unpleasant childhood, and he used that to justify things to himself - it doesn't wash with me, but his past was significant to him, so it doesn't really seem like it's a 'lol I'm just evil 'cause I am' thing. The secret OP mentioned 'tragic pasts' and 'sad backstories', and I think there was an element of that in Voldemort's backstory. I mean, would you argue that he had a happy childhood?

the first three to show he was always evil by nature

Much as I agree with everything else you wrote, I don't understand this. The idea of 'always' did not come through definitively in the text for me. I have no idea whether Voldemort was 'always' a psychopath and as far as I can recall this wasn't addressed - he easily could have been, in fact I believed it was likely even before someone told me Rowling had said he was, but I don't see proof about him always being anything in the few anecdotes and memories we get.

But yeah, just to be clear, I think Voldemort is an awful monster and don't believe his past justifies that.

[(Anonymous)]

Aizen from Bleach fits this list too. We've only ever gotten one vague hint from Ichigo (feeling through Aizen's sword) that he was lonely because he was so powerful, which I think was mostly intended to be characterization for Ichigo.

Otherwise he's been a sadistic, voyeuristic, forced-human-experimental-scientist, plotting-to-take-over-the-world-and-become-god maniac. Doing so with a smile on his face the whole time.