Current Events > The big baddie villain was just a traumatized kid

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How do you feel about this trope?

Like any trope, it can be done well or it can be done poorly.

It depends on how much they use it to try to justify their actions.

the MHA villain is so goddamn lame

It's dumb bc irl a lot of child molesters were abused as kids but we certainly don't excuse their heinous actions.

I mean it gives a villain some depth other than being just a one dimensional character, so im fine with it.

Undertale did it somewhat well

Depends on the villain. Sometimes I want a backstory sometimes I don't.

"My crush told me I was ugly"

Literally all of Demon Slayer.

HighSeraph posted...

It depends on how much they use it to try to justify their actions.

Killmonger? Luca Blight?

The hero is just some traumatized kid but ends up good.

VeggetaX posted...

Luca Blight?

when the fuck does he ever do that

luca blight is a psycho path and damn proud of it he never makes any excuse or justification for his actions

he openly brags about how evil he is

furb posted...

The hero is just some traumatized kid but ends up good.

I like this more. Dante is a good example of this

AceMos posted...

when the fuck does he ever do that

luca blight is a psycho path and damn proud of it he never makes any excuse or justification for his actions

he openly brags about how evil he is

Luca and his mother was kidnapped by the city states, and his mother was raped countless times and he was powerless to help her. His father initially ran coward from this situation. His mother then died giving birth to Julia who presumably came from the rape. This fucked up him and he is what he is from it.

I would have loved it for him to be evil for the sake of it

What about that kid from FFTactics Advance. Cant remember his name.

Like any trope its the execution that matters.

deathguise950 posted...

What about that kid from FFTactics Advance. Cant remember his name.

Mewt? He didn't even have it that bad.

It depends on the villain, how heinous their actions are (or aren't) and whether or not they use this to try to hand wave away their actions.

It's kind of like the Joker if we assume the story in The Killing Joke is his true backstory... even though it's sad, I would still want him to die in a fire just from his actions in that story alone, not even getting into all of the other horrible shit he's done.

"You're just one bad day away from where I am!" Lol, fuck off with your excuses. People IRL have been through worse without it turning them into a gleeful murderer.

I generally prefer villains to be people in positions of power rather than victims lashing out at the world, but giving a villain a well done traumatic backstory can certainly flesh them out as characters

VeggetaX posted...

Mewt? He didn't even have it that bad.

Didnt he have mommy issues like Sephiroth?

deathguise950 posted...

Didnt he have mommy issues like Sephiroth?

No. He didn't ever cut his mom's head off.

VeggetaX posted...

Luca and his mother was kidnapped by the city states, and his mother was raped countless times and he was powerless to help her. His father initially ran coward from this situation. His mother then died giving birth to Julia who presumably came from the rape. This fucked up him and he is what he is from it.

I would have loved it for him to be evil for the sake of it

and i dont recall him ever bringing that up as any kind of defense

VeggetaX posted...

I like this more. Dante is a good example of this

I feel like half of rpgs are like this. Broa and Brobee live in Fishamleton in the backend of Holy Republic of Mana. Evil General Morosemen secretly unleashes Ancient Evyle that dwells beneath Fishamleton to overthrow the High Crystal Priestess ruling the Republic. Town gets leveled in the process. Broa and Brobee try to save their friends and fail. They end up scarred and traumatized. Broa becomes refugee and endures hardships makes friends and overcomes his situation. Brobee joins the bad guys secretly learning and siding with Evyle, betraying Morosemen and then frying the entire planet because trauma.

Broa confronts him at the end and Brobee is sorry after losing and then dies.

Unless Brobee is really popular and he is now good in the future spinoff.

AceMos posted...

and i dont recall him ever bringing that up as any kind of defense

To be fair it come from an era when the writers weren't so completely garbage at writing that they thought that "having a tragic backstory" was an actual defense for genocide and the like. A good writer would never have it used as a defense, just as a part of the justification for why the villain was so messed up.

can be good or bad depending on execution. trauma is a reason to treat others poorly, but not an excuse. many people seem to forget general that these days and shitty behavior tends to get glorified because of that.

the combination of a general lack of accountability in modern society, and the overall death of literary awareness is likely going to make this trope more and more unbearable as time goes on.

ellis123 posted...

No. He didn't ever cut his mom's head off.

lol :x

Nade_Duck posted...

can be good or bad depending on execution. trauma is a reason to treat others poorly, but not an excuse. many people seem to forget general that these days and shitty behavior tends to get glorified because of that.

the combination of a general lack of accountability in modern society, and the overall death of literary awareness is likely going to make this trope more and more unbearable as time goes on.

If I may eleaborate on your point. Trauma is a reason but not an excuse. A mitigating factor but not a free pass.

furb posted...

If I may eleaborate on your point. Trauma is a reason but not an excuse. A mitigating factor but not a free pass.

Oh yeah same here. I always say your issues only explains your behavior, it doesn't excuse it.

Looper in a nutshell.

VeggetaX posted...

Mewt? He didn't even have it that bad.

I mean his mom died, he was bullied pretty harshly and his dad was an alchoholic.

Note the alchoholism was censored in the localization to just him being a screw up at work.

furb posted...

If I may eleaborate on your point. Trauma is a reason but not an excuse. A mitigating factor but not a free pass.

VeggetaX posted...

Oh yeah same here. I always say your issues only explains your behavior, it doesn't excuse it.

exactly, and i feel like a lot of modern writers do not realize that and will not incorporate it into what they're writing, especially the ones that get hired for bigger companies that don't necessarily check everything they put out for quality.

basically.. the edgelord teen fanfic writers of the mid to late 2000's have become the current professional writers and this is not good as that influence will likely only spread.