(05-27-2015, 04:45 AM)Uther Wrote:(05-27-2015, 03:40 AM)K Wrote: Someone mentioned it earlier, that a good villain needs to believe that they're doing right, and I agree. In their minds, the heroes are foolishly resisting a plainly obvious truth.
That seems like a misconception to me. Not every villain has to think they're doing the right thing to be a complex and likable character. I'm not talking one-dimensional psycho villains either. Those are the worst.
Here's an example: Magneto
Magneto, when written by certain writers, knows he's being a bad person. He knows he has the power to do great things, and he really would like to, but he accepts what he does as a necessity of the world he lives in. It doesn't change the fact that he is conscious of his own wrong-doing.
You could argue "He still thinks he's doing right" but that's not necessarily true. He thinks he's doing what is required of him, as a man with the power he has. It doesn't make it right, and he knows that. He was a Holocaust survivor and he is fully aware of the horror of killing innocents. But he has done it.
If the villain thinks what they are doing is a necessity, then they are taking what they perceive to be the correct course of action, and therefor are justified in doing so.
