Villains Do Not Need Tragic Backstories: Why Do Creators Always Want to Redeem Them?

The other day, I was watching an anime when a development I have grown tired of happened yet again.

A villain who had spent the entire story committing terrible crimes was finally cornered by the protagonist. Then, without warning, the story cut to a flashback.

“You see, something terrible happened when I was a child…”

“I never really wanted to do any of this…”

Oh, here we go again.

The person who had been casually killing people only moments earlier was suddenly transformed into someone we were supposed to pity.

I had been looking forward to seeing the villain finally defeated, but for some reason, I was now being asked to sympathize.

Is a Tragic Past a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card?

Stories have long used the idea that villains have their reasons too.

Even bad people are human. Good and evil cannot be separated so easily. Everyone goes through life carrying some kind of burden.

I understand the point.

But so what?

Being abused as a child does not justify massacring other people as an adult.

Losing someone important does not give anyone the right to drag innocent people into their revenge.

And yet, as soon as the tragic flashback begins, the entire atmosphere of the story somehow changes.

The villain is about to be defeated, but melancholy music starts playing, and even the protagonist has tears in their eyes.

No, no. Wait a moment.

What about the nameless civilians who were killed a few minutes ago?

They did not even get flashback scenes of their own.

Villains Can Remain Villains

I like stories that feature characters who are thoroughly evil.

They use other people to satisfy their own desires. If someone gets in their way, they eliminate that person without mercy. They feel no regret.

Villains like that have a distinctive power.

They are frightening because we cannot understand what they are thinking. And because they remain evil to the end, it is deeply satisfying when the protagonist finally defeats them.

Adding a tragic past, however, can suddenly make such a villain seem smaller.

The monster who once terrified the entire world turns out to have been a poor child who was bullied long ago.

The moment we learn that, the object of our fear becomes a candidate for counseling.

I came to see a monster, not to watch a therapy program.

Do Creators Become Too Attached to Their Villains?

Why does this development keep appearing?

This is only my guess, but perhaps creators become attached to the villains they have made.

They spent a long time developing the character and giving them an important role. The character may even have become popular.

At that point, it may seem wasteful to let the character leave the story as nothing more than a bad person.

So the creator gives the villain a tragic past and, at the very end, allows them to show a little humanity.

The creator probably believes this gives the character greater depth.

For readers, however, it can have the opposite effect.

A villain who once had an overwhelming presence can suddenly look petty the moment the creator provides an excuse for their behavior.

In the first place, explaining a villain’s past and making a villain compelling are two different things.

Some characters are frightening precisely because we cannot understand them. Some remain memorable precisely because they never show remorse.

There is room for villains like that too.

You Do Not Have to Be Kind Even to the Villain

Stories have long portrayed villains who have their reasons, enemies who have their own sense of justice, and people who were once victims themselves.

That is one perfectly valid approach.

But when everything is explained, the story loses its sense of incomprehensible terror.

I think there is room for villains who remain utterly beyond redemption to the end.

This reminds me of a famous line from Dio in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

“Do you remember how many slices of bread you have eaten in your life?”

That is his response when asked how many people he has killed.

He does not bother remembering the number. Their lives matter to him no more than the bread he eats every day.

When a villain goes that far, the honesty is almost refreshing.

There is no tragic past, no regret, and no remorse.

A villain can be exactly that kind of being.

Creators show their kindness by giving even villains tragic pasts and trying to redeem them.

I only wish they would share a little of that kindness with the ordinary people those villains killed.