Thoughts on villains

Some are just sadistic, sociopathic narcissists who enjoy making other people suffer.

How convenient, I just finished watching the new episodes of The Boys and this is spot on. There's been a lot of sympathetic non-villains on TV lately but the writers of The Boys really know how to make good villains.

Purity may have stopped being a Villain but she isn't a Hero because she's still a racist whose superpower is being really white.

Certainly not. I suppose there is some semantics- “villain” vs. “antagonist” and such- but I think the “villain redemption” is maybe overused and often poorly executed. If it fits the story you are telling I think it has a better chance of working, but redeeming villains just as “fan service” or as a plot twist regardless of the themes or message or flow and logic of a story is something that is not generally the mark of a well made story- perhaps a story some people might still enjoy if they just want wish fulfillment or such, but not a well written story. It’s complicated. Lots of exceptions and room for personal opinion, but on the whole I’d agree 100% that some villains just don’t need a redemption arc or redemption tale, and adding them in where they don’t belong can ruin what would otherwise be a passable or even great story.