Anyone can mourn a hero, but only a hero can truly mourn a villain.
How right that is. Usually people despise villains, look down on them, and judge them for any atrocities they’ve committed. It’s not very common for people to stop and take a closer look or ask why or how a villain became the way they did.
I think one of the most tragic things in life is when a good person becomes sour and as a result turns into a villain. That’s my biggest fear. I feel that is the case with most villains because I don’t think it’s in our nature to be “bad” or “mean”; we can become that way as a result of extreme circumstances.
I mean, weren’t we all babies at one point?
On the other hand, there’s something kind of enticing about the villain. They are someone who was pushed so far to the brink that they no longer care and as a result harbor extreme inner strength to keep themselves and their best interests afloat.
They seem invincible and never lose their will to keep pushing for their own agendas. You can see it in blockbuster action movies all the time. Villains are also celebrated in books for challenging the hero to persevere and achieve greatness.
Most movie villains are actually portrayed as self confident and physically attractive alpha-people who know how to look “good”. By contrast, what makes a hero a hero?
Heroes are typically portrayed as the one who saves the world from the bad guy. But how do they do it? Often times by killing and destroying the bad guy and going to great lengths to do it even if it means putting others in danger and inflicting destruction.
Hmm…doesn’t that sound like a villain? When you really think about it, these types of heroes aren’t very different from villains because they are ultimately destroying something.
A true hero is one who thinks outside of the box enough to consider the humanity of a villain. They embrace a villain to guide them out of the dark side, and usually emerge looking a hot mess from saving the other.
To mourn a villain is to lament the fact that someone was hurt bad enough to give up on happiness and instead focus on destruction and hurting others in return.
Now that’s pretty damn heroic.
The Fearless Wordsmith 