Star Wars fic and the emphasis on redemption

[anna_wing]

One thing I've noticed, now that I am writing Star Wars fic. Why is it always "redemption" for the villains, rather than "reform

Comments

[bratfarrar]

...that's a very interesting point. Redemption tends to be more of a one-time event, as well, whereas reformation suggests some kind of ongoing effort or series of choices. (Darth Vader/Anakin arguably had a single-action redemption, but it was also a very decisive and effective action, so perhaps that falls more under the reformation category...)

[anna_wing]

Someone was talking about how both Kylo/Ben and Rey showed their ultimate heroism through actions of healing, rather than violence (even Rey kiling Palpatine was not so much actively killing him as reflecting his own Force lightning back at him). And it occurred to me that in that case, looking at Rey and Ren as taking the Frodo road to heroism, rather than say, that of Conan the Barbarian, Armitage Hux was their absolutely necessary Gollum

[andrewducker]

I think it depends on whether the person has become an actual better person, or has just made a different selfish move that happens to help the side of Good.

Darth Vader's final actions are "I must save my son from someone killing him", not "Authoritarian genocide is bad, and I should stand against it.". For redemption my favourite story arc is defintely in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

[anna_wing]

So basically the same as 'reform', but using the Good vs Evil heuristic rather than the prosocial vs antisocial one.