Devil's Advocate

[chameleon_irony]

Yesterday I read this post by ladyhadhafang: In Defense of "Woobie Villains"There are several interesting, thought-provoking points in the post and the comments, and, oh boy, did it inspire some heated debate. Interesting doesn't mean I agree with them. Here are my objections. The first is that the subjectivity of the word "sympathetic" makes the whole

Comments

[forcewatcher]

Well played.

[chameleon_irony]

I have no idea what you mean. Thanks.

[irnan]

What we do or don't find sympathetic varies from person to person. It depends on who we are and how we see the world.

SAY IT ISN'T SO. ;) But honestly, this is why different stories speak to different people differently, and why different types of storytelling speaks to different people differently; stories about mistakes and hope and redemption do it for me every time, but other people think they're boring because they tend to have happy endings. And so on.

Which is my way of saying that prioritising one way of storytelling over another is basically a dick move.

[chameleon_irony]

The obvious isn't obvious to everyone. ;) And why the same stories speak to different people differently. If it were divided by types of storytelling, there are many stories I would find boring, including HP and SW. Instead I love them, but for different reasons than the majority of fans.

[hrhrionastar]

It sounds like an interesting discussion :D

I agree that 'sympathetic' is a really subjective term. I could sympathize with a character's situation without being able to sympathize at all with the actions they then chose to take. Or maybe I do sympathize with their actions but I still don't approve. Personal reactions are hard to define, especially because they vary so much.

As a writer I try to make my characters as 'real' as possible, meaning that, villain or not, I want my readers to see the characters as human and complex and interesting and readable, whether that means having sympathy or empathy for them or not.

[chameleon_irony]

Complexity is what makes characters interesting. I like that about your stories. The characters, including villains, are consistent and realistic, never completely good or completely evil.

[darth_eldritch]

Kudos. Very well said.

[chameleon_irony]

Glad you like it. It wasn't easy to write. The wording took some work and several rewrites.