[Image ID: Excerpts of Rich Burlew’s commentary.
Writing a story centered around your main antagonist is sort of difficult, because you risk “devillainifying” them.
I mean, he’s completely and wholly unapologetically Evil, but more to the point, he’s kind of a dick.
I’m not complaining that they love the villain /as a character,/ I’m complaining that they love the villain /as a person./
Someone mentally and emotionally capable of intentional deliberate mass murder is still capable of mass murder when hugging their child. They’re just not doing it that moment.
It undercuts the point I am trying to make, which is that evil isn’t cool. Which /is/challenging the traditional narrative – at least the narrative of the last 40 years of pop culture which has told us relentlessly that the character who is more morally questionable is always cooler than the one who is more morally upright.
If you are the sort of person that can commit the acts that Tarquin does daily, then that will find its way into every aspect of your existence. It’s who you /are/. This idea that Tarquin was this perfectly rational actor despite being a complete monster at his Day Job is a pipe dream.
Some people want to love the villain without having to face the fact that villains are largely terrible people who do horrific things with deficient reasoning. Not on my watch.
I’ve never understood the need of some people to rationalize that a character they like is somehow less Evil just because they like them. Those two facts do not need to be in opposition.
I don’t understand treating his lovability as overriding his Evilness, nor his Evilness overriding his lovability. Because he’s a fictional character and it’s not necessary that we pass a binding absolute judgement on how we feel about him. We can simultaneously appreciate his comedy in /this/ corner of our brain while condemning his evil in /that/ corner.
Being heroic often means rejecting some tactical options that, while potentially effective, violate your personal moral beliefs. If you disagree, this might not be the story for you.
Tarquin /seemed/ like a decent person when we met him, that’s the entire point. It would have been entirely plausible for Tarquin to have never cracked his facade, to continue acting like a calm and collected person who separated his two lives, but I have no interest in writing that. First, it’s boring, and second, it sends a message that you can totally commit atrocities and it’s OK, that doesn’t make you a bad person as long as you pet a dog afterward. /Yes, it makes you a bad person./ That is the point. (Highlighted:) That is the message I am consciously conveying with my story, and if you disagree with it, that’s fine, I guess. But I’m not going to take, “You conveyed the message you wanted to convey but I don’t like it!” as a criticism that I need to pay attention to. /End ID]
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