Villains that call themselves evil

Study up on psychopaths, a lot of them are like that.





No, but you are more likely to be an evil person if you are psychopath. Jeffery Damher was a psychopath and most people consider hm evil. You don't even have to be a killer to be psychopathic or even evil, Bernie Madoff didn't kill anyone but he screwed over a bunch of people and bet his victims would consider him evil. Its harder to be an evil person if you still a sense of empathy. I never heard of serial killers or genocidal dictators who were capable of empthy.
 
My personal favourite example of a villain who considers himself evil...

Operative2.jpg


The Operative: I'm sorry. If your quarry goes to ground, leave no ground to go to. You should have taken my offer. Or did you think none of this was your fault?

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: I don't murder children.
The Operative: I do. If I have to.

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Why? Do you even know why they sent you?

The Operative: It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: So me and mine gotta lay down and die... so you can live in your better world?

The Operative: I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there... any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster.What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.

 
I'm sure they are, but it's a rule of thumb and shouldn't be taken as being a universal constant.




Firstly serial killers and genocidal dictators are not 'evil'. Maybe to you they are the enemy, but from a rational perspective you can't blame them for what they did, however good or bad it is. They didn't choose to exist, their parents created them, and thus whatever they do in this realm is not their fault. Thus you can not blame them. Besides calling death evil is superstitious and archaic. This isn't the dark ages. We know these days there is nothing to fear from death, science has proven this. Thus killing is not 'evil' it is to be trreated indifferently.
 
To add to that, good and evil are arbitrary definitions in general; what's considered 'evil' in one culture might be 'good' in another. Various animal species, for example, do acts that many humans may consider evil, but are natural and sometimes necessary for their survival (unconsenting intercourse, murder, infantcide, and so forth), and there's also human cultures who practice those as well. Killing someone is against our society's laws, but not inherently evil. It's easy to call someone or something evil if someone uses their own culture to judge what is 'good' and the absolute truth.

A villain may view their actions as harsh, but saying your evil is kind of a ploy on the writers injecting their definition of the word onto the show. Especially if it's a villian with a goal like 'world peace and no more crime at the cost of being in a totalitarian society'.
 
Well said. I'm fine with society not allowing some things due to reasons or considering them 'bad' in the context, but i hate it when they define it as being universally 'evil' as if they're some kind of god like... people...

Also your last example raises a point i've known for many years which is quite often a 'villain' such as say Magneto is really no different to a rebel fighting for the good side, only they use different means. In these cases i usually use 'the end justifies the means' to defend such people...

Also some 'morals' such as 'freedom is good- totalitarianism is bad' are somewhat idealistic and based more upon superstition and Orwellian fears than on truth. After all if everyone follows the 'if your happy it can't be that bad' moral these days, then if a dictator made everyone happy i don't see why they should be classed as being evil.

Also one other very important point i would like to make is that we are talking about another context entirely. Just like with the beasts you references, the cultures, having differences of morals, so to no doubt would realms/dimensions, and thus in an animated context we don't or shouldn't have to abide by the same systems we do here which are largely influenced by our utilitarian societys situation.

However i do understand why morals that make sense in our context are used in animated contexts. Animated shows exist in our world for a purpose in our society (to entertain/educate) and as such the educational part of that often means some of our ways must exist in these dimensions even if theoretically a dimension would not require them.

Which is why my favorite cartoons tend to be ones like Ed Edd n Eddy or The Weekenders (which whilst they have their morals and all) are not overly focused on good vs evil
 
Yeah, I pretty much agree with all the people who have said that villains calling themselves evil are only effective when, A, they are in a comedy, or B, they realize that nothing can truly justify their actions. However, I would add that if a villian calls himself evil in a cartoon, the cartoon makers better explain in the story why he is happy to call himself that - otherwise he will degenerate into the typical "muhahaha I'm EVIL!" stereotype that is so prevalent in many early action cartoons. Because, without a clear motive or an explanation of why a villian feels the way he does, it's simply not worth trying to pose him as a serious threat. :p



Wait, what? You're saying that just because certain people were born that they had no choice but to become dictators? This strongly contrasts what I believe, which is that everyone is ultimately influenced by the choices that they make. Sure, outside influences like upbringing and tradegy can heavily influence a person's motives, but in the end they are at least partly responsible for what they chose to do. This is why I prefer cartoons and other forms of media that have a more clear cut view of good and evil, although I also prefer that view to be buried deep within layers of moral conflicts and questioning. To me, it's not so much about how a character gets to a conclusion as much as that their conclusion is solid. In other words, I don't like stories that have no real endings.
 
Yes we can. For every person that blames their crimes on a bad background, there are people out there who choose to and even succeed in living as a civilized individuals despite their misfortunes.
 
Nobody can fairly be blamed for ANYTHING, any act no matter how evil or how much they realise it is evil, seeing as none of us chose to exist in the first place. It would be illogical to state otherwise, and this isn't just my opinion, it's simple logic. It is unfair to blame somebody for something they didn't have control over. The only excemption i make is the allowing of punishment to adults who give birth to new beasts, as this continues this process of unfairness, and whilst even parents can not truly be blamed for their actions i make this exception due to the fourth factor, time.
 
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