In almost all stories, the good guy wins, but can an evil character win? And I'm not saying an anti-hero with some redeeming values. I'm talking about a sadistic, selfish asshole, a story where the good guy loses horribly, without any moral victory. I would guess some might say they might like it, but once they read the story, most would be angry at the ending.
Can an evil character win?
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rosco rathbone
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Plato recommended, in his description of the ideal city state, that authors of immoral works such as you describe be publically thrashed in town square as a lesson to the populous.
CandiCame
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If you've got a strait up "Good guy/Bad guy" dynamic your story already sucks. Villians normally have a larger fanbase then the heroes, and a better backstory. You have to have a reason for the villain to act the way they do beyond "I'm evil", so that their failure means something. Sepheroth doesn't get to reunite with his mother and fangirls/boys across the internet lament his loss with fanfiction. Gannondorf is sealed in the sacred realm despite being chosen by the goddess Din to save his people from the Hylian plight that banished them into the desert in the first place. Albert Wesker is driven mad by his own invention in an attempt to heal the injured and bring dead cells back to life. In the really real world, there are no 100% heros or villains, only extraordinary people. Half your audience should be rooting for your protagonist, but that shouldn't stop your Team Rocket or Mighty Monarch shirts from flying off the shelves.
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Sequel means, resolution to come, stay tuned and good will win. . .
It is rare indeed that a writer allows true evil to win, without caveat.
This is because we are a moral creature, living in the belief that doing good is better. In my case, as a homosexual, I cannot hope to achieve morality, so in my writings the bad 'guy' not only wins, but is quite satisfied with her win.
In my Star Wars the emperor moves the Death Star to Tattoine and "poofs" kenobi and luke the moment Vader reports, "I feel a disturbance in the force", and then he destroys the rest of the solar system just to be certain everyone knows he destroyed them.
My villains don't tie Bond up and design great tortures, they shoot him in the head and feed him to the hounds.
lovetoread
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I prefer kbates stories.
But the purpose of a story is to entertain, and the masses still prefer a happy ending.
But the purpose of a story is to entertain, and the masses still prefer a happy ending.
4est_4est_Gump
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After seven freaking movies, I so wanted Harry Potter to die...
CandiCame
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We're on like... Halloween 53 and Friday the 13th got to the point where we'd literally just kind of start putting "In Space" at the end of it. Sometimes people don't care about the happy ending. We just want to see the blood. Tell me how people watch Saw to see the people pull through. They even dropped the whole, "Solve it and you get to survive" part because nobody cared if you survived or not. We just want the gore.
KRCummings
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Clegg isn't pure evil though. He collects Miranda because he wants to be loved.
KRCummings
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No Country For Old Men I think comes as close as you get to any popular fiction where evil wins.
I've read some trash fiction where evil wins but it's mostly fantasy end of the world stuff.
I've read some trash fiction where evil wins but it's mostly fantasy end of the world stuff.
J
JAMESBJOHNSON
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Yes, indeed!
CandiCame
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And again, an assload of Horror movies like "Saw" "Seven" "Rosemary's Baby" (if you can call a baby a bad guy) "Silence of the Lambs" etc. And a lot of horror games even if you win, the antagonist still gets the last laugh like "Slender" "Resident Evil", hell, even shit like "Star Fox".
KRCummings
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That's not a unique ending. It's been done over and over and while technically the evil character does win it's not total and the victory is relatively minor.
KRCummings
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We're not given a real ending to Rosemary's Baby, only an explanation. What happens after that is not revealed.
In Saw and Seven the bad guys are killed. You can say it's part of their plan but they die and the world goes on and forgets about them. Not a real big victory.
CandiCame
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It's been forever since I saw it. But yeah, it is kinda cliche. But it also depends on what you call a 'win'. I mean, is it considered a win if you're still alive and you've killed all the main characters except the one chick who's now scared for life? Like did the Xenomorphs win in Alien? I know that if you count the sequel they're fucked, but is that really a loss?
And it depends on how you count evil. Like in Halo you try to kill the Sangheili only to later find out that they only attacked Earth to stop the spread of the Flood. And that's what I mean by good writing. If you can point to a character and say, "That's the bad guy" your writing is not up to par. No one should be inherently evil, everyone has a backstory and that backstory gives them a reason to do what they're doing. Even if what they're doing is evil.
CandiCame
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Well, in saw the main antagonist is killed but then that chick starts the same thing so it's like a legacy thing. I think that still counts as a win.
Jackotheshadows
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"Farewell, friend. I was a thousand times more evil than thou!" -Stormbringer
The Elric Saga. Stormbringer, the main character's sentient, soul-stealing sword turns in his hand at the end of the book and kills him. And then escapes into a new universe as the new embodiment of chaos and evil.
Yeah, the bad guys can win.
Or, better yet, watch the end of the movie "Fallen", with Denzel Washington...
The Elric Saga. Stormbringer, the main character's sentient, soul-stealing sword turns in his hand at the end of the book and kills him. And then escapes into a new universe as the new embodiment of chaos and evil.
Yeah, the bad guys can win.
Or, better yet, watch the end of the movie "Fallen", with Denzel Washington...
sweepthefloor
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The character that wins is the one that you write to win. We are not all happy endings and cake. We are the brutality.
KRCummings
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What?
sweepthefloor
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What? It happens all the time.
rosco rathbone
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I've got to go back and read those again...been a long time.
SalviaDivinorum
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Fuck the evil charecters, they already win too much in real life.
StephenHawking
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that is mccarthy style. judge holden wins in blood meridian. it is a far more evil and violent book than no country.
