#47: Villains Cannot Be Redeemed of Their Actions

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  A villain is just as important as any other character in a story.  They must be complex and full of slight quirks to gain the audience's attention.  Just like good characters, villains can be flat, by not portraying both good and bad emotions.  A villain is still a person in the end with complex thoughts buzzing inside of their heads.  So why do so many people decide that the villain of the story must stay evil?  Isn't there a slight chance that with the hero's help, they can redeem themselves of their past mistakes and become an anti-hero or better yet the hero's best ally?  I think just having all villains in a series stay evil is cliche and that their really needs to be some diversity to show these guys can still be human.  Just take a few former villains from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially the fan favorite character Spike, to see why I think this trope should be more common.  Redemption isn't impossible and you might make a fan favorite character out of it, much like Spike.

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