Writing Tips and Reviews

Sympathetic Dark Characters

The title doesn't really say everything I have to say about this character type. This type includes anti heroes, villains, or any character who does evil in general.

While role playing there was this one kid who made their character the biggest Mary Sue that you'll probably ever see. It was whiny, it talked about how much better it was than everyone else, it said things like "I'm going to kill you" then "you can't hurt me," it also said "I can't feel anything" and "my soul is shattered."

If it wasn't for the horrid writing that came after it, like the pathetic backstory, I don't think I would have minded too much. This became a thing with this character, it was hard to role play with a character who was so obnoxious and only ever tried to kill something the moment it saw something. It constantly called people who didn't want to fight "wimps" and said one line to someone who didn't know it "you think I'm a threat to your existence." This thing was dark edgy OP Mary Sue at it's finest.

So after about a thousand people complaining on how this is the worst character to ever exist and "change it because it sucks," the creator pulled out her hardest "not trying" card and made it worse by trying to make the character sympathetic. She tried to excuse away the misbehavior like some little kid screaming it's okay to misbehave because they're young. The backstory got worse, the character got some more personality but it backfired, and the self harm (because the creator thinks it's funny) got worse. Drugs, alcohol and smoking were added, not because it's a way for people to escape reality, because the creator thinks it's cool. To say the least it got worse and it'll keep getting worse.

So why bring this up? Well, when you have a character, badly written or well done, making them sympathetic shouldn't be making their writing even worse. Adding on bad writing to an already badly done character isn't going to balance it out. This isn't math, a negative and a negative aren't going to make a positive.

Making the character sympathetic would be trying to explain their reasoning and have them try to redeem themselves, but they don't have to redeem themselves. The audience should connect to the character more. I don't connect to a serial killer wannabe who thinks threatening everyone and waving around a stick is murder and their reasoning is "my sister said something mean to me." I don't know anyone who does.

A sympathetic character would be Spinel from the Steven Universe movie. You get to see her both before and after her abandonment so a clear difference becomes apparent. She becomes sympathetic when you learn her backstory and find out she was abandoned. Her design begins to make sense, she doesn't have black lines on her face for fun, they're tear stains.

This other character's design and everything doesn't make sense because it's a "these are cool so I'll add them in" dumpster fire. Spinel is well written because her character makes sense, she's not just a pile of anti hero and villain tropes.

Another character is (or should be) Professor Venomous, now I don't watch the series he's apart of, I don't have that much time on my hands. But I did see some clips and the last episode, and I think the creators massively failed. He's evil and it's later revealed he's main character's father. Star Wars am I right? But the ending to this arc was pathetic. They continued to make him evil, turned his son evil (I guess) and did this whole thing about destroying the world. Sounds decent right? Well, you have to write it well to make it a good plot.

If they didn't fill up the episodes with things that don't matter, then it wouldn't be a problem. I know it's a kids show, I shouldn't be hard on it. But when My Little Pony can focus on one arc and stay there, these shows can as well. I feel like it should have ended with the Professor becoming a good father, maybe a line "if I can't be a good person, then I can at least try to be a good father."

This makes him more sympathetic, after learning his backstory, his character should have done through some major development along with the main character. Instead the creators said "screw character arcs," did little with the father-son relationship and half assed the ending. Problems were quickly solved, things happened to rushed the ending and it wasn't good. Again, if My Little Pony can do it with Luna, they can too.

From what I know of Luna, she was jealous of her sister and turned evil, she reappeared years later to cause havoc and was turned good again. Later she returns and we learn more about her. This show is everywhere, there is no excuse to why I shouldn't know about it. I didn't think I'd ever be praising it, but here I am praising its good writing. Luna, while the having three to four episodes I know about, is more developed than Professor Venomous.

At the very least when making a character sympathetic, by accident or not, you should go the extra mile. I don't make all my villains sympathetic, but you will learn about who they are and what their motivations are. While some aren't meant to be sympathetic, they can become sympathetic to some people. Not everyone is going to sympathize with a character or feel sorry for them.

The way Lucilius is from Tales of Zestiria the World Beyond, he can become a sympathetic character while also being completely evil. If there is a balance and the writer does something with the character, you can't go wrong. Don't rush it so that the ending comes so you can write a new story, fill it out with what's needed then go to the ending.

Professor Venomous could have ended still being evil but also being a good father and the Carl episode should have been the beginning of that development. He should have figured out his personal problems and set them aside to focus on making his son happy. He should have made Carl with the intent on making something nice for his son but because of his nature it backfired. If we're going down the same road of Carl becoming a monster.

The show should have ended with the main character calling him "dad" or whatever name he wants and making a good relationship. Else why have this reveal in the first place? If you can't tell I don't like the ending to this show and definitely don't plan on watching it in its entirety. I've seen what I needed to.

Kratos Aurion from Tales of Symphonia is actually this concept done better. He's revealed to be Lloyd's father and also he's an antagonist. The line between good and evil isn't clear in the Tales series so we're saying protagonist and antagonist. Kratos started off like Venomous, he tried to make a relationship between him and his son but didn't do so well.

Their relationship grew during the course of the game and Lloyd did acknowledge Kratos as his father. We sympathize with Kratos after learning his backstory and why he became an antagonist and unlike Venomous, he tried to do what was best for his son. The ending of their arc was the best it could have been and Knight of Ratatosk showed the future of Kratos and Lloyd's relationship. Kratos still loves his son and doesn't want Lloyd to get into much trouble.

The only show I actually watch out of the three I've mentioned is Steven Universe, I just like the concept more than the others.

My main point is that a sympathetic character needs to have care in their development. If you don't do that, then you've failed. Characters are not going to make themselves and half assing a character is going to send them down a hill of suck. Their motivation and backstory should be revealed and whether or not it makes them  sympathetic is subjective. If they become sympathetic to at least a few people, then you've passed the test.