lastvalyrian:

captainlordauditor:

animatedamerican:

aerialsquid:

allofthefeelings:

I think it’s really important to talk about how different people have different power fantasies.

For example:

• For some people, the idea of someone redeeming a villain is a power fantasy.
• For other people, the idea of a villain being defeated is a power fantasy.
• And for other people, the idea of a character owning their villainy is a power fantasy.

I would argue a lot of fandom conflicts re: villains come from people being unable to see that their fantasies, which put them in control of a narrative (and all three of these are designed to give the author or reader control of the narrative in different ways) are someone else’s horror stories.

….this explains SO MUCH.

Also: it’s not necessarily a power fantasy as such, but for some people the necessary life-affirming fantasy is being the one who gets redeemed.  Not to continually be a terrible person and get away with it, but to feel oneself to be a terrible person and have a chance to stop being terrible.

And god knows that’s a horror story to anyone who has been victimized by a terrible person and repeatedly told that the terrible person deserves another chance more than they themself deserve either vindication or protection.

(It perhaps bears repeating that arguing over whose view is right is drastically missing the point.)

THIS!! THIS RIGHT HERE IS WHY I LOVE ZUKO AND FAITH SO MUCH

The problem is more that a whole other group of people see themselves in the villain too much and want to see them continue without being condemned by the narrative or the protagonists. They basically want the forgiveness part without actual effort of the villain to be redeemed. But they still talk about that as redemption

It also can vary depending on the villain. Some villains are redemption fantasies, others are power fantasies and others are defeat fantasies for me.