My villain is too evil.
Hello all,
I think I need a little bit of support and advice because I am facing something that bothers me that I did not think would bother me.
It’s very simple. My villain is a bad guy (a very bad guy) and he is doing really bad things. However, he has good reasons (I am not justifying his actions, he just had good reasons for him to do it).
When I write about him, and his subordinates, I try to add that nuance. I do not excuse him or what he has done, but I add explanations, and I draw a full picture on how can someone that is fundamentally not bad, ends up doing terrible things.
As part of it, I have slowly made my good guys empathize and understand where the bad guy is coming from (Not too much! and they certainly hasn’t forgiven him), but they are trying slowly to stir him in the right direction, and to make him take the right choice because they are forced to interact with him!
In general, I always intended my bad guy to die at the end of this story, in the hand of my hero to atone for his crime… because some of his crimes are just things you don’t come back from.
Now, what I was NOT expecting is how much visceral hatred my readers have, not towards the villain (Those I expected) but toward his associates! Most of my villain’s associates are somewhat victims of circumstances. They are people that try their best, but were born on the wrong side of the world typa thing.
I have received multiple message by readers on how they are wishing for torture upon all of them, and that if they don’t get retribution, or if the heroes don't kill or murder them, they will stop reading out of frustration…
Mostly my readers are blaming them for being in the vicinity of the villain, and for not having stopped him. It does not matter if the associate has been showed to be against what the villain has done. My readers are showing very little understanding towards them (all of them) and are being very aggressive on that. They also are upset when I have passage where my hero shows understanding towards my villain or his associate, EVEN when I make it clear that my hero is not condoning it, just understanding that there is suffering here.
Now. I understand. My villain did some bad stuff. He is a villain after all… but all his associate?
I had tried so hard to put nuance in my work, and gave a sense of hope for some of these associates to become redeemable. I really don’t want my fic to just en up with the hero slaughtering literally everyone just because they have sinned.
Now… I won’t change what I wrote nor will I change my plan in writing… but the hate comments (towards my characters — not me!) are really getting to me… I am just… it’s making me so sad, because as a writer I empathizes with my characters, even the bad ones. I see so much potential for good in them if they were luckier in life. I was plannign for some of them to realise that they can do somethign about their circumstances and do the right choice. I think my heroes can be a help to help redeem and bring them to a better path.
I know they have done bad stuff… but I tried so hard to NOT make it black and white…
Anyway.
My readers -- so far-- really don't seem to see it that way, and I guess that makes me feel like I failed as a writter to convey some aspect of the story.
I don’t really know what I am looking for by posting here, but I guess I am not so much complaining about my reader engaging with my work, because I really appreciate it… but the hate comments are getting to me.
I would love some insight .
PS - I am keeping it vague on purpose, because I don’t fully feel comfortable sharing my story per se.
Please be kind, I am already struggling here.