What ending do you want for Valentino?
The main question being what do you want to see for Val's endgame or overall arc?
Do you see him having an arc? Or just going through a downfall/being killed off?
My personal opinion has always been I want to see him go through a downfall losing Angel, losing power, money, reputation as well as going though his own mental crisis but I also want to see him stay alive and with the Vees and maybe figure out both his own mental state (Considering he likely has an eating disorder and other issues from representing the toxic side of the entertainment industry) along with his relationship with vox
The main arguments against the idea of this that Val doesn't deserve a happy ending with what he did to Angel and that him having a relationship with Vox would be insulting to victims.
However, I have never really agreed with that stuff because what no matter what happens people will say it is somehow insulting to victims. Like I have already heard it all, Valentino being hot is insulting to victims, or being funny is bad representation etc. Valentino can't be the perfect depiction of every toxic abuser, he already isn't. He's not an ugly guy, he's not an alpha male dudebro.
He's just his own character and his storyline probably isn't going to perfectly represent everyone's fantasy of watching an awful person die/tortured forever.
Because show is about redemption rather than punishment and revenge. Will Val get punished? Yeah, but I would want to see the punishment end in hope for a better future rather just be about eternal suffering all alone.
Angel's happiness is not dependent on Val being miserable forever or losing his relationships with the vees forever or never being loved by Vox or something.
Angel's happiness is his own redemption story with his friends and family. This doesn't mean I think Val will have a "happy ending", it just means that Val having one good thing left (his relationship with the vees) isn't somehow a blight on Angel's own story.
Yes, it would be fucked up for Val and Vox actually ended up in somewhat functional relationship because that's obviously not fair and he doesn't deserve it but redemption is inherently unfair.
Redemption doesn't care about victims.
Sir pentious never apologizes or makes amends to the people he watched die or their loved ones to be redeemed. Redemption isn't about forgiveness, it's about becoming better no matter what the past was. Personally, I don't think Val will go to heaven but I do think he can get at least a little better in hell. I believe any change is valuable.
I also don't see why splitting the vees permanently up is necessary either. Like yeah they enable each other to be evil but them caring about each other is also the only redeeming feature they all have and I don't think they'll get new redeeming features anytime soon.
It makes more sense for a show that values love and friendship to punish them by taking away the things wanted and gained from being evil (power money etc), than to punish them by taking the one redeeming feature and only relationships that they actually did correctly.
This is exactly how Vox was handled, he lost his approval rating but his bond with the other two vees is what ends up saving him. If Val does the right things to maintain an okay love relationship with vox, the idea of redemption is letting that happen even if he doesn't deserve it.
I want to see all the Vees change a bit to be better after their downfalls even if they all stay evil. I want to see this for all the villains at this point, including lute and alastor. For them to go through downfalls but come out changed for the better... even if it's still not that great.
Sidenote but Valentino fans redemption views are different:
I have noticed that my kind of mentality/view around redemption (redemption not caring about victims, vees having each other as their main redeeming feature, even change that stays in hell is okay etc) isn't uncommon around Val fans but is kind of uncommon for the general hazbin audience. Relevant twitter thread I recommend (https://x.com/AustaAfterAll/status/2057069435458822446)
Which both makes sense but is also ironic since we like the character that people believe cannot, should not, will not change or be redeemed. So the people who like the "worst" character believe in the idea of any redemption (even if it's not to heaven) for most of the evil characters while people who like nicer characters may not actually believe in redemption as much and actually hope that Charlie learns to lean into punitive justice.
The real question is, are we the crazy ones for having these views on redemption?