Redemption Arc - Tumblr Posts
Dying. Dead. This is...so, so powerful and moving!
So much emotion - Tom Hiddleston is indeed an incomparable actor.
First Look at Loki in Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War
Do you think Joshua should get a redemption arc? Or any of the other Spy School villains for that matter? (Not Ms. E though.)
i want a joshua redemption arc pretty please mr gibbs itd be so good
he could fall back in love with erica or something and hillpley could become canon
also
Ted Lasso 🤝 ATLA 🤝 being a deceptively deep three-act television comedy about our weakest moments and the choices we make to be better for ourselves and the people around us, featuring some of the best “redemption arcs” ever put to screen.
Reflections on Redemption Arcs
When I think of some of the best redemption arcs I’ve seen in fiction, I’m struck by the fact that so many of them are for Ineffectual Sympathetic Starter Villains. There’s Jamack in Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Orange-kun in Code Geass, Tae-jun in Yona of the Dawn, and Yoki in Fullmetal Alchemic. And I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
When writing a redemption arc, the writer needs to really understand what drives the villains to their villanry. For literally all of the above, it’s the desire for power and the willingness to hurt others to obtain that power. (This isn’t the only villain motivation possible, of course, but it’s a tried and true one.) Now, for villains motivated by the desire for power and their willingness to hurt others to obtain that power, three things need to occur for a successful redemption arc.
1.) They need to have a moment (or moment(s)), where they have to take a good hard look at themselves and recognize that they need to change their behavior. For Jamack, it’s when Kipo tells him he needs to do some self-reflection. (And then, later, when she kicks him down that hole.) For Orange-kun, it’s learning that Lelouch and Zero are one in the same. For Tae-jun, it’s him discovering that Yona isn’t dead and him (for the first time in his privileged life) seeing that peasants are a.) people who b.) are lacking basic necessities. Yoki’s is probably the haziest here; it’s less one specific moment and more a gradual change as he finds he has no where else to go except for with Scar. But there are two moments of note here. One is when Yoki emphasizes with Scar’s loss (the first time we see him think of anyone other than himself). And the other, of course, is when he chooses to fight Pride despite the dangers. (To make it clear, this isn’t a criticism of the writing of Yoki in Fullmetal Alchemist. The points I’m describing are a summation. Specific variations are going to occur.)
2.) They need to give up the power they were willing to hurt others to obtain. Jamack joins the theatre, Orange-kun retires to an orange farm (which, in his eyes, has gone from being a Fate Worse Than Death to being a Happy Ending), Tae-jun gives up on trying to force Yona to marry him, and Yoki joins the circus.
3.) They need to be useful. Jamack rescues Kipo and her friends, Orange-kun joins with Zero, Tae-jun improves things in the Fire Tribe and helps Yona prevent a war, and Yoki saves everyone from Pride . (Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains automatically get +10 to competence upon becoming good guys.)
The nature of Starter Villains is that they don’t have to function as villains after the initial story arc. That frees them up to engage in 1.) Self-reflection. It’s exceedingly difficult to have a villain both engage in self-reflection and serve as the primary antagonistic threat at the same time.
The nature of Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains is that they suffer gloriously for our entertainment, which means they basically are halfway to 2.) Giving Up Power just as a matter of course.
So it’s just a matter of writing 3.) Being Useful.
Thus, Ineffectual Sympathetic Starter Villains are primed for redemption arc, simply by their function of being Ineffectual Sympathetic Starter Villains.
There’s something else that works to the benefit of Ineffectual Sympathetic Starter Villains, and that’s that their list of evil deeds usually isn’t too extensive, which comes from a combination of them being incompetent and them only needing to function as villains for a short time. See, the eviler a villain is, the more time needs to be spent on their redemption arc.
Let’s look at other varieties of redemption arcs. Both Tacroy from The Lives of Christopher Chant and Dr. Marcoh from Fullmetal Alchemist have solidly written redemption arcs. And in both cases, they aren’t required to function as the primary antagonistic threat for the duration of the story. Dr. Marcoh’s evil deeds occurred in the past. Tacroy is a minion with too many bosses.
What about villains that are the primary antagonistic threat? Well, if I look at the ones that are well done - Shuri from Basara, Zuko from Avatar: the Last Airbender, and it looks like Scarlemagne from Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - all of them cease being the primary antagonistic threat at just about the time their redemption arcs kick into gear. And that’s important because, having been the primary antagonistic threat, they require more attention for their redemption arc. Shuri gets ten volumes of content. Zuko gets a solid season and a half. Scarlemagne, it looks like, is getting the third season. (I haven’t finished Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts at the time of writing this.)
And when I look at villains who got badly-done redemption arcs - such as the Snow Queen in Once Upon a Time or Kylo Ren in the sequel Star Wars trilogy - part of the issue is that they’re tasked with being the primary antagonistic threat for much of the story. For the Snow Queen, she’s the villain right up until the very end of that story arc, which is why her half-assed redemption arc is probably the worst I’ve ever seen. And with Kylo Ren, the writers first killed off Snoke to make Kylo Ren an even more primary antagonistic threat and then had to resurrected Palpatine so that someone else could take over the primary antagonistic role from Kylo Ren. (The Star Wars sequel trilogy had a major problem with not having a cohesive vision. This is also why Kylo Ren is Supreme Leader in The Rise of Skywalker…and then spends much of the movie ignoring his job.)
Quick sketches of my new Jedi OC i did to answer questions on IG stories😤😤 a long sentence, that was.
Really love how these turned out and I'm looking forward on doing more! This is pretty much ky second Star Wars OC I'm s properly working on, although I have others that briefly appear in Meredith's story.
This lovely lady is in the prequels, born in a culture with a dying and difficult language, she'd later on adopt Dionara or Adamina but most would know her as Ada/Agent. Ada started as a heavy self insert, and still pretty much is just me but in Star Wars lmao, her story so far is turning out beautifully!
Stay tuned for her story 👀
My favorite form of redemption arc is “I hate that I have morals now”
For so long, all I wanted was for you to love me. To accept me. I thought it was my honor that I wanted, but really, I was just trying to please you. You, my father, who banished me just for talking out of turn. My father, who challenged me, a thirteen-year-old boy to an Agni Kai. How can you possibly justify a duel with a child?
It was to teach you respect. It was cruel and it was wrong! Then you’ve learned nothing. No, I’ve learned everything! And I’ve had to learn it on my own. Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history, and somehow the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don’t see our greatness, they hate us! And we deserve it. We’ve created an era of fear in the world, and if we don’t want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace, and kindness.
Your uncle has gotten to you, hasn’t he? Yes, he has. After I leave here today, I’m gonna free Uncle Iroh from his prison, and I’m gonna beg for his forgiveness. He’s the one who’s been a real father to me. But I’ve come to an even more important decision. I’m going to join The Avatar, and I’m going to help him defeat you. I know my own destiny. Taking you down is The Avatar’s destiny. Goodbye.
AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (2005 - 2008)
When Zuko apologized to uncle Iroh in the tent cause he was so ashamed of his actions and what he’d done to the only person who unconditionally believed in his ability to do good >>>>>
I have to talk about Chester Arthur. His story makes me go crazy. A mediocre president from the 1880s who's completely forgotten today has one of the best redemption stories I've ever heard and I need to make people understand just how cool his story is.
So, like, he starts out as this idealist, okay? He's the son of an abolitionist minister and becomes famous as a New York lawyer who defends the North's version of Rosa Parks whose story desegregates New York City's trolley system.
Then he starts getting pulled into politics and becomes one of the grimiest pieces of the political machine. He wants money, power, prestige, and he gets it. He becomes the right-hand man of Roscoe Conkling, the most feared political boss in the nation, a guy who will throw his weight around and do the most ruthless things imaginable to keep his friends in power and destroy his enemies.
Because Arthur's this guy's top lackey, he gets to be Controller of the Port of New York--the best-paying political appointment in the country, because that port brings in, like, 70% of the federal government's funds in tariffs. He gets a huge salary plus a percentage of all the fines they levy on lawbreakers, and because he's not afraid to make up infractions to fine people over, he is absolutely raking in the dough. Making the rough equivalent of $1.3 million a year--absolutely insane amounts of money for a government position. He's spending ridiculous sums on clothes, buying huge amounts of alcohol and cigars to share with people as part of his job recruiting supporters to the party, going out nearly every night to wine and dine people as part of his work in the political machine. He's living the high life. Even when President Hayes pulls him from his position on suspicions of fraud, he's still living a great life of wealth, power, and prestige.
Then in 1880, his beloved wife dies. While he's out of town working for a political campaign. And he can't get back in time to say goodbye before she dies. Because he's a guy who has big emotions, it absolutely tears him up inside, especially because Nell resented how much his political work kept him away from home. He has huge regrets, but he just moves in with Roscoe Conkling and keeps working for the political machine.
And then he gets a chance to be vice president. The Republican Party has nominated James Garfield, a dark horse candidate who wants to reform the spoils system that has given Conking his power and gave Arthur his position as Port Controller. Conkling is pissed, and he controls New York, and since the party's not going to win the election without New York, they think that appointing Conkling's top lackey as vice-president will pacify him.
They're wrong--Conkling orders Arthur to refuse--but Arthur thinks this sounds like a great opportunity. The only political position he's ever held is Port Controller--a job he wasn't elected to and that he was pulled from in disgrace. Vice President is way more than he could ever have hoped for. It's a position with a lot of political pull and zero actual responsibilities. He'll get to spend four years living in up in Washington high society. It's the perfect job! Of course he accepts, and Conkling comes around when he figures out that he can use this to his advantage.
When Garfield becomes president, Arthur does everything he can to undermine him. He uses every dirty political trick he can think of to block everything that Garfield wants to do. He refuses to let the Senate elect a president pro tempore so he can stay there and influence every bill that comes through. He all but openly boasts of buying votes in the election. He's so much Conkling's lackey that he may as well be the henchman of a cartoon supervillain. On Conkling's orders, he drags one of Garfield's Cabinet members out of bed in the middle of the night--while the guy is ill--to drag him to Conkling's house so he can be forced to resign. He's just absolutely a thorn in the president's side, a henchman doing everything he can to maintain the corrupt spoils system.
Then in July 1881, when Arthur's in New York helping Conkling's campaign, the president gets shot. By a guy who shouts, "Now Arthur will be president!" just after he fires the gun. Arthur has just spent the past four months fighting the president tooth and nail. Everyone thinks he's behind the assassination. There are lynch mobs looking to take out him and Conkling. The papers are tearing him apart.
Arthur is absolutely distraught. He rushes to Washington to speak with the president and assure him of his innocence, but the doctors won't let him in the room. He gets choked up when talking to the First Lady. Reporters find him weeping in his house in Washington. Once again, death has torn his world apart and he's not getting a chance to make amends.
Arthur goes to New York while the president is getting medical treatment, and he refuses to come to Washington and take charge because he doesn't dare to give the impression that he's looking to take over. No one wants Arthur to be president and he doesn't want to be president, and the possibility that this corrupt political lackey is about to ascend to the highest office in the land is absolutely terrifying to everyone.
Then in August, when it's becoming clear that the president is unlikely to recover, he gets a letter. From a 31-year-old invalid from New York named Julia Sand. A woman from a very politically-minded family who has been following Arthur's career for years. And she writes him this astounding letter that takes him to task for his corrupt, conniving ways, and the obsession with worldly power and prestige that has brought him wealth and fame at the cost of his own soul--and she tells him that he can do better. In the midst of a nationwide press that's tearing him apart, this one woman writes to tell him that she believes he has the capacity to be a good president and a good man if he changes his ways.
And then he does. After Garfield dies, people come to Arthur's house and find servants who tell them that Arthur is in his room weeping like a child (I told you he had big emotions), but he takes the oath of office and ascends to the presidency. And he becomes a completely different man. His first speech as president mentions that one of his top priorities is reforming the spoils system so that people will be appointed based on merit rather than getting appointed as political favors with each change in the administration. Even though this system made him president. When Conkling comes to Arthur's office telling him to appoint his people to important government positions, Arthur calls his demands outrageous, throws him out, and keeps Garfield's appointees in the positions. "He's not Chet Arthur anymore," one of his former political friends laments. "He's the president."
He loses all his former political friends. He's never trusted by the other side. Yet he sticks to his guns and continues to support spoils system reform. He prosecutes a postal service corruption case that everyone thought he would drop. He's the one who signs into law the first civil service reform bill, even though presidents have been trying to do this for more than ten years, and he's the person who's gained all his power through the spoils system. He immediately takes action to enforce this bill when he could have just dropped it. He becomes a champion of this issue even though it's the last thing anyone would have expected of him.
He oversees naval reform. He oversees a renovation of the White House. He still prefers the social duties of the presidency, but he's respectable in a way that no one expected. Possibly because Julia Sand keeps sending him letters of encouragement and advice over the next two years. But also because he's dying.
Not long after ascending to the presidency, he learns he's suffering from a terminal kidney disease. And he tells no one. He keeps going about his daily life, fulfilling his duties as president, and keeps his health problems hidden. Once again, death is upending his life, and this time it's his own death. He's lived a life he's ashamed of, and he doesn't have much time left to change. He enters the presidency as an example of the absolute worst of the political system, and leaves it as a respectable man.
He makes a token effort to seek re-election, but because of his health problems, he doesn't mind at all when someone else gets the nomination. He dies a couple of years after leaving office. The day before his death, he orders most of his papers burned, because he's ashamed of his old life--but among the things that are saved are the letters from Julia Sand, the woman who encouraged him to change his ways.
This is an astounding story full of so many twists and turns and dramatic moments. A man who falls from idealism into the worst kind of corruption and then claws his way back up to decency because of a series of devastating personal losses and unexpected opportunities to do more than he could have ever hoped to do. I just go crazy thinking about it and I need you all to understand just how amazing this story is.
THIS. THIIIIIIS!!!! People who like Snape need to stop being so goddamn delulu ! he was a bad guy! He was not some kind of misunderstood sad emo boy !!
The more I think about it the more I'm confused about Snape's so called "redemption arc".
We don't know much about his years at Hogwarts outside of the time James hanged him from his underwear and he called Lily a Mudblood, but we know that:
1. He had a disdain for Muggles ever since he was born or at least ever since he was 10 y/o bc that's when he meets Lily and Petunia and treats the latter like garbage.
2. He was friends with Mulciber and Avery- known death eaters, especially Mulciber who we know was particularly close with Baldy due to the time he came to Hogsmede with him for his job interview with dummydore.
From that we can assume that he was a witness and a participant in A Lot of hate crimes against Muggle Borns ever since he was a minor. One of which was the time Mary was the victim.
3. We know HE invented the spell James used to hang him from his panties, which must mean that he used it against others, probably muggle borns, and his DE friends must've used it as well.
4. We know he invented the spell Sectumsempra to use against his enemies?? (Sorry it's been a while since I read the books I don't remember the exact quote.) and his enemies are almost certainly the Marauders. Also maybe his dad but that's a discussion for another day.
5. We know he was one of Baldy's dearest death eaters, even tho he was a Half-Blood with no status and no connections, which means he definitely did a lot of horrific things to Muggles and Muggle borns and the members of the Order of Phoenix.
6. We know he heard Trelawney's prophesy after eavesdropping in a bar, and immediately ran to Baldy with it. He knew that by telling Baldy about the prophecy an innocent baby will be killed, and he didn't give a shit. I cannot stress enough how much that information in vital for his character. Taking a baby's life so that Baldy might give him a sit closer to him by the table. And nothing would've happened to him if he shut his mouth and didn't go to Baldy. He didn't have his life or even his status\loyalty on the line. He just sacrificed this anonymous innocent baby for kicks and giggles.
7. The only point in which he cared about his actions was when Lily's life was on the line. This wanker really didn't care that he just gave Baldy (a man who made it his life' mission to kill Lily and the likes of her) a reason to kill Lily's son and husband, who were practically her only source of joy while she fought against his people in the war. He just wanted the girl he slurred and stalked and mistreated in high-school to live with all her friends and family dead. And thought he was doing something good. I don't even know how to begin to describe how fucked up that is.
8. He went to Dummydore and asked him to save her. After he got her, her husband and her kid to be under an even worse constant death threat than they were before because of Lily's blood status and their participant in the order. And after he spent the last 3-4 years killing Lily’s friends and the people who share her blood status.
9. That was also the point in which he offered himself to be a double spy right?? Again real heroic of him to risk his life after all the shit he did because he was in love with a girl whose life he ruined. He never cared about all the shit he did and all the people he murdered and he never actually wanted to help innocent people or do good by the world or even by Lily.
10. After Baldy died for the first time and the first war ended, Harry had nobody left, and Dummydore put him with Petunia and Vernon. Snape knew better than anyone else what the Dursleys will do to Harry. He knew everything, and he didn't do shit. Not only did he not do shit, but he also made things worse for Harry by bullying and harassing him since the moment he stepped foot in the castle.
11. Extending on the last point- Snape bullied, harassed, abused, mistreated and discriminated against students at Hogwarts ever since he started teaching there, I'm not gonna start elaborating on all the times he did those things because that would take a different essay of similar length.
12. Yeah I don't really know what to add here? That's pretty much it I think.
So to conclude: am I really expected to forgive him because he loved Lily and had a hard time with James when they were 16 and he spied for Dummydore for a bit?? Being a looser in middle school and then becoming a double spy doesn’t make up for… anything. Especially since he never stopped being a terrible person.
When Zuko apologized to uncle Iroh in the tent cause he was so ashamed of his actions and what he’d done to the only person who unconditionally believed in his ability to do good >>>>>
Redemption arcs and Christian hegemony in fandom
Note: Edited and reposted from my personal blog.
As a fan of many characters deemed villains in their respective stories, redemption arcs are often a topic of discussion. Does this or that character deserve redemption? What makes for a satisfying redemption arc? Which redemption arcs work or don’t work?
However, it’s rare for me to come across a conversation that examines the concept of a redemption arc itself, let alone the forces that shape our understanding of what redemption means and how it works.
With that in mind, I’m going to see what I can do to crack open the assumptions behind redemption narratives and see what interesting alternatives present themselves.
As someone who studies Jewish texts as an entryway into Jewish values and ethics, the ways that majority gentile fandoms talk about characters transforming from villains to non-villains often strike me as reflecting Christian hegemony. Or, when speaking specifically of American media, puritanical Christian hegemony.
Redemption narratives are rooted in a deeply Christian framework where people do bad things because they are evil, sinful, or corrupt by nature. The task of redemption is to destroy or purge that corruption, and the surest way to do this is to suffer and die for others.
For an example of a redemption narrative, look no further than Anakin Skywalker. As Darth Vader, he murdered and terrorized his way across the galaxy for decades, but near the end of Return of the Jedi, he sacrifices himself to kill the Emperor and save Luke. Once he proved he still had good in him, he dies as Anakin Skywalker.
While Christianity has redemption, in Judaism, the vehicle for character transformation is atonement. In the Jewish worldview, people do bad things because they’re messy, finite and human. The task of atonement is to repair the damage you’ve done and return to a place of clarity. Sometimes, there is no making up for what you’ve done, so you find a way to live with that yet still strive to do better. The surest proof of atonement is having the opportunity to make the same mistake as before but choosing differently.
Books can be written about the differences between redemption and atonement, but for the sake of brevity, redemption is fixing who you are, and atonement is fixing what you’ve done.
An example of an atonement narrative would be Xena in Xena: Warrior Princess. As the Destroyer of Nations, Xena spent years in the pursuit of power and conquest, slaughtering countless people. But, inspired by Hercules, she realizes she can do better, so she does. She turns over a new leaf, using her strength, leadership, wits and skill to bring justice to the world and protect those who can’t protect themselves. She’s always struggling with ambition and bloodlust, and her reputation as a bloodthirsty conqueror follows her, but many times throughout the show, she chooses not to kill even if it would be easier for her to just murder the weakling in charge and take over.
I don’t think atonement narratives are particularly rare. It’s just that fandom is so habituated to analyzing stories and characters through the lens of Christian hegemony, usually without even knowing it, that alternative possibilities aren’t recognized, let alone explored or examined.
Let me give you an example. I love Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She’s such a layered, complex character, and she’s so much fun. She is, no contest, my fave. She’s also, in the narrative of the show, a villain. One question that gets asked a lot about her is whether or not she’s redeemable.
At first I didn’t think anything of it. Then I started paying attention to the language people were using to describe Azula, and so much of it has these weird connotations of Original Sin. From the way a lot of people talked about her, it’s as though she’s condemned to damnation from birth and that her behavior is an expression of her morally corrupt nature.
It became deeply unsettling to see so many people flat-out deny the possibility of change for her. The underlying message I get from that? Don’t bother trying to do better. Your moral worth is fixed and immutable, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
This paradigm is so jarring to my Jewish sensibilities. Judaism does not deny that people are capable of wicked deeds. The Talmud is very blunt about each person having an impulse to do good and an impulse to do evil. We all mess up. That’s life. But when we mess up, the path to atonement is always open. We can always repent, seek to repair the harm we’ve done and commit to doing things differently.
To me, that’s more empowering.
Spoilers for The Shepherd's Crown, the last published Terry Pratchett/Discworld book (Other than a few short story collections)
In that book, the Elf queen loses her station, and begins a redemption arc. She does well! This vicious bastard of a conquering monarch tries her best to be nice, and it works!
Until her former second in command kills her.
That's probably the single character across those forty something books I despise most, because he ruined redemption.
the concept and idea of “you can always start trying to be a better person” is extremely important to me both in media and irl and i continue to be deeply deeply disturbed by the trend on this site pushing that these ideas in media are bad writing or even morally reprehensible
because theyd rather someone stay terrible or just straight up die than become a better person
from a compassionate point of view it’s deeply distressing and from a pragmatic point of view it’s outright frustrating
it’s fucked up.
The best thing about zuko's redemption arc is the fact that he RELAPSED. Something that I have never seen before. It's such a good idea and it tells us so much about his character and story.
He's a confused fella who only wanted to be appreciated and get his honor back. That was his main focus.
Therfore a redemption is a hard thing to process. Especially when all you have ever been taught is how your nation deserves greatness no matter how you get it.
So he commits the unthinkable, fights alongside his sister, betrays Katara, betrays his LOVING UNCLE and goes back to his father and his "home" a hero.
But as soon as he's back, he doesn't feel fulfilled. He actually starts questioning his father's plans. He starts realising how cruel all this may be. Then finally he chooses to work out what to do next, what his real destiny might be. And boom everything falls into place. I mean yeah he gets a little nudge from his LOVING UNCLE but he still moves on his own.
He leaves to get his honor back again. Though this time it's for good and it's by DOING good. Since he also understands that no one is giving you your honor or taking it away. You alone affects it and that's just beautiful.
So yeah thank you for enjoying this Ted talk😘.
Amen. The logical conclusion was for Harry and Draco to reconcile Gryffindor and Slytherin. But JKR doesn't do logic, she does revenge fantasies and childish protagonist favouring.
Snape was given a chance but was reduced to being a Gryffindor worshiper, someone who should have been a Gryffindor and was remembered and honoured for his Gryffindor qualities.
The only good Slytherin is a dead Slytherin.
Eta: also, every good thing Snape did was to atone for the horrible things he did before he became a spy. The worst things Draco did (torture) were under coercion while Snape was happy to let a baby die. He's the reason someone's parents are dead. Snape stans are gone in the head to believe that man deserved anything more than a literal child who didn't know what he was getting into and then wanted out. Just completely mad.
Snape didn't truly love Lily, romantically or platonically. If he did he would spare a thought for her baby. What he felt was a reaction to someone finally showing him positive attention and then guilt.
Jkr can say all she wants that Snape wasn't a hero but the way she wrote it (which is what matters), Snape was lionized in the end.
reminder that draco malfoy deserved the redemption that snape got
Here's a prompt for you: write about a mask someone wears. Can be fiction, nonfiction (about yourself, an experience, people in general), maybe a poem. What kind of mask is it? What does it look like? Why are they wearing it?
“You can stop, you know.”
The villain froze for a moment, smile almost slipping, and set down their lunch tray. The hero leaned against the table next to them, knuckles white.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” they gestured to themself. “I’m reformed. I already stopped.”
The hero waived a hand. “Not that. I know that, I’m the one who helped you do it.”
The villain kept smiling, even as the edges began to crack like fine china.
“Hero,” they said as gently as they could. “Are you alright?”
The hero stared at them for a moment, as if they weren’t sure what was happening, as if the villain’s very existence confused them. They blew an angry breath out of their nose.
“I’m fine,” the hero said pointedly. “You aren’t.”
The villain ignored them at that, sitting down to stir their lunch. It was half cold and entirely unappetizing, but happy people ate the compound rations and were happy about it. And the villain was reformed, and good, and happy. So they ate.
Their bowl disappeared from in front of them, and they studied the plastic of the table for a moment. When they looked up, the hero’s eyes burned into them.
“Stop. It.”
This time, the villain was the one who sighed. “Can I have my lunch back please?”
The hero threw the bowl an unimpressed look. “What, this crap? Nobody likes this, and I can especially tell that you don’t. Your face is exactly the same as the first time you met me, and you tried to stab me directly after that. So. Stop.”
“I don’t know what you want from me,” the villain grit out. “I’m smiling, I’m contributing, I’m doing good things. No more murder, no more crimes. That’s what you wanted, right?”
“I wanted you to want that. I wanted you to have that. I never wanted this.”
“This what, hero.”
The hero gestured to their face.
“That. That smile.”
The villain gave them a dry look, even as their smile faded. “What, I can’t smile?”
The hero regarded them, fingers laced together under their chin, food abandoned. The villain picked at a hangnail and tried to look calm. This was why they had been avoiding the hero—the villain could read them like a book, but the hero could read them just as well.
Someone clattered down the hall, laughing, and then it was just the two of them again.
“You don’t have to be happy,” the hero said quietly, “to be good.”
The fine china, the mask, shattered.
The hero sighed, but it wasn’t triumphant. Relief, maybe. Or sadness.
“Why couldn’t you have left it alone,” the villain’s voice wobbled traitorously. The hero smiled, just slightly. A smile for a smile.
“Because you were drowning in there. And you don’t deserve that.”
“I’m trying to be good,” they murmured. The hero reached out and stilled their hands before they could pick them bloody.
“You are good. But you’re also hurting. You can do both. It’s okay.”
The villain shoulders loosened, as if the hero had stolen some huge burden from them.
“Okay?”
“Okay,” the villain agreed.
The hero smiled, a soft thing.
“Only smile when it doesn’t feel like a burden to do so,” the hero stood, leaning over the villain for a moment.
They left the villain in the lunch room, staring down at their hands.
Months later, when the hero told an awful joke, the villain laughed. They smiled at the hero, and it was warm. So warm.
And the hero smiled too.
He’ll get there
Just so you guys know these comics won’t be in chronological order, I’ll instead be posting them in the order than I finish them. Probably not the most organized thing ever, but thats a problem for future me :)
Got an idea for an Artificer redemption AU... It gets pretty dark. I feel like a lot of people forget that slugcats and the ancients aren't the only organic creatures that go through unending cycles...
thinking abt when someone becomes evil… it’s the opposite of a redemption arc. they aren’t in their villain era tho they’re in their damnation arc