Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-35941743-20190304195312/@comment-24018437-20190625090222

Exactly! I’m OK with villains who redeem themselves, but it shouldn’t be overplayed and you should look at what villains are fit to redeem.

For example, take Zuko and Azula. It would be very odd if Azula somehow would have been redeemed. Sure, she had some sympathic traits. But here’s the thing: while I like sympathic villains who feel like they fight for a good cause, that doesn’t mean redemption SHOULD happen. They made their choiche. And if they stick with it, they should suffer the consequences, for better or worse.

Heck, a villain doesn’t even need to be pure evil for this. If anything, if a villain of the gray spectrum (which admittingly, Cinder is not) doesn’t redeem, it add all the more credibility to their cause. Look at the Red Lotus from The Legend of Korra. These villains are likeble, on the gray spectrum and yet aren’t redeemed. And it actually works a lot better for them to be taken then if they had been redeemed. It shows just how devoted they were to their cause, just as how the heroes are dedicated to theirs.

And like I said, not everyone can be redeemed. I think the How To Train Your Dragon franchise pulls this off pretty well. Hiccup meets villains who can be redeemed, but also people who are so stubborn and set on their way that they cannot be redeemed, like Drago, Ryker, Krogan and Johan. The moral of the story here is that while people can change for the better and you shouldn’t always assume everyone is pure evil, there are just some people who are a lost cause and no matter how much you wish things could change, they refuse to. You’re gonna come across people who are irredeemeble and cannot or refuse to change. That’s the way life goes.

Hiccup initially refuses to accept this truth and is forced to meet the harsh reality when his optimism ends up killing his father.

Raven and IIlia are part of the first category, while people like Adam, Cinder and Roman aren’t. Not everyone can be a Zuko. And when you look at Cinder, honestly, tell me with a straight face she’s a Zuko. The words I want to be powerfull, I want to be feared aren’t the words of a misunderstood girl who wants to do what right despite the questioneble choiches that come with it. Those are the words of a power-hungry tyrant in the making.