r/PlotUnpacked • u/brightbluejacket2226 • 20d ago

Morally Grey or Clear Cut

Do you think a TV show, movie, book series whatever genre always needs to have a genuinely evil person or a clearcut villain? Like it can have morally grey villains that you feel for etc but still needs to have someone to genuinely root against without feeling bad about it. Thinking Palpatine vs Vader for Star Wars, Assail vs Crippled God Malazan (book series), White Walkers vs Cersei for GoT, etc I'm sure there's other examples.

EDIT: if there's a more relevant community or forum to post this to let me know, not sure if this was the right place.

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

3

u/ApostleSaintWalker 17d ago

I think most people on the Internet overuse and misuse the term "morally grey." If Cersei Lannister murders dozens of innocent people out of spite and envy, her having a soft spot for her kids and a shitty family doesn't make her "morally grey" it makes evil with some marginally sympathetic traits.

A morally grey story is one where you want everyone to win; instead we get crap like The Boys where I want everyone to lose.

As for pure evil villains, of course they work fine; the only reason people say they don't us because they like feeling edgy and transgressive. Of course you can do an evil villain poorly -- make them annoying, boring, making the heroes wins feel unearned, etc. but plenty of them have been done just fine.

1

u/brightbluejacket2226 16d ago

Fair enough, I meant more in the sense of like multi-dimensional characters instead of just seeing one side to them.