30 Fictional Characters That People Idolize By Entirely Missing The Point

Bored Panda got in touch with Bram Stoker Award-winning editor Doug Murano, the founder of Bad Hand Books, for a chat about villains and antiheroes. We were interested to hear his thoughts about why the audience might want to root for the 'bad guys.'

"I think we're built to relate to the thoughts and emotions villains are allowed to express, but heroes are not. We've all had times in our lives when we've felt jealousy, rage, the need for vengeance—feelings that often drive the actions of villains," he told us.

"Part of the value of indulging in fictional worlds is to give voice to the feelings we can't in real life. That's a long way to say that I think it's healthy to root for the villain sometimes. Don't feel bad about enjoying it," editor Doug said that we shouldn't feel guilty about this.

Bored Panda also wanted to hear about the hallmarks of a truly great villain. Here's what Doug, from Bad Hand Books, had to say about this: "Good villains have a reason for doing what they do—and they feel absolutely justified in taking those actions. That doesn't mean they need a sophisticated backstory, but a good villain is the hero of their own story," he said.

"And the best villains have motivations we can partially sympathize with. Think about Pamela Voorhees, who picks off camp counselors to avenge the death of her son. Most of us cringe at her methods, but can relate to her anger."

Meanwhile, when it comes to the difference between villains and antiheroes, Doug sees it in terms of selfishness vs. selflessness. "A villain's goals are centered on satisfying their own emotional needs, whereas an antihero will do things that are characteristically villainous for the greater good," he told Bored Panda.

Let’s be frank for a moment: there will always be disagreements on how to interpret certain story elements, character arcs, and what the writer/artist intended to put on the screen and on the page. It’s like asking who’s cooler, Batman, Superman, or Spiderman.

However, by getting involved in these discussions, setting up our arguments, and countering others’ opinions, we get a bit closer to the truth about what makes characters stand out, what types of stories and tropes we prefer, and why.

You’ll hardly ever come to a satisfactory conclusion in arguments over fiction (especially if you’re on the internet!), but sharing your ideas and interpretations can help you get your own thoughts in order. Things get very interesting once you move past the, ‘I don’t like character X/I think that opinion Y is wrong, and I’m the only one who’s right!’ phase.

While a quick scroll through social media will show you a ton of extremely cringy Joker memes that should be avoided like the plague, it’d be unfair to write off the character entirely. Yes, he’s pretty much a violent psychopath who (depending on which version of the Joker you have in mind) gets up to everything from silly pranks to some truly dark and mind-breaking stuff that nobody should ever fall victim to.

He’s definitely not a hero and shouldn’t be idolized. He’s also not just a psychopath. It’s not wrong to feel at least some sympathy for villains and antiheroes sometimes. Some aspects of their character and their motivations might make them relatable. Things aren’t just black or white in modern and postmodern media unless you’re telling a very traditional Good vs. Evil story. Gotham, we feel, has enough space for some more nuance and shades of grey. If a character is written well and is more than just two-dimensional, it's normal to at least understand where they're coming from, even if you're not fully on their side.

In the opinion of yours truly, what makes a villain compelling is that their goals and motivations resonate with us. We see a part of ourselves in them and their actions. We’re forced to come to the stark conclusion that even though we want the heroes to win and save the day, that victory isn’t as morally clear-cut as it might initially seem.

Real life is messy, chaotic, and complicated. People are incredibly rarely purely good or evil. Stories and characters that manage to capture a fraction of that while keeping the audience entertained can go very far.

You could argue that just as much as fictional characters shouldn’t be idolized, they also shouldn’t be immediately demonized. Besides, it’s often hard to know what the ‘point’ of a particular story is when we don’t have access to the unfiltered thoughts and intentions of the creators. Moreover, once you finish a story and let it loose upon the world, it’s no longer just your creation. Everyone who reads or watches it adds to the worldbuilding whenever they share their interpretations.

So, yes, to put it bluntly, evil characters obviously shouldn’t be idolized… but perhaps the reason they are is that they’re written so well that they work like mirrors, reflecting a part of the audience and society back at them. A part that may be uncomfortable for many to even think about.

Psychologist Lee Chambers told Bored Panda during an earlier interview that part of the reason why people enjoy watching entertainment that covers the darker side of humanity is due to our evolutionary journey as human beings.

“For the majority of our existence, we were prey and always hyperaware of threats to our safety, which created a negativity bias that we are drawn towards. But in today's safe and often sanitized world, we are rarely threatened significantly, and the ability to explore evil, frightening and gruesome entertainment is one of the few ways we can visit this part of humanity while remaining safe and comfortable,” he shared his thoughts about forms of entertainment like the spectacularly popular true crime genre.

“There is a level of novelty to it, it removes boredom quickly, and it helps us to discover our emotional limits while understanding the minds of those who go beyond social norms and potentially gaining knowledge of how we might avoid being victims ourselves. They also offer closure, with many stories ending with the mystery being solved, and the criminal being brought to a level of justice.”

"It [the story] can take us on an emotional rollercoaster, have us trying to solve the puzzle and test our fear in a controlled way. The permission to explore evil is powerful, as we so rarely get the chance elsewhere, and in itself, it is healthy and normal in moderation," the psychologist told Bored Panda.

"The challenge we face is the fact that consuming too much of this can desensitize us, and cause us to become less empathetic to the suffering of others, more fearful of our own environment, and potentially be more likely to use aggression ourselves. It can also cause us to be triggered by our own previous adverse experiences, make it harder to manage our own emotional balance, and increase our stress levels, so moderating our consumption is something we should have front of mind, even when we get embroiled in the latest series that is pulling us in."