Humanizing the Villain | Star Wars Video Essay

The Star Wars Franchise is seemingly obsessed with redemption. Every since Darth Vader decided to yeet Palpatine to save his son Luke Skywalker, more and more story arcs seem to center on humanizing the villain. In this video essay we'll do a character analysis of Kylo Ren, Boba Fett, the Rancor, the Sand People, Black K, and more. Let's explore the phycology behind the consistent themes that we see everywhere from the prequels and young Anakin Skywalker, to the original trilogy with Han Solo and C3P0, to the sequel trilogy with Rey.
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Kylo Ren's Wasted Backstory: • KYLO REN: The Most Was...
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[@DarthdYT]

So what do you guys think? Has the Redemption arc been over-used? ----- Kylo Ren's Wasted Backstory: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnewfpWanL14gqc

[@claudiaborges8406]

There’s many badly written ones, that’s for sure

[@jaieregilmore971]

One thing they did right is humanize maul but he still remains a villain because that’s who he is and would never change.

[@tonystank3091]

Well, obviously Disney wants to redefine "evil" because the *old* definition describes *them.*

[@free-castle6732]

Well Disney is on the spectrum (of evil).

[@rivwilson9330]

I clicked on this because I like Maul's arc. I got a highly nuanced well researched video. Love it

[@DarthdYT]

Aww, thanks!

[@Fatsaver]

Maul is even more tragic when you realize he's going after Obi Wan because he wouldn't stand a chance against Sidious. The man responsible for all of this.

[@dalenlewin]

I think I agree with your cohorts on this one. You seem to have used the terms redeem and humanize interchangeably. Humanizing villains is one thing. Star Wars bounty hunter humanized Jango Fett, but that doesn't change the fact that he is a cold-blooded killer. Book of Boba Fett turned him into an actual hero, something he just isn't made to be, but him wanting to be his own person is something everyone can relate to. It doesn't change the fact that if it had actually held to that, he would've been putting bounties on the innocent as well as the corrupt. Disney is absolutely trying to put the blame of its villains from yesterday on people that they just made up today, and that is a terrible thing to do. What's next? In 50 years, are they going to try to give the villains that made the villains a redemption arc? Someone else to blame? Games like Grandtheft auto show that everyone you play as is a gangster. You and your people kill lots of good, bad, and civilians to get what you want. There is no redemption for people like you, but they still have story arcs.

[@DarthdYT]

Agreed, that's my fault for using the word "redemption" without clarifying I meant a much softer definition of the word. For instance, a bad guy who stays a bad guy but lets a child go free. In my mind that character was "redeemed" in the minds of the audience from being a full villain to something a bit softer. But as I didn't explain I was only referring to a "partial redemption", yeah, it's definitely confusing.

[@dalenlewin]

I don't know about that. I'm sure most of the Star Wars fan base would agree that if Darth Vader had survived, he should, at the very least, be imprisoned forever and something tells me he would follow through on that.

[@avrivah1101]

@@DarthdYT No, you were right. If this was an isolated incident, I would concur with your detractors, but we are seeing these themes across all media. The show runners/producers are deliberately trying to muddy the line between good and evil. Supposedly "good" characters do things that are irredeemably evil while "evil" characters are humanized and frequently escape the consequences of their transgressions. It's totally deliberate and, more broadly, accurately reflects the political views of their creators.

[@DarthdYT]

@@avrivah1101 saving your comments to discuss with the guys, probably doing a live stream next weekend.

[@avrivah1101]

@@DarthdYT Excellent. I'll keep an eye out for that. I would also suggest, as a corollary, digging into some of James Lindsay's work on the New Discourses, where he talks about the broader cultural shift we are seeing and its antecedents in history. Fascinating stuff.

[@InfernosReaper]

The baby rancor was fitting as Fett was Jabba's successor, but then he used it to fight super droids instead of using his gunship.

[@darktenor4967]

I'm afraid I disagree that Disney has a history of archetypal villains. Recently, Disney has been doing the very same thing with it's classic villains as in Starwars, portraying them in a heroic light, Cruella, Maleficent. Even in their remakes, the villains are far weaker characters usually with sympathetic backstories. I also don't believe that Anakin's redemption can be seen in the same way as book of Boba fet's treatment of Boba. Since Anakin's story was written with an inherent redemption, despite his evil acts in the original trilogy, there had to be something there to be redeemed, when Luke says that he senses good in Vader, there had to be some buried good there to sense, IE a sympathetic backstory, as George Lucas says "everything rhymes!" Boba Fet had no such redemption, or possibility of goodness, he was just a bounty hunter in it for the money. The only reason for Disney's obsession with villains is that they heard about "grey characters", and think they're being all modern and Edgy, because game of thrones was popular, without realising that in game of thrones for every Ramsey Bolton or Jofry Berathian, there was a brienne of Tarth or a ned stark, since "grey characters!" also means some good, and some bad, as well as some who are somewhere in between, but for Disney it's just easier to make the heroes despicable and the villains more like heroes without any context, then pretend their writing is better than it is.

[@Kaffeebohne]

Sums it up.

[@zaktan7197]

Good video with good research. Humanizing and redeeming are two different things. Humanizing villains can be good for at least two reasons. It can help us have empathy and patience with people who annoy or hurt us because we can imagine that they may be having a bad day or from their point of view they are being reasonable. It can also warn us that if we do not prepare for temptations by practicing virtue that we too could become as villains as well. “There but the grace of God, go I.” Even so called pure evil villains are not totally unrealistic. They represent a long life of indulging in vice and committing evil acts. Redemption arcs are good because of the healing, the reconciliation, and the hope it offers to us flawed humans. They can be bad when, as you pointed out, it is never the bad guy’s fault. The most important thing in redemption arcs is repentance, the villain realizes they were wrong and they now desire to fix things. The sad truth is, not everything can be fixed, sometimes a character cannot earn their redemption, but the heroes can show mercy and grace. As someone on the internet said, “They need to stop skipping the arcs in redemption arcs.” Thanks again for the video and have a blessed day.

[@DarthdYT]

Agreed; I should have steered clear of the term "redemption" for the sake of clarity. Thanks for the great comment :)

[@avrivah1101]

No, he was right to use both terms in this case. If it were only humanizing villains, that would be one thing, but the producers/showrunners are also taking pains to discredit the concept of heroism and frequently dehumanize their own protagonists. It's a distinction without a difference. And once you understand why they are doing this, a ton of other unrelated things will start to make a lot more sense.

[@YanoshRagauld]

A very interesting and worthy commentary, Thankyou. On another matter let me thank and congratulate you on your pacing and tone of this content. Beautifully divoid of constant jump , scroll and zoom cuts , or shaky cam as normal. High pitch or low drone commentary with added vanity face. All thise things are quick deal breakers for me. This was truly a breath of KZbin fresh air, which is more rare than unicorn shit. I do doth my cap to you good sir. Big love and Greetings from England mate. PS Ive been watching Starwars since i was 3. Right from the start baby..

[@ryebold552]

I apologize for being that guy in the comments, but it's "doff" not "doth". As in, "Our hats we doff to General Joffre"

[@YanoshRagauld]

@@ryebold552 Apologies accepted, nee brother mate, and notes taken in regards to future doffage. Cheers for the course correction.

[@DarthdYT]

Thanks so much for the kind words!

[@cedrickterrick]

Cant wait for Palpatines Redemtion.. :D

[@DarthdYT]

that would sure be a trick to pull off 😅

[@free-castle6732]

He probably does not need redemption as it would not compliment his own will that he cherishes the most . He wants to be attributed with the term evil mastermind. He wants his slaves to be internally good, with himself being the only force that makes them do evil things. Perhaps you have to have the one person that gets all the damnation, to have redemption for the others.

[@dawfydd]

The Rancor thing had been touched on in Bad Batch previously and also with the Zilo beast. It is an on going thing and i think its also part of us just exploring our world and finding out that Tigers are not evil they are hunters who sometimes encounter humans for the worst outcomes. Beasts in starwars are no different from those found on our planet i don't think any creatures on our planet would now be called a monster, Elephants perhaps were by those who hadn't seen them before.

[@FriedFreezer]

I enjoy some redemption arcs not really because I see myself as a villain (I’m more a shitty bystander) but because it gives me hope for people in real life that feel too far gone. I do genuinely believe people aren’t born hateful or violent, they’re shaped to become that. Seeing stories of bad people learning and growing and doing good gives me a little hope for society in general.

[@DarthdYT]

Sounds like you need to share some of that hope with yourself my friend ❤

[@pafmortim]

Great video as always! Sushi rocks!

[@DarthdYT]

Thanks!

[@gaiuszeno1331]

If they really wanted to do a redemption arch and bring palpatine back they should have made the sequals focus on something like the legends Yuuzahn Vong an extra galactic menace that would require a hyper militarized empire to fight.

[@kevmasengale6903]

Palpatine has no redeeming qualities. He's evil for the sake of being evil, and he loves every moment of it.

[@free-castle6732]

@@kevmasengale6903 why though? You say out of loving sensations in his own experience?

[@mrzfunk]

C-3PO is the foil to R2D2, there's an obvious contrast between Cs spineless behavior and R2 rushing in to help no matter the danger. Similarly it's part of Hans character arc to go from a slippery scoundrel to a general because he sees Leas example and grows to be more respectable.

[@free-castle6732]

Quick question, will you redeem the Emperor soon? You said he empowered people of his likes. So like Robin Hood?? A former friend of mine used to identify with the Emperor very much and he has been slightly criminal being accused of credit card fraud. Is the Emperor about ongoing active evil without any hiding? Is it a kind of villians journey to reaching a point of, " it is good because it is bad " instead of "it is good despite it is also bad" or "i won't judge wether it is good or bad"? Is there an anti-redemption? An antidemption?

[@DarthdYT]

Funny thing is he does have a backstory that softens him a bit (having to create the Empire before the Vong invade). But that fact shouldn't absolve him of his villain status. We recorded a podcast last night that goes a bit more in depth on that.

[@free-castle6732]

@@DarthdYT so it is just the circle of life! ...bagithi baba... there always is a bigger fish

[@billmcdermott9647]

@@DarthdYT that didn’t soften him all that much. He wanted to prepare for the vong because he knew they would destroy what he had gained so it wasn’t about the galaxy but saving himself/refusing to give up his power

[@DarthdYT]

@@billmcdermott9647 oh agreed. Very very slightly softened I guess.

[@dawfydd]

a minute in, Every villain is the hero of their own story, Anakin shows us how far one can fall, and still have good inside them. Its a great message and i don't think Lucas really repeats that message, Dooku might still have good in him but we don't redeem him, and through TCW and tales we find out that no his Arrogance wont let him keep the good, he'll pretend though to win people to his side or for advantage. Maul i feel wasn't Redeemed, i think Obiwan had let go for all the dark emotions he had for maul in that moment seeing him as the damaged creature he really was, Villains can be damaged without being good inside. Book of bored feet is just poor writing all over.

[@jaieregilmore971]

Vader deserve redemption he actually suffered the most in the movies we actually saw who he was as Anakin skywalker a hero before he became Darth Vader. Kylo however not so much he should had stay a hero or stay a villain he didn’t do anything good warrant a redemption and Kylo rejects redemption two times one from Han his father who he killed and Rey just random stranger who kylo tortured who no emotional attachment at all so yeah he wasn’t getting a redemption the only they did it in TROS is for fan service and to make it look like Han,Leia and Luke aren’t failure.

[@SantinoDeluxe]

i gotta disagree about scar from lion king; lions singing elton john and befriending the other animals is a sign of end times... he really did his best to put a stop to all that.

[@DarthdYT]

😅 Fair point.

[@jaieregilmore971]

Not only the redemption arc been over used but also fallen hero trope been overused and unnecessary for example Obi wan and TLJ Luke.

[@DarthdYT]

Agreed. It seems like a ton of stories these days are about heroes who lost their way and have to "learn to become heroes again".

[@ryebold552]

I would like to discuss this topic. Same Darth time. Same Darth Channel.

[@dcmihatepie]

*starts writing pre-production document*

[@xelloskaczor5051]

Four things. First - psychologist is right. Second - Darth Vader had to be humanized for the story to make sense, because it was a story about the family, and if Vader was pure evil 2d villain, that would invalidate entire role of the emperor. And the emperor was never redeemed in good star wars - he was in Disney. Three - just like Star Wars is dead, old disney is dead. So it makes sense old disney is different from new one at large. Four - there is no problem with adding context and evolving characters - but not when you do it in a way that disrespects fans and the material while conveniently also playing into your political agenda you are pushing on every other front As for my opinion - no it has been misused, not overused. But it looks damn similar.

[@johnmoshos2435]

Is it really a more sophisticated evolution? Because when every villain today is misunderstood, when they are evil because of someone else's actions, when they are created to be empathized with, how can it not be a cliche then? They are hollow and empty, lacking even that menacing feeling of onesided characters, like Ivan Drago. It is a cheap excuse for lackluster characterization, and you can see that because the only thing you remember about them is how awful they were. Also, I wouldn't be so certain that audiences today are more mature and knowledgeable. If you believe that the Joker was the hero in that movie, only because he was the protagonist, it doesn't paint you in such a great light, morally.

[@DarthdYT]

Good points all around. Probably a much deeper topic than I'd initially thought it was...

[@-MrFozzy-]

I’m not sure the term is character assassination….because we didn’t really have anything to assassinate, but it’s very close. It did not hit right at all. The series had absolutely nothing redeeming in it. It was …..horrible

[@dawfydd]

29 minutes, you list a bunch of movies over 20 years old as the reason its not Disneys fault, then say "its not Disney era starwars" but you kind of talked around it, Its this Era of Disney which is rewriting older versions of stories and giving them "this day and age" understandings, Cruella she got a movie? The snow white villain? she got a couple of movies.. you can't hand wave Disney out of this because their track record is humanizing evil and they have clear evidence. What you don't have from Lucas is more than the clone wars to really complain about, episodes 1-6 and the clone wars, Anakin was humanized of course it was his fucking story. I think somewhere you missed that point, or did when you went deep dive that Anakin being the poster child isn't part of the problem he could be some of the reason why the problem exists, Because Darth Vader sells, a Villain with a body count more than "the bad guy from ww2" sells action figures.. hence Kylo Whine being brought about. C3P0 he's just a whiny bad character i'll give you that, Han.. well he isn't a great person in a new hope he's a smuggler who wants nothing to do with the rebels, then he gets pulled in.. and his arc changes him.. up until the new movies undo that arc.

[@dawfydd]

34 minutes, I think we all understand that though Anakin was redeemed he wasn't forgiven, Maybe its something someboody who never grew up with the EU can't understand. Vaders ghost- Visited Leia and she wanted NOTHING to do with him, he helped tarkin kill a lot of people she loved, and it took her a lot of time to even accept he was her father, its something Disney just brushes over completely some throw away lines like it being used against her in a book or two. Vader didn't so much go into the sunset all forgiven, he's one with the force but he still has to exist with the knowledge of all the evil he's done and that even though he's one with the force for however long he can exist his children might not want to resolve things with him, he'll never see padme again, Yoda and Obiwan accepted his turn but i don't know if they forgave him, I don't think you ever can forgive Vader nobody absolved him of guilt. People absolve Kylo (fans) because they're idiotic and because Disney basically said "oh snoke played with his mind forever so eh" and changed luke into jake skywalker to help that along, just poor writing. But everyone else they're all still bad people and i don't think anyone would think Vader was misunderstood murdering people. Duel of the fates where Quigon died was the point were vader's fate was sealed because Quigon was the father figure the young man needed- and these days its even more important to have a good strong father figure just look at stats of fatherless homes.. crime rates are insane. I think you went too deep into the well and kind of missed the target, the target is still Disney trying to humanize evil- we can talk about it but at the end of the day 3 of the biggest examples you use happen in one of the worst shows. I agree the Tuskens (who started humanizing in Mando first) should be, they were based on indian's and we came to understand their alien thinking as time went on also.

[@Phrog-Lord]

Why did you have it as a premiere

[@DarthdYT]

Trying to schedule the release on days I can live chat while people watch 🙂

[@jonathanleake6176]

Because it's premiered at a future time and place of his choosing so that he could probably interact the most with his viewers.

[@avrivah1101]

The prevailing undercurrents of our culture are overwhelmingly negative. This is evident in our arts and entertainment, and these themes of humanizing villains/discrediting heroes reflect that. Whether it's the revisionism of Luke's character and established arc in the Legends canon to ascribing to him the motives and opportunity to murder his nephew and student, they both represent the same thing. A critique of our traditional culture and heritage through the deconstruction of its components for the purposes of ideology.

[@ZeroIndent]

At the risk of relitgating postmodernism, I just don't think negativity is a problem, and I'm unclear on what you mean by "the purposes of ideology" (let's park the claim that the "undercurrents of our culture are overwhelmingly negative" cause yeah, the world is literally ending, are we supposed to be all smiles in our art?). Despite all of our misgivings of the Disney sequels, critiquing of traditional culture and heritage is inevitable and necessary. Productive, even. It helps us challenge naturalised beliefes and normative ideology by saying "hey wait... was Luke really a goodie if he choked them guards in return of the jedi?" These are potential avenues for productive inqurery. I don't think the sequels get there, but on face these are good ideas. Second to that, if they throw out stories they are disinetered in then they aren't compelled to observe Luke's arc in the legends cannon. Shit, even if they didn't throw it out, they still wouldn't be compelled. They are making X film in Y year. If you approached the creators 2 years before Y or 2 years after I'm sure they'd make a different film. That being said, what ideology is Luke's re-writing in service of? How does it suggest we should mediate reality differently? I'm not being obtuse, I think that Luke's reimaging supports the traditional values and cultural hertiage you reference. He's a retired knight, disillusioned with the order. He's an over-the-hill gunslinger, foresaken the big iron. And in the end, he gives his life to uphold the "order" of things. He's the last gunslinger, willing to stake his claim for the good guys. How much more traditional can you get...

[@avrivah1101]

@@ZeroIndent I think you know what ideology I'm referring to, otherwise you wouldn't have jumped to the defense of Luke's apostasy with such verve. The truth is that you've been sold a bill of goods, my friend. Contrary to the vested interests and certainty of our betters, the world is not "literally ending," opposites, by their nature, can never be reconciled, and Luke was never just a gunslinger. He was a paladin, a knight, a paragon of virtue who chose a path in opposition to the negative. Relentless and ruthless negativity are the enemies of imagination and true creation. If you know history well you'll realize that it's been tried before, in the arts and elsewhere, and everywhere it has been tried, it has failed.

[@ryebold552]

@@avrivah1101 I'm gonna jot this down for our next conversation, which I think will be about this video.

[@GAdmThrawn]

You bring up Disney as a company that has made villains be villainous for no reason than because they are evil. This is true, but your reasoning is flawed. The villains you bring up are decades old from movies in the past at a time when such villains were acceptable. A better comparison would be the current modern Disney villains. Maleficent is no longer an evil fairy who delights in cursing a baby all because she wasn't invited to its birth, but cares for forest creatures and children and hates humans due to being betrayed by a human lover who cut off her wings. Cruella is no longer an angry, greedy woman who wants to kill puppies to make a fur coat, but was only made that way by others. Even animated movies don't have villains be villainous, and some of them don't have villains at all just to avoid this.

[@DarthdYT]

I didn't do a great job of getting across the point I was trying to make, but you pretty much described the topic I was trying to talk about. Villains aren't just "evil" any more, for the most part they're all "humanized" now. And I was trying to explore whether that was "good or bad" to have once evil villains be pitied by the audience.

[@dcmihatepie]

babe wake up, new Darth just dropped, and in this one he convinces toxic fans to take accountability

[@dawfydd]

I think Disney is trying to humanize villains in an alarming way kind of like LGBT tries to humanize certain people who like younger- to young partners. There is part of it with Lucas were it is "sometimes evil is made" and as i said in another comment "villains are the heroes of their own stories" But just seeing the number of bad people in Disney era.. Yiiikes. Some of that could be "look a baddie, but understand them. and buy their action figure" LOL Some of it could be something deeper where Disney is doing this for a reason, saying that if you are a bad person but "you have reasons" you aren't as bad. However that isn't true.. being a bad person isn't a good solution for suffering it just spreads it to others.

[@Chorwacjen]

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