The Irredeemable: Part 2

Its finally here! The second part of my review on villainy.

I left off with justice and punishment. In stories a villain needs to do what is appropriate to their character. Sometimes a villain does just that. In the Lord of the Rings Gollum is probably the best example of the irredeemable. (This is the books perspective not the movies) Gollum's mind is so far gone he is a pathetic image of what he once was. Possessed with the ring of power, he does what ever it takes to get it back.

Gollum is deceitful, dangerous, and deadly. He killed his best friend for the ring. The ring itself tortured him and destroyed his mind. Even if this is what he became Frodo felt pity on him. Frodo gave justice and forgiveness to Gollum offering redemption and peace, Gollum refused. But with out Gollum, Frodo would not have thrown the ring into Mount Doom.

That is where the ring itself, the soul of Sauron, backfires in its evil. It was meant to destroy people by consuming their very minds. In the end its actions and the actions of justice lead to its destruction. Gollum was possessed by the ring until the very end. He got what he wanted. The ring desired to get back to its master. By slowly corrupting people the method it thought would be the fastest, it destroyed itself.

Villains are not really the problem. The path to self-destruction is what makes them terrifying. Its what makes them sad. Suffering in their own filth, we pity them. The problem is that it doesn't look like filth. Very rarely is a villain depicted like Gollum. Most often a villain is leading other people to their deaths.

In the case of our world you wonder why leaders like Osama Bin Laden are so attractive to  follow. If Osama had practiced what he preached he would have been dead long ago by strapping a bomb onto his chest. He had an excuse, a way out that allowed him to lead others to their death while keeping his own life. While I don't think Osama received "Justice" he got what he preached.

This never makes us better or worse then others. Most often we are villains without knowing. We lead paths of destruction that will destroy us in the end. The heroes admit the mistakes and attempt to make things right. Frodo Baggins himself became a villain and nearly died for it. Villainy is subtle yet destructive it makes sense from a personal standpoint.

While I am not sure that movie villains are appropriate as the Irredeemable in children's movies, the Irredeemable do exist. They chose to destroy and to be destroyed. This does not mean that justice should not be offered. Redemption, forgiveness, and mercy are much more powerful then people perceive.

The villain is almost more important then the hero because it is them that are on the path to destruction. Only the villain choses redemption or to be Irredeemable. The hero is just supposed to offer justice. After all the hero does not need to be fixed if they are a hero they will do what is right.