Every Story Needs a Villain — And That’s Where Things Get Dangerous

Books, movies, and social media all teach us to root for heroes and condemn villains…but does the world need a villain?

WHEN I SEE something more than once, I count it as a message from the universe(or inspiration for a good article!). Villains are those who make the story. We love them, we hate them, but one thing we cannot deny is that without them, there would be no story. Just a bunch of self-righteous heroes with no tension. No plot. What if I told you that in real life, we have villains, but it is by design, and without them, there would be no plot. No lesson. Let’s take a look at two media: The ‘Wicked’ movies and Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe series. Two different forms of media that needed a bad guy, so there could be a good guy.

Green — the color of danger?

Elphaba from Wicked had a rough time growing up. She was born green, never knew her father, but had unlimited power. She befriended Glinda the Good while at the academy(I’m going by the movie version, I shall read the novels soon!).

None of that matters when she becomes an activist for the animals.

That was the hardest part of the movie to watch because, due to Elphaba’s big heart, she wanted to fight for Dr. Dillamond, but in fighting for him and the others, while not being willing to take part in the Wizard’s schemes, she flees and is labeled “Wicked” as a result.

In turn, Glinda is labeled “The Good”.

I found it interesting when Elphaba shouts at the end while the authorities tussle with Glinda,

“I’m the one you want! She didn’t do anything wrong!”

In Wicked For Good, Elphaba urges Glinda to, “Look at me. Not with your eyes, but theirs.”

Elphaba understood that the ones who were truly wicked needed a fall guy. The fall guy was Elphaba. It made perfect sense :

• a woman from a shady upbringing
• green skin
• too powerful

Sounds familiar?

This is not to say that I view Elphaba as a sweet, innocent angel who did nothing wrong. If you know the story of her and Sir Fiyero, then you know what I mean.

Villains needed for population control

In the Arc of a Scythe series(please, I need the movie of this series now!). Humans basically live forever. So to cut down the population, a group of highly trained people called scythes are the only one who can kill efficiently. Swiftly ending life.

In the story, two teens, Rowan and Citra, are selected to train with Farraday(the scythes are named after their patron histrionics or historical names like Goddard, Ayn Rand, even Gladys Knight!)

Rowan and Citra do not want to kill people just keep the population down, but they have no choice. Either they join, or there is a possibility that their families can be killed.

In time, Rowan discovers that there are serial gleaners( killers)in the fray. A particular scythe enjoys killing people too much, and that is not what makes a good scythe. What makes a good scythe is someone who believes in the preservation of life(I know, it sounds confusing, but you'll understand once you read the books).

Rowan decides to go rogue and “kill the killers!” (In my Blanche Devereaux voice. If you know you know). He knows burning them will definitely kill a scythe. Unfortunately, the scythedom do not see it as a good thing.

The real serial killer and the scythedom label him, Lucifer. A boy who never made it to the level of scythe, but he now wears the black robe and sets serial killers on fire.

This was a boy who never believed in killing at all. He was forced to join the scythedom, and joining them was one way of extending life for his own family. However, right is right and wrong is wrong. Some scythes were killing more than their specified quotas.

Was Rowan wrong for killing the killers? You know, going all Dexter on them?

Or is he right for seeing what was going on and preventing more human life from being swallowed by the blade?

Throughout the series, sadly, he is chased. Only Citra and their trainer have faith in him and understand his mission, but Rowan eventually embraces the fact that this world needs someone to chase. Someone to hate. Someone to pin crimes on.

So of course, the lens is turned from the evil puppetmaster to the ones dangling on the strings: Rowan and Citra.

But mostly Rowan.

Sound familiar?

In each media, the “villain” is not necessarily innocent, but is labeled as evil because they chose to defend what is right or simply because their skin/culture/background is deemed wrong.

But we need a villain, right?

What kind of world would it be if the ones we love to pin hate on suddenly left the planet?

Would evil suddenly stop?

Would there be a utopia?

I don’t think so.

The human spirit is one of blame. We know what accountability is, and we know we should be accountable where appropriate, but if there is someone to blame or a group of people to blame, it makes sense. It points to the so called source of our woes.

This is complex to bring up and kind of hypocritical of me to say because I believe people can be victims. I believe collectively, Black people are victims of circumstances that have always been out of their control, but what should we be held accountable for?

There is no difference between the labels of marginalized groups as villains and the higher caste being labeled as the innocent heroes.

Black people — we ARE Elphaba and Rowan. We are born into a world literally designed to hate our skin. Nature doesn’t hate our skin. Other people do, though. Just like Elphaba, we are called “Wicked Witch”, Thug, “Chimping out”, monsters, and thieves.

Unfortunately, when society meets one who actually fits the criminal criteria, it proves their point. But there was never any point. They hate us no matter what.

Villains in fiction pay for their crimes.

What’s wild is that people say Black people are “criminals and thugs,” but what they will not mention is that those Black “criminals and thugs” do in fact pay the price through lynchings, unfair trials, execution on the spot, etc. And this is regardless if the Black person is innocent or not.

The world doesn’t need a villain.

Nor do we need heroes.

We need to judge people by the content of their character on an individual basis and treat people the way we want to be treated.

No demons. No angels. No villains. No heroes.

Just treating people fairly.

Thank you for reading!

Erica writes about the myths we are sold about work, success, and survival- and what's really behind them. She also churns out stories and poetry that pretty much reflects the same thing. Sign up for more pieces like this, delivered fresh to your inbox.

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