by Arwen E., 14
Humans, as a whole, need somebody to hate.
“The best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy.” (Wicked)
We need somebody to set the bar. We need a person to compare our morality to. Someone to despise and hunt and find friendships with others through our hatred. We call them criminals, lawbreakers, and wrongdoers. We call them villains.
Villains are the antagonists of every story. Draped in shadows and vileness, they wander the streets looking for a fight. Everyone runs when they hear their boots pounding the ground. Everyone turns to the hero as plants turn to the sun. Everyone wishes their villain dead.
But aren’t villains people? Weren’t they kids with hopes and dreams? Didn’t they have families and friends?
In three works of literature, we get to see the other side of the story. Cornelius Snow, who stars in The Ballad of Song Birds and Snakes, is a kid who is starving and running from reality who falls deeply in love. The famous play, book, and now blockbuster, Wicked, stars Elphaba who was bullied her whole life for being green, and when things finally show up for her, people turn on her for having a different world view. Six of Crows is a novel that follows the story of Kaz Brekker, a teenager who is known as Dirty Hands for his cunning and unforgiving nature.
So, what makes them different from us? Nothing. Heroes are glorified humans with the privilege of acceptance to back them up. Civilians are the ones who don’t do evil things but hide in their houses. And villains are humans who were dealt an unhelpful hand. They deserve their story to be told because then we get to see how we made them our enemies.
We get to see how similar we are.
Topsfield, Massachusetts
Bridge Ink 