I feel sorry for bad guys sometimes. I mean, Bowser has to provide for 7 kids in a single-parent home, and the only income he has is ransom money for kidnapping Peach. And those Mushroom Kingdom bigwigs never pay! Just because Mario got into the trades at a young age and makes a decent living for himself, doesn't give him the right to trash Bowser's dungeons and throw his kids into lava. That's barbaric.
It seems many authors are also identifying with the bad guy these days.
I'm sure most of you remember the Wicked series of books, which became a hit Broadway show. It turns the evil Wicked Witch of the West from Oz, into a flawed but sympathetic character full of hopes and dreams. And it seems like the Wicked Witch isn't the only villain we have been unfairly treating, my pretties.
A new movie is in development, called "Oz The Great And Terrible", starring James Franco as a young Wizard of Oz. The original is known as a jerk and a coward - forcing Dorothy and company to travel all the way to the Emerald City just to refuse their wishes. It was revealed that the Wizard had no powers at all, and was lying to the entire world of Oz for YEARS. But now, we get to find out why we should not only forgive the Wiz (actually, "The Wiz" is unforgivable!), but hail him as the hero he was all along!
There's a new book out from Russia called "The Last Ringbearer" that re-tells the story of The Lord of the Rings from the unexplored perspective of Mordor and their great leader Sauron. A translation into English of this um, novel novel, is available as a free download HERE, for those who wish to read it.
So, once again, it is time to feel sorry for those we once hated. Like the Wicked Witch, the misguided Wizard of Oz, Smallville's Lex Luthor, and Spider-Man's Venom, it is time to embrace Sauron as a true victim of injustice, and reward him for his undying heroism!
What other villains have gotten a bad rap? Commence commenting!
From the article linked above:
"In Yeskov's retelling, the wizard Gandalf is a war-monger intent on crushing the scientific and technological initiative of Mordor and its southern allies because science "destroys the harmony of the world and dries up the souls of men!" He's in cahoots with the elves, who aim to become "masters of the world," and turn Middle-earth into a "bad copy" of their magical homeland across the sea. Aragorn is depicted as a ruthless Machiavellian schemer who is ultimately the puppet of his wife, the elf Arwen. Barad-dur, also known as the Dark Tower and Sauron's citadel, is, by contrast, described as "that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic."
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