I'll be honest, since my OM journey I was a Lucifer fan and still am (it's mainly how the character looks and the fic potential he has), but what I didn't like was how he treated us. But at the time I overlooked it - his behaviour, personality and how he treats others - and didn't see past the comedy, it was presented as to be funny so I saw it as such
But when I look at this now? Without the funny filter on – oh well... Luci, Luci you are a freaking disaster! XD
Just simply put it he is toxic, abusive, mean, evil
And I'm not sure how to feel about it all
I knew that Lucifer is sadist and mean it was said in the game, but until recent years I didn't see how problematic he is (maybe because I only got to see some of his behaviour until lesson 21-22 in og OM after that I don't know much) and I still like him in general and probably won't stop - I always focused more on the better side of the character acknowledging their wrongdoings yet the better side won
It's interesting how we can like fictional characters that have terrible personalities or are antagonists/villains, we see and know how they're in canon, but they are still people who like them and some of us end up to be them and we still like them in the end
That's what really interested me ever since getting into fandom, how can some people like certain characters or tropes if irl they're bad and would never do something like that or allow something like that to happen to us?
Is it perhaps the appeal the character has? Like looks, an interesting demeanor, fans' vision of them, or that we parody or romanticise such things?
That's all I wanted to say, sorry if it's long (• ▽ •;)
(With this knowledge, Luci, prepare to suffer, I will make you suffer in my works– You need to atone)
I mean liking characters who display abusive and toxic behaviors in fiction is far from bad, those topics create conflict, and conflict is often what makes a story interesting. I'll give Lucifer that, at least: He has the ability to be interesting. For me personally, that potential fascination is usually far overshadowed by how the subject matter is handled in the story's narrative, unfortunately.
There also remains the fact that much of Lucifer's personality was, I think, retconned. Don't get me wrong, his abuse of his siblings (Mammon in particular) is relatively consistent, but they definitely tonally tone it down (Ex. Abuse and manipulation of Beel and Belphie) after Season 1 when he is no longer a central antagonist. Someone who has seasons 3-4 + NB (Generally, I still find him to be an uncomfortable character in those, particularly the latter part of NBS2, but it's definitely toned down) more fresh in their memory are probably going to have a very different impression of him than someone who focuses primarily on the Original's first season.
I think the fan's vision of him also has a significant impact. Even if I personally don't find his character design particularly interesting, the fact remains that he's "Mr. Obey me", and is kindof intended to be a certain kind of genre staple, from what I can tell. A lot of people will take what's implied by the aesthetic and intended archetype and kindof run with it, as opposed to analyzing him in a vacuum independent of the Otome/BL genre. I do think that, especially as the OM team's posterchild, that quality of using his design and archetype to imply what people expect (and, assumedly, already find attractive) is intentional, on some level.
