An Overall Analysis Of Albert Wesker and "Unsympathetic Villainry"
I am not sympathizing for any of the characters described within this post! I am simply analyizing to provide people with a deeper understanding and possible comparisons between characters and adaptations.
Mentioned characters will include: Azula (Atla), Albert Wesker (Resident Evil), Zuko (Atla)
Albert Wesker
We know very little about Albert Wesker as a character and person, so a lot of this may be pulling strands of grass (or whatever). But I want to try to bring a new view to the most iconic villain of Resident Evil, no matter how far-fetched it may be.
In his childhood, it is assumable that he was taken from his parents by Umbrella and put into several makeshift homes with other Project W subjects (victims). From that young age he was seen as a person with favorable intellegence and "genetics", groomed into being able to be a senior scientist at age seventeen, a process that takes an upward of twelve years (at least!!!).
And in those few years before his introduction to working at Umbrella he went to a school where surely he was also praised and uplifted by staff and classmate alike.
To Wesker, the whole world must spin around his feet, halting under each step. If it did not, everything would pay.
And in some aspect I suspect that beyond him seeing the current lot of humans being "under par" or "lesser" that ultimately he saw a vast oceans of thoughts and ideas, and maybe he was scared. Scared that there were enough people that thought differently, and he wouldn't ever be able to convert them all. So if he couldn't recreate the world in his disease-crafted image, he would not stand for any of them to survive.
Even before re1, when he was killed by the Tyrant, he had signs of hatred for humanity. A disconnect between him and them.
Now, Wesker had every chance to take the step back and observe his situation. To self reflect and consider if what he was doing was right. If it was kind, or if it was something a person would even do. He did not take those chances to reevaluate.
Two characters I can consider similar to Wesker (faintly) are Zuko and Azula from ATLA. Zuko and Azula were both raised under extreme pressure and social status. However, they are still both very different people. Zuko was only hateful because of his lack of care from his father and other members in his family, fighting for scraps against his sister. And that emotional lack gave him the chance later on to open up and step back from that destructive course.
I think Wesker is more like Azula. Azula too was raised under the same circumstance as Zuko, but she was gifted. Smarter, stronger, more skilled than Zuko ever dreamed he could be, even when they were both children. She was stronger than him, years younger. This caused her to shimmer like prized gold in Ozai's eyes. No matter what she did she was praised and instructed deeply. Cracking under the scrutiny of even a single loose hair.
Azula was so lost in the pressure and self absorbtion that she didn't dare step back. She had everything she wanted. Why would she ever look into the lives of lessers?
