all evil is human,
so why read about abstract personfications of all that is considered evil
instead of human beings?
I really can’t do it anymore. I can’t get lost in an epic, a journey to heroism, a discovery of one’s potential, if the antagonist is just Evil
I always used to focus on the former element, but I just can’t take the stakes seriously if the antagonist is some pre-ordained Evil, a corrupted wizard, an orc, a demon, for no reason bent on total destruction. Entirely inhuman.
Weird really. Would I have the same response to LOTR if I rewatched it? I don’t think so.
The point is that the hook of fantasy is the magic of its worldbuilding (how cool it is basically) and the heart of fantasy is its characters. How real do they remain in fantastical situations? Are they a good doorway? What experiences can be explored in a person in only such a situation?
Maybe it’s simply because there’s no cool Evil. Evil is just not cool. It doesn’t have a hook. It’s not nuanced, it’s not complex, it doesn’t generally have diverse motives for being, it just is. It’s simple and it’s chewed up spit out boring. The same old thing.
And it doesn’t exist.
Real evil. You have to dust, glaze, layer it with real evil. Real human failing, real human malice, brutality, lack of remorse, morality.
Or maybe the aesthetics just suck and I wouldn’t mind Evil if it came in a new gorgeous jacket.