Aro writer here. My current gen fic has two villain protagonists, and the story is about them being best friends while doing crime. They're both reformed in the end, and their friendship plays a part in their reformation. I’m worried that this uses the arophobic "love or one's ability to love makes people good and not evil" trope (even though it’s not romantic love). I feel stuck. How can I redeem a villain whose arc heavily involves platonic love without being arophobic?
Hi,
I think the main problem with the trope you’ve described, at least in my eyes, is equating a villain caring about one person (often for selfish reasons and without respecting them) with them caring about other people in general and having had development. So, avoiding equating the two, and showing explicit evidence of the latter even if your focus is on the former, is the best way around playing into any kind of arophobia.
Essentially, the friendship can be what prompts the characters to do nice things, like rescuing each other or offering gestures of affection, but it can’t be where the redemption ends. It should be the gateway into starting to think about other peoples’ feelings and the consequences of each of the villains’ own actions.
I’d also recommend showing how the friendship ends up a respectful one, where both parties respect and make actual sacrifices for each other, even if it starts off with them simply using each other or collaborating on some kind of villainy. It’s important to present the effort they make to be genuinely good to each other, rather than just the fact that they enjoy each other’s company and have ‘feelings’, as the reason they can be considered redeemed.
I’d especially love to see the two characters guiding each other on matters outside their relationship that would aid in their redemption, for instance one persuading the other to do the right thing even if it inconveniences them. This would help present the friendship as the reason they are able to grow as people rather than as evidence that they have grown.
Good luck!
- Mod Kaladin
