as cool as tommy’s villain arc after exile would’ve been it wouldn’t make too much sense for his character.
tommy loved l’manburg, despite everything, that was his home. the home that he and wilbur built together, they fought together for independence of a nation where they could be free from the rules of the server. tommy has also referred to l’manburg as his ‘unfinished symphony,” just like wilbur had.
wilbur and tommy had a brother-like relationship, they formed a nation and stayed together all throughout the l’manburg arc and the pogtopia arc. wilbur was the former president of l’manburg, the country being a harsh reminder of him. l’manburg reminded tommy of wilbur, they had built it from the ground up together. we’ve seen that tommy still cares for wilbur, whether it’s healthy or not he can’t stop, and even before they destroy l’manburg the sight of ghostbur, once his brother figure saddens him.
also, tubbo is his bestfriend. after everything, he chose tubbo which makes a lot of sense. the two were inseparable before tommy’s exile, hence the name “clingyduo.” tommy also gave one of his most prized possessions, one of his discs to tubbo as a form of trust and friendship. tommy didn’t want to betray tubbo, he wanted to amend a friendship which he thought was broken. neither have the heart to purposely betray the other, they were strung along like puppets and their mistakes were used against them to break their close bond as an attempt to villainize them.
tommy also doesn’t want to be hated, he doesn’t want to be a monster, he doesn’t want to be like wilbur, dream and technoblade. he can’t seem to seperate himself from the villains of his story, he follows them like a lost puppy because he doesn’t know if he can make decisions on his own. choosing tubbo’s side was a decision he made alone, tommy, at 16 had to choose between blowing up his country with his abuser and former enemy, or reconciling with his best friend and protecting his home.
a villain arc would’ve been very cool but it’s also so weird that people don’t like how he chose tubbo’s side over technoblade’s. idk these are my thoughts anyway :D