Trying to think of a reasonable redemption story for a villain

[RikOz]

I have two characters who are sisters. The older sister is a hero, and the younger sister is a villain.

 

Origin:

 

--

Joselin Beltre and her younger sister, Carmen, grew up as orphans on the streets of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. As teenagers, they were abducted by a magic-wielding madman who called himself "El Demonio", who kept them captive for several months and subjected them to horrific magical experiments. As a result, both of them manifested magic-based powers, and soon after they were able to use those powers to overcome El Demonio and escape.

 

The two sisters eventually found their way to Paragon City, where they became costumed crimefighters. They loved flowers, so Joselin took the name "White Orchid" (Energy/Energy brute), while Carmen called herself "Blue Violet" (Dark/Dark brute). They worked as a heroic duo for a couple years, but Carmen gradually changed, becoming too violent when fighting criminals. It appeared to Joselin that Carmen was starting to enjoy "punishing" criminals rather than simply stopping their criminal activity and protecting civilians, and Joselin found herself having to frequently stop her younger sister from continuing to pummel already-unconscious suspects.

 

As it turned out, the sisters' ordeal at the hands of El Demonio had ultimately had a very different effect on each of them. Joselin had decided to use her powers to ensure that what happened to her would never happen to anybody else. Carmen, on the other hand, gradually came to the decision that she would use her powers to make sure that nothing like that ever happened to her again. This difference in philosophy increasingly led to arguments between the sisters.

 

And then the Shivan meteors hit Galaxy City. The sisters happened to be there when it happened, and they became separated in the fighting. When it was over, Joselin had gotten herself to Atlas Park. But she couldn't find Carmen anywhere. Unbeknownst to her, Carmen had found herself fighting near some Arachnos agents, and one of them saved her from certain death. She ended up escaping with Arachnos, and decided to take them up on their offer to come to the Rogue Isles. In her mind, at first, she saw the Rogue Isles as a "target-rich environment", full of criminals she could beat down with impunity, and without her big sister stopping her. Meanwhile, when Joselin had not discovered any word of her little sister for several months after the attack, she sadly resigned herself to the idea that Carmen had perished in the attack.

 

In the Rogue Isles, Carmen grew more and more brutal, carving a path through the criminal underworld. Criminals everywhere trembled at the sound of her new name, "Bruised Violet".

--

 

Meta-storywise, "Bruised Violet" is actually my "main" villain character. Back on live, I created her a few months before I created the hero, "White Orchid", and it was only later that I decided to make them sisters and created a backstory for them. While Bruised Violet started right off as a Villain for gameplay purposes, for RP purposes she started as a Hero, slowly slipped to Vigilante, and once she arrived in the Rogue Isles she quickly became a full-on Villain, in her actions if not in her mind. And eventually, of course, she became notorious enough that her sister heard of her, and not long after, White Orchid saw a photograph of "Bruised Violet" and realized, to her horror, she was the long-lost sister she had thought was dead.

 

So I've recently been thinking that I might like to eventually reunite the sisters via some sort of RP "redemption arc", even if it only takes place in my head, since I don't actively RP with other players. I'm a story-lover at heart, and I don't want to just walk Bruised Violet to Null the Gull and switch her alignment and call it good. Even going Villain -> Rogue -> Hero via alignment/morality missions isn't really going to do the trick. The obvious problem here is that Bruised Violet has a pile of murders under her belt. While Paragon City/The United States may not be able to prosecute her for crimes she committed in the Rogue Isles, they are certainly aware of her criminal actions there, and that would be enough to deny her entry back into Paragon City. But in addition to her Rogue Isles crimes, at least one of her murders took place in Paragon City (in a Villain morality mission that was effectively a terrorist act), and there were plenty of witnesses who saw her do it, including the well-known NPC, Silent Blade (who is probably gunning for her). The USA can definitely prosecute her for that, and likely successfully.

 

In other words, she's not going to come home to, "She's a Hero again, all is forgiven". No, her ass is going to The Zig.

 

So I'm at a bit of loss right now as to how to pull this off. I obviously want to have her eventually return to heroism, working alongside her sister, which means I want to actually continue to play the character. Which isn't happening if I'm RPing her filling an ultra-secure cell in The Zig.

 

I'd love some suggestions. Right now, all I can think of is perhaps the judge at her trial and sentencing might be persuaded to sentence Carmen to joining Vanguard and fighting Rikti. Perhaps by doing that, her superiors in Vanguard can observe her over time and at some point can recommend her return to "civilized" society.

[CrudeVileTerror]

Another identity is likely the the simplest solution.

Facemakers do some excellent work, after all!

[huang3721]

I think this is the most important part.

2 hours ago, RikOz said:

...it only takes place in my head, since...

 Would you, as the author of this story, make her fully pay the price, let her somewhat get away with it, or let her escape the punishment like the suggestion above?

 

After all, you are the author and probably the sole audience of this story.

 

If Violet has to pay for her crime, would her sister intervene and tilt the sentence in her favor? Does she have enough influence to do that? 

Is there any circumstance that makes Violet less culpable?

Is the setting forgiving like a  Saturday Morning Cartoon or harsher than modern superhero movies?

 

2 hours ago, RikOz said:

...perhaps the judge at her trial and sentencing might be persuaded to sentence Carmen to join Vanguard and fighting Rikti.

If you like this story, then why not? Go for it.

Edited December 28, 2020 by huang3721
Typo

[RikOz]

3 minutes ago, huang3721 said:

I think this is the most important part.

 Would you, as the author of this story, make her fully pay the price, let her somewhat get away with it, or let her totally getaway like the suggestion above?

 

After all, you are the author and probably the sole audience of this story.

 

If Violet has to pay for her crime, would her sister intervene and tilt the sentence in her favor? Does she have enough influence to do that? 

Is there any circumstance that makes Violet less culpable?

Is the setting is forgiving like a  Saturday Morning Cartoon or harsher than modern superheroes movies?

 

If you like this story, then why not? Go for it.

Her sister is part of the difficulty. As family, of course she wants to be reunited with her sister. But as a hero (and she is fully a hero), she can't simply ignore her sister's crimes, or worse, try to hide her from the law (if for no other reason than doing so would make her complicit), so I don't see her supporting the Facemaker solution mentioned above. So maybe she can convince Carmen to turn herself in, and facilitate a peaceful surrender.

 

As for any mitigating circumstances, Carmen could possibly plead insanity, based on PTSD from her youthful ordeal at the hands of El Demonio. She was quite young, maybe 13-14, when that happened. Joselin was older, like 16 or 17, and had already been acting as her little sister's protector for some time before they were abducted, so she had built up more mental/emotional fortitude and a stronger sense of responsibility. So she weathered things better than Carmen did.

[huang3721]

3 hours ago, RikOz said:

...Carmen could plead insanity...

This is an opportunity to expand your story further. For example how White Orchid would convince an insane person, who is so crazy that the US government will not prosecute her, to turn herself in?

[Latex]

The best Villains believe, truly believe what they're doing is for the greater good- for some of the best Villains it actually is, but their morals are too far out of whack it isn't accepted as the moral way to do things and thus draws the attention of Heroes who also believe they're doing things selflessly for the greater good. This isn't all Villains though, there are fantastic villains that don't care for the greater good they care only to corrupt; The Joker is kept alive by Batman over and over again, the Joker only seeks to have Batman break his one rule, to corrupt him, to turn him into the bad guy, you could use some of those ideas for your two characters where each of them are at odds.

 

Ask yourself why Carmen would do what she does in the Rogue Isles, it can't all just be pointless murder? What is the reason in her mind behind those actions. She seems to come from a background that hints she isn't completely psychotic I got the 'Yin and Yang' theme from the two characters you mention as if they're at eternal conflict to strive ultimately for balance.

 

Don't stick to what the game gives you redemption is too predictable, in the eyes of other Heroes you would be watched closely and judged, instead I would have the two characters at ends, have the balance upset for one or the other, your Villain sees a point in being good, your Hero sees a point in being bad, but ultimately they are what they are; Yin and Yang. Have your Villain do some good deeds without even knowing and vice versa to make them more 'questionable villainous', a Villain at heart but... sometimes you do genuinely good deeds. Just my 2 cents, hopefully it gives you a few ideas or inspiration!

[RikOz]

9 hours ago, huang3721 said:

This is an opportunity to expand your story further. For example how White Orchid would convince an insane person, who is so crazy that the US government will not prosecute her, to turn herself in?

"Crazy" is probably the wrong word here, as it implies that she's some sort of psycho killer who kills for the pure joy of it. I see her more as, say, a step beyond The Punisher. The overwhelming majority of her murder victims have been criminals, and in her mind she was "doing the right thing". The biggest exception would be the murder she committed in Paragon City, in one of the villain morality missions. I have a bit of a problem with that one, simply due to the fact that you *must* do that mission to complete the Villain alignment mission process, and unfortunately the mission is presented as doing evil for the sake of evil, which doesn't fit my vision of her. So that's one I'll have to "headcanon" my way around. Like, ignore the mission text's description of her reasoning and instead come up with her own motivation for the act, even if it's something simple like, "she was misled/deceived into thinking her victim was a major crimelord".

 

In any case, an insanity defense doesn't always claim that the defendant is insane right now. Rather, the were insane at the time they committed the crimes. So this could be a case of her eventually having some run-ins with her sister, and these cause her to start rethinking her motivations.

[Bastille Boy]

In case this matters to your story, Rhode Island adopts the following definition of insanity (derived from the Model Penal Code):

 

A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or defect, his capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law is so substantially impaired that he cannot justly be held responsible.

 

State  v.  Johnson, 399 A.2d 469, 476 (R.I. 1979).

 

(I am not a lawyer.)

[Greycat]

I'll be honest, if I run into a morality mission that doesn't fit my character... at best it's a bad dream. They're written as mini stories, not geared towards anyone's character. I have *no* problem with ignoring what a morality mission (or any other) had me do if it doesn't fit my character (as many don't.) My characters don't go out and take down Hamidon several times a day, after all - RP and backstory is put on hold for that, it's just game-is-blasty-shooty-punchy-fun-time.

 

That said? A simple (or complex) realization - that "what I'm doing is not really helping" (whether it's "stopping crime" or "I don't feel better about me or what I'm doing") can be a good point for a turnaround and contact. I've had that happen as a simple realization, and I've had it happen as "ran across someone in the same situation that set me on this path, and they asked me to kill them instead of rescue them, because they couldn't live with it." And everything in between. It's definite reason to reach out.