beta
I actually like that he had a horrible childhood, I understand that ppl are not forgiving him just because of it, but I think it makes sense of why he is what he is. It doesn’t excuse his actions whatsoever, however, it does explain them. I see the “this is so predictable” comments as well & to that I say: Yes it is. Certain behavior can really be seen as patterns when it comes to humans. We as people are so predictable. Though I do sometimes enjoy stories that are outside the box or more so makes the “bad guy” an actual bad guy. Like for no good reason but the love of the game that they are actually evil. Realistically though, humans can always tract their behaviors to trauma/ feelings.
I saw one comment say multiple ppl went through what he went through & they didn’t turn out like him. Which is so real because yes, look at serial killers as an example. They all ways get to say they had a traumatic childhood but it’ll be something like daddy didn’t buy them things for Christmas & that’s why they ended up brutally murdering Sally & Jim. —Either way though it’s still very on brand for them. That’s the fun thing about psychology. It’s like putting humans in categories. And our seme here definitely belongs in the category for bullies. He lives a life that would categorize him as selfish. Yet Dan had a rough life as well & I’d definitely label him as a saint. So sweet until it genuinely hurt him.
Anyways back on topic all I’m saying is I think the author was not being lazy or fully predictable but just building their character history to match his actions. He absolutely needed to have a terrible childhood because if not then he truly could not nor deserved to be redeemable.