I feel like villains, at least in some stories, were supposed to be either normal people or even the good guys but that they didn't get from life what they were told they should get.
In my life, I was told if you did well in school; went to college; if you followed the rules; and if you stayed out of trouble, that your life would be pretty much set. You'd get a good job, find a good woman to make your wife, start a family, and safely and without obstruction, cross the various milestones of life.
But that's not how it goes. Sure, it does for some. But ultimately, it appears (and too late for me) that the rewards go not to the rule-followers but to the risk-takers. And that is not to say that risk-takers don't have their share of failure too, it just appears that it is the risk-takers, the ones who flout conventions rather than adhere to them, have the best chance of achieving something like the success promised to the meek, but bright, students who took following the rules to heart.
You grow upset that the rule-breakers go unpunished, seeing the unjustness in society, and you grow jealous of those who get the good jobs, the friends, the influence, the girl, etc. because you were told those things would come to you by being a rules-bound, dutiful soul but they got theirs by being rebellious and flouting.
You grow angry at a world that rewards relationships over merit. You question why you spent so much of your time doing what you were told was the right thing instead of building connections which could be exploited later for better jobs and relationship opportunities.
You grow impatient with a world that does not desire your intelligence or value the contributions you're capable of making.
You grow tired of being ignored and invisible.
You're then struck by your utter powerlessness. You'll never be the villain. You'll never make anyone pay for your suffering. It's very depressing. You wish you had the necessary charisma to sway millions to your way of thinking; to create a backbone to execute your nefarious plans and then you realize that had you had that charisma in the first place, you'd've made friends and the evil that is now in your heart would never have grown into its present, all-consuming form.
It's quite the paradox...
To have the skills of a villain you need the very qualities that would have prevented you from becoming a villain in the first place. Maybe villainy only works when discovered by someone already in power. I don't know...
But either way, when villains like Melkor, Father, the Shadows & Vorlons, the Sovereign, and Voldemort appear, and even one-dimensional ones like Mumm-ra, Skeletor, and Saw Boss...I feel a kinship with them. I understand where they're coming from even if they're incompetent. I root for them, even when their success would mean the end of all things.
I feel their suffering and believe that, like me, had they only been given a normal life...perhaps the normal life they had been promised, that they'd've never become the threats they were. Or to put it bluntly, I really can't believe Hitler would have been Hitler had he only gotten laid...
"Heroes and Villains" by The Beach Boys
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