People on Reddit were asked: "What fictional villain had pretty reasonable excuses for why they did what they did?" These are some of the most creative answers.
24. Kids never learn, do they?
Shere Kahn, the tiger from The Jungle Book. Rules were in place to keep men out if the jungle [because] they kill animals and burn down the jungle. What was the absolute first thing Mowgli did once he saw fire? He brought it back to the jungle and burned the whole place down.
baconismidog
23. I mean, it sort of makes sense
Grant Ward in Agents of SHIELD. The guy was abused by his own family, manipulated by the only person that thought he was worth anything and had to make some really hard decisions because he saw the man that was manipulating him as a father he never had.
Of course he was a douchebag by betraying the only people that were good to him and saw him as family, but it is easy to understand why he did all of this.
TheSovereign2181
22. It goes to show that being loving and caring to others can do a world of good
Luke Castellon from the Percy Jackson series. He was pissed because he felt unloved, and that too many demigods were ignored by their godly parents. Cronos used this to manipulate him.
Lostsonofpluto
21. I was waiting for someone to bring this one up...
Loki is always a top choice for understandable evil doing. He was raised under false pretences. Odin was a giant [jerk] who literally told his would be son stories about how Frost Giants were monsters and never thought an "oh btw you're adopted and kinda are a frost giant" was important information. It's understandable that Loki would attempt to win his fathers affection by eradicating the so called monsters. Throwing himself off the bifrost was a bit of a drama queen move, but given the turmoil of finding out your identity is an entire lie it's still kind of expected.
Then if we move on in Loki's story arc to the events in the Avengers you can clearly see that he is not entirely there mentally...being tortured by a Mad Titan would be more than enough reasoning for a mental breakdown. I still find it difficult to believe that Loki would have launched such a poorly planned attack if it was of his own creation, I mean dude has serious magic skills and yet barely uses them in what is meant to be a bid for planetary domination.
LunaHyacinth
20. Sometimes you gotta look at both sides of a situation
Mr. Freeze. Most of his actions were based off trying to cure his terminally ill wife. Even though I wouldn't do most of things that he's done, I do understand his intentions. His origin story always gets to me.
GammaRayBaby
19. Well when you put it that way...
A beastly recluse kidnaps a young woman and holds her prisoner in his castle. He will only release her if she falls in love with him. A local man rallies the town to go and rescue the girl.
Gaston is the villain in the story, but at the root level, he's the one who's right.
melonlollicholypop
18. Finally someone tells it like it is!
The Wicked Witch of the West. Dorothy basically killed her sister with her flying house and then stole the sister's magic ruby slippers.
purpleprosenose
17. But he's just too good of a villain!
Agent Smith from the Matrix. At the base of it all, he's trying to keep random "hackers" from messing with the reality he knows and screwing everything up for not only other humans (who the "good guys" constantly kill without cause) but the machines who were tired of being slaves.
Humans ruined the damned sky. The machines have a point, that beings capable of ruining the sky probably should be kept docile in a big game of Sims.
Agent Smith is just... like... "Not this douche bag hacker stuff again." He's like every dude who's trying to administrate a competitive online game, only to constantly see people with aim bot and wall hacks. I understand his frustration and descent into madness.
Slimebeast
16. You mean there might be more?!
Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Neither of his parents showed up to his birth, he was raised by wild cats for the first few years of his life, and his father forced him to be a garden gnome as a child. His only friend ran away, only to be abducted by an alien poacher, and his brother was treated like a prince. And that's all I can remember off the top of my head.
saltedwarlock
15. Someone has to have written a PhD thesis on this by now
The hyenas in The Lion King were an oppressed class. What, the lions get to eat everything they can find but the hyenas get banished out to where there's no food? But apparently the God of this universe is racist and doesn't like the hyenas having the same status as lions, so he sends his disapproval by destroying the environment as a sign that lion supremacy must be restored.
I feel like they had to have James Earl Jones play Mufasa, mostly because he has the best voice ever, but also because if all the nonwhite actors played hyenas this movie would look like it was endorsing racism.
looklistencreate
14. Yeah, but you can't really say that stuff anymore these days
Ben Stiller's character in Heavyweights. He's just trying to help the kids at fat camp make healthier choices and lose weight, but everyone resents him for it.
agyag
13. Everyone in this series is a tortured soul
Magneto. Holocaust survivor who then grows up once again hated and segregated from society, I'm not saying I agree but I can definitely understand why he feels the way he does.
Yeezyonmypizza
12. I guess I never thought about it that way
Tom from Tom and Jerry. Most of the time he was just chilling, minding his own business and the mouse just had to [mess] with him, get him all worked up and then the owner would hit him with a broom.
fantasmas05
11. At this point I don't think we can call him a villain though, come on!
Darth Vader. In the prequels he is dismissed by the Jedi and the only person that talks directly to him is the emperor. He loses his wife and kid, loses his limbs, and is burned inside and out. He was killed and through an iron lung, prosthetic everything, a suit and the emperors use of the force he is brought to life.
By Empire Strikes Back he went from being listened to by the emperor to kneeling to him. In that time Vader has tried to kill the emperor and die and he can't do either on his own. He is a slave like he was growing up. He does what he has too with no loyalty and complete impunity to the empire. He strangles officers right and left, and orders storm troopers on suicide missions. He is on his own missions that either the emperor forces him on or whatever he can get to free himself.
By Return of the Jedi, even more than a son, he needs someone to distract the emperor long enough to kill him.
DarrenEdwards
10. Preach!
The "bad guys" in American Sniper, 13 Hours, Black Hawk Down, Jar Head, Hurt Locker, etc. are just people trying the best they can to protect their country from foreign invasion.
FredPennerr
9. She was, by far, one of the best animated villains of all time
I always thought Yzma from Emperor's New Groove was a pretty reasonable villain. The Emperor at the start of the movie was a selfish entitled idiot who obviously couldn't run a country, and although her motivation was 50% "this kid can't be a ruler" and 50% "I want to have all the power", that still seemed more reasonable than the current person in power.
Dishbutt
8. We all set out with the best of intentions
Andrew Ryan. He was right in a way. "Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?" All he wanted was to have a place where a man's true efforts were recognized by society, and they were rewarded for the talents they were given, or the hard work they had gone through for their inventions.
Don't get me wrong. He went totally off the rails after a while, and the city fell into absolute chaos, and it's totes mcgoats his fault. The ends did NOT justify the means that he was looking for. But I'm sure there's plenty of people that feel like their achievements or their talents aren't recognized enough. Granted, while an artist should not have to be censored, a scientist should absolutely follow some rules of morality. You can't just go [messing[ up a plastic surgeon customer because "She looked prettier this way". No she did not, you're twisted, give her what she asked and paid for you creep.
Thatkidwithaspergers
7. Life doesn't always work out the way you want it to
Not reasonable excuses, but I always felt sort of bad for Commodus from Gladiator, and it sort of makes sense why he hates Maximus so much (even though he's clearly a bad person).
He's in love with Lucilla (which is admittedly very creepy) and who does she love? Maximus. He wants to be Emperor, and who does Marcus Aurelius say will be the new Emperor (albeit temporarily)? Maximus. He wants to be loved by his people, but who do they love? Maximus. He wants to be a great warrior, but who is better than him? Maximus.
I guess I just feel some level of sympathy because literally everything he tries to do, one person comes in and takes from him.
Ihateregistering6
6. There's no arguing with this one
Ozymandias - yes, he did detonate a bunch of weapons but the alternative was a worldwide nuclear apocalypse.
astrocrazy
5. So basically he's actually a hero
Dr. Doom. He, literally, took over the world so he could save it. He saw every possible future scenario and the only one where the Earth survived was the one where he ruled it.
_BindersFullOfWomen_
4. This is so poetic
For all of his murdering, double and triple crossing and mustache twirling villainy....Revolver Ocelot had noble intentions. I'd argue that his actions were ultimately some of the most heroic in the entirety of the Metal Gear series, even if he had to commit evil acts to get there. Weirdly enough, while everyone around him willfully or accidentally misinterpreted the Boss' vision of a perfect world, he strove for it.
And at the end of the day, he was left a broken old man with nothing to fight for, his only friend in his final moments a man who he counted as his greatest enemy.
Flutterwander
3. The whole plot looks very different when you look at it this way
Javert in Les Mis is just a police officer trying to track down a man who broke his parole after an unsuccessful escape.
shadowaway
2. When the hero becomes the villain...
I'm just done re-watching Breaking Bad, and I have to go with Walter White/Heisenberg. Essentially, all Walt wanted was to provide for his family, so that when cancer take him away they don't end up in debt and mourning...
Then things get [weird] and he just tries to navigate the chaos that his life becomes.
philoupilou
1. Ah, the age old nature vs. nurture
Tywin Lannister. Tywin is a man obsessed with promoting his family and their place in the world, and when you live in a world where your family's station is literally the difference between life and death it's not hard to imagine why he is this way. He's also a product of his environment in that he saw his father stepped on and diluting the power and good name of their family and desperately wanting to avoid that for his own children.
He just happens to be perfectly ruthless at the same time, so he appears more of a monster than he really is. He's not killing, torturing and terrifying people just for the hell of it, he always does what is most expedient. If killing a village is the best way of achieving your goals he'll give that order, but if talking to the mayor is better he'll do that and spare the village.
kungtotte
But we should also be prepared and ready to ask the right questions to have a leg up on the competition.
"What is THE best question to ask on a job interview?"
A company's history or information about a past employee were suggested subjects appropriate for questioning.
Prior Knowledge
"When you were interviewing here, what would you have liked to know before you joined?"
"This worked for me. I asked my interviewer a question about how she had personally dealt with a company policy she had just explained. She bragged about her stellar adherence to the policy. I nodded my approval. I got the job."
A Previous Employee
"One that has always gone over well for me:"
"What were some qualities that the previous employee in this role brought to the job that you would like to see carried forward?"
"Another good thing to do is research the company you are interviewing with and you can ask things about what they may be involved in or you could drop that while reading about the company, you wondered this."
Hypothetical questions were suggested as helpful examples of inquiry.
Indicators Of How Companies Treat Employees
"A question that landed me a job once was: 'If I asked your direct reports about your management style, what do you think they'd tell me?' Stumped a hiring manager and he emailed me personally to tell me about it, no one ever asked him that question but got the job.
"In my current interviews I'm asking 'what did your company do for its employees during [the virus] to improve their day to day, work life balance, etc.' and I ask 'Is there anything your company adopted during [the virus] that they plan to keep post [the virus]?"
"These questions give a lot of insight into whether a company treated their employees well."
Past Performance & Adjustments
"If we were currently sitting in my 1 year review, what would I have done in this year for you to say I excelled in my role?"
"If I could snap my finger right now and change anything about your job or the company, what would it be and why?"
The following questions about a prospective company may not be answered from initial digging on their website.
Measure Of Success & Career Trajectories
"How is success measured in this role?"
"What are some possible career trajectories within the company that could stem from this position?"
Being A Solution
"Ask them what is the biggest problem you can solve for them in your first six months with the company. Similar to 'don't think of a purple hippo,' this forces them to imagine you succeeding in the position."
Simply The Best
"Who is your best employee and why is he/she the best?"
"You will then face 2 situations mostly:"
"panicking CEO who can't answer you 'Bob who works 17 hours a day for a slice of bread' so the fear in their faces must be a big nono for you"
"entusiast CEO who actually follow their business and can tell you who is an added value for the company and why."
– ThePiz91
My experiences with job interviews are different than others seeking work in office environments.
Having had a years-long career as a dancer, my "interview" was the dance audition, where hopefuls dance in small groups of people at a time after learning a routine and then awaiting their fate after the panel evaluates their performances.
The question I may or may not have asked in such a scenario earlier in my career was: "Did I make the cut?"
I did not make the cut. And I learned never to ask that again.
I remember the worst date I ever had. My biggest regret is that I stayed for the entire thing. I should've left as soon as I realized this was not going well, which was basically at hello. But he was paying so I drank, a lot. I'll keep names and dates to myself to protect the innocent.
0/10
Big Brother Reaction GIF by Big Brother After DarkGiphy"Went to brewery, date said I had hairy arms and that meant I was horny, said "you look really awful in this light" and then tried to dig out of that hole by saying in his native language that was a term of endearment long term couples said to each other. 0/10 did not date again."
Lucky 13?
"My wife wanted to plan our 13th wedding anniversary. I was excited because usually, I plan it. She bought us some new disc golf discs and after a quick supper, we went to play. We hadn't played in forever. We were laughing and I had a great time. She served me with divorce papers and told me that the date was a test to see if she still had feelings for me. I also learned that she was having an affair that started well before our anniversary."
- rmorlock
Two Hours from Home
"Not necessarily a date but a person I was dating invited me to his parent's house for the afternoon. He wanted to introduce me to them and show me the house he grew up in. I thought it was super sweet and had no problems going. He was also in the middle of moving and needed to pick up a few things, so it really didn't seem that unusual."
"Yeah, we got there and it was awful. His entire family was there. They traveled from hours away too. This was not just meeting the parents, it was meeting the ENTIRE family. Even worse? At some point, this idiot told his parents that he had proposed. We had been dating TWO months. I spent the entire afternoon dumbfounded and just playing along."
"We were two hours from home and I had no cell service, no way to leave at all. We ended up spending the afternoon brainstorming wedding ideas and planning an Alaskan honeymoon that his parents planned to gift us. His brother even called to say congratulations! We drove back to his apartment in silence. When we got there, I got in my car and left, didn't even bother grabbing my stuff. Weirdest experience ever. I have no idea how he broke it to his parents that we weren't getting married."
You're Cut Off!
"Got set up on a blind date once between mutual friends. She shows up to the restaurant already a little tipsy, orders multiple appetizers and only takes like one or two bites from each one. Then she proceeds to order 3 or 4 more drinks and is visibly drunk at this point. She gets up and says she's going to the bathroom and staggers off. About 15-20 minutes go by so I try to call her several times but no answer."
"Finally I decide to pay the check and just leave. About 2 hours later I'm sitting at home and I get a call from an unknown number. It's the police department. She was picked up on a DUI on her way home after she ditched me and gave the cops my number to see if I could go bail her out!"
- mox44ah
Sorry?
Bbc Three Idk GIF by BBCGiphy"Well, I gave this answer on a different topic, but it ties in with this. We were out on a date, we had been seeing each other for a while, close to a year maybe. She gets a phone call. Suddenly she looks destroyed. Her fiancé had just died in a motorcycle accident."
What in the world? I mean how can we ever expect to pair off with the dating pool being inundated with liars and nut jobs? I'm going to delete my apps.
Girl, Bye.
Sassy Beyonce GIFGiphy"Had a girl openly flirt with the bartender in front of me. She says she wasn't. But handing him her own phone and asking for his contact info in front of her date seems like it to me."
Crazy!
"Came out from a movie, late at night, and date's Camaro was stolen. Apparently, he called his WIFE (that I did not know he had) and let her know where he was and what happened. She showed up and realized he was on a date! She started chasing ME around the parking lot telling me she was going to kill me. Saved by the cops who showed up just in time to take the auto theft report."
Hey Mom
"Met a girl at a country bar one night in my 20s. We were both pretty drunk but hit it off pretty good. Ended up getting her number and we agreed we'd go on a real date. Fast forward to the date, she gets in my vehicle and... she looks almost identical to my mom. I was mortified. I was polite and we went for lunch where I found out she also had a boyfriend she "wasn't sure if she was into". Never talked to her again."
- SgtGo
Liars...
"When I was in college many years ago, before the advancement of cell phones and social media, I was chatting with a girl I met on a BBS who lived on Long Island, NY. I was 18 at the time, but lied and said I was 22 because she said she was 25. We spent a few weeks emailing each other, as well as calling each other."
"We even exchanged pics. When we finally met up, things blew up. Turns out we both lied about our ages: She was really 33, and lied because she thought she looked younger. She admitted she sent a college photo to me. We still had dinner together, but it was awkward as hell. We never spoke again."
Doubles
Kill Me Now Season 1 GIF by FriendsGiphy"It was a double date. She was more interested talking to the other girl throughout the whole thing. Found out later from the other guy that his girl cheated on him with my date."
Ummm... I think I'm just going to stay single. That is a handful of crazy. Why can't people just be honest? I swear the search for love warps people's brains. Be careful out there people.
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