
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
It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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