Zuko was the villain because we were watching the show from Aang's point of view. But if we watch the show from the cabbage merchant's point of view, Aang's the true villain.
Imagine EmpLemon narrating your funeral and he has a downwards spiral half way through and just starts screaming about Twitter, demonetization and whatever the fuck Simian Jimmy is doing
dr. doofenshmirtz is also a villain that comes to mind. he was just a man who was so hurt and deprived of his family's love, which caused him to turn to the "bad" side. even though it's a kids' show, they really did make a great villain who we could sympathize for and love in a way.
@@eberlix it is very common to use opposites of stated views in essays to point out their flaws and show examples of what not to do, so it can be used as a manual on what not to do when making a bad main character.
@@addeum7766 But then an Avatar main character is still being used as an example of how to write a good main character, and not as a example of how to write a bad main character.
We often root for heroes as kids and sympathise with the villain as adults, so you know you’ve made a great sympathetic villain like Zuko when you understand him as a kid aswell
You know one of the most brilliantly subtle things about Zuko? Even in his very first appearance he establishes himself as noble, albeit in a very subtle way. He non-lethally takes down Sokka rather than just burning him to a crisp, and he actually honors his agreement to leave the Water Tribe in peace if Aang surrenders. Before we know quite literally anything about him, they've established he has a code of honor.
ik this is a joke but op REALLY said that a dude who had an abusive father had worse pain than: a child whose entire people, family, and culture completely wiped out, a girl whose mother died and almost had HER culture wiped out, a boy whose father left him to go to war and had to be raised by sister. i know zuko was a complex character with complex pain but oh my GOD
I Heard somewhere about this topic it said " *The world treated Joker badly so he decided to treat it the same The world treated Batman badly so he decided that no one will be treated like he was* "
@@Graveyard55 nobody wants to be either batman is a brooding, sad, self destructive man, willing to give up everything to protect the innocent and complete the mission. he does this so often that his own sidekicks, the people he's fought by, don't want to be like him, some of them even hate him. if you see batman for the symbol he is, anyone would want to be him, but if you see batman for the person he is, nobody wants to be him. the joker is a lunatic that kills for chaos and attention. all he wants is for batman to break his sense of morality and kill him. i don't care how insane you think you are, nobody wants to bring someone down by their own death. the joker you're talking about isn't the joker you want to be like, the joker you're thinking of is, though.
In that moment, he seems to yell out for the pain to finally assist him for once instead of hurting him in trying to bend lightning to his will, only for the universe to not answer his calls once again.
@@minecraftveteranyoda4476 Yeah, it is a great line. It does so much for Zuko, Azula and Ozai. Like it sets up the kind of person Ozai is even more so and also lets us know Azula is powerful while also showing how tragic Zuko's life is.
Emp, seriously, you are one of the biggest quality channels, your comentary videos about taboo things is glorious. The reason I love villians is because they have a background, and I need to thank you for making this!
I’ve always found the narrative of Zuko to be painful. Ironically not because of his scar, but because of the sheer amount of emotional trauma he undergoes. His humanity is evident, yet he consequently makes attempt to undermine it. He tries to convince himself that his options are limited until he gives in to his inevitable triumphant empathy. Truly terrific piece of fiction. Art, even.
You say that but like… Yeah, even I liked Azula more than Zuko cause while Zuko is a hero on the wrong side… Azula knows she’s wrong but continues anyway.
@@TheRealHelveticayeah i do believe zuko is a good example to use for the essay but I really thought it was even more important to go over azula's character arc and tragedy. our sympathy for zuko is never questioned as he ultimately becomes part of the protagonists, but the complexities of azula's character would have been way more interesting to go over for the "true" sympathy for the villain.
I'm surprised you didn't mention how in Megamind, the "villain protagonist" tried to create a hero after the last one died, purely because if he didn't have a hero to fight, his life was effectively meaningless.
That same movie treats nature vs nurture, and how a good person can be pushed to become a "villain" despite not being what would birng them happiness while a person with and unremarkable sense of justice is forced to become the hero from the weight of expectations
Probably my favourite version of yin and yang in fiction is Batman and joker: both had 1 bad day, both used it as motivation, one for evil, one for good.
actually, batman's direct opposite is killer moth. many people forget that killer moth is actually the yin to batman's yang since he's a bit of a joke character from the silver age of comics while joker is from the gruesome golden age
This is why I love villains! Everything mentioned is spot on! Maybe this is the reason why I love villains because they think they are protagonists of their own story.
@@kingawesome5219 Not just them! Magneto, Dr. Doom, and Mr. Freeze are just a few villains that I can think of right now! This may be why I always considered whenever they said "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME!"
@@kingawesome5219 There's this comic about Doom's tragic history because his mother is a witch and she sold her soul to Mephisto, the literal devil in Marvel, so he learns both science and magic during his adult years. After obtaining the suit of armor, he returned to Latveria, his home country, and created a resistance because the ruler of the country is making everyone poor while he becomes richer from their expense. After overthrowing the ruler, Doom became Latveria's new ruler and made the country into a paradise of prosperity, freedom, and security. But Doom still remembers his mother and so he went on a mission to try and save his mother so he tries to create portals in order to go to Mephisto's realm and save his mother. Doom challenges Mephisto and he accepts but it came with a price. Whenever Mephisto defeats Doom, his people will slowly hate him and fear him. So stubborn as Doom is, he gets defeated by Mephisto over and over. Keep in mind that Mephisto is in his strongest when he's in his realm. So Doom enlisted the help of Dr. Strange to save his mother. Doom and Strange succeeded but when Doom's mother entered the mortal realm, she became very evil. With Doom's multiple defeat from Mephisto, Latveria grew to hate him and that's how Doom became an authoritarian dictator in the eyes of his people. I don't want to spoil the whole ending but I really do recommend reading it yourself or watch a youtube video about the comic because it is really good and really sad on Doom's part.
"villains are made not born" "heroes are only good if you watch from his point of view,watch the villains point of view and you will understand him more"
@Shinra Tensei So we should understand the POV from villains like these: ua-cam.com/video/15J39c0U9bc/v-deo.html 4:20 ua-cam.com/video/ZMeKFH5ZbRo/v-deo.html
@@subifyouhatetiktokandreddit234 It’s funny how we as a kids just think he is just a stupid villain who is there just for laughs and giggles... until we find out about his past. It’s pretty smart of the creator, kids are watching and we grow up along side the characters while learning one by one on why they act this way.
What makes this even better is that Palpatine didn't make Anakin turn into Darth Vader. He simply showed Anakin the door, and Anakin willingly walked through
Interestingly enough, because Ankain didn't kill Padme, and by the time he killed Obi- wan they weren't close, and because u have to kill someone close to u to become a sith, Anakin was never a true sith lord
@@wspann1967 Yes, but you feel tons of sympathy for Vader. Palps? He's JUST evil. No sad story, no relatable background, no nuance, just unapologetically evil,
@PewDie-Ton EX Legends. That very few have read and are now not canon. For all general audiences, Palps is just evil, while Vader was only like that in A New Hope, in Empire, you learn who he is and in Return, he turns good again, more or less. And the Prequels are all about him and his suffering as Anakin.
TEND to be, not always. There are tons of villains who are just bad. Taking the example of A:tLA, Ozai was just pure bad;no layers no reason, he was just bad.
This is probably one of my favorite video essays of all time. You went above and beyond to describe why villains are the way they are, and it shows greatly with the best video and sound ending for a UA-cam video. The end of the video made me tear up a bit. It is probably the most relatable perspective men in society face.
The way the media acted towards Joker (2019) made the actual movie so much better. The elite will gleefully watch an entire nation burn to the ground, but loses their shit when even a hint of animosity is directed their way.
Like some black influencer celebrity encouraging the Black Lives Matter protesters to riot, then when the mob reached his street he started tweeting for "these animals to get the hell out". Most gratifying media of that year.
Joker is overrated, it is not as insightful or transformative as it pretends to be when you look at its writing and story. And i personally believe that parasite, the movie that won the Oscar that year was a far better social critique and a better movie in general. However i will say that Joaquin Phoenix's acting was an amazing accomplishment and a career high.
In a way it's *also* good vs. evil, and light vs. dark, and water vs. fire, and soft vs. tough. It is the ultimate embodiment of thing needing opposites to exist. Without a concept of darkness, light would be meaningless.
Very few people really regard it in either of those manners actually. It's more about dualism, the concept of Yin needing Yang and vice versa. In fact, Yin is characteristic of femininity and negativity, and Yang is characteristic of masculinity and positivity.
I’m most impressed with the amount and variety of clips that fit the dialogue in this video it must have taken forever and finding things that fit too couldn’t have been easy
"See, now you respect me. Because I'm a threat" I've been doing UA-cam for a decade now and my god is that line ever appropriate for some of the people in this line of work. Some people look at UA-cam as such a numbers game that they won't give you the time of day until they believe you're within striking distance of them I'm not talking about when a UA-camr doesn't reply to another one, everyone gets too busy. I can't reply to every message I get. I'm talking about when someone is actively dismissive to a smaller UA-camr until they're the same size, then suddenly pretend like they were friends. You wouldn't believe how many people suddenly wanted to pretend like they were always great to me as soon as I took off.
You know about the maker of Bayonetta? It's that way for a reason and it should be that way because it forces people to become notorious as well. People who have a lower value than somebody else should not waste the higher-ups time unless the higher up is ok with it
@@mikeyvesperlick6982 People do not have lower value because they have less career success. I'm the same man as I was before I got big on UA-cam, and I'm proud of who I am. I absolutely refuse to believe that I'm better than someone just because my channel is bigger. It's an incredibly immoral and short sighted way to judge someone. Judge them by the content of their character, not their popularity or material wealth.
@@MahDryBread The latter statement moreover applies to monarchs and masters of their useful craft as in nutritional science, engineering, agricultural knowledge, etc, but you only have more subs than others because you either played your cards better, have played more, or the fact that you have played at all.
Everybody's talking about Zuko but don't forget Azula. All the wanted was to be loved, and instead her father put too much on her shoulders. She thought her mother saw her as a monster and her friends betrayed her. And all of that led down to a mental breakdown.
She believed in her father's path. She controlled people around her with Horror. She would either be the Power Maniac or Lunatic. And we all se she turned out to be a lunatic. Azula is one of the pure evils in the ATLA with his father Ozai. It's no surprise we see her mental breaks down since she didn't have a strong will and mind like her father. Sozin was Chad. He faced against Avatar Roku for his ideals. Azula never had to make such a choice to make her strong. So she become a "Virgin". But Zuko, he always made choices that have harsh consequences which made him a Chad.
Let's not forget that Azula is also a victim of Ozai and like Zuko at the start of atla, only wanted approval from the person they "looked up to". Maybe if Azula had her own Uncle Iroh she would've gone on the right path.
Lmao wtf? All she wanted was to be loved? Absolutely fucking not. She wanted to rule and dominate. She wanted to be feared. Fuck outta here with that "oh she's just misunderstood" bullshit. Zuko was the misunderstood villain who had a redemption. Azula is, has always been, and always will be a consummate power-hungry villain
Literal college level analysis of one of the most difficult topics in any literature class just uploaded for free to UA-cam with additional visual citations for reference. We don't deserve you, emp. Truely. You're brilliant. As an English major i found this inspiring.
Theres a lot of holes in his argument , such as interpreting the meaning of good and evil . Or even the fact that he cant really distinct what classifies as either a antagonist or villain. It sort if weakens his analysis all together .
Seeing Dr. Bright comes from an organization that exposes itself to horrible and wonderful things we as humanity could get used to, but by purpose is kept hidden from the world, being the bad guy is easy to assume or throw away in that position.
amazing video, saw a tiktok about "looking for something to watch while eating:" and the dude showed this video, so out of curiosity I searched it up, did not regret it, became a patron after watching it. The quality of the video was very good, we need more content like this on the platform! one of the best creators on here fr
I don't think so. What makes any good character is understandable motivations. Nobody knows anything about what it's like to be a massive 8 foot tall bodybuilder trying to destroy half of the universe.
@@rosshauler7688 Exactly. Relatable isn't the aim. 20 something yt binger that lives with his parents would be "relatable" but not a great villain. Speaking for myself btw
Honestly, villains are some of my favorite characters, mostly because they have the most fun in any given story. And if you think about it, UA-cam would consider Emp a villain so...
A sure sign of the degeneration of society but it's understandable, villains and anti heroes exhibit flaws and vices which are all too relatable to us given that we're all imperfect. Rather than idolise perfection and characters with virtues we now continue to seek comfort in relatability for those as imperfect as ourselves.
"Monsters are born too big, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy." - Ishiro Honda. 54 likes, goes well with the fact that Ishiro Honda said this quote in 1954. The year of Godzilla's birth
"Those who do not understand true pain will never understand true peace." - Pain Pain is a perfect example of a sympathetic villain; someone who started out good, then became bad as a result of tragedy. Yes, his methods were flawed and extreme, but his ideology was spot on; he even made Naruto question his own. Take these other quotes from Pain, for instance: "What about MY family? MY friends? MY village? They suffered the same fate as this village at the hands of you Hidden Leaf Ninja. How is it fair to let only you people preach about peace and justice?" "The justice that I have delivered against the Leaf Village is no different from what you are trying to do to me. Everyone feels the same pain when losing something dear. You and I have both experienced that pain. You strive for your justice, and I strive for mine." When Pain asked Naruto, "how would you confront this hatred in order to create peace?", Naruto did not have an answer. Why? Because he knew that Pain was right. Most of what Pain said about pain, suffering, and human nature was true; THIS is why Pain is such a well-written character. Oftentimes, we see heroes snap back at villains with a cheesy quote, completely disregarding everything the villain says, but not here. For the first time in his life, Naruto, the hero, was confronted with the brutal truth of Konoha's "peace", the harsh reality of human nature, and his own naivety, all in the form of a question he couldn't answer.
One of the things I liked about the Naruto series if the fact we had some morally grey great characters e.g. Itachi was technically a hero and Nagato was technically a villain and yet Itachi did some horrific things whereas Nagato was doing everything for the sake of peace
i found him so completely irregular. not like in a way where he is random, but in a way it’s impossible to understand his mentality from a real world and rational perspective.
@@chrisye1733 But it was entertaining as hell with actual drama not just UA-camrs being revealed to be pedophiles and fake conflicts or breakups that no one gives a shit about
Honestly Zuko isn’t, and never was, the villain. He is simply the antagonist of the story, the conflict, the opposing force against aang. Similarly, L or Near in death note, where Yagami Light may have been the protagonist, but protagonist does not mean hero. Light was what would be considered the villain if L or near were the protagonists, but they weren’t. Edit: ok so everyone is saying that light isn’t exactly a villain, more anti-hero, but I think he’s more an anti-villain. Whether his actions ultimately helped humanity is debatable, however at a surface level he is DEFINITELY a villain. However light LITERALLY believes that he is a GOD so therefore, anti-villain. Btw this comment was a complete and utter brain dump, so in my rush of typing I just found it easier to refer to him as a villain lol. Also be free to keep debating/sharing ur opinions in the replies, I quite enjoy talking abt this kind of stuff lol.
@@zz7073but you always have to differentiate between the two uses of villain. The one just for stories for the antagonist like zuko and the normal meaning of villain as in a despicable horrible person like light yagami
20:34 "we fetishisize the outcome of villains without exploring their journey" Probably one of the most profound things ive heard you say in any of your videos and definitely this one.
Funnily enough some people do the opposite and fetishize the villains journey too in a negative way. Think of all the Rick and Morty fanatics who obsess over Rick because they want to be compared to the "literal smartest man in the universe" while ignoring that Rick is a twisted, selfish, arrogant and outright evil person who has no qualms with raping people controlled by a hive mind or creating life and threatening to genocide it when it doesn't do what he wants.
@@caldw615 well obviously Also rick isn't outright evil, just very, very selfish and because of how smart he is, insanely destructive. Theres lots of people like him in real life but they can't vaporize a planet when they are moody so its not a problem. Evil should be reserved for people who do things only because they want to harm others, make them suffer. The purpose is the suffering. Rick isn't like that, hes just a dick.
I feel that quote. I’ve had sympathy for villains for many years, sometimes even more than the heroes of a story, and for some pretty convoluted reasons, I’m more disgusted by the human tendency to fetishize the complete downfall of the “bad guy” every time I see it. Deep down inside, we’re all such ugly creatures. We want to see others burn, and we want to feel that pride in our chest at being right and someone else being wrong. That’s why we kill. And... in my mind, if you celebrate that, you should really ask yourself whether you’ve become the monster.
@@reinhardtwilhelm5415 I wouldn't say we're ugly creates, but deep down we share that thing that we perceive as ugliness not realizing its also the same thing that gives rise to beauty. Those without enough of the balance were erased by the more successful creatures that could incorporate death and stubborn self preservation as much as they were constructs that fight against chaos and entropy.
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." -Friedrich Nietzsche.
when we were younger we use to think that squidward was the rude, annoying person and now that we’re older we now relate and understand why squidward acted the way he did towards patrick and spongebob
He acts that way no matter his environment is and you weren't supposed to want to be like him. You were supposed to see Squidward as what happens when you dwell in pessimism and nihilism
@@Scornfull Yeah,but its like Benson with Mordecai and Rigby,we relate and root for them,but if you see it right,benson clearly has reasons to be angry at them because of mord and rigboy actions,just like spongebob and Patrick that are annoying af.
This reminds me of Batman the animated series. Many villains were victims, the cartoon shows this, acknowledges this situation sucks and shouldn't happen but never condones their villainous actions. Just because baby doll can't have a career (or even a life outside of harassment) that's not justification to threaten the lives of others. There's one persistent moral over the series- "just because you're a victim doesn't give you the right to victimize others"
Except The Joker, who was always a violent prick who wasn’t never sympathetic ever. Just a reminder why Unsympathetic villains are also fun because he’s the best villain in the show.
@@SirenChats I wouldn't say Joker is the best villain in the show just because he's a violent prick, although that is a really fun part of his character. I always thought it was his mystery. We don't know who he is, where he came from, or why he does what he does. I think that's why Joker is still popular today because he always has a different identity.
To be fair tragic Joker is cool and in my option shows the chaos of the Joker better but not as good as the pure evil Jokers. It in my option, Joker being pure evil makes him more fun.
this was one of the best videos i’ve seen on youtube. usually i get interested in a video like this and then get bored. this kept me engaged throughout the entire video. bravo!!
@Manuel Patterson It's been obtuse to experience the last few years. You laugh at the incompetence and then wince at their actions. Of all things, The Onion spins this in a really unique way; pointing at the obtuseness of the real world in such a way as to distance yourself from it under a layer of satire. It's a surreal take on the zeitgeist
Taxi Driver is also man vs self. Travis has a pathological compulsion to ostracize himself from the world around him, that leads him to eventually do what he does, and he chooses to focus on the worst elements of his world to justify his isolation; this is why I think Taxi Driver is a better loner film than Joker. Joker shows how a society can mold someone into a worse person through it's cruelty, but Taxi Driver shows that individuals have a responsibility to their own well being, and how we relate to the people around us, lest we use society as the excuse to become that worse person
That's why Batman is the best superhero, because he was created out of darkness and clearly has psychological battles with himself, he's the most human of all.
Really hoping that "Villain: the worst guy..." part of the description is a reference to the one and only villain important right now, the Madvillain, METAL FACE DOOM.
"Satan is probably the most infamous villain in human history" My German neighbour in Argentina who is more than 130 years old but still has a funny moustache: Pathetic
the transformation of the main character into the hero is incredible, but the transformation of the antagonist into the villan and how relatable it can be is frightening
I'm actually working on a story where the hero becomes the villan. Watching this gave me a lot of confidence that what I've been doing could turn out to be very interesting.
Everything we believe we see in the world is a reflection of ourselves. If we see hatred, anger, fear and suffering, it’s only because we have projected our own psyche outwards. If we are completely accepting of all thoughts and emotions we have inside us, we can do nothing but understand the world and beings that populate it. Hate, violence and suffering are then seen as they are, simply existing. The world and all beings, including ourselves, are seen for the truth - complete innocence - a child that believed whatever they were told, completely pure, completely blameless.
Evil by definition is not an essence in and of itself. Evil is simply the absence of good. Evil can be found in two forms, the first form is a phenomenon that causes inexistence or deficiency. The second form is a phenomenon that is in and of itself an inexistence or a deficiency. An example of the first form of evil can be dementia, which causes deficiency of memory. An example of the second form of evil can be blindness, which is an inexistence of sight.
Listen to what? He is a version of the devil, as in lord of the underworld period of course hes not the devil thats not what he said none of the other mentioned ones are actually the devil, cuz its different religions and beliefs, nothing to argue about and also not his point
Tim Chr, Hades isn’t “lord of the underworld” he’s god of the afterlife. The devil in Christian belief is the incarnation of evil, he went against God and rebelled. The devil is not “the lord of the underworld” either he is the King of hell, and sometimes not even that. Hades is not the embodiment of evil( I’d actually argue he’s the nicest god in the Greek pantheon) and he’s not in control of punishment solely (he is just the whole “god of the afterlife) he is also responsible for rewarding people. Claiming that Hades and the Devil are comparable, is completely ignoring everything about how the afterlife works in either religion..
If whatever the hell the media is about is heroic, I want to be as villainous as possible. They are the greatest enemy to the people in our time, as a certain recent president once said. I don't even care if people like or hate him, I just saw him as a kind of breath of fresh air from the totalitarianism of the institutions that govern us (I know he was partially in the water with them, but at least he wasn't fully submerged. They've made that clear for 6 years now). Basically, I wish the left and right would just go joker mode, hold hands for a second, and focus on the true enemy rather than tearing each other up at our own expense and to the delight of soulless oligarchs.
@@henrylansing9734 I seriously don’t know why people even defend them like I’ve seen people trash on fox and defend cnn as a reputable news source when they are both trash and started race riots last year during summer and divided America
I wouldn't be surprised if that's what their mission. Tragedies have always been used as ratings boosters for the media in general. If they can use those incidents to bully people to spread their false realities while boosting their ratings, then no wonder the American media has devastating lack of trust from the public.
@@Bigjuggs64 it's wordplay, where the saying "theres two sides to a story" is made into "4 sides to every story". Basically that whenever you see/hear/tell something, it's from your perspective and not factual. Someone else will see/hear/tell it differently. There's also a saying that "walls have ears" meaning that you're being listened to even if you can't see the listener. "If these walls could talk they'd probably still ignore me" is him saying he doesn't feel like he matters, bc even walls don't want to communicate with him. That's just my interpretation though, someone else will have something different I'm sure.
@@estlin2001 Well, as Emp talks about with Prince Zuko, we are viewing almost everything in the Mario franchise from Mario's point of view but if we were to view it from Waluigi's perspective, Mario is the real villain.
@@antoniodunbar1643 Waluigi really isn't a villain, I'd say he's a combination of Prince Zuko and Syndrome, just trying to seek acceptance and appreciation but ultimately gets rejected by the world. "Wah" is also just a sound Waluigi makes and is popular for.
Eh one of the many misunderstandings of Greek mythology in popular media, because he seems evil he must be evil. Kind of ironic given the last part of this video.
Hades is portrayed as the villain in Disney's Hercules, though, so I'm pretty sure that's the iteration of Hades he was non-verbally referencing in this clip.
Zuko was the villain because we were watching the show from Aang's point of view.
But if we watch the show from the cabbage merchant's point of view, Aang's the true villain.
Bro you have to see "Attack on Titan"
@@devnathhansda6738 what does aot have to do with this
@@gavin7841 I think he is talking about the current state with eren and how the tables turned
a bit far fetched haha
Cabbage man, the greatest character ever
True
Dude your voice is so calming please narrate my funeral
Hello Among Suser
this
Hello Mr Assassin
Among suser
Imagine EmpLemon narrating your funeral and he has a downwards spiral half way through and just starts screaming about Twitter, demonetization and whatever the fuck Simian Jimmy is doing
dr. doofenshmirtz is also a villain that comes to mind. he was just a man who was so hurt and deprived of his family's love, which caused him to turn to the "bad" side. even though it's a kids' show, they really did make a great villain who we could sympathize for and love in a way.
The thing is - doofenshmirtz is not actually a villain, he's just as much a protagonist as Perry, maybe even more
Yup
He is a wholesome man who is obsessed with the idea of being a villain, but even then he limits himself to only the tri-state area
or better, kingpin from spiderman that scene where miles defeats him in the spider verse is amazing
Even though he's a villain, he cares for her daughter
After watching hundreds of video essays, I have learned a single fact: Avatar has an example for every subject.
even something along the lines of: how to write bad main characters? Because I don't see that being the case ;)
@@eberlix it is very common to use opposites of stated views in essays to point out their flaws and show examples of what not to do, so it can be used as a manual on what not to do when making a bad main character.
@@addeum7766 But then an Avatar main character is still being used as an example of how to write a good main character, and not as a example of how to write a bad main character.
Avatar is such a perfectly made show. Watch at any age and you will still wnjoy
@@eberlixnah they would use Legend of Korra for that video essay
"Childhood is when idolise batman, Adulthood is when you realise cheese is expensive"
-A comment I've read somewhere.
yet milk is so cheap?
@@joenathan8594 yes
@@joenathan8594 milk is just lazy cheese
Wait, cheese is expensive? Fuuuuu
yea
We often root for heroes as kids and sympathise with the villain as adults, so you know you’ve made a great sympathetic villain like Zuko when you understand him as a kid aswell
not me i always favored the villains or at least, the darker characters seen as psycho evil (but not?) dangerous insane damaged goods loser etc etc.
You are forgetting all the edgy kids who say they like villains to seem quirky :'D
@@rossmcdonagh1554
Except Zuko is not edgy. He is serrated.
*root
*heroes, not hero’s. Hero’s is possessive, heroes is the proper spelling in this context.
Zuko truly does have the best redemption arc for a villain 😭
@Names Don't Matter no
@@ibuk9631 -cap
I never actually saw him as an actual villain
He's the most interesting character and my favorite character in the whole The Last Airbender show.
@@Journeyagain0 he has a Very nice character arc of the best i have seen
You know one of the most brilliantly subtle things about Zuko? Even in his very first appearance he establishes himself as noble, albeit in a very subtle way. He non-lethally takes down Sokka rather than just burning him to a crisp, and he actually honors his agreement to leave the Water Tribe in peace if Aang surrenders. Before we know quite literally anything about him, they've established he has a code of honor.
Lawful neutral
Excellent argument.
Unfortunately, I farted.
@@yeetboiwhatyesplease2095 😢
@@yeetboiwhatyesplease2095it feels getting flash bang, in the good way
probably shouldn't said that way...
5:13 "there's no doubt that Zuko is the one who suffered the most in the serie."
Cabbage man: hold my cabbages.
Oh no poor guy
Got me cracking up💀
@George Zhang I-🤣
Aang had his entire tribe killed
@@elevate5731 Aang Is a cabbage destroyer and he deserved it
"Zuko felt more pain than any other character in the show"
Are you seriously forgeting that cabbage seller?
You are at 69 likes so even though I would like I cant
"MY CABBAGESSS!!"
Dat poor man
Each day his cabbages gets destroyed
ik this is a joke but op REALLY said that a dude who had an abusive father had worse pain than: a child whose entire people, family, and culture completely wiped out, a girl whose mother died and almost had HER culture wiped out, a boy whose father left him to go to war and had to be raised by sister. i know zuko was a complex character with complex pain but oh my GOD
Nah it’s toph when she senses what happens in sokka’s tent
I Heard somewhere about this topic it said " *The world treated Joker badly so he decided to treat it the same The world treated Batman badly so he decided that no one will be treated like he was* "
Sadly for Batman, by protecting Society you help it destroying lives.
Most of us wish we were like batman, but we know that we are the joker
@@Graveyard55 nobody wants to be either
batman is a brooding, sad, self destructive man, willing to give up everything to protect the innocent and complete the mission. he does this so often that his own sidekicks, the people he's fought by, don't want to be like him, some of them even hate him. if you see batman for the symbol he is, anyone would want to be him, but if you see batman for the person he is, nobody wants to be him.
the joker is a lunatic that kills for chaos and attention. all he wants is for batman to break his sense of morality and kill him. i don't care how insane you think you are, nobody wants to bring someone down by their own death. the joker you're talking about isn't the joker you want to be like, the joker you're thinking of is, though.
@@jockeyfield1954
Peach.
Pog
Zuko shouting "strike me. you never held back before" was extremely telling even before his redemption arc
In that moment, he seems to yell out for the pain to finally assist him for once instead of hurting him in trying to bend lightning to his will, only for the universe to not answer his calls once again.
@@SuperRavensfan101 that was hella gud shakespear
I ship Zuko and Azula
@@thegoldendiamond6762 you remember that they are brother and sister, right
@@thegoldendiamond6762 obvious bait ☠️
"My Father used to tell me that Azula was born lucky and that I was lucky to be born"
That line hit me hard when I first watched
@@minecraftveteranyoda4476 Yeah, it is a great line. It does so much for Zuko, Azula and Ozai. Like it sets up the kind of person Ozai is even more so and also lets us know Azula is powerful while also showing how tragic Zuko's life is.
Azula: “My own mother called me a monster! She was right of course, but it still hurt!”
@@Flome810 I mean if we are doing Avatar quotes we will be here all day.
@@TheZebbga Then I better go ask uncle iroh to make some jasmine tea
Emp, seriously, you are one of the biggest quality channels, your comentary videos about taboo things is glorious.
The reason I love villians is because they have a background, and I need to thank you for making this!
same man
Sr Pelo 👀
You know Emp has outdone himself when motherfucking Pelo compliments him without any sort of mockery.
Just genuine admiration for the content.
But damn this video really is good
Ahaha "Tabu"
I’ve always found the narrative of Zuko to be painful. Ironically not because of his scar, but because of the sheer amount of emotional trauma he undergoes. His humanity is evident, yet he consequently makes attempt to undermine it. He tries to convince himself that his options are limited until he gives in to his inevitable triumphant empathy. Truly terrific piece of fiction. Art, even.
A bit like Dracula from Castlevania; his biggest flaw as a villain is that he's not as big a monster as he thinks he is.
You say that but like…
Yeah, even I liked Azula more than Zuko cause while Zuko is a hero on the wrong side… Azula knows she’s wrong but continues anyway.
@@TheRealHelveticayeah i do believe zuko is a good example to use for the essay but I really thought it was even more important to go over azula's character arc and tragedy. our sympathy for zuko is never questioned as he ultimately becomes part of the protagonists, but the complexities of azula's character would have been way more interesting to go over for the "true" sympathy for the villain.
Your videos are so profound. Consistently blown away by the level of quality.
Couldn’t have said it better myself
Collab maybe?
Too bad its probably demonetized as soon as he uploads it
Yeah uncle maybe you should consider I think the same of you. Ur content is great I love both of ur channels.
Uncle Al same with yours
If only every villain had an uncle Iroh in their lives..
Everybody needs an uncle Iroh in their life. Hell, I need one.
I have a friend who is basically the Uncle Iroh of my life and I have such a powerful urge to make her proud that it's not even funny.
Your 100% right
azula has uncle iroh though
@@sainbaatar518 well. Yes but no. Iroh agreed with Zuko about azula being crazy. So they teamed up to try to take her down
I'm surprised you didn't mention how in Megamind, the "villain protagonist" tried to create a hero after the last one died, purely because if he didn't have a hero to fight, his life was effectively meaningless.
Same I was also surprised
memento mori
Morality is at its very core is quite objective. It comes from respect for another's existence.
That same movie treats nature vs nurture, and how a good person can be pushed to become a "villain" despite not being what would birng them happiness while a person with and unremarkable sense of justice is forced to become the hero from the weight of expectations
it be like that sometimes
"We're all just one bad day away." - Joker
killing joke 2016 yes?
wanna talk to spiderman??
Probably my favourite version of yin and yang in fiction is Batman and joker: both had 1 bad day, both used it as motivation, one for evil, one for good.
Well the Joker literally said that Batman completes him
They complete each other
One For Chaos, One for order
Not necessarily good or evil
actually, batman's direct opposite is killer moth. many people forget that killer moth is actually the yin to batman's yang since he's a bit of a joke character from the silver age of comics while joker is from the gruesome golden age
Literally they are. Both of them are completely insane but they are yet completely different people and they turned out completely different
This is why I love villains! Everything mentioned is spot on! Maybe this is the reason why I love villains because they think they are protagonists of their own story.
This make anime villian in both akamegakill and MHA
If you like villains because of that, you should look about Megatron or some of the Decepticons in the IDW Transformers comics
@@kingawesome5219 Not just them! Magneto, Dr. Doom, and Mr. Freeze are just a few villains that I can think of right now! This may be why I always considered whenever they said "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME!"
@@UkieKooki What was Dr Doom about?
@@kingawesome5219 There's this comic about Doom's tragic history because his mother is a witch and she sold her soul to Mephisto, the literal devil in Marvel, so he learns both science and magic during his adult years. After obtaining the suit of armor, he returned to Latveria, his home country, and created a resistance because the ruler of the country is making everyone poor while he becomes richer from their expense. After overthrowing the ruler, Doom became Latveria's new ruler and made the country into a paradise of prosperity, freedom, and security. But Doom still remembers his mother and so he went on a mission to try and save his mother so he tries to create portals in order to go to Mephisto's realm and save his mother. Doom challenges Mephisto and he accepts but it came with a price. Whenever Mephisto defeats Doom, his people will slowly hate him and fear him. So stubborn as Doom is, he gets defeated by Mephisto over and over. Keep in mind that Mephisto is in his strongest when he's in his realm. So Doom enlisted the help of Dr. Strange to save his mother. Doom and Strange succeeded but when Doom's mother entered the mortal realm, she became very evil. With Doom's multiple defeat from Mephisto, Latveria grew to hate him and that's how Doom became an authoritarian dictator in the eyes of his people. I don't want to spoil the whole ending but I really do recommend reading it yourself or watch a youtube video about the comic because it is really good and really sad on Doom's part.
"villains are made not born"
"heroes are only good if you watch from his point of view,watch the villains point of view and you will understand him more"
@Shinra Tensei
So we should understand the POV from villains like these:
ua-cam.com/video/15J39c0U9bc/v-deo.html 4:20
ua-cam.com/video/ZMeKFH5ZbRo/v-deo.html
Thats bullshit
They always are trying to kill people only cuz they wanna
@@LaloSalamancaGaming42069 no
@@LaloSalamancaGaming42069 ua-cam.com/video/YzfUj-m2I6I/v-deo.html
@@hopingstare8980 yes they do
"sometimes the people we hate the most are the ones we fooled ourselves into loving" thats deep asf
Jet Noises*
thomas edison for me
"Villains are a necessary evil."
Shows a picture of Leafy's banner
But hey that’s just a theory a game theory.
Well I'm disappointed he didn't mention Ice king from Adventure time in this video
@@subifyouhatetiktokandreddit234 It’s funny how we as a kids just think he is just a stupid villain who is there just for laughs and giggles... until we find out about his past. It’s pretty smart of the creator, kids are watching and we grow up along side the characters while learning one by one on why they act this way.
@@giornogiovanna5214 forgot the very necessary comma there, sir.
@@subifyouhatetiktokandreddit234 don’t forget mega mind, it’s a kids movie but it shows how there needs to be balance with a villain and hero.
"Good is a point of view, Anakin"- psychopathic killer, beloved politician, Sheeve Palpatine
What makes this even better is that Palpatine didn't make Anakin turn into Darth Vader. He simply showed Anakin the door, and Anakin willingly walked through
Interestingly enough, because Ankain didn't kill Padme, and by the time he killed Obi- wan they weren't close, and because u have to kill someone close to u to become a sith, Anakin was never a true sith lord
@@darthdarkborg3857 Very true indeed
Lol I'm such a ner
Nerd
"Those who are heartless, once cared too much..."
~Davy Jones
Dark spyro:agree to disagree.
"Once you realize your mistakes, it turns to acceptance and correctness"
Sounds like something a 13 year old "depressed" white girl has in their Instagram bio
@Henry Crabs the law of the internet, if a philosophy is even mildly dark, it is edgy and dumb
Nope. Wrong.
convinced avatar was made solely for video essay youtubers
"Evil villains tend to be forgettable."
Palpatine: It's treason, then!
Vader clearly overshadows him in public perception though
@@wspann1967 Yes, but you feel tons of sympathy for Vader. Palps? He's JUST evil. No sad story, no relatable background, no nuance, just unapologetically evil,
@PewDie-Ton EX Legends. That very few have read and are now not canon. For all general audiences, Palps is just evil, while Vader was only like that in A New Hope, in Empire, you learn who he is and in Return, he turns good again, more or less. And the Prequels are all about him and his suffering as Anakin.
Only if you have a charimsatic villain with a fun personality, like you just gave an example of.
TEND to be, not always. There are tons of villains who are just bad. Taking the example of A:tLA, Ozai was just pure bad;no layers no reason, he was just bad.
An antagonist is not necessarily evil, but just opposes the ideologies of the protagonist.
Edgelord
@@palereaper He just said the definition of an antagonist,he ins't a edgelord
@@nbanextlegend7497 i disagree
@sayunoqué hate? all I did was call them an edgelord
@sayunoqué that’s what you think
"the joker terrifies us not because he kills people, but because he makes us enjoy watching him kill people."
that shit is pure poetry.
Yeah I definitely don't agree, idk maybe I'm just sane
@@arbitarious Youve never seen someone get got in a show or movie and thought "fucking finally, cunt deserved it!"? Joffrey anyone?
This two 👆 are full of it.
@Ddtrdctrdcgrdcgrdc The first one deleted. Duh
@Ddtrdctrdcgrdcgrdc You apparently. 🤷
This is probably one of my favorite video essays of all time. You went above and beyond to describe why villains are the way they are, and it shows greatly with the best video and sound ending for a UA-cam video. The end of the video made me tear up a bit. It is probably the most relatable perspective men in society face.
“Everyone has a time bomb cleverly hidden in their patience”
That and “Hi, Zuko here,”
Having been a patient before, I am now incredibly concerned there's a bomb in me somewhere.
@@thepepperronin6845 Underrated Comment
Quotes are magical
Is this quote from a show or something or not
The way the media acted towards Joker (2019) made the actual movie so much better. The elite will gleefully watch an entire nation burn to the ground, but loses their shit when even a hint of animosity is directed their way.
Like some black influencer celebrity encouraging the Black Lives Matter protesters to riot, then when the mob reached his street he started tweeting for "these animals to get the hell out". Most gratifying media of that year.
Simple and accurate, the truth.
Its even more funny because the Joker is a socialist wet dream revenge film.
Joker is overrated, it is not as insightful or transformative as it pretends to be when you look at its writing and story. And i personally believe that parasite, the movie that won the Oscar that year was a far better social critique and a better movie in general. However i will say that Joaquin Phoenix's acting was an amazing accomplishment and a career high.
@@FringeSpectre The elites are not socialist. They are soulless capitalists carrying a face of progressivism in order to subdue the public
Many believe Yin and Yang is good vs evil.
When in reality, it is Order vs Chaos
In a way it's *also* good vs. evil, and light vs. dark, and water vs. fire, and soft vs. tough. It is the ultimate embodiment of thing needing opposites to exist. Without a concept of darkness, light would be meaningless.
Very few people really regard it in either of those manners actually. It's more about dualism, the concept of Yin needing Yang and vice versa.
In fact, Yin is characteristic of femininity and negativity, and Yang is characteristic of masculinity and positivity.
132 likes
nice,
It represents the bad in the good and the good in the bad
"in reality"
I’m most impressed with the amount and variety of clips that fit the dialogue in this video it must have taken forever and finding things that fit too couldn’t have been easy
Imagine how kickass this dudes presentations were in school
He said he was a try hard in school, so probably pretty good.
truee
Probably more authentic than good
The thing that gets me is the big words. That’s why I love his content so much
“Villains are a necessary evil”
*picture of leafy*
I spat out my water
I was scrolling through trying to find someone else that saw it XD
Based
22:49 lol
I caught that too and almost fell out of my chair
rip the leaf
"man vs society"
HE SAID IT, HE SAID THE THING
*insert Seinfeld reference*
he said it
RISE
BOTTOM TEXT
WOKE AF
Thanks!
W
Media was "worried" Joker will have violents acts during screen plays... Fun Fact: Frozen 2 had more violent act during screen play than Joker
That's because nobody could let that movie fucking go.
okay but frozen didn't have a guy getting his brains blown out
@@LoydAvenheart there were machete attacks in a showing of frozen 2 tho
@@LoydAvenheart that's only because I didnt have to suffer thorough it with you.
@@Gr3nadgr3gory lmao
"See, now you respect me. Because I'm a threat"
I've been doing UA-cam for a decade now and my god is that line ever appropriate for some of the people in this line of work. Some people look at UA-cam as such a numbers game that they won't give you the time of day until they believe you're within striking distance of them
I'm not talking about when a UA-camr doesn't reply to another one, everyone gets too busy. I can't reply to every message I get. I'm talking about when someone is actively dismissive to a smaller UA-camr until they're the same size, then suddenly pretend like they were friends. You wouldn't believe how many people suddenly wanted to pretend like they were always great to me as soon as I took off.
You know about the maker of Bayonetta? It's that way for a reason and it should be that way because it forces people to become notorious as well. People who have a lower value than somebody else should not waste the higher-ups time unless the higher up is ok with it
@@mikeyvesperlick6982 People do not have lower value because they have less career success. I'm the same man as I was before I got big on UA-cam, and I'm proud of who I am.
I absolutely refuse to believe that I'm better than someone just because my channel is bigger. It's an incredibly immoral and short sighted way to judge someone. Judge them by the content of their character, not their popularity or material wealth.
@@MahDryBread The latter statement moreover applies to monarchs and masters of their useful craft as in nutritional science, engineering, agricultural knowledge, etc, but you only have more subs than others because you either played your cards better, have played more, or the fact that you have played at all.
@@MahDryBread You know that it is hard to argue that a lack of action is the ultimate sin right
@@MahDryBread Holy shit I was just watching one of your videos when I got this in my notifications.
Everybody's talking about Zuko but don't forget Azula. All the wanted was to be loved, and instead her father put too much on her shoulders. She thought her mother saw her as a monster and her friends betrayed her. And all of that led down to a mental breakdown.
She believed in her father's path. She controlled people around her with Horror. She would either be the Power Maniac or Lunatic. And we all se she turned out to be a lunatic.
Azula is one of the pure evils in the ATLA with his father Ozai. It's no surprise we see her mental breaks down since she didn't have a strong will and mind like her father.
Sozin was Chad. He faced against Avatar Roku for his ideals. Azula never had to make such a choice to make her strong. So she become a "Virgin". But Zuko, he always made choices that have harsh consequences which made him a Chad.
Azula is the little girl the one who you want to teach a lesson. Because you want her to reach a right path.
Let's not forget that Azula is also a victim of Ozai and like Zuko at the start of atla, only wanted approval from the person they "looked up to". Maybe if Azula had her own Uncle Iroh she would've gone on the right path.
Watch The Phycology of Azula on UA-cam bruh it literally explains things so well to me
Lmao wtf? All she wanted was to be loved? Absolutely fucking not. She wanted to rule and dominate. She wanted to be feared. Fuck outta here with that "oh she's just misunderstood" bullshit. Zuko was the misunderstood villain who had a redemption. Azula is, has always been, and always will be a consummate power-hungry villain
Sympathy for the Villan was amazing. Got me reflecting on why I struggle with movies like Whiplash and No Country for Old Men. Well done. Thank you.
50 DOLLARS
Literal college level analysis of one of the most difficult topics in any literature class just uploaded for free to UA-cam with additional visual citations for reference.
We don't deserve you, emp. Truely. You're brilliant. As an English major i found this inspiring.
Theres a lot of holes in his argument , such as interpreting the meaning of good and evil . Or even the fact that he cant really distinct what classifies as either a antagonist or villain. It sort if weakens his analysis all together .
This is so true. I study Cultural Anthropology and this kind of stuff is what I do in Media Anthropology essays.
@@vangler6492 emp is still young, he'll get there •́ ‿ ,•̀
"I'm just like you, Reiner"
finally someone said it
Rainer mit AI ganz wichtig
Ah yes
@@slyfox466 Haider etzala überall am Start?!?
@@slyfox466 Etzala rügg mal n stügg!
Guter Geschmack, 10/10 Ofnekäse. Dadsächlich sogar
EmpLemon 2010: Mah boi, dinner, mama luigi
EmpLemon 2021: Philosophical discussion of evil and human nature
This has been a hell of a ride
I want this to be the new norm.
don't forget also PINGAS
Pyrocynical had something similar,
2013: mlg teletubbies
2020: an in depth analysis of farcry3
And a hell of a good one as well.
From shitpost to deeppost
Ive rewatched this video more times than i can count, truly one of the best video essays ever made on youtube
completely agree it's unbelievably good
In every story there is a hero, and a villain. In your story: you are both.
I can remember where this came from but we are all side characters in someone else's story
Idk I don’t think the guy who wants to burn down my house is me in this case
@@phoenixrq9139 that's a really close minded statement lol
I'm my own side charachter that is absolute garbage but still a fan favourite for some reason
I'm actually just the villan.
What a satisfying video
I would call you a fortnite nerd, but 77 holds a special place in my heart
Fortnite nerd
Not one of his best, but still good.
tbh
Agreed
“Villains are a necessary evil”
Literally and figuratively.
i dont understand what figuratively means in this context
Seeing Dr. Bright comes from an organization that exposes itself to horrible and wonderful things we as humanity could get used to, but by purpose is kept hidden from the world, being the bad guy is easy to assume or throw away in that position.
Syv is right, it's already literal.
Bless Your Soul
topkek :3
amazing video, saw a tiktok about "looking for something to watch while eating:" and the dude showed this video, so out of curiosity I searched it up, did not regret it, became a patron after watching it. The quality of the video was very good, we need more content like this on the platform! one of the best creators on here fr
“Villains are a necessary evil.”
*shows leafy*
😐
Watch a UA-cam video about it or something bro
@Israel100israel he shits on people while playing csgo surf servers
timestamp?
22:50
Love this channel so much
Who dosen't
yes
Ehhhh diddle
"What exactly is evil?"
EVERY VILLAIN IS LEMONS!!!
still can't believe dc ripped off the origin story of red hood from barnacle man
9
Straight facts.
“The difference between a hero & a villain is how they respond to pain.”
“I know what it’s like to lose” - Thanos
That’s what makes a villain: relatability
I don't think so.
What makes any good character is understandable motivations.
Nobody knows anything about what it's like to be a massive 8 foot tall bodybuilder trying to destroy half of the universe.
@@feelsgoodman9153 his motives were understandable not In the way that anyone would agree with him but people could see where he’s coming from
@@rosshauler7688 Exactly.
Relatable isn't the aim.
20 something yt binger that lives with his parents would be "relatable" but not a great villain.
Speaking for myself btw
I wish he'd gone more into Two Face, rather than just joker.
I was rooting for thanos ngl
Honestly, villains are some of my favorite characters, mostly because they have the most fun in any given story.
And if you think about it, UA-cam would consider Emp a villain so...
I agree
yea good villains always make you route for them a little bit
A sure sign of the degeneration of society but it's understandable, villains and anti heroes exhibit flaws and vices which are all too relatable to us given that we're all imperfect.
Rather than idolise perfection and characters with virtues we now continue to seek comfort in relatability for those as imperfect as ourselves.
I mean the villiain can often have more motivation for something than the hero, whose main purpose is just to stop him.
*ahem* Funny Valentine
I've always liked villians more because they always have so much character than the brainless "I'll stop you!" heroes
Lelouch: I am the line in between
Light: haha I’m a psychopath yet I’m the ‘hero’
Zuko: I am the embodiment of the outcast
@Fire Blade shut
Light was more of a malignant narcissist.
@@themindflayer5952 I agree
@Anurag Shre same thing
Then there is eren Yeager
"Monsters are born too big, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy." - Ishiro Honda.
54 likes, goes well with the fact that Ishiro Honda said this quote in 1954. The year of Godzilla's birth
It's not a tragedy to us.
@@nevaehhamilton3493 how is getting your entire neighborhood wiped out by gojira's atomic breath not a tragedy ?
Tbf, Godzilla was fine until mankind dropped atomic bombs on his habitat. Godzilla attacking mankind was an act of rage and revenge in most versions.
@@justasoulsfan9805
Doesn't he feed off nuclear radiation?
@@soysource3218 Yes, once he was mutated, nuclear energy became his fuel. Before, he was just a normal semi- aquatic dinosaur which fed on fish.
exactly
U make song why u hear
Here*
Man I love your music
Edits are fire
@@mrspanakovlakas3310 they don’t make music they promote stupid
"Those who do not understand true pain will never understand true peace."
- Pain
Pain is a perfect example of a sympathetic villain; someone who started out good, then became bad as a result of tragedy. Yes, his methods were flawed and extreme, but his ideology was spot on; he even made Naruto question his own. Take these other quotes from Pain, for instance:
"What about MY family? MY friends? MY village? They suffered the same fate as this village at the hands of you Hidden Leaf Ninja. How is it fair to let only you people preach about peace and justice?"
"The justice that I have delivered against the Leaf Village is no different from what you are trying to do to me. Everyone feels the same pain when losing something dear. You and I have both experienced that pain. You strive for your justice, and I strive for mine."
When Pain asked Naruto, "how would you confront this hatred in order to create peace?", Naruto did not have an answer. Why? Because he knew that Pain was right. Most of what Pain said about pain, suffering, and human nature was true; THIS is why Pain is such a well-written character.
Oftentimes, we see heroes snap back at villains with a cheesy quote, completely disregarding everything the villain says, but not here. For the first time in his life, Naruto, the hero, was confronted with the brutal truth of Konoha's "peace", the harsh reality of human nature, and his own naivety, all in the form of a question he couldn't answer.
hell yeah i was waiting for someone to mention him
One of the things I liked about the Naruto series if the fact we had some morally grey great characters e.g. Itachi was technically a hero and Nagato was technically a villain and yet Itachi did some horrific things whereas Nagato was doing everything for the sake of peace
Man, I love Pain, my favorite naruto villain.
@@Nemesislord001 no itachi is a warped pos that deserved what he got, that said I did feel sorry for them when he --ya know.
@@AlphaTengua even though he saved the entire konoha from falling?
"Each version of the devil shares similar traits."
*Shows a picture of Hades.*
Actual Hades was chill.
The most reasonable of the Olympians. And that says a lot.
Actual hades?
Yeah except when he kidnapped Persephone lmao
Hades is the best, but then again I am biased.
@@theraymunator But Persephone fell in love with in the end, no harm done
So all's well that ends well
Chigur is such an interesting and phenomenally crafted villain and No Country for Old Men has left me feeling like no movie has before
i found him so completely irregular. not like in a way where he is random, but in a way it’s impossible to understand his mentality from a real world and rational perspective.
I absolutely did not have any empathy for him, considering the fact that i am not a deranged psychopath, but yeah he was a really good villain
Book's good too
“Villains are a necessary evil” *shows picture of leafy*
Tell that to David in The Last of Us
idubbbz and ethan probably woudn't be the same if he hadn't existed, also keem
@Mercury okay buddy
Yes that sure did happen in the video.
@@chrisye1733 But it was entertaining as hell with actual drama not just UA-camrs being revealed to be pedophiles and fake conflicts or breakups that no one gives a shit about
Honestly Zuko isn’t, and never was, the villain. He is simply the antagonist of the story, the conflict, the opposing force against aang. Similarly, L or Near in death note, where Yagami Light may have been the protagonist, but protagonist does not mean hero. Light was what would be considered the villain if L or near were the protagonists, but they weren’t.
Edit: ok so everyone is saying that light isn’t exactly a villain, more anti-hero, but I think he’s more an anti-villain. Whether his actions ultimately helped humanity is debatable, however at a surface level he is DEFINITELY a villain. However light LITERALLY believes that he is a GOD so therefore, anti-villain. Btw this comment was a complete and utter brain dump, so in my rush of typing I just found it easier to refer to him as a villain lol. Also be free to keep debating/sharing ur opinions in the replies, I quite enjoy talking abt this kind of stuff lol.
I think Light was unquestionably still the villain despite being the protagonist. Similar to Arthur Fleck from Joker or almost any GTA protagonist.
@@l.pricetag.5207 exactly, he’s a ‘villain’ , yet is the protagonist
Thank you i was thinking the exact same
Protagonist just means "leading character" aka MC. Any protag can be a villain, therefore Light WAS the villain.
@@zz7073but you always have to differentiate between the two uses of villain. The one just for stories for the antagonist like zuko and the normal meaning of villain as in a despicable horrible person like light yagami
20:34 "we fetishisize the outcome of villains without exploring their journey"
Probably one of the most profound things ive heard you say in any of your videos and definitely this one.
Funnily enough some people do the opposite and fetishize the villains journey too in a negative way. Think of all the Rick and Morty fanatics who obsess over Rick because they want to be compared to the "literal smartest man in the universe" while ignoring that Rick is a twisted, selfish, arrogant and outright evil person who has no qualms with raping people controlled by a hive mind or creating life and threatening to genocide it when it doesn't do what he wants.
@@caldw615 well obviously
Also rick isn't outright evil, just very, very selfish and because of how smart he is, insanely destructive. Theres lots of people like him in real life but they can't vaporize a planet when they are moody so its not a problem.
Evil should be reserved for people who do things only because they want to harm others, make them suffer. The purpose is the suffering. Rick isn't like that, hes just a dick.
there's plenty of stories where villains turn hero and become fan favorite
like Vegeta
I feel that quote. I’ve had sympathy for villains for many years, sometimes even more than the heroes of a story, and for some pretty convoluted reasons, I’m more disgusted by the human tendency to fetishize the complete downfall of the “bad guy” every time I see it.
Deep down inside, we’re all such ugly creatures. We want to see others burn, and we want to feel that pride in our chest at being right and someone else being wrong. That’s why we kill.
And... in my mind, if you celebrate that, you should really ask yourself whether you’ve become the monster.
@@reinhardtwilhelm5415 I wouldn't say we're ugly creates, but deep down we share that thing that we perceive as ugliness not realizing its also the same thing that gives rise to beauty. Those without enough of the balance were erased by the more successful creatures that could incorporate death and stubborn self preservation as much as they were constructs that fight against chaos and entropy.
By far, one of the best videos on UA-cam. I just love videos were the focus is lost, but the same time keeps you hook the entire way to the end.
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." -Friedrich Nietzsche.
And I drop a coin into that abyss in order for it to make a sound, also Nietzsche was a twat.
Why does everyone quote this guy whenever something even slightly morally gray happens?
@@grimmoire5952 because that's the point of the quote
@@Somespideronline abundant use makes it really cliche.
@@grimmoire5952 you do have a point, can't argue with that
when we were younger we use to think that squidward was the rude, annoying person and now that we’re older we now relate and understand why squidward acted the way he did towards patrick and spongebob
This!
He was talking about the older episodes.
He acts that way no matter his environment is and you weren't supposed to want to be like him. You were supposed to see Squidward as what happens when you dwell in pessimism and nihilism
@@Scornfull Yeah,but its like Benson with Mordecai and Rigby,we relate and root for them,but if you see it right,benson clearly has reasons to be angry at them because of mord and rigboy actions,just like spongebob and Patrick that are annoying af.
He did some things to deserve karma......and then there was plenty of cases where he wasn’t even in the wrong
This reminds me of Batman the animated series. Many villains were victims, the cartoon shows this, acknowledges this situation sucks and shouldn't happen but never condones their villainous actions. Just because baby doll can't have a career (or even a life outside of harassment) that's not justification to threaten the lives of others.
There's one persistent moral over the series- "just because you're a victim doesn't give you the right to victimize others"
Except The Joker, who was always a violent prick who wasn’t never sympathetic ever. Just a reminder why Unsympathetic villains are also fun because he’s the best villain in the show.
@@SirenChats ok 2 persistent morals: the second one is sometimes people are just dicks
@@SirenChats I wouldn't say Joker is the best villain in the show just because he's a violent prick, although that is a really fun part of his character. I always thought it was his mystery. We don't know who he is, where he came from, or why he does what he does. I think that's why Joker is still popular today because he always has a different identity.
@@SirenChats yea the killing joke really made me see how good joker was as a villain
To be fair tragic Joker is cool and in my option shows the chaos of the Joker better but not as good as the pure evil Jokers. It in my option, Joker being pure evil makes him more fun.
this was one of the best videos i’ve seen on youtube. usually i get interested in a video like this and then get bored. this kept me engaged throughout the entire video. bravo!!
2010: Silly UA-cam Poops
2021: Philosophical and Analytical Investigations of Popular Media and History
God bless you, EmpLemon.
I like the long form documentaries, but I miss the YTPs
make us some more YTPs emp!
@DarkLightPrince emp has a growth? Oh no!
My uncle had a growth once, they had to cut it out.
@Manuel Patterson It's been obtuse to experience the last few years. You laugh at the incompetence and then wince at their actions. Of all things, The Onion spins this in a really unique way; pointing at the obtuseness of the real world in such a way as to distance yourself from it under a layer of satire. It's a surreal take on the zeitgeist
A lot of reviewers used to do YTP, no?
@@misaelcueva9348 Indeed, I'm subbed to a few of them. YTP must be an easy segue to good video content
"I'm the Joker baby"
-the Joker baby
I'm da joka babee
-saltydkdan
Im d jok bab
i d jk bb
@@CuackTheDucks idjb
He did NOT say that
Man vs Machine: Colossus: The Forbin Project
Man vs Society: Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is also man vs self. Travis has a pathological compulsion to ostracize himself from the world around him, that leads him to eventually do what he does, and he chooses to focus on the worst elements of his world to justify his isolation; this is why I think Taxi Driver is a better loner film than Joker.
Joker shows how a society can mold someone into a worse person through it's cruelty, but Taxi Driver shows that individuals have a responsibility to their own well being, and how we relate to the people around us, lest we use society as the excuse to become that worse person
@@alpharoo2581 the thing is people that insane, can't take responsabilities. They will always choose the worse shit.
Joker is better than Taxi Driver. Taxi Driver is good but not as tight and well constructed as Joker
Did you mean *Mann vs Machine*
@@Doctor_Straing_Strange joker is a shallow rip off of taxi driver
That's why Batman is the best superhero, because he was created out of darkness and clearly has psychological battles with himself, he's the most human of all.
he battled the darkness and became the Dark Knight not because he was a hero but he was a survivor
"You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it."
Really hoping that "Villain: the worst guy..." part of the description is a reference to the one and only villain important right now, the Madvillain, METAL FACE DOOM.
thanks bro im gonna go cry again now
All caps when you say the man's name.
Right as I found out about his music to
All caps when you say the mans name
Of course is for DOOM, why wouldn't it be?
"Satan is probably the most infamous villain in human history"
My German neighbour in Argentina who is more than 130 years old but still has a funny moustache: Pathetic
Wait a minute...
Hol up
Just a hol up!
LoL
But was he tho?
“As children we admire the heroes, as adults we understand the villians”
as kids we idolize perry
as adults we understand doofenshmirtz
Funny thing is I'm a kid and I understand villains more than my parents. Or maybe I'm just symphizising with them too much...
I’ve actually always loved the villains better. They’re just so interesting
@@legoreddead the best characters in bad kids movies are always the villains. i.e. gargamel in smurfs
@@thebelen2359 i think its more of the parents not wanting you to think their good so they try to set that example
the transformation of the main character into the hero is incredible, but the transformation of the antagonist into the villan and how relatable it can be is frightening
A villain is just a victim who’s tragic past has consumed them.
*All it takes is one bad day*
Yes and people may not talk about it but Hitler did not have good early days but still don't sympathize with him he is still a monster
@@kousand9917 A monster that somewhat helped Germany
No a villain is just a person raised to become a villain !!
@@lorec73
Well, now Germany holds Europe in their hands. So that dude may be right as much as I don't like to think that.
@@lorec73 i like to think the same thing, just the thought of him having some merits makes me freeze.
22:49 "as much as we hate them, villains are a necessary evil." *shows leafy's channel banner*
Ahaha lolll 😂 do you have the time stamp?
@@sjkgldrfjsrhbsj2622 22:49
Hey that’s just a theory a game theory.
i can't even remember what he did wrong lol. never got into him even now
@@raandomplayer8589 Leafy used to do entire videos reacting to people being cringy, and that didn't exclude kids.
I'm actually working on a story where the hero becomes the villan. Watching this gave me a lot of confidence that what I've been doing could turn out to be very interesting.
Good luck 👍
Good luck 👍
Good wishes your way.
keep at it dude!
Breaking Bad is one of the most critically-acclaimed TV shows of all time, so there's definitely a lot there.
Quite frankly you make the best content on UA-cam. How you present information is unlike any other channel.
As kids we love the heroes.
As adults we understand the villians.
Everything we believe we see in the world is a reflection of ourselves. If we see hatred, anger, fear and suffering, it’s only because we have projected our own psyche outwards. If we are completely accepting of all thoughts and emotions we have inside us, we can do nothing but understand the world and beings that populate it. Hate, violence and suffering are then seen as they are, simply existing.
The world and all beings, including ourselves, are seen for the truth - complete innocence - a child that believed whatever they were told, completely pure, completely blameless.
Incel
after this video, this phrase isnt that deep and its just like. K? Growing up is a thing? (not like it was any deep before, but u kno)
Ok....but when i was a kid i loved villains. didn't understand them but i liked them.😐
I mean even as a kid I still loved the villains cause I thought they were so cool and a part of me felt like I could relate to them.
Luigi as the Poker Dealer is the embodiment of evil
the only villain you can't feel sympathy for
"Let's go"
- The greatest evil mastermind in media history
Too bad
"Sometimes the people we end up hating the most are the ones we fooled ourselves into loving"
Damn that hit hard.
Yea who cares about the deep philosophy in this video.
Hell yea, Relationship problems are the deepest shit
Read your comment as he said it
If one can make you happy, they can also make you sad.
-master splinter
“Same things make us laugh, make us cry.”-Big Smoke
Saving for later.
Evil by definition is not an essence in and of itself. Evil is simply the absence of good. Evil can be found in two forms, the first form is a phenomenon that causes inexistence or deficiency. The second form is a phenomenon that is in and of itself an inexistence or a deficiency. An example of the first form of evil can be dementia, which causes deficiency of memory. An example of the second form of evil can be blindness, which is an inexistence of sight.
“Each version of the Devil-“**shows Hades***
Now listen here bucko
Listen to what? He is a version of the devil, as in lord of the underworld period of course hes not the devil thats not what he said none of the other mentioned ones are actually the devil, cuz its different religions and beliefs, nothing to argue about and also not his point
@@qwertzritter5197 But Hades is not evil in Greek mythology.
Tim Chr,
Hades isn’t “lord of the underworld” he’s god of the afterlife.
The devil in Christian belief is the incarnation of evil, he went against God and rebelled. The devil is not “the lord of the underworld” either he is the King of hell, and sometimes not even that.
Hades is not the embodiment of evil( I’d actually argue he’s the nicest god in the Greek pantheon) and he’s not in control of punishment solely (he is just the whole “god of the afterlife) he is also responsible for rewarding people.
Claiming that Hades and the Devil are comparable, is completely ignoring everything about how the afterlife works in either religion..
@@vader0000 well he is. He is the god and lord of the underworld in Greek mythology
@@LSSD1292 yes, but he's not evil. The Underworld is not Hell.
We can all relate to megamind though. No one can disagree!
Yeah ! I'm glad you mentioned him! He's great
Not all of us
Megamind wasn’t really the villain imo
Idk about you lot but I’m not a blue alien
@@Tappytw that's exactly what a blue alien would say though, isn't it...
"When everyone's super, no one will be."
Syndrome was something else, let me tell you. It's almost as if the screenslaver wasn't shit compared to him.
It almost as if the Incredibles 2 was solely meant to make money and not because they wanted to add to the franchise
The Incredibles is still the best Pixar film to date
@@jammygamer8961 Pixar doesn't make movies solely to make money, and that's the case with Incredibles 2. They just needed better writers; that's it.
@@juanstrong3695 I never said they make all their movies just for money
Incredibles 2 was such a huge let down I keep forgetting that movie exists
I have came back to this video every 6 months for years now. Truly one of the best video I've ever seen
Correction: the media wasn’t fearing violence caused by the Joker movie. They were trying desperately to encourage someone to do something violent.
Gotta get those clicks per minute on their articles.
If whatever the hell the media is about is heroic, I want to be as villainous as possible. They are the greatest enemy to the people in our time, as a certain recent president once said. I don't even care if people like or hate him, I just saw him as a kind of breath of fresh air from the totalitarianism of the institutions that govern us (I know he was partially in the water with them, but at least he wasn't fully submerged. They've made that clear for 6 years now).
Basically, I wish the left and right would just go joker mode, hold hands for a second, and focus on the true enemy rather than tearing each other up at our own expense and to the delight of soulless oligarchs.
@@henrylansing9734 I seriously don’t know why people even defend them like I’ve seen people trash on fox and defend cnn as a reputable news source when they are both trash and started race riots last year during summer and divided America
I wouldn't be surprised if that's what their mission. Tragedies have always been used as ratings boosters for the media in general. If they can use those incidents to bully people to spread their false realities while boosting their ratings, then no wonder the American media has devastating lack of trust from the public.
Like that one song so excellently says:
The news just LOVES dirty laundry
"Theres 4 sides to every story, if these walls could talk they'd probably still ignore me".
-MF DOOM
You could list any line from him and it could be some deep quote
what does that mean ?
@@griffinfrench that’s why I love MF
@@Bigjuggs64 it's wordplay, where the saying "theres two sides to a story" is made into "4 sides to every story". Basically that whenever you see/hear/tell something, it's from your perspective and not factual. Someone else will see/hear/tell it differently. There's also a saying that "walls have ears" meaning that you're being listened to even if you can't see the listener. "If these walls could talk they'd probably still ignore me" is him saying he doesn't feel like he matters, bc even walls don't want to communicate with him. That's just my interpretation though, someone else will have something different I'm sure.
He even put “Villain: the worst guy” in the description
Waluigi is the most relatable villain, everyone has a bit of wah in them.
saying that implies he's a villain at all
@@estlin2001 Well, as Emp talks about with Prince Zuko, we are viewing almost everything in the Mario franchise from Mario's point of view but if we were to view it from Waluigi's perspective, Mario is the real villain.
God can't be a villain
@@thekingdedede I'm not caught up on his lore soo how exactly is he a villain to wah?
@@antoniodunbar1643 Waluigi really isn't a villain, I'd say he's a combination of Prince Zuko and Syndrome, just trying to seek acceptance and appreciation but ultimately gets rejected by the world. "Wah" is also just a sound Waluigi makes and is popular for.
That video is pure ART. The montage, the transistions, the way each point is captivating, the end. Bro you are so good
“villains are a necessary evil”
shows leafy on screen
Hey that’s just a theory a game theory
@@giornogiovanna5214 I agree.
Leafy more like Weafy. gottem
Hes overated
@@londonworkman7617
Who?
Why is Hades the Version as the Devil?
He isn't exactly evil, just rules over the Underworld.
Eh one of the many misunderstandings of Greek mythology in popular media, because he seems evil he must be evil. Kind of ironic given the last part of this video.
Hades is portrayed as the villain in Disney's Hercules, though, so I'm pretty sure that's the iteration of Hades he was non-verbally referencing in this clip.
yeah I hope that there'll be a movie/show where Hades isn't played off as a villain. Zeus should be the real villain tho lol.
@@legendaryhero6695 I think I would love a Heist Movie with Hermes. He is the God of the Thieves after all.
@@jackwriter1908 i imagine that as ryan reynolds running from a long-beraded alan rickman with a trident in his hand
One villain I'll never feel sympathy for is UA-cam...
yea but thats a different kind of villain :p
Media in general tbh... They show themselves as the hero while they're the worst of villains...
Twitch robbed me of a lot of money, so I personally dislike them more. But YT has done shit to me even, and it's getting worse as time goes on.
It’s faceless and inhuman.
Top 5 most evil Anime Villians ever
“we are free to choose our own antagonist based on our beliefs and attitudes of the world” - that hits so hard.
R.I.P MADVILLIAN YOU WILL BE MISSED
Madvillian are DOOM and Mad Lib
Mad Lib is still alive
RIP DOOM
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
It’s a tragedy for the ages, RIP MF Doom
RIP MF DOOM
MF DOOM