[Old Games] Heroes and Villains

Iago Izar-McClaine of the 65th is up there in the Villains for me. Cutting out Shadow Bison's tongue is one of my favourite Games moments!

I thin it's safe to say Iago is a biggest games villain to date, like seriously made my spine shiver just reading that stuff.

Err, it's kinda hard to brand anyone to be a hero considering they're in a death contest killing other kids xD. Everyone did have their bad moments in the games despite how nice they were.

Savannah was a hero. She was the protector of her alliance and accepted each of her allies for who they were. Plus, she stood up to her father to protect her siblings.

I concur with all claims of villainy.

Aesop Bloom always gets a lot of love, but tbh, I think he was actually my biggest villian. While he wasn't a caricature of evil to his core or even particularly menacing, he did carry around a rucksack full of severed Tribute body parts, more than one of which were used not only as weapons, but as literal symbols of guilt. He tried to unload that guilt on Mace in the end, which is more awful and damaging than a knife wound, imo. Even his love for Sundra was a terrible, greedy, selfish thing at times. He had a way of conning people into caring about him and it wasn't selfless, it was desperate and all too often a little bit cruel, knowing full well how impossible all their fates were.



Gah, there are so so so many reasons I wanted Ethan Taurus to make it far. (Selfish plots about him cutting out tongues for Calliope Bloom being one of them, ngl.) Mostly though, I'm a much bigger fan of villains who enter the Arena that way to begin with. Extreme circumstances can lead people to do terrible things, of course, but when a character goes in so rotten, it almost lends a kind of normality and I was incredibly curious to see if that would happen for Ethan. One of the all time biggest missed Games opportunities, imo.



As for heros, I always like the smaller stories. It can be hard to get me on board with "This total stranger is now my one and only reason for living and I will valiantly die for him/her!" I like when Tributes can band together and look out for each other while still maintaining a realistic level of selfishness. Value for their own lives. That's the only reason I'd agree with the mention of Nocturne and Erebus being heros, if only to each other. Lives weren't saved, but they made each other's pain better. Each one still wanted to live — and help the other if possible — but it wasn't about dramatic gestures. It was just about making things suck less for each other and there were moments when that felt like the most important thing of all to them.



Otherwise, idk. I prefer villains with psychological twists to those who are just out for gore and glory. I like backstabbing when something more is being lost than just blood. I like villains who are fighting for something instead of just against everything (I LOVE RAZOR CREEL HUNTING THE D12S FOREVER AND ALWAYS, because that was both and also characteristically perfect and true to a psychology even beyond his own character). I like when a target isn't just the easiest or most convenient Tribute to kill, but something that has to be. That will impress me more than the most shocking massacre out there.



And heros, well, I want them not to be great loves with more lust than logic or flawless martyrs. I like characters who aren't afraid to want to live and don't feel as if they have to make themselves go insane to justify that desire. Characters who aren't afraid to care about people while still valuing themselves most. Who can help others without self-destructing. Who can find ways to save what's left of someone's life, even if it's in a situation where it's impossible to physically save that live. The truest heros to me are the ones that find a way to bring a little peace into the war.