8 Villains That Get Redeemed In The End Of The Game
There’s something strong about a villain having a change of heart at the end of the story that makes them good.
What does a good villain have? It’s hard to answer this question because fans have different views. It doesn’t matter if it’s a video game, a cartoon, a movie, or something else. For example, it’s fun to root against figures like Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars who are very bad and have nothing good about them.
Darth Vader, on the other hand, has a more complicated history than Palpatine. He was born good as Anakin Skywalker, but he turned to the Dark Side when he lost his way. Then, in the end, he made up for it by stopping Emperor Palpatine and saving his son Luke. It’s great to see villains’ stories come full circle like that, too. So, are there any other characters in video games that are like this one?
Magus
In the beginning of Chrono Trigger, Magus is one of the bad guys. After Crono is pulled into the past, it appears that this evil mage is to blame for all of the bad things that are happening in the world. Lavos, the game’s real villain, was created by Magus thanks to his efforts.
After this boss fight, Magus goes away for a while, but players can finally find him sitting on a cliff and thinking about what to do. They can fight him again to kill him, or they can get Magus to help them fix the problem he made.
Edea
Edea is set up to be Final Fantasy 8‘s main villain. She is a witch who uses magic to run a whole country. To kill her, the main character, Squall, and his school, Balamb Garden, are hired.
Before giving up, Irving tries to pick on her during a parade. Later, it turns out that Edea was also under a spell from a much stronger witch named Ultimecia. Edea helped raise Squall and the other kids in a home when they were young, before their memories were erased.
Axel
Organization 13, the main villain of the Kingdom Hearts series, includes Axel as one of its members. Even though he’s always after Sora in Kingdom Hearts 2, it’s clear that Axel’s heart is hurting. Because he can see his friend Roxas in Sora. Roxas went away because Sora’s best friend was brought back to life.
At the end, Axel realizes how wrong he has been and gives his life to save Sora. Axel comes back in the sequels, even though it looks like he died at the end of the first movie. Axel even becomes a Keyblade Master, which is a big change from where he came from.
Bowser
Bowser is one of the most well-known bad guys in video games, so he doesn’t need to be introduced. In the Mario games, he is always trying to steal Princess Peach and take over the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser wasn’t playable until the many RPG spinoffs came out.
Bowser took Princess Peach hostage at the start of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and Mario went after her. During the fight, a huge sword falls from the sky and takes over Bowser’s castle. Bowser and Mario work together from a command center to stop Smithy’s group of star-crazy maniacs.
Big Boss
The NES version of Metal Gear featured Big Boss as its first villain. He showed up in other games from time to time, but mostly to show that Solid Snake and his brothers were clones of him.Snake Eater was a prequel that took place during the Cold War in the 1960s.
Before he is forced to kill his boss, The Boss, and become Big Boss, Big Boss is just a trainee on a job. His fall into evil makes more sense than Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader, which makes Big Boss a much more likeable character.
Goro Akechi
Persona 5‘s Goro Akechi starts the game as a Junior Detective helping the cops with the Phantom Thieves case. Eventually, he joins the main group for a short time, but it turns out that he was helping plan the whole Mind Palace situation in Japan all along. His turn is sudden, but he says it’s because he doesn’t have a father and other heavy things.
In the end, he does change his mind again, giving Joker and the others time to escape. In the expanded version of Slope Game, he comes back to life as one of the Persona 5 Royal characters and can join more tasks, even though things went wrong.
Captain Qwark
Since the first Ratchet and Clank game came out for the PS2 in the early 2000s, a lot of time has passed. Captain Qwark was a straight-up villain in the first two games, despite what most fans may not remember. Ratchet thought he was a hero, but it turned out that Qwark was helping Chairman Drek, who was a bad guy.
In the second Ratchet and Clank game, Qwark uses MegaCorp to make a product that tries to spread across the world. He does this so he can save the day, but Ratchet and Clank figure out what he’s up to along the way. Qwark finally changes his ways in the third game. Since then, he has been a good guy, even though he is still very greedy.
Arthur Morgan
When it was reported that Rockstar was making Red Dead Redemption 2 as a prequel with villains as the main characters, fans were divided. How could they soften Dutch’s gang if they killed John Marston, the main character from the first game? The main character in this story is Arthur Morgan, and players can choose whether he is a ruthless criminal or a thief with a conscience.
In the end, no matter what happens, Arthur will help John and his family get away from Dutch’s gang. John can move on because of what he did. This is one of the most heartbreaking deaths in the history of video games.
