By: Bria Davis
Photos from: Tumblr Bria
With TV shows, movies, and even books, most people typically don’t choose the protagonist over the antagonist. If anything, people usually end up hating the antagonist, especially if they have chosen to do some questionable things to get what they want. Yet, recently, people tend to be incredibly selective over who they deem is an acceptable villain. A perfect example of people being selective over who they deem an acceptable villain is how people view Damon Salvatore, Klaus Mikaelson, Elijah Mikaelson, and Kai Parker; all popular male characters from The Vampire Diaries (TVD) and arguably all villains depending on the fan’s perspective.
On many occasions, plenty of TVD fans claim Damon Salvatore as their favorite male character. Plenty have also claimed that he is not a bad guy despite having committed a lot of villainous actions. A few being killing Jeremy Gilbert because he was rejected by his sister, sexually abusing Caroline to get to Elena, attempting to murder a multitude of people for stupid reasons, and the list can go on. Plenty of people argue that Damon fans think his behavior is okay simply because he is handsome. AKA he has pretty privilege. Some claim that if it weren’t for his face and somewhat charming personality, he could be considered a bad guy solely because of his actions and the non-charming part of his personality. Many have said the same thing about Elijah Mikaelson, who many deem a noble man despite the questionable things he has done to get what he wants. A few being him killing children, killing plenty of people to get what he wants, he kills his brother nonbiological son, and more can be said. Elijah is considered a good guy compared to his brother Klaus because he presents himself to others as a proper, trustworthy, and honest man. In reality he is just as bad as Klaus, but hides his villainous behavior behind this noble and sophisticated persona he wears.
However, when it comes to Klaus Mikaelson and Kai Parker, many TVD fans hate them with a passion, regardless of how handsome they are, which is interesting and largely frustrating to see. Most only look at Klaus and Kai’s villainous behavior, which they don’t care nearly as much about when Damon and Elijah are the focus of this topic. One can argue that Kai and Klaus’ murderous and villainous behavior is justifiable, way more so than with Damon or Elijah. While Damon has had his fair share of unfortunate events and Elijah has been betrayed enough and mistreated by people to excuse some of the bad behavior of both men, neither can compared to Kai and Klaus.
Kai was outcasted by everyone and abused by his father his whole life because he was born a siphoner and not an average witch. Abused for something he couldn’t control and didn’t ask for. After reaching his breaking point and killing majority of his younger siblings, his coven locked him in an isolated prison world for nearly two decades. A prison world where it was only him and the same day was on repeat. It isn’t hard to see why Kai became a psychotic villain who lacked empathy for others. He was mistreated his whole life and then transported unwillingly to an unescapable prison world; plenty of people would go insane and want even more revenge.
When it comes to Klaus, he also was abused, outcasted, and then hunted by his deranged father. In addition to that, he was also betrayed and lied to by the majority of his family and purposely cursed by his mother, which suppressed his true nature and parts of his soul for thousands of decades. The same mother forced him to become a vampire and tried to kill his hybrid daughter and him numerous times. Not to mention that other vampires have tried to kill him so they can take his position in the world as the most feared and unstoppable supernatural creature. Again, it is easy to see why he became the villain he was in the show. Too many things happen to him which led to lacking empathy for hurting others and too many things happened to him for him to trust others.
People often describe Klaus as paranoid, violent, and selfish, but considering the constant betrayal and mistreatment from the people closest to him, it’s not surprising he turned out that way. Similarly, people also characterize Kai as vengeful, selfish, and mentally unstable, but his family’s mistreatment towards him justifies him becoming these things. Compared to Damon and Elijah, some might argue that Klaus and Kai deserve more understanding as villains. They’re both attractive, undeniably so, and people can explain why they became villains. On the other hand, Damon and Elijah are also handsome, but their actions are not as easily justifiable.
So, when TVD fans claim they like Damon or Elijah the most and dislike Klaus and Kai because they are bad people, one should question why. Are Damon and Elijah acceptable bad guys because they’re just handsome, and that makes their behavior more acceptable? Then why aren’t Klaus and Kai acceptable bad guys?