"I take no pleasure in taking you down. None. It's just necessary. You love to hurt and I can't heal my so-called 'family' with you around. Giving mercy is good until it is proven to hurt the innocent, then see me come out fighting. I haven't even swung a punch yet and I see you quiver. How weak you are. This isn't cruelty, this is mercy and justice combined. You cannot control yourself and so I control you. Fight me and you know I'll win, or maybe you like gambling? It's a sin, you know, as is greed. So let me get right to the point- I believe you are a coward." -(Excerpt from 'The Lip-Stick Theory' by S. M. El-Mously)

Perhaps we've all experienced the black and white in certain situations that made us act unnaturally in a wrong way, or in one that is frowned down upon. Does that make us evil? Does that make us villains?

Each and every person has a past. One that controls and tries to reform their present, and will control their future. What if villains were just misjudged humans who made mistakes and are now confused? Maybe the hero's job is to clarify their confusion, and show them the light through their darkest hours.

We are all humans. We all make mistakes. Villains have every right to make mistakes, that may not be inspiring and may be quite fatal, but they're still mistakes because they're human. 

Unless they're some type of flesh-eating monster from across the galaxy. Then, that is a different story altogether. 

Hollywood has indeed taken its toll in reviewing and critiquing the different movie ideas and making books come to life, reliving the villains' stories one by one until they find the hero to match their strength. Maybe the only thing Hollywood really did was put us under a trance- a spell so binding that we forget the true nature of good and evil. When reading a book, we can take the time to picture a scene in our head, as well as the emotions that the characters are portraying. If we're watching the scene as a movie, we are too controlled by the intensity of the scene- like a hero dropping unconscious with blood pouring out vigorously- that we fail to peer into the villain's perspective.

So what if the two very different worlds and their roles were reversed, allowing the heroes to be a villain and the villain to be a hero? Isn't that what one thinks of the other: that they cannot both be good? The hero believes that the villain is just that- a villain, representing the name of evil. The villain might think that the hero is stealing his or her spotlight, so they act on impulse. The truth is, both the hero and the villain are 'bad,' and both of them are 'good,' only one has more than the other of one characteristic. That's what everybody fails to notice, and what everybody fails to believe. 

Except maybe you. Are villains truly evil, or are they just broken pieces of a very complex puzzle? We challenge YOU to write a story revolving around the topic of 'villains' and who they are and how they contribute to society. So then, maybe, you'll see for yourself, and let the world know that everyone has an ounce of good in them.

Except those mutant freaks that ooze slime from their claws or something. I really do fail to notice the good in those creatures.

Wanna get those creative juices flowing? Try writing three sentences below about villains. Maybe it's a description of a character you've written or always hated or your real-life arch enemy. Talk about what makes them who they are, or how they make you feel. What are they like? Maybe you want to talk about their redeeming qualities or the fact that they have none. Write whatever inspires YOU - it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else.