Sometimes, stubborn people can have a change of heart when it comes to family. A common weakness for even a sympatheitc villain would a family member or someone close to them. With this concept, I thought, what if a prejudice antagonist changed his mindset when there is a mixed race in his family?
Here I am talking about Smasher again. As I have asked before, what if something challenges his passion? What if someone he loves is part of the very species he swore to crush to death? The red female in the illustration is his wife Nicole Torchwood, the mother of Maxwell Torchwood and a candidate for the president of Earth. From how I have written their relationship, they have dated and married before humans and aliens started coexisting, with Nicole having a human disguise. However, Smasher’s desire to kill aliens drove him to leave his wife and was never seen again until the events of the book. During that time of Smasher’s absent Maxwell was born without knowing his father.
I do have the family reunite with Smasher, whose worldview on his aliens is put to the test, after learning his wife and children are aliens. Regarding Smasher’s character, I would not call him a villain. Not every assassin or bounty hunter in a story are the villains, they are more like antagonists, or anti-heroes. Yes, Smasher does kill aliens on page, but not any main characters. Or least any of major importance. That way his actions do not pull the audience away from the family embrace in the illustration above. Also, with every assassin, there is a client, who is an actual villain. The client of Smasher would be later talked about in future blogs.
While it is possible for characters to change, the redemption also have to be acknowledged by other people in the story. So a question I asked my self when writing Smasher, how would the citizens of Earth reacts to a well-known alien killer suddenly drop his hatred, right in front of them? Would they accept it? Would they even recognize it? Or would they mistaken the family embrace as something else?
These questions can be applied to any story if you want to include a redemptive antagonist? What are your thoughts on such characters? Do you know similar characters in other media? How would you write a character changing toxic worldviews? Is there more about Smasher you think I should have included or expanded upon? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.