VILLAINS’S POINT OF VIEW & BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS THREAD.
>> Difference between “Villains”: Jihwa, Assassin & Jung In-Hun, Deok-Jae
(thread p1 +)
>> Difference between “Villains”: Jihwa, Assassin & Jung In-Hun, Deok-Jae
(thread p1 +)
If you perhaps hate these characters and think that they deserve to suffer because they’re planning to harm NK and SH, then let me tell you that I get how you feel ‘cause I‘m also praying for our main couple’s happiness. However, there are some things we need to discuss.
You must think that Jihwa is right now the worst villain of the whole story, if not him, then In-Hun or Deok-Jae (or Min), and I guess we can’t say the same about N-N (No-Name) because we still don’t have enough information about his past and perspective, but, who’s worse?
Let’s start by Jihwa, as comprehending his story will lead us to do the same with the others. So let’s remember why he is a “villain”: he’s pretending to harm NK since first season due to his “obsessive love” for SH. However, we hadn’t go deep into his mind until last chapters.
We’ve seen him suffering & crying from the pain before, but now it has become worse since he’s starting to become an alcoholic and he’s almost having anxiety attacks, insomnia, as well as hurting himself out of his current mental struggles from feeling guilty and maybe hesitant.
From his nightmares we may think he doesn’t wanna get caught by SH, but even if that could be part of his fears, seeing that he’s blocking the sight of SHs devastated face from his memory, it looks like he‘s scared of facing the fact that he’ll really hurt his friend’s feelings.
SH’s possible reaction gives him shivers. He’s scared of, not only making him miserable, but also of finally ruining his relationship with him, ‘cause this time he would put a definitive end to it. We can’t affirm that he cares about NK, but he does care about SH.
Now, objectively talking, the fact that the author showed us closer Jihwa’s mind, his nightmares and current daily struggles, can be interpreted as some of the resources Byeonduck is using to make us empathize with this character, as well as she did with Seungho’s situation.
It hurts to say this, but it’s well known that Seungho also tried to hurt NK in the past, and even if we adore him and we’ve already gotten over it, it isn’t fair and it’s almost a double moral to say that the others deserve to be hated for harming NK while SH must be forgiven.
If it wasn’t because author portrayed Jihwa’s fears & worries in last chapters, it’d be more understandable if we just had a misconception about him and hated him rather than understand him bc of the lack of references, which allow us to sympathize with the characters’s emotions.
But the author showed us more of his story to try to make us comprehend him a little more. Is true that the scenes can be interpreted in many ways, so we can’t proclaim that we already know exactly what he’s feeling, but in fact, BD has showed us his weakest side for a reason.
So now we can think: Then, why sympathizing with Jihwa (as we did with SH), and not with In-Hun? There are lots of differences between these characters, but I’ll try to be concise with my answer to not make this even longer.
As we know, In-Hun’s character is the personification of ambitious, selfishness, arrogance. Jihwa might be jealous, but this character, IH, is envious and greedy. He always sees himself over the top and he takes advantage of other people for his own gain.
Moreover, he’s a total hypocrite, which is not exactly Jihwa’s case since, because he tends to be naive and mentally weak, he doesn’t hide his personality at all. IH is the opposite, his hatred isn’t showed at all, he portrays himself as a puritan while on the inside he’s rotten.
The main problem with this character is that he doesn’t seem to have any regrets, remorse nor a pinch of humanity since he just seeks his own benefit in every situation. Besides, there aren’t any scenes of him being genuine hence we don’t have solid reasons to empathize with him.
Still, in some way, the author even tried to make us sympathize with another villain like Deok-Jae, by showing us his grievance from Seungho’s “beating” as a part of his perspective, making him appear almost blind, which is something we can empathize with or even relate to.
This can be interpreted as a way of BD justifying his future actions, which will be the result of his resentment and hatred towards Seungho due to his mistreatment or maybe more reasons we still don’t know.
//I’m personally scared of SH&NK’s safety and hope they doesn’t get hurt.
//I’m personally scared of SH&NK’s safety and hope they doesn’t get hurt.
As for N-N, I think that, to say it’s fine to hate him just bc “maybe he’s killed multiple people before” or love him just ‘cause “he’s hot”, it’s not enough justification since in fact we still don’t know him, hence we don’t have enough solid reasons to hate him right away.
What we’re sure about is that he’s doing the job he’s been paid for & also he’s probably living an indecent life full of lust and betrayal due to his social status and current possibilities, as we get to see that his tattoos meant some kind of punishment for theft in Asia.
So, to conclude, seeing the story from an objective POV, we’ve sympathized with the characters BD wanted us to do so, since creating empathy for the characters in a story is the main technic to generate interest in your work and even support its plot (if it lacks of sustenance).
Moreover, since sympathizing with the characters is the main purpose of each work, that’s what we’re doing, but if we excuse one, the same excuses could be used for the others. Also we’ll probably see a development in SOME of the villains, so let’s hope everything turns out well.
Apart from that, it’s great to have different perspectives bc we’re able to discuss about the topic that way. Also I didn’t go too deep into each character since I tried to make this thread as concise as i could (failed), but this is not the end ^^
Thanks for reading!!!
Thanks for reading!!!