It is always good to look into the mind of a killer. It is always better to understand those who were or would be monsters. Simply dismissing such individuals as insane or evil is a failing of our species.
If we know the situation surrounding the creation of the villain, we can perhaps learn how to better deal with it, perhaps even recognize and prevent catastrophe.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
That's my theory. Sometimes they are insane. Sometimes they are evil.
Quite often they have a justification that allows one to sit down and say "Well, even though I grossly disagree with you, I see where you are going with this..."
That's the point of the most recent entry, which discusses the definition of the word "criminal". I disagree with what James is saying, to be sure. It's just that, he makes it sound so reasonable.
And yes, we probably could better deal with these situations. Sometimes, though, I wonder how we could deal with it. I mean, let's take James again. Let's say we are getting a window into his mind, and are beginning to understand that there is a coherence to his madness. What do we do? How do we, the average person, react?
Now that we understand it, are we really empowered to change anything?
I like your character here. Another forum poster once had a quote for his/her sig that said "Crazy people and powerful people have one thing in common. Instead of changing their views to fit the facts, they change the facts to fit their views." Your character exemplifies this trait (especially since we're talking a super powered villain here), and it's downright chilling to read the words he writes to his "true love." He's obviously pathologically deluded (Steve Urkel's "You love me, don't you?" only worse), and frighteningly dangerous. This should turn into an intriguing story.
I always felt the most compelling villain would be one that isn't just simply "insane" or "evil," but makes a compelling decision to go out and do wicked and cruel things because (likely) he believe it's the right thing to do. Almost like an eco-terrorist, only with a wider goal in mind. He would go out and leave fire and destruction in his wake, simply because he believes it will amount to the most good as the end result. Possibly an ends justifies the means, or maybe the type like the Government Agent in Serenity ("I know I'm a monster. I choose to be. I will carve a swath through this world to make way for a better one for you to live in down the line. I don't mind that I'll be executed when I'm done.")
Though such a person would be missing something to facilitate such a decision (likely, emotion), they wouldn't necessarily be insane or evil.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
((For those interested, I've added a new entry that reflects some meditation on a recent real world incident. The incident has been changed enough to not tie the Real World and Paragon City together.))
I am currently keeping an in-character diary of a villain named James Garnett.
It is an experiment of mine to help myself and others understand the mind of a criminal. While it is sometimes proper to simply dismiss someone as insane or wicked, it is sometimes also better to understand people. When we lose the desire to understand one another, we lose a little bit of ourselves.
I am not justifying this character by any means. He is a despicable, homicidal maniac. I just think this will be an interesting project into human psyche.
Here is the blog of James Garnett. Start at the bottom entry.
Discuss below!