From Ocelot to Saren: Video Game Villains That Had a Point
When it comes to video games, it’s a pretty safe bet to think that you’re the good guy and the bad guy is, well, the bad guy. However, there are some rare occasions when things aren’t what they initially appear to be and it turns out that the game villain actually had a point in the first place. Plots are becoming increasingly more complicated and fleshed out, meaning that there are often multiple ways to deal with an issue.
However, not all of these are open to the player, despite the rise of multiple endings. As it turns out, some of these video game villains may have actually been right the entire time. They probably needed a few hits with a sword anyway, though.
King Logan – Fable III
King Logan is perfectly set up as the villain of Fable III; the first time we meet him is during a choice to kill either a group of protesters or your love interest. It doesn’t get much more villain-y than that, but the story unfolds further and reveals that King Logan is ruling over a kingdom with extremely high taxes and excessive corruption. And a little bit of slavery for good measure.
Naturally, we do good people things and eventually overthrow King Logan and this is where the twist reveal comes into play; King Logan was attempting to raise enough funds to defend the kingdom from an imminent Crawler. Once king, the player is forced to somehow come up with the gold needed to defend the entire kingdom, which is exactly what King Logan was doing.
Now, if we could take back all of that stabbing and stuff and just go back to farming, maybe? Or smithing; anything to not have to deal with the Crawler.
Saren Arterius – Mass Effect
Saren Arterius has everything you’d look for in a game villain; sinister voice, foreboding music, giant living spaceship. The usual suspects. He’s also using his giant living spaceship – a sentient monster called Sovereign – to travel to a number of relay points in space and begin an invasion of the solar system. This will bring the Reapers who plan on destroying all life in the galaxy.
Suggested Reading: The Rise and Fall of Bioware: Mass Effect at 10.
However, morals get slightly murkier once we find out Saren Arterius’ motivations; instead of wanting to destroy all life, he’s sided with the Reapers as a way to try protect a certain amount of each race. Arterius believes that the invasion is inevitable so by siding with them he believes that he’ll save each of the races from complete extinction.
Loghain Mac Tir – Dragon Age Origins
Throughout a decent portion of Dragon Age Origins, Loghain Mac Tír is depicted as a traitor despite having been considered a war hero for quite some time. This branding comes after he refuses to reinforce the King’s troops and flee to Denerim, seizing control for himself.
However, that may have actually be the smart move when you consider Loghain’s point of view; the battle was lost and if his army fell there would be nobody to defend Ferelden from either the Dark Spawn, or the Orlesian.
It was cruel, but he saw no other option when it came to defending his kingdom. Why try win one battle if it means losing the rest of the war?
Haytham Kenway – Assassin’s Creed III
Throughout the entirety of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, we see the world almost exclusively through the eyes of the Brotherhood of Assassins. As we begin Assassin’s Creed III, we enter the shoes of Haytham Kenway, making us believe that he too is an Assassin. However, we’re quickly put into the shoes of Connor when it’s revealed that Kenway is a Templar, the Brotherhood’s sworn enemy.
During the game however, we see Kenway’s doubts about the morality of both the Brotherhood and Templar Order. Despite being Grand Master of the Templar Order, it’s been his vision to unite both groups and bring balance to the world. Through this, it looks as though Haytham Kenway and the Brotherhood of the Assassins may have had the same goal. If only we hadn’t been so hidden knife stab-happy.
Revolver Ocelot – Metal Gear Solid Series
Revolver Ocelot has a lot of blood on his hands throughout the decades shown in the Metal Gear Solid series. Throughout the entire time he was known as one of Solid Snake’s biggest arch-enemies. At one point, he even helped Liquid Snake threaten the world with a walking nuclear tank.
In contrast to many other game villains, however, Revolver Ocelot was acting as a triple agent. Throughout the majority of the time we’ve known him, he’s been working towards handing power back to the population. In Sons of Liberty, his actions were geared toward getting rid of the Patriots so that the AI wouldn’t be able to maintain the global war economy.
The majority of his actions throughout the rest of the franchise all fit this mold; getting blood on his hands in the name of the greater good. And Liquid Snake’s hand, technically.
