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Q&A Would readers feel cheated if the villain is successful in convincing the protagonist to change sides?

So I'm writing a story where the main character is sent to kill the main villain. I have the basic world set out before me, and now I focus on story. I was planning out the main storyline and I hit...

4 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by M.Wallace‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question fiction characters
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:19:05Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/40616
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar M.Wallace‭ · 2019-12-08T10:19:05Z (almost 5 years ago)
So I'm writing a story where the main character is sent to kill the main villain. I have the basic world set out before me, and now I focus on story. I was planning out the main storyline and I hit a bit of a snag... uh-oh. I was thinking that the main character could get to the "villain" and go through that painful talk that all villains feel like they need to have, you know, where the hero is tied up, and they reveal their plan for some reason. But this time I was thinking it would actually work, and the hero would start working with the main "villain".

I initially thought that I wouldn't be cheated but then I started thinking about how I would actually react to this happening. Like, how upset I would be if I sat there reading this book, growing a hatred for the villain, and then all of a sudden I'm supposed to like them.

This brings me to my question. If I wrote this story this way, with the villain being successful in "the talk", would readers feel cheated out of half of a book or can it be done in a way that makes it a good experience?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-12-10T04:24:06Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 36