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Q&A How soon is too soon for a redemption arc?

My character, Day, is the son of a dictator and the director of state-sanctioned and sponsored torture of mutated humans, one of whom is my MC. He killed his own sister to prove to his father that...

3 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by weakdna says reinstate monica‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:52:58Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/42200
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar weakdna says reinstate monica‭ · 2019-12-08T10:52:58Z (almost 5 years ago)
My character, Day, is the son of a dictator and the director of state-sanctioned and sponsored torture of mutated humans, one of whom is my MC. He killed his own sister to prove to his father that he was worthy of his government position.

After being held hostage by the mutants after they escape custody, he tries to kill the youngest of the group, a six year old. He truly believes that his father's fascist rule and the outlawing of freedoms of speech, press, religion, etc. are completely justified and called for.

TL;DR: he's extremely misguided, kills indiscriminately, and shows no remorse.

I do plan to have Day switch sides eventually, in a kind of a Darth Vader, the-light-was-inside-you-all-along way. But with all of his horrible behavior and actions, how can I redeem him, and how do I not rush redemption?

Is it plausible for a villain of his caliber to be redeemed, or will readers find it forced? Is it cliche to even want a redemption arc (through friendship/love) for such a bad guy?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-02-13T15:59:35Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 22