…because it’s impossible to write a villain who’s truly evil if your moral compass reflects our current-year’s understanding (or lack therof) of good and evil.
Seriously, it explains so much, especially the concept of “emotional ethics,” where characters are deemed to be good or evil based on how likeable or relatable they are. This happens ALL THE TIME in modern fantasy, and I HATE it. I don’t care if your character has friends or pets a cat or has a thorough and well-written backstory. If they do something I find to be wrong or immoral, I will judge them accordingly.
Great video. Worth watching.
Maybe that’s why I’m mostly reading LitRPG and Military Sci-fi these days. The bad guys are evil.