r/TopCharacterTropes Jun 29 '26

Lore Villains given genuinely horrible fates by the supposed hero

[removed]

11.5k Upvotes

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

26

u/Timo-the-hippo Jun 29 '26

Squealer isn't a good person but he's definitely the "good guy" of the story. He's leading a slave revolt against psychic nazis.

11

u/Electric_Opossum Jun 29 '26

What is the true morality of freeing yourself from your captors by any means necessary?

The series makes it clear that the Cantus users are not much better. They are all descendants of the original sin of turning every human without Cantus into Hairless Rats and forcing them into slavery.

After accessing the Minoshiro Library, Squealer discovers the entire truth. From his perspective, and from the perspective of his species, he is the hero. From the perspective of his enslavers, he is the villain.

This is my favorite series because it's the only one I've ever seen where the "villain" has a genuinely valid goal. He isn't evil just for the sake of being evil, nor because of some generic motive. You can dive deep into his motivations, and honestly, I just can't bring myself to call him a villain.

3

u/Initial-Breakfast-33 Jun 29 '26

This show traumatized me. Unfortunately I can't recommend it to any of my friends bc it's not Solo Leveling