In one of the most famous stories of all times, The Lord of the Rings, the lines between evil and good are very easy to see: Sauron is bad, Aragorn is good. Saruman is bad, Gandalf is good. Orcs are bad, Elves are good.
But oftentimes there’s a very thin line between good and evil, and the area around it is gray. So how can you tell the difference between which person is a hero, and which person is the villain?
Usually you can just look at the person’s morals to tell who is who. The hero wants to save the world and the villain wants to destroy it. Pretty simple, huh?
Today I want to dive into the core reasons a villain is a villain and a hero is a hero – but be forewarned, this was just an epiphany I had yesterday and decided to share.
***WARNING: BUNNY TRAILS AND RANDOM TRAINS OF THOUGHT AHEAD***
Hero vs. Villain
Say you have two children exactly alike. They both live immortal lives, they both are blessed with superpowers, they both grew up in the same situation with the same people and in the same place. But one grows into a villain, and the other into a hero.
Why?
A couple weeks ago my pastor gave a sermon on 1 Corinthians 12 and 13. He went over the spiritual gifts mentioned in Ch. 12, then dove into the topic of love in Ch. 13. He drew some interesting conclusions, which resulted in a loud gasp from me and odd looks from my family. XD (Just sayin’, this was over Zoom, so luckily no one else heard me. :P)
Let me explain.
1 Corinthians 12:8-11, the apostle Paul writes to his friends, the Corinthians, about spiritual gifts. He gives them a list: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracle-working, prophecy, the ability to distinguish between spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues, all through the same Holy Spirit. Verse 7 points out that to “each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Aka, everyone has a gift.
See, but what got me thinking was verse 6, which says that “God… empowers them all [meaning the gifts] in everyone”.
Empowers.
In one of my current WIPs (works-in-progress), there’s this person titled the “Bestower”. Basically they were appointed by God to “bestow” upon chosen ones superpowers (in a very broad sense). Once a person has a power, they are referred to by others as “empowered”.
Ergo, my mind immediately began wondering if spiritual gifts are really just forms of superpowers God gives us. (Welcome to the way my brain works. XD) So the entire rest of the sermon I was comparing both real superpowers with the things my pastor said and focusing on the spiritual gifts side.
Do me a favor. Enter into my brain and see what I was thinking as I swapped the word “superpowers” for various words in this part when it was read.
“If I have a invisibility, but have not love, I am a useless vessel or a annoying prankster. And if I have all power, and can move with all speed and all silence, and if I have all strength, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I can create force-fields, and if I can command fire, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, JBV (Joelle’s Brain Version))
——–*Joelle gasps in real life*——–
Did you catch it?
Love is the key.
Throughout the entire Bible there’s one message proclaimed: love. What is the greatest commandment? Love God. What’s the second-greatest commandment? Love people. (Matthew 22:37-39) What was one of Jesus’ last commands before he went back to his kingdom? Love each other as he has loved us. (John 15:12) Why was Jesus even here in the first place? God loved us. (John 3:16)
Look up how many times the word “love” is used in the Bible. It’s a lot (try counting that high – you’ll probably get bored).
One of my favorite quotes is this: “For love is strong as death.” -God
The greatest battles of all time have been fought because of the differences between good and evil, life and death, love and hate–love and death. Jesus died because he loved us. He rose again from death because of that love. Love and death go hand-in-hand (though usually they’re hands clasped in combat, not, well, love).
“Uh, Joelle,” you warn, “I think you’re getting off-track. What about our hero and villain up there at the top? What are we even talking about now?”
*sheepish smile* I have a habit of doing that. Thanks for bringing me back.
I recently watched the two Wonder Womans, but it was the first one that sparked my imagination. This is honestly where this all started – why is Diana good, and Ares bad? [SPOILER ALERT!!] They both have the same father, both are gods, [SPOILER END!!] both have superpowers, both mean well. So… why the difference?
Simple: Diana loves others, and Ares loves himself.Think of all the superheroes, protagonists, innocent gardeners in history and compare them with all the supervillains, antagonists, and not-so-innocent soldiers in history.
Frodo vs. Gollum – Frodo wants to save the Shire, Gollum seeks his own comfort.
Rey vs. Kylo-ren – Rey wants to save the Revolution, Kylo-ren wants to prove himself.
Janner vs. Gnag the Nameless – Janner wants to save his family, Gnag wants to make the world pay for his hurt.
Obviously this isn’t a catch-all, but in most cases (especially with superhero-type stories), it seems that the hero wants to help others and the villain wants to achieve his/her own ends.
Wrap Up
*wipes forehead* There you have it – a trip through my brain! Congrats if you managed to follow my train of thought through all the loops and bunny-trails. *applauds* You deserve a chocolate milkshake. *yeets one onto your lap*
What do you think? Am I on the right track or waaay out of line? What are some other villain/hero combos that you can think of, and what is the difference between them? How rambly can I really be?
*yeets more milkshakes* Take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth! 😉
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