Do You Kill Your Villains?

Do you kill your villains every time? Should you, or should you not? The hero deserves revenge right?

~

I just got done with the first/second draft of my latest novel. When I outlined it almost six months ago, I had planned on killing off the villain at the end of the novel. It seemed like a good idea, seeing as I had no more plans for him. But then it came time for him to die. I started typing it out, and realized how much I didn't want him to die. I grew to like my villain. He was evil, like most villains, but broken. Very, very, very broken inside. (I know, the whole Loki Complex, and "he's just broken like everyone else" thing usually isn't my normal route for villains. I like clean, honest justice.) But there was something inside my villain's soul. A hope that I saw. A second chance. (I'm aware he is fiction, but inside me, it's like he's real. You won't understand unless you have your own characters.)

So many times, in movies and in books, we see this "revenge" act. I get that some people shouldn't be out on the streets, and they all need to pay for their crimes, but by justice, not revenge. We all have gotten second chances in life, right? We all have a Savior who has given us a chance to make up and to repent. And in stories there is too much "kill them now, they don't deserve to live". And I know none of it is real, but honestly, we all feel a connection to the fictitious people. And we watch how they are treated in movies, and it leaks into the real world. Criminals deserve to be punished for their wrong doings, but do we do it the right way?

The point of it all was, I couldn't kill my character unjustifiably. He was a very bad man. He killed many people. He hurt many people. Broke his family into little pieces, using his own personal motivations to hurt his daughter. And at the beginning, it was a great idea to kill him. In the end, he would have deserved death. So why was it so hard? I had killed off a couple of other characters earlier in the book. It was hard, and I didn't want to, but for the story to stay realistic and to keep moving forward, those certain people needed to die. Other characters were hurt, they had all the reason to shoot the villain on the spot. And instead, I had them cuff him and bring him into the system where he went to court. He got justice, where he was sentenced to life in prison and possible death row. He was off the streets and couldn't hurt anyone anymore.

It's almost like there's two type of people. One kind is the "Loki"* kind. Those people justify everything the villain does, saying he is doing it because he is hurt and broken. They watch the villain do all the bad things and argue that he "has a right to do that because he had an awful childhoood".
And there is the kind that says "kill them all. KILL THEM ALL WITH FIRRRREEE". Erm... no. Don't kill them all, because they deserve a fair judgment. Even if they're fake. If there's a way to bring them in and put them through a court, then do that. The kind of people that wants all the villains to die is the kind of people that just like things easy for the hero. They're the kind that doesn't like to fight for what's right. They fight, but only to keep things simple for the hero.

Do you kill your villain all the time?
Do you give him too many chances without judgment?
Or is there a happy-medium?

Don't get me wrong. I do believe in sympathizing with Villains and actually seeing how they got where they got. Evil doesn't just happen over night, and I realize that. So heeeeey. I'm not totally against Loki lovers. Villains: Evil isn't born, it's made.

*I use this phrase because too many people fight for Loki and justify all that he did. Ehhh, I don't agree with that. I do like Loki, though. He's pretty awesome. However, he needeth tough love and hope. Not a cheep get away. Anyways, I'll stop with that argument. ;)
(AAANDDDD. This was my real post for the week. The last one was... very random...)