(Originally posted on January 20, 2016. Still holds for me.)

Now, I’d like to say that ‘win’ does not always equal ‘survive’.  Heroes can be victorious and die.  This part is really a clarification of my own stance and I’m also not entirely sure where to go with this because the above quote sums it up perfectly.

It wasn’t only recently that I heard someone say that they have shows, movies, and books where they good guys win.  They claimed that it’s unrealistic that good triumphs over evil, which is rather telling about the speaker.  I mean, you have a person who accepts that bad guys will usually win.  They want fiction to reveal this and the series that they’re into reflect this thought.  I’m talking about a person who cheers when a good person dies in Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead.  In fact, I watched a series called Defiance and the last season seemed to go full-on GoT.  Many people said it was how a show should be made because it was dark and gritty like life.  I wasn’t one of this people.

Call me naive, innocent, blind, or whatever insult you have in mind.  The truth is that I don’t like having bad guys win unless there’s another story coming where they fail.  So far, I’ve only had evil triumph in Catalysts and Raven’s Hold, which are my attempts at horror.  Note how often I go back to those.  The thing is that I see bad guys winning as a twist ending that has lost it’s use.  It makes the rest of the story rather moot since you’re typically following the hero.  All the work and trials the protagonist went through were for nothing.  In a way, I feel like I was made to waste my time because the world I was invested in has either remained the same or plunged into darkness.  I’ll go back if it looks like a new hero has arisen, but there will be some distance.

Here’s the thing with me and the whole ‘good vs evil’ shtick.  I tend to think we do live in a rough world where those of darker natures win over those who are good.  We’re constantly bombared by sensational headlines and reasons to be afraid of the world.  Even at smaller scales, I’ve heard of people getting success by backstabbing and kissing ass while a hard-working employee is locked in their position.  Heck, I was even told once that to rise up the ranks, I couldn’t be nice.  This left a sour taste in my mouth because negativity begets negativity.  I know it’s weird coming from a guy who gets angry or depressed a lot, but that’s another reason I do what I do.  My stories give me hope and allow me a bit of positive energy.

That’s the big reason I have my heroes win.  I put them through hell and break them at several points, but I like to see them find new reserves of strength.  A hero who quits after a setback isn’t one worth following, especially since their story is probably over.  Besides, why should I add to the negativity and cynicism that seems to be running rampant today?  I hate feeling this way, so I wouldn’t want to make someone else come away from my stories thinking that good will always lose.

Do I think it’s wrong to have evil win?  No because it’s a personal choice.  It’s simply not the one I make and there are days I feel like I have to defend my decision to stand on the side of good.  Not only that, but that’s where the stories and Windemere as a whole tends to go.  Bedlam too in a way because that’s about surviving and retaining your humanity in a harsh world.

Anyway, I leave you with this: