There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who love the villains: the morally grey ones, the evil ones, the romantic ones, all of them. Then, those who hope that people can change or that they can help fix them — or maybe you are both. Wherever you fit is perfect because you are in the right place. For all your villain cravings and redemption arcs, here are five books where the villain becomes a hero.
Circe by Madeline Miller
Madeline Miller brings us a retelling of a myth called Circe. While it is important to note that it is not accurate to the original story, it retells one of the major villains against Odysseus in Homer’s The Odyssey. It was published in 2018, and while Circe is not a villain in this story, it puts the well-known villain into a more sympathetic light, offering a story of her hardships before The Odyssey took place. The story is more of a backstory of Circe than anything else.
The story follows Circe’s life. When she was born, it was soon discovered that she wasn’t as powerful or gorgeous as her parents; she had nothing for herself. Once she lived among the mortals, though, she learned that she is a master of witchcraft. Zeus is threatened and trapped on an abandoned island, where she becomes a stop for many famous mythological figures, but that isn’t all. She is a lone woman on an island, and because of that, she sees the wrath of men and gods. She must decide what life is meant for her: gods or mortals.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
The Cruel Prince is the first book in the Folk of the Air series by Holly Black. The series has many different villains, but in the first book, we can see that one villain changes drastically. Cardan Greenbrair is a main bully towards Jude, punishing her and just being vulgar towards her in general. The Cruel Prince was published in 2018 and is a young adult fantasy novel.
The story follows a mortal Jude Duarte, who was stolen by the fae and taken to their world. There, she is ruthlessly bullied and constantly undermined by everyone. She also has to deal with Cardan, the wickedest of princes. He is cruel and mean, and does a lot to make her life harder and make her feel more unwelcome. It only pushed Jude to learn about her skills and trickery in the fae realm. Cardan, however, does change; after multiple attempts and tricks, he becomes a hero alongside Jude, as love made him realize his wrongdoings.
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, which became a movie in 2013, is not your traditional villain turned hero. It is the first book in the Warm Bodies series and was published back in 2010. It is a zombie story, but the zombie becomes a changed man. He isn’t a traditional villain but a zombie who still eats humans. But anyone can change.
R is a zombie who eats people, but prefers to stay in his isolated airport doing his own thing. However, a girl appears — a human girl — and something changes. Does she seem appetizing? Yes… But it’s more than that. He doesn’t want her like he wanted other humans; he might love her. But this will change everything in their world as they know it, because zombies are always the bad guys, right? They aren’t alive, so how can they even feel emotions?
Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card
Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card is an older book, originally published in 1999, but re-published numerous times. It is the first book in the Shadow saga. It is a story full of rivals in a battle school, but there is one antagonist who becomes better throughout the saga. You do have to read the rest of the series to see Peter Wiggin’s (Ender’s brother) redemption arc.
The story follows Ender and his school rival, competing to be the school’s top commander and leading future teams into battle. However, there are many antagonists, one being Ender’s brother, Peter Wiggin. He is sadistic and finds joy in hurting living things and scaring people. His siblings fear him, but his impressive intelligence makes him even more dangerous. He slowly changes over the series, though, wanting to bring unity and less war to Earth, trying to use his powers for good.
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
V.E. Schwab brings us yet another dark fantasy novel that is too good to ignore. Vicious was published in 2013 and is the first book in the Villains duology, following two friends who become foes, Victor and Eli. This is another less traditional villain-turned-hero, as both characters are villains at some point, and antiheros at another, but we will be focusing on Victor.
Victor and Eli are best friends who learned, through perilous experiments, that humans can have superhuman abilities under specific pressures. After ten years and a prison break, Victor is ready to hunt down Eli for everything he did. Victor is a villain as he commits heinous experiments and acts with superpowers; however, it seems Eli isn’t so good himself. Victor’s redemption arc is fascinating, and you will have to read to understand it for yourself.
All of these villains, whether traditional or not, have the best redemption arcs we have seen. They all change due to some type of emotion, making them human. What is your favorite villain-turned-hero?
Some villains are better than the heroes. Click here to read more about our favorite villains.
Click here to find more books with some of the best morally grey characters.
