In many cases, the determining factor between a hero and a villain isn’t what they do. It’s why they do it. When the protagonist of a story gives everything they have to protect others or save the world, they tend to stay pure. If their motivation is closer to revenge, then Nietzsche’s old adage comes into effect.
Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin was rightabout one thing. People love to see a hero fall, fail, and die trying. When a shiny beacon of light and optimism hangs up their cape and turns to the dark side, many fans suddenly love them more than ever. The fall-from-grace arc can grant a character new depth, but it can also make them edgy enough to make the angstiest teenage boy happy.
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Nietzsche warned, “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.” The quote comes from hisBeyond Good and Evil, a lengthy treatise arguing thatmorality must be more complexthan simply declaring some actions good and others evil. In fiction, the quote serves as a catch-all to refer to ostensibly heroic characters gradually becoming that which they sought to destroy. The trope rarely involves the hero becoming a literal monster. Instead, a potentially decent goal gives way to unforgivable methods. If they are fighting inhuman beasts, they’ll likely adopt a kill-only policy regardless of context. Those that fight monsters might abandon their allies, accept massive collateral damage, or become insufferable on a personal level. Some cases have some lore explanation forthe hero’s heel turn, but the best examples explain it with pure character-focused storytelling.
For hundreds of years, the home of He Who Fights Monsters was the revenge tragedy. The late 1500s and early 1600s were rife with stories of decent people succumbing to outrageous acts of depravity in cyclical acts of vengeance. The genre developed from Ancient Greek and Roman tragedies in which a character would exact punishment for a crime, but their unlawful execution would mark them as guilty.Shakespeare’sTitus Andronicusisan early example in which a beloved, wise, and merciful Roman general enters a bitter revenge-fueled race to the bottom with his captured opponent. Years later,The Revenger’s Tragedywould cover many of the same themes. That play, probably written by Thomas Middleton but previously attributed to Cyril Tourneur, follows a vengeful master of disguise as he enacts countless atrocities against the man who killed his betrothed. Both works are often considered parodies of revenge stories, but the entire genre trades in staged “The Aristocrats” jokes. The heroes aren’t always saints, but they always sink below any reasonable standard of moral decency by the story’s end.
Many filmmakers have continued the theatrical revenge tradition onto the big screen. One of the finest modern examples isKim Jee-woon’sI Saw the Devil. The film stands as the ideal feature-length exploration of Those Who Fight Monsters. Its hero is Kim Soo-hyun, a dedicated and skilled officer of the National Intelligence Service. Kim’s fiancee is brutally murdered by a serial killer named Jang Kyung-chul. It takes Kim less than a day to find the culprit. He has Jang dead to rights. He could bring him to justice or end his life in an instant. But he doesn’t. Instead, Kim plays a savage cat-and-mouse game with Jang, repeatedly capturing him, torturing him, and letting him go. Kim’s morals escape him, his fiancee’s family begs him to stop, and even Jang struggles for mercy. When Kim finally enacts his final vengeance, even he can’t stand the person he’s become.I Saw the Devilmay be the most engaging thriller of recent memory, and its statement on revenge couldn’t be clearer.
For a much more fanciful example, look to Capcom’s belovedStreet Fighterfranchise.Ryu, the series' main character, is a skilled martial artist who spends his entire life struggling to avoid becoming He Who Fights Monsters. Ryu’s fighting style opens him up to the influence of theSatsui no Hadoor Surge of Murderous Intent. He’s a decent man who wants nothing more than to fight strong opponents and work toward self-improvement. The Dark Hado kicks in whenever Ryu’s drive to win outweighs his moral backbone. Evil Ryu represents the version of the character who has fallen prey to the trope. However, Ryu also subverts the concept by rejecting his baser instincts and finding new strength in the Power of Nothingness.Ryu must always remainvigilant. Though he’s likely never heard Nietzsche, his famous quote holds special significance for the World Warrior.
He Who Fights Monsters is an endlessly compelling trope that can affect almost any kind of hero. The edgy anti-hero might be the usual suspect, buteven a symbol of hopecan fall prey to corruption. Fictional history has taught the lesson that vengeance can undo anyone in countless unspeakably violent ways. Hopefully, heroes will start taking Nietzsche’s advice.
