Grey and Gray Morality

I'm having issues writing a story with the morality described above. The reason: It's a story starring 3 stereotypical fantasy villains: A spiky, skully warlord, a manipulative bastard, and an omnicidal eldritch abomination. It's not supposed to be evil vs evil, but the character types are hard to make sympathetic.

Omnicide pretty much makes any morality black.

The warlord can be honorable, fearless, and a competent leader to his legions of doom while still being cruel and evil. The manipulative bastard doesn't really need to be made too sympathetic; they can be so fun to watch enacting their complex schemes that you root for them regardless. They both don't want the world to end, so they'll oppose the Eldritch Abomination. If you want to shade things even more, make it so the Eldritch Abomination was created/summoned/released due to the actions of the other two, or even released by alleged "good guys" in an attempt to defeat them. Or give it a tragic backstory, like it Was Once a Man before it became omnicidal.

How are we defining "omnicidal"? Would Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence applied large-scale count as "omnicidal"?

^ That would be a good way to make Omnicidal morally grey.

Another idea is to mix in some blue and orange with your grey. Have the Eldritch Abomination's motivation fleshed out enough that you realize that it's utterly inhuman, and therefore can't be judged by human standards of morality.

Hmm... I like the idea of giving the abomination some inhuman motives. I'll certainly work on that.

The Warlord I've decided to give a bit of backstory to, and flesh out a bit more as a character.

And the Bastard is supposed to be sympathetic, I'm trying to subvert/deconstruct villain tropes.

Well, maybe the Manipulative Bastard has a good goal and believes Utopia Justifies the Means. Or give him a Morality Pet.

edited 14th Dec '10 8:28:47 AM by Ettina

Maybe a bit more description of the characters would help?

The Warlord-guy's goal is to tear down a corrupt church that's been oppressing the commoners and controlling the government, and then take over as king so he can... oppress the commoners and control the government, but allow for religious freedom.

The Manipulative Bastard wants to control the church so he can oppress the commoners and control the government, but he believes he is Crystal Dragon Jesus reborn and thus is the only one fit to lead.

The Eldritch Abomination wants to end all life on Earth so he can have some more company in Hell.

Make the Eldritch Abomination a Yaoi Fangirl who ships the otehr two villains!

Wait...

The Eldritch Abomination wants to end all life on Earth so he can have some more company in Hell.

That sounds a bit too human for something "Eldritch" to me.

His motive is he wants the world tortured for eternity, not loneliness. He feeds off despair and pain, which make him stronger. He is also this world's version of Satan.

Does the EA have... servants? Associates? People of like nature that he cares about? Spreading terror, despair, and so on becomes a lot more sympathetic when you're doing it to feed your family.

He has a Morality Pet of sorts... but honestly, I don't think he CAN be sympathetic, considering his goal and everything.

Why? People have tried to make Satan sympathetic before.

edited 16th Dec '10 5:56:05 PM by Noaqiyeum

The Warlord could be made more sympathetic by giving him a reason to be so oppressive. An experience with a lynch mob or something could give him a Humans Are Bastards world view that makes him feel the masses need to be controlled. His soldiers could be ruthlessly efficient, but not sadistic. Since Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil, having your warlord execute one of his soldiers for that crime will earn him points as well.

If you want to give the Eldritch Abomination a chance of being... well, not entirely unsympathetic, give it a heavy dose of Blue-and-Orange Morality. Maybe it doesn't understand pain; perhaps it simply isn't aware that its victims are sentient, or perhaps it can't tell the difference between agony and ecstasy.

Remember that being grey isn't about being sympathetic but morally ambiguous OP.

Well, the warlord/lynch mob/Humans Are Bastards thing sounds good, but what if that was related to the church - say if he broke one of their tenets or was from a different religion/culture - and that made him see it as a Religion of Evil? People can sympathise with revenge without seeing it as a good thing, especially if it's combined with other aims.