How to avoid some potential Unfortunate Implications with this set up?

So I'm worried that I might have written something with Unfortunate Implications, and I don't know if it's something that can be reworked or something I should scrap entirely.

Okay, so my story has a character in it who's something of an almighty Paragon. Tall, blonde, charismatic, inconceivably powerful within the magic system of my setting, and above all, he's kind, compassionate, and will do anything for the well being of his people and the world at large. He has a wife and three children, and together they rule a young kingdom that he recently created from scratch.

The thing is, he wasn't always like this. He was originally much, much darker; a bloodthirsty monster who ruled over a clan of raiders with an iron fist and a treacherous tongue. He was sadistic, cruel, and hedonistic. But after meeting the woman who would eventually become his wife, he suddenly became good. Almost overnight. He changed his name, moved to a new land, and acted every bit the altruistic hero. He eventually amassed a huge following with his natural charm, morals, and raw power, and went off to start his nation.

This isn't an act or a plan on his part. He genuinely means everything he's done and said since turning over a new leaf. The problem is that HE technically wasn't the one who turned it. His wife had acquired the services of what's known as a Vice Touched. Someone who's gained the ability to consume people's vices and flaws and carry them around inside them. When the Touched will it, die, or reach their limit, the vices they've consumed flow back into their original owners. If their owner is dead, the vice lingers on the planet as a bodiless specter. My world's version of ghosts.

His wife, who's something of a person of learning, had intentionally experimented on him to see if she could induce such a radical personality change. Normally, a Vice Touched isn't nearly strong enough to do something like this. Most of them hit their limit after a single afternoon of holding down a person's worst habits (such as making a councilman's greed less pronounced when he's debating new legislation). This Touched was impeccably strong, however, and could take a person's entire lifetime capacity for hatred and cruelty. The Man's wife found that she liked who he became, and ended up being with him on his journey, at first so she could keep an eye on him, but also because she genuinely cared.

The danger, of course, is what happens if this Vice Touched is discovered and forced to unleash the Man's vices? That's a major conflict at one point, but what I'm worried about is the fact that his wife is the one who did all this. It's kind of a twisted version of the idea of: "I can change him." She sees an evil man, wonders if she can make him good, and manipulates his very nature so he'll use his vast powers for the betterment of the world, only to then fall for what she's created and stop at nothing to keep what she's done a secret. I wonder if that might be a bit... offensive to write a woman that way.

Edited by GNinja on May 9th 2020 at 10:50:15 AM

First of all, that sounds like an amazing setup so congratulations on the story and good luck writing it.

Second of all...

No, what you have written isn’t offensive or “wrong”. One character did something technically good but manipulative and mind altering with potentially disastrous consequences. That’s it. If a male character did this to an evil queen I wouldn’t think it was any more against women than your current setup.

If anything this actually is a good deconstruction of an actually (in my opinion anyway) offensive anti male trope where a monstrous man becomes a better person through the interactions with a woman as if they somehow naturally tame our “inner evil”.

Finally...

This is just my two cents but never EVER be afraid to write something because you fear that it may offend certain groups of people. You cannot make everyone happy and your creative voice should not be enslaved to the sensibilities of others. I have fallen into that trap before and regret every minute wasted on pondering how to change or “soften” my writing to avoid any unintended offense.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on May 9th 2020 at 7:13:10 AM