Does anyone have any advice for a morally grey character? Or for a character who starts off bad but turns good? I have an idea for a story with a lot of characters who are either morally grey or bad people but they all team up to fight the worse evil. Sorry, I'm not really good at explaining things.
The best example of this that I can think of is Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender. He started off as a whiny, petulant brat who only cared about himself, and he was hunting down the main character to drag him to the enemy, Zuko's father. Now, Zuko had two things to keep him grounded: his loving, sweet, and caring uncle, and the fact that he wasn't really a bad person at heart. He was just a child who had a tragic backstory that was relatable. It wasn't just a Freudian excuse for his bad behavior; his past explained exactly why he was the way he was. Eventually, after some inner turmoil and interaction with the hero, Zuko was forced to confront not just his father who abused him, but himself, and he came to realize that what he wanted in life (his evil father's approval) was not what he needed in life, or even ultimately wanted. But even after Zuko turned to the good side, the good side did not immediately turn to him; he had been the hero and his friends' adversary for so long, that of course they did not immediately trust him. After stumbling around trying to be good for quite some time, he eventually gained the trust and companionship of the heroes, and he went on to help them save the world, and finally put his past to rest.
In my opinion, this is the quintessential example of morally grey/bad to good character. Of course, this may not necessarily fit what you'e going for, but I encourage you to study this archetype, because it avoids any of the pitfalls of bad morally grey villain/anti-villain characters. His tragic past isn't just an excuse to woobify him, he's not the stereotypical loner since he has loved ones who care about him and want him to do better, and he commits evil acts, but nothing so over the top evil that we're then forced by the narrative to forgive. And most importantly, his character arc was believable and realistic; he didn't just turn good out of nowhere just because, and the heroes didn't forgive him out of nowhere just because. All in all, your morally ambiguous character should be human, as in realistic and understandable. Ask yourself: could I see myself or others around me approaching this situation similarly given the background and choices that my character has? In this case, putting yourself in your character's shoes is the way to go.
Hope this helps!
Thanks. That was really helpful!