How far is too far before for a villain? Especially if you want to have a an arc where the villain becomes reformed and turns into a hero. The idea is to be seen by the reader as redeemable and relate-able. (Repentance Path) A character that goes from disliked to likable. I read that it is tricky and there is a line for everyone that varies of coarse but it sounds like there are absolutes as well. The idea is to make a character that isn't permanently hate-able.
Some things that 99% of the time make a character cross what TV Tropes calls 'The Moral Event Horizon', i.e. the villainous point of no redemption:
That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure there's more.
@@jynandor mass genocide of bandits from uncontrollable blood fury / blood lust vampire character coming into itself for the first time? Think Skyrim Companions Silver Hand quest when you become a werewolf for the first time. A hero who has been cursed into a monster and goes on a bender essentially from loss of mental faculty control.
So hero to villain to hero again?
Hmmm….maybe since they're bandits it wouldn't be as bad? And if it's literally an uncontrollable urge then it wouldn't be as bad as well? Like if Lupin killed someone as a werewolf you probably wouldn't blame him because he's likeable.
If you have little to no control, nobody would blame you, but if you're doing something unforgivable just for the heck of it that is a little too evil.
If the villains reasons are relatable or sympathetic enough than the audience will like them. It also helps if they have some sort of a weird friendship with another character, preferably a hero.
A line for me is if the villain is unnecessarily cruel, shows no empathy. Like torturing another character just for the hell of it, or making people suffer because they can. They have to be sympathetic to be redeemable in my opinion, like having a good, if not misguided, reason for doing what they're doing.