User blog:Misry6/Pure Evil Removal Proposal: Romeo (Minecraft: Story Mode)

I'm going to make another removal proposal for a villain who isn't listed as Pure Evil. I thought he was going to qualify as such back in 2017, but I was so wrong. This discussion is for Romeo from Telltale's series, Minecraft: Story Mode.

Who is the Villain?
Romeo is, ultimately, the main antagonist of Minecraft: Story Mode overall. He was once best friends with two other people named Xara and Fred who gained immense powers from an unknown source. Becoming extremely powerful humans known as Admins, they created towns for themselves. However, while Xara and Fred got over it, Romeo was obsessed with keeping his friends together and was willing to go to extremes to make that happen, so he fought Xara and Fred for control over their own world. Having killed Fred slowly and painfully, Romeo immediately felt guilt over it, so he imprisoned Xara in the Sunshine Institute, a prison in the bedrock layer which he formed over their world. Eventually, Romeo claimed the title of "the Admin", came to Jesse's world, and lied that he created it, and created a sea temple there, thus indirectly murdering Vos and Sammy, while also scarring Jack's life.

During the events of Season Two of the series, Romeo disguises himself as Vos where he unites with Jack. He and Jesse's group then go to a deadly contest hosted by himself, and eventually gets separated from everyone else. However, after some time, "Vos" reveals himself to be "the Admin", exposes his true form, and berates Jesse for losing his challenge before becoming partners with Stella. After that, Romeo makes Jack/Petra his new champion (depending on which one Jesse chose to destroy the clock) and teleports the group away.

Romeo, at the Sunshine Institute, fires the Warden for failing to keep track of Jesse, and tries to force the latter to fight Jack/Petra to the death, but the two attack Romeo, who destroys their swords. After that, Romeo disguises himself as Jesse and teleports with Stella to Beacontown, where he turns it into a dictatorship. Soon after that, "Jesse" sends Ivor to kill anyone pretending to be him even though the latter took the opportunity to discover the truth behind it. When Lukas sees "Jesse", the latter immediately teleports him into his prison below the newly-created floating tower above Beacontown.

When Jesse and his/her group return to Beacontown, they watch as Romeo (still disguosed as Jesse) decides to destroy Champion City to set up an example as to what will happen if anyone doesn't become his friend. He does so if the real Jesse gave Xara back her bed, but if not, Xara heads off to kill Romeo who suffocates her to death, even though he feels remorse for it like he did when he killed Fred. The next morning, Romeo reverts back to his true form when Jesse arrives at his office, clearly expressing concern about pretending to be Jesse and how hard that would be for himself, so he suggests that he gives Jesse's title back to him/her. He "thanks" Jesse for the hard lessons he's made, but now decides to destroy Jesse's world entirely and remake it in his own image. However, he is stopped when Jesse and his/her group go to the Terminal Space and recieves the Golden Gauntlet which Fred made for Xara to depower Romeo. Jesse is able to depower Romeo with it and turn him bacl into a normal person, even though he had to give him multiple punches to do so. Immediately after losing his powers, Romeo expresses guilt over everything he's done, and when the Terminal Space starts to collapse, he tells Jesse to leave him to be trapped there forever because he deserves it. Depending on the player's choice, Jesse can either try to save Romeo or leave him behind. Regardless, Romeo decides to sacrifice himself to save Jesse and his/her friends.

Why Doesn't the Villain Qualify?
This should be simple: Romeo redeemed himself. He's genuinely sorry for his actions and even when he did have his powers, he was still wracked with guilt when he murdered Fred. Plus, if Jesse actually does save Romeo, the latter reveals that he now wants to make amends for all of his crimes, and wants to reunite with Xara (if she's still alive) or do something good out of murdering her (if she's dead). Even if Jesse leaves him behind and Romeo isn't able to sacrifice himself, it's clear he was going to do so before Radar and the Giant Enderman appear because he does so if they don't appear, so he still gets redeemed because he at least attempted to do a heroic act.

Final Verdict
Even with all the horrific, personal crimes Romeo committed, he still had some good deep down in his heart, and after losing his powers completely, he tries to make up for his atrocities. He may be a Hate Sink, but he should be kept off the Pure Evil category.