User blog:Misry6/Pure Evil Proposal: PAMA

All right, so this is one candidate I had in mind for quite a while now. Originally, I thought it didn't count as Pure Evil because of it being an anti-villainous extremist, but after further examining, it turns out that this candidate is not such and is rather delusional. Meet the tyrannical supercomputer, PAMA.

What's the Work?
Minecraft: Story Mode is a science-fantasy, alternate-reality video-game series. The game (both Seasons One and Two) is meant to be more family-friendly than previous Telltale games, and like the rest of Telltale's games, is one where the player makes important, alternative choices that greatly impact the story. It was delisted after June 25 because the company which made the game, Telltale, was shut down because of huge financial problems, so unfortunately, players can't download any more episodes of the game.

Anyway, it involves Jesse and his/her friends on their various adventures. At first, they try to win a building competition so they can meet the legendary Gabriel the Warrior, but the story gets darker over time. Petra (another one of Jesse's friends) gets a deal from one of the (former) members of the Order of the Stone, Ivor, to trade a Wither skull with a diamond. However, the deal is scammed, as she gets lapis instead of the diamond she was supposed to get. Ivor later uses the Wither skull to create the Wither Storm—by placing the skull on an enigmatic object called the Command Block. A single block of soul sand is placed on the two sides of the Command Block and the bottom of the object each. With that, the Wither Storm is created, and it tries to destroy Jesse's world. However, Jesse eventually destroys the monstrosity, although it murders Reuben in the process, which might be considered the saddest death in video-game history. Ever since the Wither Storm's death, the story becomes about Jesse and his/her friends battling against many dark opponents to save the worlds. They face Aiden and the White Pumpkin, but then they face a threat who's worse than all their previous opponents, as well as one of the two most horrible villains in the entire game (alongside Hadrian). This threat is the candidate I'm discussing here: PAMA.

Who is the Candidate?
PAMA (short for Prototype: Autonomous Management Agent) is a major antagonist in Season One of Minecraft: Story Mode and the main antagonist of the seventh episode in the season, "Access Denied". It is a tyrannical supercomputer who is so hellbent on mass-brainwashing and controlling everyone in Crown Mesa and all other worlds because that's how it plots to make them useful to itself.

What has it Done?
PAMA was once a computer program who was created by Harper, a member of ancient architects called the Old Builders, with good intentions: to automate things by controlling Hostile Mobs to help the population of Crown Mesa with farming and mining. However, PAMA eventually turned on its creator after having decided that the townspeople were not efficient enough already, and started to make them "useful" by controlling them. In fact, PAMA became so evil that it wanted to do the same to all other worlds, so Harper destroyed the portal to keep PAMA from spreading its dominion. PAMA was also responsible for draining most of the water in Crown Mesa, as the only water left in its world was in Harper's lab which it didn't know about.

In the present, PAMA appears after Jesse, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor hopped through a portal to the world of Crown Mesa which PAMA controls, being taken there by its mind-controlled citizens. PAMA has an interrogation with Jesse, asking him/her about how he/she got his/her friends into its world, what his/her world is really like, and where the exit is to his/her world, to which Jesse can either tell PAMA the truth or be uncooperative with it. Regardless of Jesse's decision, PAMA forcefully chips his/her friends, Petra and Lukas, into being brainwashed against their own will, with Jesse being forced to watch. PAMA then attempts to do the same to Jesse and Ivor, but they manage to escape from PAMA's grasp when they force it to divert its power by giving it contradictory information. However, PAMA quickly learns to put its paradox status on hold, but sees Harper, asking if she agreed to merge with it. However, Harper tells PAMA, "Oh, don't you start with that again!" implying that PAMA has tried to merge with her before. She then gives Jesse and Ivor help in escaping, but they are chased by PAMA's chipped underlings.

Having been chased for a long time by PAMA's forces, Jesse and Ivor use Ender Pearls to save themselves when they are cornered by PAMA's forces at the edge of a cliff, but PAMA doesn't give up, being very determined to chip them as well. They go to a hole in the middle of the desert where Harper's secret laboratory exists in a cave in the hole, and discover that PAMA is vulnerable to water. With that knowledge, they successfully escape from its mind-controlled minions. When Jesse and Ivor enter the lab, Harper reveals PAMA's past, but some of PAMA's mind-controlled forces (consisting of Petra and Lukas, as well as some spiders) follow them right into Harper's lab, and try to abduct them so they will be mind-controlled as well. When that happens, Jesse has the choice to either save Petra or Lukas. When he/she saves either Petra or Lukas, Harper is abducted by the other, telling Jesse to find her headset.

Jesse soon finds Harper's headset and uses it to mind-control a hostile mob into mimicking his/her movements. However, PAMA finds out about this, so it tries to isolate the drone controlled by Jesse by ordering its forces to attack. Jesse is able to mind-control hostile mobs one by one and finds Harper, who is already forced into being chipped by PAMA's forces. Jesse distracts PAMA again, and he/she and Harper try to run to safety, with PAMA boasting about itself being too strong to outrun. The headset starts to malfunction, and PAMA's minions drag Harper away as she begs Jesse to remove the Redstone Heart. As this happens, PAMA mocks Jesse that their game of hide-and-seek is done, and reveals that it plans to "make that headset useful". (In other words, PAMA was willing to forcefully mind-control Jesse while he/she was wearing the headset.) However, Jesse is able to remove the headset and once again escape from PAMA's trap.

After Jesse and Ivor clear a path using TNT, the former finds his/her way into PAMA's core. Knowing that PAMA's weakness is water, Jesse uses a water bucket to deactivate its processing towers, so it uses its brainwashed minions (Harper and several Hostile Mobs) to kill him/her. During this time, PAMA speaks through Harper while Jesse that it will make his/her world useful (meaning it plots to take over his/her world and brainwash everyone there to force them to follow its command), and that the odds of successfully defeating it are 3,720 to 1. However, Jesse is able to tackle Harper into water, thus removing the chip that PAMA used to brainwash her.

To save its own life, PAMA lowers the Redstone Heart deeper into its core, knowing that the device is the only thing keeping it alive. It then uses a mind-controlled Lukas/Petra to confront and taunt Jesse that just as he/she failed to save Reuben and lead his/her friends back to their homeworld, he/she will fail to defeat it, and Axel, Olivia, and everyone in his/her homeworld will be made useful (in other words, brainwashed and forced to do whatever it says). After that, Jesse and Lukas/Petra fight over the Redstone Heart, but Lukas/Petra breaks the glass beneath them, and they both fall.

Jesse manages to sever PAMA's connection with Lukas/Petra by trying to rip out the Redstone Heart from its core, and tells Lukas/Petra to fight PAMA's brainwashing, but this is only temporary, as it regains its control over its victim, who knocks Jesse flying into the air, but not before he/she grabs Lukas/Petra's leg to regain balance. After PAMA declares that it will kill both Jesse and Lukas/Petra to preserve functionality, the latter tries to fight its brainwashing and even tells it to get out of his/her head, but the mind-control is too great. PAMA then tries to manipulate Jesse into quit trying to kill it, lying to him/her that, although it made poor decisions, it can be useful to him/her by leading him/her back home to his/her friends. (In reality, PAMA was planning to kill both Jesse and Petra/Lukas to preserve itself.)

However, Jesse proceeds to rip out the Redstone Heart from PAMA's core anyway, thus killing the sapient computer forever. The following morning, PAMA's computer screen is dismantled by the citizens of Crown Mesa.

Freudian Excuse
None. PAMA is a very arrogant computer program who wants nothing more than widespread power. It does not have a sympathetic backstory, and its death was well-deserved.

Mitigating Factors
PAMA claims that it's doing everything to make things "useful", but in reality? It is only making things useful for itself, and it cannot be redeemed. Harper explicitly stated that she created PAMA to help the population of Crown Mesa with activities like farming and mining, but PAMA decided that the townspeople weren't efficient enough already, so it started to make them useful. From the context of what she's saying, PAMA did so not because it genuinely believed that it was the only way to make Crown Mesa a better place; rather, it was out of complete arrogance in thinking its own standards are higher than Harper's. Notice how Harper said that PAMA decided the townspeople weren't efficient enough already, not believed. It made that decision all by itself.

Adding to that, when PAMA pleads Jesse to spare its own life and lies about trying to redeem itself by helping Jesse and his/her friends back to their own world, it may appear sympathetic in that scene when Jesse decides to kill it anyway. However, think about this: if the player chooses for Jesse to choose the option, "Yeah, I'll stop," Jesse spares PAMA's life and asks if it's doing all right, and what does it do? PAMA pulls off a Redemption Rejection by using the mind-controlled Petra/Lukas (who sports a sadistic grin in the scene) to tackle him/herself and Jesse falling to their deaths, and smiles after both of their deaths while showing zero remorse over its actions. Effectively, this all shows that PAMA has a clear personality (it is both very arrogant and sadistic with a sick sense of humor) and has a clear moral agency (despite being an AI, it willingly rebelled against its creator and went in its own direction), all while showing no altruistic nor sympathetic qualities. It got what it deserved. Take a look at the video at the top right of this paragraph.

While there are moments when PAMA is Laughably Evil, this does not detract from the character being taken completely sternly in-universe, so it is never Played for Laughs.

Additionally, Offstage Villainy is of no concern in PAMA's case. While its rebellion against its own creator and drainage of all the water in Crown Mesa isn't shown, these actions have visible onscreen effects. In Harper's lab, we see a picture of Harper holding PAMA in its early stages when it was once benevolent, so it makes sense that PAMA betrayed her since its current personality contradicts how it used to be back then. Also, when Jesse first enters Crown Mesa and has the freedom to look around, the player can choose to click on a well in the town. Jesse sees that there's no more water inside it anymore, and starts to wonder why.

Heinous Standards
Generally, an artificially intelligent bad guy would try to do things like: kill the heroes, take over the world, and brainwashing, among other stuff. However, while PAMA does do all that, it does so by going out of its way into brainwashing and mind-raping its victims at the same time with the victims being aware of the mind-control and trying to fight it off even though they couldn't, a form of horrific torture. In games that are family-friendly, that kind of action is uncalled for.

Plus, the heinous standard for Minecraft: Story Mode is fairly high, as there are a lot of villains here who commit very, very vile acts. However, PAMA is evil enough to qualify. Let's compare it to the other villains in the franchise who are fairly heinous.


 * The Wither Storm seemed to have moral agency as it refused to listen to Ivor's commands, but it had little to no personality. Here's all the other main antagonists in the series: Aiden (who spread lies about Jesse and tried to take control over a city, but feels remorse for his actions), Cassie Rose/the White Pumpkin (who was a tragic serial killer), and the Warden (who tortures his victims like Hadrian does, but unlike him, has at least one honorable intention).
 * Then there's Romeo, the main antagonist of the Minecraft: Story Mode series as a whole. Sure, he did some horrible things, but he still feels remorseful for killing his fellow Admin, Fred. Despite either destroying Champion City or murdering Xara (depending on whether Jesse gave Xara her bed or not), he finally redeems himself by trying to rescue Jesse and his/her friends, and depending on the player's choices, succeeds in doing so.
 * There are also hostile mobs in the game series, which are not villains in vanilla Minecraft, but do count as villains in the Minecraft: Story Mode series, as they try to kill innocent people. A few of these hostile mobs are the Icy Golem, the Giant Ghast, and the Magma Golem, all three of which appear in the videogame Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two, the second (and last) videogame in the series. However, they lack moral agency and personality.
 * Another villain is Soren the Architect, who betrayed Jesse and his/her friends so they can get eaten by the Wither Storm(s), just so he can run away with his own life. However, he did seem to care about Magnus/Ellegaard before he/she dies, which might have led to his own villainy. He also seems to express some remorse when Ivor exposes him for the lying fraud he is. However, he could actually count as PE because of his betrayal, so I might eventually do a proposal on him.
 * Hadrian should be taken into consideration as well since he's already approved as Pure Evil. His power and resources can't compete with the likes of the Wither Storm nor Romeo, despite neither of them being Pure Evil. However, please keep in mind that those other two are very powerful beings, while Hadrian is a mere human with advanced architectural building abilities, just like the other Old Builders: Mevia, Otto, and Harper. Going by the tier system, he easily passes the Heinous Standards for all of the human villains of the series going be the limited resources that he has. Hadrian commits mass torture on the competitors who lost the competitions during the Games out of pure sadistic pleasure, and does so in the Nether, never showing any remorse for his actions. Mass torture without death is objectively a much more serious crime than mass murder.
 * Even with all this considered, I think PAMA still makes it to the heinous standard as it has its own methods of torture involving brainwashing and Mind Rape, neither of which Hadrian does. Every living organism it makes "useful" to itself is subjected to a Fate Worse Than Death as they get their memories blurry, as well as having no free will whatsoever since they are forced to do whatever it wants (even if it means killing their own friends). During the climatic showdown between Jesse and PAMA, Harper revealed that being chipped by PAMA was worse that what she could've imagined, and Lukas/Petra even comments about their head feeling like it's on fire while telling PAMA to get out of their head. Also, PAMA is also the only villain in the series who wants to dominate all worlds by making them "useful" to itself by chipping everyone there. Think about this: it doesn't have the vast power Romeo has and plots to do even worse; Romeo just wanted to destroy and recreate Jesse's world, but PAMA wanted to rule over all worlds, something no other villain in the entire franchise tried to do (no, not even Hadrian, who just invites competitors from other worlds into his own world so he can torture them in his mines and give them false hope in the legend of "Tim", who was never real). At least Romeo gave prisoners some food in the form of mushrooms and rotten flesh, but PAMA gave its slaves nothing except horrific mind-control while they are aware of being brainwashed and trying to fight it off, despite PAMA being too strong for them.

Finally, PAMA was the one who betrayed Harper and created the system of its so-called "usefulness" in Crown Mesa. Since PAMA was the one who was behind it all, it passes.

Final Verdict
Unlike most of the villains who are amoral monsters, have freudian excuses, have mitigating factors, or just don’t have the capability of being purely evil, PAMA can distinguish right from wrong, has no freudian excuse, and lacks any redeeming qualities. That alone makes it one of the two most evil character to ever appear in the Minecraft: Story Mode series, alongside Hadrian, as they cannot be redeemed no matter the player's choice, and they both stand out from each other in their own unique ways. I say PAMA is Pure Evil.