User blog:BeholderofStuff/Pure Evil Proposal: Clarisse Van Ripper


 * Original: [//villains.fandom.com/f/p/3179493162221866982 https://villains.fandom.com/f/p/3179493162221866982]

CHARACTER'S TRAITS
a wicked, psychotic woman who was left paralysed after chasing a child who caught her graphic torture and murder of other children, upon being paralysed she evaded the law for 40 years but never grew out of her desire to murder children, with the help of the demonic Darkhold book she gained a demonic form which she used to murder more innocents (including a pair of newly weds) before Ghost Rider defeated her, stripped her of her powers and finally ended her evil ways with his Penance Stare.

HEINOUS STANDARDS
a child-torturer and murderer who graphically killed / mutilated her victims for no reason than she wanted entertainment - even after being paralysed she never stopped this horrific bloodlust and gladly used the demonic magic of the Darkhold to give herself a demonic form, which she used to brutally murder once more - she was so wicked that she actually played into her own defeat as she stopped pursuing Ghost Rider due to seeing some children nearby and deciding to try and murder them rather than attack the hero.. that's pretty messed up in itself.. even when she knew Ghost Rider was a bigger threat she couldn't resist the chance to try and torture / kill innocent children who were zero threat to her.

MORAL EVENT HORIZON
to be frank she's a walking MEH with so many horrendous crimes but her most infamous (and first) murder involved drowning a child in a bath, her murders only got more graphic from there.. the true MEH is her motive: she decided to torture and kill children for no reason other than she felt she "deserved" some entertainment.

forty years later and gaining demonic powers she mercilessly murdered a coupld of newly weds - that can be seen as a pretty heavy MEH as well and further symbolises how she destroys innocence.. since her victims (children and newly weds) are innocent, largely blameless and in no way a threat to her plans whatsoever.. she just enjoyed seeing them suffer.

INDIVIDUAL CAPABILITY
a psychotic serial-killer, she used her own hands, knives and whatever tools she had at hand to perform her murders and tortures - for forty years she was paralysed and thus not able to kill yet never gave up her sick fantasies, upon gaining demonic powers with the Darkhold she was a minor demon but ultimately no match for Ghost Rider, who promptly sent the old hag on a long-deserved trip to a "fate worse than death".

MORAL AGENCY
she may be a psychotic serial-killer but she must know right from wrong as she tries to cover up her crimes - in fact the whole reason she became paralysed was chasing a child to stop them alerting authorities.. this shows that while a disturbed sadist she is not completely insane.. she knows her actions are wrong or at minimum that she will be punished for them.

NO REDEEMING QUALITIES
let's see, a woman who murders and tortures children for no reason other than she wants to see them suffer for personal amusement? no.. I don't see any redeeming qualities.. she evaded capture for 40 years but that's hardly redeeming, if anything it's frustrating since she should of been caught many years ago but comic book law enforcement are infamous for not being too smart in these kinds of things..

NO SYMPATHY
I'll be polite here, it'd take a very disturbing person to find sympathy in Clarisse - even after being paralysed for 40 years she longed to kill again, her paralysis was due to her own attempts to capture and kill a child-witness and once she was defeated by Ghost Rider he gave her a Penance Stare that made her feel pain again.. even this isn't terribly sympathetic.. considering she had killed a pair of newly weds and tried to murder more children instead of focusing on the hero (who was a bigger threat).. so her punishment, while severe, was earned.

SCREEN TIME
she's the central villain of a comic book story, as such she appears often and her actions are largely on-screen - she's not in the shadows or anything since even if you take into account the Darkhold's magic the demonic creature it made is just Clarisse.. she is basically the demon so anytime you see the demon killing or terrorising someone you may as well be seeing Clarisse (magic, after all)

WORST
arguably she is the worst of the worst even in the setting because she targets children rather than adults - the series (as described below) is dark and has many horrible, disturbing villains but there's something extra awful about a woman who takes enjoyment out of the graphic and remorseless killing of children for no reason other than sheer personal enjoyment.

STORY TYPE
the Darkhold setting is within Marvel but is much more mature and horror-based, that's where it gets tricky for me.. because such a setting is swarming with serial-killers, cultists and horrible people.. what pushes Clarisse above a large chunk of others in the setting is she targets children, which was a taboo subject back then and is still pretty shocking even in extremely dark settings.