Alright, so I kind of wanted to tell you something. Around one year ago or so, I did a proposal on one of the worst villains (In terms of sheer quality of crimes of course, not being the worst written because I think she is a complex character) I've ever seen in entire media and it was Ellen. And I used to think that she is a keep back then. BUT, that was before I read the supplementary materials that shows her mitigating factors galore and I made a lot of mistakes on approving her in the first place.
In short, I am sorry for the horrible misinformation and I admit this was a mistake of my part as I didn't read the supplementary materials yet when I made that proposal. Regardless, to make amends, here's my completed re-evaluation on Ellen from Witch's House due to the horrible mistake that I made to put her up and yes, this will be copied from TV Tropes btw. Let's begin the EP shall we.
What's The Work[]
The Witch's House or Majo no Ine is a popular RPG Horror game that tells us the story about a girl who lost in the woods named Viola who woke up in the woods besides an abandoned house and got trapped in there as a pair of plants prevent her to go out from the forest. It was revealed that the house was the cause of it as it is the home of several creepy supernatural creatures. However, it was revealed that the house itself was actually owned by Viola's best friend, a witch named Ellen. As a result, Viola had no choice to confront Ellen to escape the house once and for all.
Eeeeeeexcept Viola and Ellen are not what they seemed to be...
Who is She/What Has She Done[]
Why yes, in the game, you actually played as Ellen in Viola's body. Anyways, long story short of Ellen's history before the debacle happened: In the past, Ellen was actually a sickly girl who got neglected by her father and despite her mother's kindness, she decided to abandoned Ellen at the end. This resulted on Ellen getting snapped and killed her parents.
Her life suddenly changed when she met a black cat that she buried when she was sick in which the cat offered her a nice house for a living and could cure her sickness at the end. It was revealed however that the cat itself is actually a demon and after Ellen accepted his offer, her house then began to start burning while Ellen watched it in extreme apathy (I read the manga version so yeah...)
You see, after the demon offered her a nice house to live and her sickness is cured. It soon began her Start of Darkness which resulted on her sacrificing several innocent people in unique ways at her house so that she could feed their souls to the cat demon and his companion. Seemingly showing no remorse when doing so.
Years went by, Ellen wanted to experience a good live where people truly loved her. To that end, Ellen spotted a young girl named Viola who went deep to the woods, ignoring her father's warnings, and befriended her so that she could perform a body switching spell and Ellen promised to Viola that she will use the latter's body for one day.
Except no, this was a lie fabricated by Ellen as we hit one of her most sickening and revolting crimes: You see, Ellen purposefully damaged her own body by cutting her limbs and gouging out her eyes and then perform a body switching spell to make Viola suffered. When Viola screamed and writhed in agony in Ellen's body, as a nice friend she is, Ellen gave her a throat burning medicine so that she could stop screaming. Alas, the witch then attempts to escape the house via Viola's body.
Except, the way out of the house were blocked by Viola in Ellen's body and as a result, Ellen had no choice to confront Viola and kill her once and for all while committing several unnecessary cruelty act in her home such as killing the frog who was nice to her (Don't worry, I can relate to that Pewdiepie and it's such a sad scene to watch) and tried to help her by feeding him into a snake or killing several talking flowers.
When confronting Viola in Ellen's body, she tries to chase Ellen to regain her body back. Unfortunately for poor Viola, she was mistaken by her father as a monster who tried to attack poor little Viola and as a result, she was killed in self-defense. Ellen's reaction? Stabbed her and sadistically gloated to her by saying that she will took all of the things that she love including her father and thus, Ellen got scot-off free at the end while Viola's soul were eaten by the Black Cat Demon at the end...Poor Viola
Heinous Standard[]
See what I mean when I say that she's one of the nastiest pieces of work that I have ever seen in entire media? Yeah...Ellen utterly annihilates the heinous standard in terms of personal level. Disregarding the sacrifices of countless people in the past, what she had done to Viola is John Wakefield or Griffith's level of fucked up it could easily landed her on this spot. The only candidate that I could think counting is The Black Cat demon actually and sounds like Ellen is an easy keep right? Well, unfortunately, I don't think she counts when I'm going to bring these mitigating factors to dissect for you all:
Freudian Excuse/Mitigating Factors[]
Alright, so this is where I think why Ellen is not a slamdunk for this trope and I decided to do an Anti-EP to dissect her mitigating factors and Freudian Excuse one by one having reading "The Diary of Ellen" and I'm going to tell you my stance if Ellen can stay or no. Buckle up as this part is going to be the long one:
Alright, so...After reading The Diary of Ellen, I honestly side with Master N here as some of her excuse raises some red flags for me. Let's start with the obvious one: Ellen was actually a sickly girl in the past and were truly neglected by her parents (Her father was the worst offender as despite being alcoholic, he never really had a care towards her well-being and most of the time ignoring her). Okay, so her sickness? It is said that due to what her ancestors had done something horrific in the past, she ended up looking like that.
The second is her abusive and neglectful parents. True, her mother is a nice person and truly cared about her well-being, that is until the moment where she decided to ignore Ellen and tried to live a better live due to the family's poor status. She did said sorry towards Ellen when she started to abandoned her. However, that moment made Ellen snapped as she ended up killing both of her parents anyway after extreme abandonment. This is understandable as when her mother abandoned her? It's done, her life support is no more.
Anyways, sure...You could argue that she became worse after meeting the Black Cat. However, here's the thing though, before she jumped off the slippery slope, she did tried her best to make best friends to keep her company. One incident is when she tried to make a stray boy her own friend until he ended up getting scared and abandoned her due to the sickness coming back to her after getting out from the house. Which leads to another problem for Ellen to stay...
You see, Ellen herself was actually manipulated by the Cat Demon for his own ends. At one point, he used that incident I mentioned above (The one where Ellen tried to befriended a little boy but failed at the end because of her sickness that prevented her to do so) and gave her horrific illusions to keep her under his thumb. And yes, another point is that when he also told Ellen to kill all of the people trespassing through the house so that her illness will be cured.
This of course? Resulted in Ellen's Start of Darkness in which she started killing several innocent people without any flick of remorse and puts herself in Above Good and Evil state. And true, she did this out of her own volition. However, I should say something on this part: Ellen did this so that her illness can be cured and so that she could achieve her ultimate goal: To gain a love that was absent in her live and this is understandable to a certain degree as she was not only extremely got neglected in her lifetime especially from her parents and her friends who discovered her illness doesn't help matters.
And yes, at one point, she said that despite she killed several innocent people without any remorse? It was revealed that she had no enjoyment on killing people much like other people killed a pig. She decided to do that because demons love the taste of human suffering in agony much like Apos from Mnemosyne.
So to whit? I don't think Ellen counts anymore due to the Freudian Excuse that correlates her actions in the present and her getting manipulated by the Black Cat for his own ends doesn't help matters. Any arguments that could refute this claim? Well, I messaged bobg a.k.a. Frieza Force Soldier 100 in this wikia via PMs back when I was a TV Tropes user and he said this on Ellen's mitigating traits:
"To be honest, I think she could still qualify due to her cases of Redemption Rejection. Once she met that boy after coming to live in the house, she could have forgiven him and accepted his apology after he came to say he was sorry for freaking out earlier and she could have stayed in the house where she wouldn't age or die from her sickness and make more friends. Instead, she pretended to forgive him before killing him and moving on to kill hundreds of people. She was given another chance to stop when she met Viola. She could have refused to do the body swap and stayed friends with her. She didn't. I personally believe her RR combined with her sadism negates any sympathy. That's just me though."
And this one
"Remember that she left Viola with no legs, no eyes, and a burning throat. She also smugly taunted her about it in the prequel. In the game, she mocks the dying Viola and snickers after she is killed by her own father."
So with that, take that as you will if you want her to stay or not and I can understand why you guys truly have a concerns towards her staying especially the troper, MasterN.
Final Verdict[]
Honestly, after doing some research by reading Diary of Ellen manga version (The manga is faithful to the novel so no issue here) and looking back at her excuses... I don't think Ellen will make the cut even if bob/Frieza said otherwise and yes, Ellen's cut is going to be a huge sting on my back and it's not because I used this trope as a Badge of Honor. (Sure, some of the villains that I made for my story are inspired by Ellen but still...) Instead, it's because what she had done to Viola and other animals are so horrific it could easily landed her on this trope. In fact, that ending of the Witch's House is the utter reason why I never wanted to see the game ever again. Regardless, if she got cut, she got cut and I can understand Master N's concerns at the end.
So to whit, no...I don't think she counts anymore even Frieza said otherwise and seeing her excuse and so does mitigating qualities more and more makes me willingly want to cut her from the trope entirely. Even then, I thank Ellen for being one of the inspirations of the villains that I created (And don't worry, villain in question will stay as PE Spoiler alert) that and looking back, even without the PE trope and her being one of the most vile villains I've ever come across, I'll agree that she is a fascinating character to study. Regardless, a replacement on Ellen will come soon enough at the end and I do his proposal sooner or later.