What does Evil Mean? Can Evil Characters be Redeemed? Novel Magic Visits the Dark Side

Does Evil Really Exist?

That’s one question my Novel Magic guests pose. After all, in the immortal words of Morticia Addams, “What’s good for the spider means chaos for the fly.” So isn’t Evil–with a capital E–a myth since the concept seems relative to the observer?

Natasha, in Spellcasters by Kitka Buchanan and K. Ries, may be a flawed character, but is she redeemable? Check out this excerpt and Kitka’s discussion below–and then tell us what Evil means to you.

Excerpt from The Spellcasters by Kitka Buchanan and K. Ries

Logan shrugged. “So did I. I don’t feel like I know you at all since you’ve been sleeping with her. She’s been killing people left and right and you’re just turning a blind eye to it.”

Chase narrowed his eyes at Logan and slammed the tip of the dagger into the table. “The only one I turned a blind eye to was the guy at the hotel. And do you want to know his track record for killings? It sure as hell beat hers. The killings will stop; but it’s a serial case that they’ll never solve.”

Logan cocked his head to the side and stared at Chase in confusion. Chase laughed angrily. “You didn’t ask. You never once asked. Natasha and I went into the bar. She was sitting at the bar next to me; but she didn’t seem to be there. She was definitely somewhere else mentally. When she snapped out of it, she said she wanted him. That he was a bad man. He’d been picking up women in bars and killing them. If she hadn’t killed him that night, he most likely would have killed someone else.”

Logan ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Chase. I had no idea.”

About Natasha by Kitka Buchanan

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines evil as “morally reprehensible”. The above snippet was written about my character, Natasha. Bless her heart, I feel like she’s terribly misunderstood. Yes, she is morally reprehensible. However, a conversation with my co-writer regarding her posed an interesting conversation. Can a character who does horrible, evil things for reasons that they believe to be noble or right be redeemed?

How does the dictionary define redemption or redeeming? “Serving to offset or compensate for a defect.” Assuming that there is a defect, should we not then allow for redemption in the case of a character that is not mentally stable and believes that they are doing certain acts out of love or for noble causes? Natasha is by definition defective.

There is no doubt that Natasha is not even remotely right in the head. She does everything for her family, though. She wants them to be happy and will do whatever it takes to make sure they are, including using black magic and murder. There are points throughout Spellcasters where Natasha seems completely unlovable. She’s impulsive and dangerous. Is she, therefore, a villain or is she just misunderstood?

Natasha’s intent is pure. It always is. In fact, in many ways, she’s almost childlike. She’s impish and playful. Does that make her redeemable? If not, what could change in a sequel to redeem such a character and those who love her exactly as she is?

Make sure to read Spellcasters and let me know if you think Natasha can be redeemed.

About the Authors

Kitka Buchanan has been writing since she was a child. For the past two decades, she’s been writing for fun in a round robin format with friends. When she and her best friend, Kat Ries, realized they had enough for a book, they decided to clean up their book and release it. It came at a time when a medical condition gave her plenty of time to write. She is a mother of two human children and a whole household of animal children including two cats, a lizard, a snake, a fish, a frog, and snails. In what little spare time she has, she loves to cook and bake as well. The indie writing world has opened up a whole new world of authors to her and her “to be read” list is growing faster than she can get them read. And she loves it!