A Sympathetic Villain, But A Villain All The Same

 I read the little introduction to this book and thought, "this will be a book where there are no true heroes or villains." By the end of the book, though, I realized that Rambo was a psychopath. I am a strong believer that there is always a reason why someone does bad things. There is a huge difference between an understandable reason, and a justified one. I do think of Rambo as a sympathetic character.

The trauma and PTSD he's endured is an understandable reason why he reacted so badly. It was clear throughout the book, from the inner dialogues with himself to the bloodlust he felt at points, that Rambo is not mentally well. However, he was a mass murderer and blew up half the town. There will never be a justifiable reason to do such things. More to the point, he admits that he enjoyed doing these things to some extent. Rambo went from misunderstood victim to psychotic monster when he started slitting men's throats in the night.

However, I do think he's a good character. Well I should say well written, not actually good. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think of Rambo as the villain of this story. Still in reference to what I said before, I can understand why he did these terrible things. He's not excused or somehow less of a horrible person because of this understanding, but he does come across as much more human despite my use of the word monster earlier. It's because we the reader know that the thing he's become really isn't his own doing. He was trained and molded into a hardened killer. He went through atrocities of war. He was treated like less than human when he finally did get home. Humans are shaped by their environment and as unfortunate as it is, sometimes people end up too far gone with no real fault of their own.

 And I think that's what truly makes Rambo a sympathetic villain. As outlandish as this killing spree seems, things like this happen in real life all the time. Only with Rambo we get to see more than just a picture on tv with the caption of mass murderer. We get the human aspect of what could have been. The regret, the bitterness, the guilt, all these terrible feelings that just aren't enough to outweigh the evil in him. The evil that was put there by the world around him.

From an objective, even subjective, standpoint, Rambo is a villain. There are just somethings that can't be forgiven, and it adds to the tragedy that is this book. As much as I hate to admit it, I feel bad for Rambo, for all people like this. All semantics aside, he's still a human being. We get glimpses of his youth, of his struggles and it's hard not to feel some kind of sympathy for the guy. We're always left with the question of what could have been. Only sometimes it's just too late for some people.