What makes us love certain villains, specifically Kylo Ren and Jim Moriarty?

In case you’re not familiar with these characters, here’s a quick intro: Kylo Ren is the main villain in the Star Wars sequels, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. He’s played by Adam driver. Jim Moriarty is the main villain in Sherlock Holmes. The version I’ll be writing about is the one from the BBC series “Sherlock”. He’s played by Andrew Scott.

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOTH PRODUCTIONS!!!

I say we love these characters, but some people don’t. I love these characters. If you don’t, that just means you’re saner than me. Congratulations.

Now that we’ve cleared some things up, let’s get started. What makes Kylo and Jim so dang lovable?

My theory is that their likable personalities resurrect The Cat.

Let me explain.

Here are two of the classic techniques that writers use to let the viewer know which characters they should like:

• Save The Cat: This is how the viewer identifies a likable character, probably the hero. It goes like this: a character does something kind or helpful so that the viewer can see that they are a do-gooder. In The Force Awakens, an example of this is when Rey rescues BB8 from the mean alien on the horse thing. BB8 represents the cat which Rey saves. It doesn’t always present itself in such a literal way, however. For example, we know Finn is a good character when he chooses not to shoot the innocent civilians in the very first scene. This is still Save The Cat. In Sherlock, we know Sherlock is good when we see that he solves murders instead of committing them. The bar is set low for heroes in this show. We know John is good because of something else called Spit In Your Oatmeal. Google it.
• Kill The Cat: It’s basically the opposite of Save The Cat. I bet you’re smart enough to figure it out. A character does something that we know is mean or evil, so we know that they are a villain. In Star Wars, there are other indicators, such as the theme music and the colors of their outfit and lightsaber. Kill The Cat still serves as an additional indication of which character to root against. For example, in The Force Awakens, during that first scene Kylo Ren gives the order to kill all of the civilians in the town. That’s a lot of dead cats. As for Sherlock, Kill The Cat shows itself in every single episode with different criminals, but for Moriarty it’s first used when he threatens to blow a bunch of people up in The Great Game. That’s definitely a bad guy move.

So what I’m saying is, the likability of each character’s pure personality once you take away the evil trumps all of the figurative Cats they killed.

Let’s analyze Kylo Ren first. No, I’m not talking about Ben. I’m talking about Kylo. The Sith Lord who fights for the First Order and orders that hundreds of civilians be slain. Him. The whole inner conflict thing is a whole other discussion. For my purposes, I’m going to pretend Kylo Ren is purely evil for the entirety of his time on screen. If it helps, just remember what you thought of him before you found out he was struggling with his loyalty to the dark side. Or remember the red light of his saber illuminating his face as he murders his father.

Now consider Hogwarts Houses, a good representation of a character’s general personality. Here are the official parameters of each house, according to JK Rowling:

Gryffindor: bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry.

Hufflepuff: just, loyal, patient, true, hard working

Ravenclaw: wise, witty, academic

Slytherin: cunning, ambitious

Which house is Kylo Ren in? I would say Slytherin right off the bat. His big dream is to become as great as his grandfather, Darth Vader. But what if we look deeper? What other traits sit just beneath the surface? He’s incredibly loyal to his cause. He would do anything to fight for what he believes is good, even if it caused him tremendous pain. He feels pressure to live up to the expectations that have been set for him whose roots are illogical. We can see traces of other less “evil” houses lodged deep within his soul.

So in summary, Kylo Ren is a man who at first may appear to possess only evil traits, but if you look further you realize that they are rooted in things that many of us find wholesome or pitiable: admiration, loyalty, bravery, selflessness, stress, longing. His character is truly a complicated one, and one whose core motivations are relatable. I’m not saying what he does is right, by any means. I just mean that maybe the reason why we root for him just a little is that he’s only human like the rest of us. Or whatever humanoid alien he is, anyway. If you look past the evil, you get something more. Something soft. This is why, even as he runs a lightsaber through our beloved Han Solo, we feel for him, at least a tiny bit. That’s quite the feat if you ask me.

Okay, now time for Moriarty. He’s a bit of a different case. In fact, he’s kind of Kylo Ren’s polar opposite. Unlike our Star Wars villain, he’s not very complicated. There’s no question that he’s Slytherin through and through. How does he pull it off?

Jim is what I call a classy villain. He’s… cool. I mean, come on, his dialogue is incredible. His personality is evilly flamboyant. His suits are crisp and stylish. How could you not love him?

A huge contributor to his awesomeness is simply that he’s so well written and equally well acted. Andrew Scott does an incredible job with the role, using overstated expressions and tones to create a vivid character.

Another thing that helps him earn points with the viewers is his love of music and dancing. In multiple scenes, we see him with earbuds in his ears. The first time we see this is in The Reichenbach fall. As Moriarty steals the Crown Jewels and implements his plan to send the entire city of London into chaos in order to get Sherlock’s attention, he adds a personal flair by sashaying around the room as classical music plays in his ears. Then later in the same episode, he plays the song Stayin’ Alive by The Be Gees on top of the roof in order to drive home his creepy dialogue. Again, in The Final Problem, Jim makes a great entrance set to the Queen song “I Want To Break Free”, which is a wonderful song, by the way. The villain emerges from his helicopter in style, wearing sunglasses and busting some evilly wonderful dance moves. It’s a great moment in the show, and I must admit, I was excited to see him again. Very excited. I love how they chose to reintroduce him into the show, and I love their choice of music.

This whole music deal makes me appreciate Moriarty even more. I love music. You probably love music. It’s a great thing that is precious to many people. So most of us can relate to Jim’s fixation with it. We have a tendency to like people who like similar things that we do. In this way, our heartstrings are pulled in Jim Moriarty’s direction when we see that he loves music.

I’m no psychologist, so these ideas are just speculations, but I think they do hold water. Sometimes villains can be very special to us, and it’s because they have such wonderful personalities. If you ignore their evilness, they are perfectly likable.

This only applies to certain ones, though. Villains like Emperor Palpatine and Charles Augustus Magnussen are completely unlikable, the Dolores Umbridges of their respective stories, if you will. That’s because they’re really not that interesting. They are one dimensional and not relatable. If they weren’t evil, chances are we wouldn’t like them anyway.

Human brains are not entirely logical, I think, and the part that is ruled by emotion is the one that feels positively toward the more interesting villains. Those special villains who find a place in our hearts can be rare, but they are magical. Sometimes they are the highlight of the story. Sometimes we hope for them to enter the screen once again when they’re not around. However we feel, villains are a key and indispensible aspect of storytelling.