Over the years, I've had a real mixed relationship with works that humanize the bad guy. In some cases, it really is modern apologetics. Maybe just my experience with those in the grips of nihilism, but Jonathon and Christopher Nolan nailed it in "The Dark Knight" with Alfred's speech regarding the villain: "Some men just want to watch the world burn.
In other stories, especially where the villain is compelling and the hero is cardboard, it just feels lazy.
There are cases, though, where humanizing the villain is absolutely genius – and absolutely necessary – especially when the reader is left wondering who the real villain is. The hot take below sums it up.
