• I was listening to a podcast recently, and they began talking about The Watchmen. Specifically, they were discussing who the villain of the story is. I found it to be an interesting topic, and thought about who I think the villain is, and I came to an interesting revelation.

    I think, for almost all of the characters in the book, they were doing what they truly thought was right. None of the characters thought they were doing evil in the overall story.


    The Comedian knew the politicians were corrupt, but up until his end, he thought it was for the greater good of America. That's what makes his fall all the more tragic, because in his eyes, I think he thought that in the end America was wrong, and that he could no longer do what was needed of him.


    Rorschach thought that the only way to stop criminals was to get rid of them. Pure and simple, black and white, there was no reason for doing wrong things in the world. That's why he couldn't see Veidt's overall plan. All he saw was the person who just killed a huge part of the New York City population. In his mind, Rorschach was the final judgement of mankind. It didn't matter what anyone else thought, he knew who was wrong and who was right.


    Ozymandias saw a way to help unite all of mankind, something which he feels needs to be done. Being "The Smartest Man Alive", he took it upon himself to do whatever it took to make that happen. He didn't care that he ended up causing untold amounts of pain and mysery in the process. All he cared was that his vision of a utopia was achieved. A tragic flaw, but not a villain.


    Humanity, and human nature, isn't the real villain either, not in my mind. Humans panic. They fear what they don't understand. That's humanity at a basic, animalistic level. Their rejection of the masked vigilantes, and towards the end their rejection of Dr Manhattan, is simply them reacting to a fear of something they don't understand. Humans would rather suffer on their own then depend on something they don't fully understand or trust.


    The villain, to me, is Dr. Manhattan. Dr. Manhattan, through his inaction, is the cause of all suffering in the world. Manhattan can do anything he wants. A simple thought can destroy people, teleport away a riot, or any other number of amazing feats. The Comedian himself states that Manhattan could have saved that woman in Vietnam, but he didn't. Dr. Manhattan was shocked that The Comedian killed the woman, but he did nothing to save her. Now, I do feel some sorrow for Dr. Manhattan. He went through a great tragedy in his life. He has experienced a lot of pain, more pain than most. However, that's exactly what drove people like Rorschach to do as much good as they could. If there is anyone, or anything, to blame for what happens to all the innocent people in the story, it's Dr. Manhattan.