Few weeks ago, I read the page of Hiro Shishigami on the Near Pure Evil wiki whose "redemption" is questionable. Now, I'm bringing the candidate whose "corruption" is questionable. Here is Viola from The Witch's House. Sorry for my not good English in advance.
What's the Work?[]
The Witch's House MV is a horror RPG Maker game. It follows a young girl named 'Viola' overcomes many deadly traps in the witch's house, which has the medicine that helps her escape the woods. She successfully goes to the last floor where a injured girl named 'Ellen' is waiting for her. 'Ellen' chases 'Viola' to the woods, only to be killed by Viola's father.
Plot twist time. In true ending, it's revealed that Ellen a.k.a the witch was in Viola's body in the beginning, while the real Viola was trapped in Ellen's mutilated body. Ellen stole Viola's body to escape her terminal illness and left Viola in a mutilated body with her throat burnt. And you know the rest. It has a prequel novel which was later turned into a manga both named The Witch's House: The Diary of Ellen, they're kinda short to read. The proposal will include both the prequel and the game.
Who is she?[]
Viola is the main antagonist of The Witch's House or actually the main victim. She is a friend of Ellen, the titular villainous protagonist of the game. She met Ellen at some point and formed a sisterly bond with her. On the day Ellen said she's going to die, Viola accepted to exchange bodies. Ellen had mutilated herself to ensure Viola will suffer. She tried to defeat and chased Ellen throughout the game but, like i said, she was tragically killed by her own father, who mistook her for a monster.
What has she done and what makes her close to Pure Good?[]
• She's a very sensitive and caring girl. Unlike most of the characters in TWH, she lacks most of corruptions and shows many mature admirable qualities for a 13 years-old girl.
• She cares deeply about her loved ones: her father and Ellen.
• She has befriended and taken care of a terminally ill Ellen for a long time.
• Although Ellen made up a story about her past to trick Viola, Ellen was genuinely uncomfortable by Viola's question about her parents. Viola, after seeing Ellen like that, reassured Ellen that her parents still loved her and that they did not visit her maybe because they worked hard for her sake.
• When Ellen covers Viola with a blanket and her injured legs are exposed, Viola told Ellen not to worry about her and that Ellen shouldn't push herself too hard, she hugged Ellen afterwards.
• Even though she was afraid of Ellen's disease, she still didn't reject her; unlike anyone Ellen had ever met.
• She was deeply heartbroken when "Ellen was dying and said that she was worthless", Viola tried to convince Ellen that she was loved and everyone wanted her to keep living despite her illness and swore always being there for Ellen.
• She ran through the whole forest despite the rain because she was afraid Ellen would be lonely and didn't want to lie to her, which shows her sense of honor.
• She regretted lying to her father and sobbed for it after arguing with him.
• The Devil said her motive was pity for Ellen but throughout the prequel, her motive was out of selflessness and she never looked down on her but instead genuinely loved Ellen. However, it was The Devil's attempt to manipulate her.
• She was willing to take Ellen's pain to keep her from suffering alone and accepted to exchange her body even though she knew it would be very painful.
• After awaking in a mutilated body, even she screamed in agony, she still didn't break her promise and had no doubt in her friend as she drank the throat burning medicine which Ellen said it was just a painkiller; in the novel, she politely thanked Ellen before drinking.
• When she realized that Ellen will not return her body, she accepted her fate and showed empathy to Ellen's tragic past, willingly allowed Ellen to live on in her body while she died in her place if it's meant Ellen can be truly happy with her father and give up her villainy.
• She wondered where did Ellen go wrong and how could her heart have been brought back onto the right path, meaning after everything Ellen did to her, she still wanted to redeem Ellen.
• She tried to stop Ellen once and for all after realizing how twisted Ellen is and her father could be in danger from Ellen.
• She didn't give up chasing Ellen even in extreme pain and despair, showing her love for her father even in her last moments.
Her Goodness Zone[]
• She tried to protect her father from Ellen, a Near Pure Evil villain, even in extreme agony and he was the only reason why she didn't die of despair and stood up to Ellen.
• She sacrificed herself to save Ellen. Although she admitted that taking Ellen's place didn't mean she wanted to die, she still endured all the pain and soon accepted to die in Ellen's body so that she could live a happy life and abandon her villainy, therefore Viola's words were genuine and serious. At first glance, this action seemed reckless as it indirectly put her father in danger, but Viola agreed to exchange when she didn't know Ellen's true nature and she also subverted it as she was extremely remorseful and tried to defeat Ellen when she realized the situation.
Admirable Standard[]
In the prequel, there was an unnamed man with a sword (his description in the novel) who almost killed Ellen and deeply traumatized her but he was just a minor character with no characterization so she doesn't have to compete with him. Overall, she sets the admirable standards and her kindness alone is enough to stand out as a total contrast thanks to the dark theme of The Witch's House.
Moral Agency[]
Her thinking is pretty mature for her age, as shown in her inner monologue.
Her action in the game?[]
Ok let's begin with the complex part. Honestly, I initially considered proposing her on the IA wiki but I noticed some details that I missed out on the first read, so let me try.
She used Ellen's black magic to trap and kill her in the game. Some could argue this action can disqualify Viola from being Near Pure Good. But is that true? I will give my argument:
• Did Ellen deserve it? Yes she did, even more than that. She’s a Near Pure Evil who has sadistically killed and tortured many people, most of them are children, for hundred years; tormented Viola out of pettiness and it's implied that she wouldn't stop doing bad things in the future so she's too depraved to be left alive.
• Her motive? Many players believe that Viola's motive was to get her body back. Well, it's true but not enough. In the prequel, her motive is revealed to be much more heroic as she accepted that her body could not be retrieved and she worried about her father's safety more than herself, making it more like a heating-up period or a fake corruption than a real corruption. Here's her quote from the Epilogue: "Yes, I could go away. But if father were hurt, that was a different story. How much would it hurt me?"
• Extremist? I don't think so. Remember, she was trapped in a mutilated body and black magic was all she had. Therefore, her action was justified as a last resort; noting that she couldn't fully control the magic as she described it's like a red shock ran around her body.
• Remorseful? It didn't reveal if she has remorse for her action or not. However, it can be inferred from the following:
• When she looked back on Ellen's memories of killing people, she got nauseous and even scratched her eye sockets in an attempt to avoid seeing it.
• Even after she changed her mind and decided to kill Ellen, she was not willing to do so.
• She forgave Ellen at first and possibly tried to redeem her if she didn't have any bad intentions towards her father.
• Her strange behaviors at the prequel's ending? She did laughed several times in the end but she laughed at her own ignorance, not because she liked punishing Ellen. It's possibly that the magic remained in Ellen's body affected Viola's sanity when she was disoriented in that moment. Even if she wasn't affected by black magic, her behaviors didn't affect much since she limited her lethality despite not fully controlling the magic, most of the traps would kill Ellen as quickly as possible, almost instantly (if you notice in the game), instead of going too far like torturing her to death with those traps like how Ellen did to her victims. Some might argue that she didn't torture Ellen to make sure her original body wasn't harmed BUT the swapping spell only worked when both of them agreed and just like i said, she worried about her father more than herself.
In conclusion, her action is shown in a horror way just because of the game's theme and to be fair, she doesn't seem too corrupting and fits the definition of righteous killers or minor lethal.
What prevents her from Pure Good?[]
• Although her action was justified and killing Ellen was inevitable, she can be a bit lethal and hostile, such as disfiguring Ellen's face (though she later died immediately) and calling her "Omae" (in the original Japanese translation, it means you, as in enemy) throughout the game. However, it's hard to feel any sympathy to Ellen, especially when Ellen was aiming to her father. (she initially did want to forgive her but it turned out impossible).
• While she loved her father, she expressed embarrassment and was argumentative towards his over-protectiveness. However, this is mostly not too severe and she is remorseful for it so this is a minor prevention.
Verdict?[]
You decide.