Quote Originally Posted by Lersayil View Post
They want to genocide entire planets. No they're not evil (neither good though) and yes they need to die.

Their plight is sympathetic, relatable, and absolutely opposite and unreconcilable with ours. Basically what makes a good villain.
That's my view on it as well. You understand where they're coming from while also seeing the horror behind it and that there can be no reconciliation between the two extremes. The people that live now need to die so that the people who lived in the past might be revived. There's no compromise there. Especially not when the Ascians have given their cause further credence by viewing the lives they snuff out as pale reflections, unworthy of even the most basic of rights and consideration.

The Ascians are interesting precisely because of how human this all feels. Most people would deny it but if pushed into a similar situation they absolutely would at the very least entertain taking the same route. Let alone come to see it as just after eons of misery. That doesn't make them /right/ though or genocide any less wrong. You can sympathize with villains while also denouncing their plans.