Brian, I’m going to do something I probably shouldn’t: I’m going to spoil a project I’ve been busting my ass on for the better part of a decade and a half. I’m going to spoil the motivations of one of the villains. There are three - a sociopathic, racist military commander, a goddess of destruction, and the Black Knight, a rampaging spree killer who has weaponized the weather. I’m going to spoil the Black Knight.
The Black Knight is the last survivor of a nation of warriors who’s spent the last sixteen years roaming the world randomly murdering the citizens of the Empire as revenge for the betrayal and massacre of his people. Only, he doesn’t really care. He’s really doing this because his infant daughter died in his arms and he wants to make the world despair as he did.That’s it, he’s not motivated by revenge, but by grief. He wasn’t born evil (he wasn’t born at all, but that’s a separate matter.), he was once a loving husband and father, content to live the life of a farmer and painter only to suffer a great and horrific loss, and in his sorrow, he’s given in to his anger and grief and decided to share it, even if it kills him.
And while this is all going on, not a dram of your precious Christianity is impugned or offended, because the primary religion - indeed, seemingly the only religion - is devotion to three goddesses, as in LoZ.
Why do I do this? Why do I spoil a story I’ve spent a good chunk of my life refining and perfecting? Because nuance exists. “Evil” does not actually exist. People do bad things, but very few ever think, “Mwua ha ha ha, soon my electro-ray shall destroy Metropolis!” I’ve tried thinking of characters that lack any redeeming qualities whatsoever, and I came up with Voldemort, Care Bear villains, and Dr. Claw, one of whom is a racist sociopath, and two who are meant for small children and a lack of subtlety can be excused. Your bitching about “good versus evil” is simplistic on it’s face. Everyone is the hero of their own story, and the villain of someone else’s, even you. Even me, somehow. If you want to write moralistic pablum for the emotionally, psychologically and philosophically underdeveloped, then cool on you buddy. But us grownups will continue to write more complex characters, thanks.
But hey, good luck with your bootleg Voltron-whatever you’re apparently working on. I’m sure your pre-school level characterization will just draw in scads of readership.