"Every villain is the hero of their own story" is true as far as it goes. But this does *not* mean, "Every villain needs to have sympathetic, relatable motivations."

The real world is full of people who just want to dominate, hurt and ruin others. They're the "heroes" in an ugly, terrible story.

@charliejane I think this touches on something you said about extreme actions. As an audience I get turned off when I am told a character is relatable/sympathetic/adult/not a loose cannon and then they don't handle a plot situation as well as 90% or more of real-world humans do.