The Ancient Magus’ Bride has a very good villain in the ongoing arc, and fans sincerely hope that she is not ruined by a sad backstory.
Spoilers for The Ancient Magus’ Bride (Mahou Tsukai no Yome) ahead!
Summary
- Philomela’s Grandmother is a villain who hurts both those belonging to her own family and outsiders.
- It is heavily implied that she had done something terrible to the werewolf children she held hostage.
- Giving her a sad backstory would not justify anything and would be absolutely infuriating.
Sometimes a character is such a good villain that you do not want them to be justified by sad backstories, and Philomela’s Grandmother is just this kind of a villain.
Philomela’s Grandmother Is Irredeemable
Philomela’s Grandmother seemed to be extremely easy for fans on Reddit to hate. She is a horrible grandmother who has turned her once happy granddaughter into a hollow shell of her past self. From Alcyone’s message it seems that the Grandmother has the power to prevent Philomela from seeing her parents if she is not obedient or useful enough. Moreover, the Grandmother is clearly experimenting on sentient beings, specifically werewolves. She has them doing her bidding while holding their children hostage, on whom, it is strongly implied, she had also experimented on. All of this has led some fans to believe that she is pretty much beyond redemption.
Sad Backstory Ruining Evil Characters
Never underestimate the power of a sad backstory. To be clear, fans usually love multidimensional characters. And also they like characters with sad backstories. However, there is a limit to what a sad backstory can explain, and for many people it takes place at child mistreatment.
Philomela’s Grandmother is no longer just any character. Every scene she is in has her loom over the viewer like a horrible monstrosity or a natural disaster. She has been established very well as a terrifying and powerful being that does not care much even for children, which makes her extremely ill-suited for a sad backstory. In this context, a sad backstory would be offensive, which is why fans hope for the sake of the anime that the makers do not try to introduce something like that into the canon.