WHOO! My 100th post!

Over on the KH-Insider boards, someone asked this question:

Is Axel REALLY such a bad guy.

My answer:

As far as "AAAAAARRGHHBLEAGH!" behavior in the Organization, he's one of the least disgusting ones(only Roxas and Demyx are "better", so to speak). In Castle Oblivion, he was up against people much worse than he could ever hope of being. Treacherous? Sure, but look who he was betraying. Marluxia and Larxene were traitors to begin with, not to mention horribly cruel. Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion were not owed any sort of loyalty, and Zexion is an especially horrifying character, imo.

He is his element. Always there when you need it, but play with it and you get burnt. I have no doubt that he spent a long time in the Organization being treated like garbage by his "Elders", so you can bet he had some grudges and by Castle Oblivion, he figured, get rid of them all in one fell swoop, and who better to use as pawns than Sora and Namine? Of course, keeping Roxas was also a reason, but I never believed he was the sole reason. There's some sweet revenge involved, I'm sure.

Is he good? Oh no! In fact, I think pre-Roxas and pre-Demyx, I believe that he was horribly evil, but changed over time. Still, he is harsh, dominating, vengeful, greedy, and yes, selfish. However, he is much more than those negative qualities, so I don't think he can be written off as "just another prick to hopefully get his commenpence".

Course if you were to ask Vexen or Zexion fans, I think they'd think he's evil incarnate no matter what he does. In their eyes, going from what I've observed, Axel would never be "good" enough.