Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-4637931-20150514003534/@comment-5106672-20150518171554

I think the message they try to pass is that no one is unredeemably villainous. Which, to some extents, is true: everyone has their motives, their character, their baggage, every story has two sides and everyone can even stomp on someone else's foot without noticing and causing mayhem accidentally.

With this said, let's not forget one thing: Once Upon A Time is essentially a fairy tale. Fairy tales take real life concepts and bring them to their extremes. So while the extent of the villains' bad deeds are exaggerated, so is the things they have to go through to get their redemptiom. Inpending doom makes a really strong case for getting in a forgiving or, at least, more tollerating mood, and the characters on OUAT go through that often. Are we slower to forgive in real life? Of course. Do we have out town threatened to blown up / our relatives kidnapped and brought to magical realms to be sacrificed / our town put under an impending curse / our lives threatened to be erased by time-travelling sorceresses / our relationships destroyed by spells, and the need to team up with our foes if we wish to survive on a weekly basis? Nope.

Besides, as I often point out, the most righteous person in town is double-murderer Archie: enough said.