the reason we're supporting Dan is because he's doing society a favour. He's getting rid of monsters who have harmed others terribly, and would continue to do so. While he also murders, his victims aren't innocent, and the result of the murders is a more safe and peaceful life not only for the past victims (if they survived), but also any future ones that may have been targeted. Dan is also a police officer. He already locks criminals up for a living. He's already helping society with that. But he also knows the limits of the law, and doles out the deserved punishment as a vigilante in his free time. Now, some may have read the other story where Dan shows up as a side character: Trace. Here's some spoilers, so skip this if you don't want to know more. We know that as a teenager he was a bully to the guy he had a crush on. Dan was a psycho already back then. But when his crush was killed by someone, and the law blamed the family murder on Dan's crush - that's the moment something changed, imo. Dan has been going after brutal criminals who also escaped the law, just like his crush's murderer, and been setting things right. Maybe it was a way to let out his frustration, maybe he wanted to feel connected to his crush that way, killing those murderers like he wants to kill his crush's murderer. Whatever his motivations, at the end of the day, his murders protect innocent lives. Yes, he is a psycho, and the creativity of his killings, as well as that photograph of the victims he takes at the end, are clear signs of that. He may not even do it out of a strong feeling of justice, a G0d-complex, or empathy for the victims, but simply for his own fcked up reasons. All that matters is that he has done more to help than harm, in the grand scheme of things, whether he cares for that or not. So yeah, I do think it's acceptable to support such a vigilante character, for as long as his victims remain guilty monsters, while also being perfectly aware that he's fcked up.
the reason we're supporting Dan is because he's doing society a favour. He's getting rid of monsters who have harmed others terribly, and would continue to do so. While he also murders, his victims aren't innocent, and the result of the murders is a more safe and peaceful life not only for the past victims (if they survived), but also any future ones that may have been targeted. Dan is also a police officer. He already locks criminals up for a living. He's already helping society with that. But he also knows the limits of the law, and doles out the deserved punishment as a vigilante in his free time.
Now, some may have read the other story where Dan shows up as a side character: Trace. Here's some spoilers, so skip this if you don't want to know more. We know that as a teenager he was a bully to the guy he had a crush on. Dan was a psycho already back then. But when his crush was killed by someone, and the law blamed the family murder on Dan's crush - that's the moment something changed, imo. Dan has been going after brutal criminals who also escaped the law, just like his crush's murderer, and been setting things right. Maybe it was a way to let out his frustration, maybe he wanted to feel connected to his crush that way, killing those murderers like he wants to kill his crush's murderer. Whatever his motivations, at the end of the day, his murders protect innocent lives.
Yes, he is a psycho, and the creativity of his killings, as well as that photograph of the victims he takes at the end, are clear signs of that. He may not even do it out of a strong feeling of justice, a G0d-complex, or empathy for the victims, but simply for his own fcked up reasons. All that matters is that he has done more to help than harm, in the grand scheme of things, whether he cares for that or not.
So yeah, I do think it's acceptable to support such a vigilante character, for as long as his victims remain guilty monsters, while also being perfectly aware that he's fcked up.