Content Warning: This news article contains references to genocide, sexual assault and child abuse.

A subsection of TikTok known as “BookTok” has exploded in popularity over the past few months. Although there is nothing wrong with communities sharing their love for different books or fictional characters, a disturbing trend has begun to emerge on the app.
The trend revolves around the idea of content creators trying to redeem villains of their respective franchise. Archetypes such as the “anti-hero” or “sympathetic villain” have been around for decades, but the trend surpasses this.
Videos such as “Why *insert character* is the real hero of *insert book*” have become increasingly popular, with videos following this trend receiving hundreds of thousands of views. An extremely popular character that this has been done with is Judge Holden from Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian.” While it is normal for readers to be drawn to complex characters, the glorification of villains such as Judge Holden raises serious concerns that demand scrutiny.
For those who do not know, Judge Holden is not the hero of McCarthy’s novel. He is not a redeemable villain. He is not in any way relatable. He is devoid of morality and is consumed by a lust for power. There are no redeeming qualities about him as he is an unequivocally evil man. He kills, tortures and forces himself upon anybody and anything he comes across, including small children. He does this simply because he enjoys the suffering of others.
Yet despite all this, some content creators on TikTok seem dead set on trying to make Judge Holden the real hero of the book. Even more horrifying is the increasing number of people stating that they relate to the character as an “anti-hero.”
To give the benefit of the doubt, it might be reasonable to believe that the people claiming to relate to Judge Holden simply have never read “Blood Meridian.” However, this is indicative of a much larger problem.
Users on TikTok tend to romanticize characters like Judge Holden. Tags around “Blood Meridian” are flooded with fan edits, and users quote his lines with admiration. By celebrating and attempting to sympathize with a character, TikTok users inadvertently perpetuate a narrative that glorifies his atrocities. The most popular line quoted from “Blood Meridian” follows one of the most horrifying parts of the novel where Judge Holden is implied to have sodomized a child to death.
The idolization of Holden additionally overlooks his victims. Judge Holden brutally massacres a group of peaceful Tigua Indians, and McCarthy used real-life atrocities committed against Native Americans as reference for the crimes Holden commits in the novel.
It is essential to remember that fiction mirrors reality and vice versa. Although Holden is a fictional character created by McCarthy, his character represents a very dark and very real aspect of American history.
As consumers of media, it is important to approach characters like Judge Holden through a critical lens. Readers can appreciate a character’s complexity without romanticizing their villainy. People can engage in a productive discourse without glorifying their horrific actions and can steer the conversation away from idolization to a more nuanced understanding of morality and ethics.