The only part he can be excused for is making the wish, imo. It is a reaction born out of his frustration with his lack of confidence, and he doesn’t know that it will really work.
Once it became clear that the wish had a real effect, and he chose to ignore the real Nikki’s suffering and indulge himself in the lie, he became a complete villain.
If he had instead wished for the courage to tell Nikki how he felt, completely different movie.
There’s definitely some development supposed to be happening, but I can’t 100% point my finger to what causes it or why.
His character is written specifically to ask “Is Nikki happy?” and in the beginning he stands down because he thought he did “something she didn’t like”. The full switch happens way later, I suspect after the “rape-scene” when he learned the truth about her father. Why that is, I can not explain, I guess most people would handle that hypothetical situation completely differently, which makes him difficult to empathize later on.
The only part he can be excused for is making the wish, imo. It is a reaction born out of his frustration with his lack of confidence, and he doesn’t know that it will really work.
Once it became clear that the wish had a real effect, and he chose to ignore the real Nikki’s suffering and indulge himself in the lie, he became a complete villain.
If he had instead wished for the courage to tell Nikki how he felt, completely different movie.
There’s definitely some development supposed to be happening, but I can’t 100% point my finger to what causes it or why.
His character is written specifically to ask “Is Nikki happy?” and in the beginning he stands down because he thought he did “something she didn’t like”. The full switch happens way later, I suspect after the “rape-scene” when he learned the truth about her father. Why that is, I can not explain, I guess most people would handle that hypothetical situation completely differently, which makes him difficult to empathize later on.