Wednesday’s Tyler Debate Ignores Who The Real Villain Is

Warning: Contains spoilers for Wednesday.There’s been a lot of debate surrounding Tyler Galpin in Wednesday, and while much of it is warranted, it still ignores who the real villain of the show is. Tyler has been one of the more divisive characters in Wednesday thanks to criticism of how his character has been utilized, especially through his interactions with Wednesday, herself. Some of that involves his role as one of Wednesday’s love interests, as their romantic subplot has been derided as both a detraction from bigger plot points and underdeveloped compared to Wednesday’s relationships with other characters such as Enid or Xavier.

The criticisms of Tyler’s character become further compounded by the reveal in the Wednesday season 1 finale that Tyler was the Hyde that Wednesday was hunting throughout the show. With Tyler being one of Wednesday’s main villains who served as an unrepentant killer manipulating Wednesday from the very beginning of the show, it made disliking him even easier because the show was now giving an explicit reason for it. That ended up creating more problems, however, as the divisiveness of Tyler’s character ended up ignoring who the real villain of Wednesday is.

Thornhill Was Always The Real Villain Of Wednesday, Not Tyler

As much of a villain as Tyler might be, it doesn’t change the fact that the real villain of Wednesday was always Laurel Gates a.k.a. Christina Ricci’s Marilyn Thornhill. While Tyler was killing people as the Hyde, he did so under Thornhill’s orders for her plot of reviving Joseph Crackstone to destroy Nevermore and kill all the outcast students. None of that excuses Tyler’s actions, but at the same time, he shouldn’t be treated as the biggest villain in the show, especially with the circumstances behind why he became a villain, in the first place.

As revealed in the Wednesday season 1 finale, Tyler was manipulated and tortured by Thornhill until his mind was twisted to the point that he began to like killing people. Not only does that only add to Thornhill’s villainy, but it works to make Tyler a victim because he had no choice in becoming the way he is. As divisive as Tyler may be, Tim Burton’s Wednesday does make it clear that he should be sympathetic to some degree, and as such, it doesn’t make sense to focus so much on his negative actions when Thornhill was the reason he did them in the first place.

Can Tyler Be Redeemed In Wednesday Season 2?

Tyler arguably isn’t the kind of villain he’s been accused of being, and that begs the question of whether he can be redeemed in Wednesday season 2. With Tyler having survived the events of season 1, it would be easy enough for him to appear in season 2 at some point, either as a partner to whoever’s stalking Wednesday or as an independent antagonist. If something like that happened, then more time could be spent on exploring Tyler’s sympathetic traits, and that could lead to him having a change of heart and being redeemed for his past actions in some way.

It would be easy enough for Wednesday season 2 to redeem Tyler, but redemption even being on the table is a different matter, entirely. Even if Tyler does appear in season 2, the damage Thornhill did to his psyche could easily have gotten to the point where nothing can be done to fix it, thus making redemption impossible for him. All in all, it’s impossible to know what else Wednesday plans on doing with Tyler, if anything at all, but with any luck, future appearances won’t have his actions overshadow the bigger villains, as is currently the case.