There’s something irresistible about a character who blurs the line between hero and villain. The ones who make terrible choices for understandable reasons. The ones who would absolutely ruin your life… but you’d still slide into the courtroom with a briefcase and a closing argument ready.
Here are five morally gray characters I would defend without hesitation (and probably a little dramatic flair).
1. Kaz Brekker (from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo)
Criminal mastermind. Professional schemer. Emotionally constipated genius.
Kaz has absolutely committed crimes. Many of them. But intent matters, Your Honor. He protects his people. He dismantles worse men. He operates in a system already rotten to its core. If survival in a corrupt city is a crime, then we’re all guilty.
Verdict: Not innocent… but understandable.
2. Jude Duarte (from The Cruel Prince by Holly Black)
Jude claws her way to power in a world designed to devour her. She lies. She manipulates. She plays political chess like her life depends on it—because it does.
Would I argue self-defense on a grand, systemic scale? Absolutely. Survival in Faerie requires sharp edges. Jude just learned to sharpen hers faster than everyone else.
Verdict: Ambitious, not evil.
3. Victor Vale (from Vicious by V. E. Schwab)
Victor is vengeance wrapped in intelligence and bitterness. He does terrible things in pursuit of justice—if you squint and tilt your head slightly.
But here’s the thing: he was wronged. Betrayed. Broken. And instead of becoming passive, he became powerful. Is his moral compass cracked? Yes. Is it completely shattered? I’d argue no.
Verdict: Complicated. Deeply. Deliciously. Complicated.
4. Daenerys Targaryen (from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin)
Breaker of chains. Mother of dragons. Conqueror with a cause.
Daenerys walks a razor-thin line between liberation and domination. She genuinely wants to free the oppressed—but power warps even the purest intentions.
Would I defend her early campaigns? Passionately. Would I struggle later? Perhaps. But context matters, and so does the cost of ruling in a brutal world.
Verdict: Tragic, not monstrous.
5. Severus Snape (from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling)
Yes, he was cruel. Yes, he held grudges like trophies. Yes, therapy would have helped.
But he also lived in the grayest possible moral space—playing double agent, risking everything, motivated by love twisted into obsession and loyalty tangled with regret.
Snape is the definition of morally gray: petty and brave, vindictive and sacrificial. A walking contradiction.
Verdict: Guilty of being human.
Final Argument
Morally gray characters remind us that goodness isn’t always clean and villainy isn’t always absolute. They operate in shadows, in compromises, in impossible choices.
And honestly? They’re often the most compelling people in the room.
Now I’m curious—who would you defend in court? Who gets your impassioned closing argument, no matter what they’ve done?
literary gluttony 
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