Talk:Ainz Ooal Gown/@comment-2604:2D80:4018:8905:2C09:58E:297F:BB9D-20181015035958/@comment-34783543-20181017044315

When did this series ever try to justify Ainz's behaviour? We have a complete Volume in which a group of Lizardmen are forced to fight for their species' survival, get humanized along the way by forging friendships and acting heroic and all that results in their defeat and eternal servitude. The reason for nearly being wiped out? Ainz wanted to test the intelligence of one of his floor guardians and he would have ordered Cocytus to exterminate them if Demiurge hadn't misinterpreted the whole situation. If that doesn't show how cold and indifferent Ainz is towards outsiders of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, I don't know what does.

Of course Ainz believes he is justified. If he wouldn't, he wouldn't act that way or show much more guilt for his actions. However, Ainz is no longer a human being. He's an Overlord, an undead that should not care for the living no matter how much it tries to. You, as a human being with the mentality of one, can be disgusted by him all you want. That doesn't mean he is a bad character.

The author acknowledges the fact that Ainz is a monster by making his victims likable, by offering different perspectives from the New World which perceive him as monstrous and unnecessarily cruel, by adding background to everything he extinguishes in a few pages. But it doesn't really matter if he is unredeemable because his mindset is understandable and to an extend relatable. Stranded in an unknown world and being hated on first contact for nothing more than him being an undead it makes sense that he would prioritize his own survival above everything else. Facts that this world is not his original one, that it possesses similarities to a game and that his undead body is even altering his mind don't help with building a connection towards it and its inhabitants. The underlying reason for him being so accepting towards any idea for strengthening Nazarick is his love for his guild, guild members and their creations. He simply doesn't want to see it wither away and is determined to do anything to prolong its survival. Ainz fails at being a superior because he was never meant to be one. He was your average workslave until reality made the impossible possible and made him a god with his own subordinates.

Ainz works as a villain-protagonist because at the end of the day you can't really hate him. You can accept the outcome of him being defeated or succeeding. That is what makes him a good character. He serves his role splendidly.