Morally Grey, What Can I Say?
You know that sensation of anticipation? That almost addictive, damn near cosmic feeling that tantalizes your nerves to the point of overstimulation?
That feeling is what we call some good old-fashioned allure to morally grey characters. Stemming from something deeper than the wild memories they provide; these otherwise forbidden and dark topics affords the reader agency to redefine the confounds of expectations set by society and re-imagine life outside their reality. While for some the brutality in these character’s reign illicit an excitement, the attraction isn’t just the presence the bad boy carries or the knife play they yield, but the emotional lure they afford us.
In real-life, we would serve as key witnesses against these people in a court case, but within these fictional worlds, we indulge in their ruthlessness happily. Fiction affords society the opportunity to explore the rawness of the human experience—that which encompasses our pain, our rage, the dark hues of morality we contemplate in the midnight hour. In the genre, we find that authors create worlds to explore the unfiltered emotions that bloom from rebelling against societal constraints, and in the margin of moral disengagement, we see in the alluring creation of the morally grey character. Even within the fear they invoke or the wrath that their hands yield, there’s unrestricted awe and devotion—and that my comrade, is the good shit we eat up.
Now let’s get into the big question of why. Why do readers fall for these morally compromised characters? What makes them so alluring that we’re willing to suspend ourselves into the land of delusion?
Well, that’s something that many have wondered for centuries. One of the theories used to conceptualize the attraction, is called the Erotic Uncanny.
It’s the theory that encapsulates the idea, deep down we love the dark, weird things that roam in the recesses of our mind. When looking at the history of dangerous characters, we find theory appear within eighteenth century when analyzing Gothic literature. From the book, The Dangerous Lover by author Debora Lutz, we see the theory of erotic uncanny spoken of as the “restless uncertainty, the inquietude of never fully knowing: when we’ll die, if we’ll find true love” (Lutz, pg. 32, 2003). Stemming from the Freudian psychological theory, the erotic uncanny theory addresses how the unsettling desires within romantic themes, affords readers to embrace their suppressed desires and inner self from embracing the dark natured characters. You see, the presence of true love and devotions from the dark phantom character acts as that catalyst for uprooting the bindings upon one’s desires.
In an article that analyzes the attraction to the bad boy archetype, the author discusses how the character profile attracts the eye by being “complex and multi-dimensional” and “break[ing] societal rule for no apparent reason and at the other extreme are those who break societal rule because rules are unjust” (Keen et al., pg.130, 2012). As we get to bask in the power of a morally grey character who break from the molds of society, we see that there is a possibility of liberation for us from an oppressive social network. We can’t be surprised when readers are attracted to the bad boy, I mean who doesn’t love a shock to the status quo? These characters explore the dark, twisted nature of the unknown so that we don’t have to, and nurture dreams of freedom. Watching the wild card deconstruct the matrix all while flicking the finger as the hypocrisies of man, not only melts the fair maiden’s attraction, but ignites the desire for nonconformity in the hearts of many.
Let’s look at some of my favorite examples of morally grey characters, and the variation of darkness—I’ll try to do so without major spoilers.
Ranging from the allusive mafioso, the tortured souls, and the unhinged killers that makes us question ourselves, we see various identities and character profiles of the morally grey character profile. An example of this is in the Black Mafia romance Sinful Vow by Asia Monique. The attraction to mafia storytelling roots from timeless media of gangster movies and the intrigue to characters close to our society, yet distant from our everyday life.
Sinful Vow by Asia Monique is a marriage of convenience tale that follows two heirs to Black Italian mafia empires. Characters Enzo Bianchi and Lucia Moretti, one is an heir to the empire while the other is a trained assassin embark to both strengthen their familial powers, but to also carve away at the foul forces within the crime world. These two presents as the badass made men and women that invoke a fear in the hearts of their enemies, but also demonstrate a fervent love like no other.
Monique does a striking job in highlighting themes of morality, justice, and the balance of powers within this crime world while constructing a beautiful love story. Both Enzo and Lucia were individuals prepared to enact cruelties of the most-epic-of-proportions in the name of duty, yet we as readers bear witness to a romance that re-constructs the notions of strategy and righteousness. A favorite quote from the story is a line where Enzo says to Lucia, “I need your crown on, head up, eyes fierce, and when problems arise, I want you to point, and I’ll shoot” (Monique, pg. 250, 2022). From this scene we see how characters define their roles in each other’s lives outside of contrite expectations of morality, and follows innate dedication. These two worked in tandem to maintain their empires with a Machiavellian stratagem that leaves readers with unbridled excitement and awe at their love.
Characters whom exhibit behaviors of brutality and ruthlessness, now present the readers with non-conventional practices that follow common ideologies of righteousness and dignity. In addition to the context of internal struggles with morality, the characters find themselves consumed by the throes of love; a love so unique and true, the devotion to each other establishes the boundaries of being able to express humanity…while also being ready to fuck shit up if need be.
Then when it comes to morally grey characters in dark romance, we can’t deny the soft spot we all carry for tortured antithesis. Such soft spot is found in the main lead character Hayden Moore from the Sapphic romantic thriller, Collateral Damage by Shassii. The story follows Hayden Moore and Alora Blackthorne, two souls found in carnage and bound by fate, as the two are forced to maintain each other’s company in a captive/captor dynamic. Damn, that was hard to explain without spoiling the plot.
Hayden, or Hays, is a character that is formed by the torture that the unjust had inflicted, but molts throughout the story to expose such beautiful vulnerabilities unseen. Shassii takes on the responsibility of exposing trauma in its rawest form to the reader, and sets course for themes of healing, confronting corruption, and the thought of inevitability between these pages. Her torture was a cycle fostered from the darkness of her abusers, and with every scar, she carried a fracture upon her being. Yet, despite the darkness, she carried a beautiful soul contradicting the monster she had to be for survival—hence the tortured antithesis.
There is no such thing as an easy way with this book, but I promise it was a good thing in the end. Have some tissues, chocolate, and an emotional support sunflower on standby.
Hays was a character that you connect with due to rawness, truth, and ease that comes with her character…even despite the carnage left in her wake. Even she herself defines her existence as “a monster, because if [she’s] not, then [she’ll] have nothing left” (Shassii, pg. 284, 2025). There was not easiness to the loving, yet her evolution in the novel not only stimulated the development of Alora’s character but afforded herself a realm of affection midst the darkness. Hays is an experience many who are consumed within a failed system face, yet rather than succumbing to the pain, they then become the monsters that demand submission. In such, readers are afforded to both feel seen in a society that ostracizes their trauma, and allows them acceptance even at their worst simply because they’re worthy.
The tortured antithesis proves that you’re more than your trauma, that your existence is not defined by your pain; and even within the moments where your darkness consumes you, loving you is still worth it all. Hays is a character that reminds you of a fleeting glimpse into the cosmos. Even if it blinds you, you can’t look away because deep down, you know the preciousness of its existence and will want to treasure that experience forever.
Now last, but never least—the unhinged, wild card of a character that appears within the morally grey sphere. This kind of character is a personal favorite, but definitely an eclectic taste. Unfiltered and the enemy of social conformity, the unhinged character presents the desire for freedom through their playfulness and coy brutality. This, my friends, is Zayden from the novel Graves by Katelyn Taylor. Graves is a story that follows two twin mercenary brothers and a young woman whose the targets of their affections, and from such affections, finds herself under the radar of some very dangerous people. Zayden was wild since first introduction, he meet him completing a hit job, sees his angel, Blake Carlson walk past him in an alleyway, and like any average joe begins stalking her religiously. I’m talking breaking-and-entering, laying in bed while she sleeps, watching her job—the whole nine yards.
Now, I know you’re probably wondering, “What the fuck…How the fuck is this attractive? Do we need to hold an intervention for you Nina?”
Thank you for the concern, I appreciate it but it’s all good; he’s definitely your hear-me-out special of the day, but I promise it works out.
You see, Zayden is crazy in every sense of the word, but the attraction to this character isn’t solely hybristophilia (which is the attraction to people who commit crimes), but the unfiltered devotion exhibited from his character.
While yes, Zayden is unhinged as fuck, he exhibits a devotion that every heart desires and requires. His character, albeit selfish and unhealthy in pursuit consumed by his obsessions—he devotes himself to the safety and security of the woman he deemed his angel. The biggest feature of morally grey men that attracts the reader isn’t the leather jackets or criminality, but how raw they present their love and devotion.
During a pivotal moment in the story, we see Zayden plan an extraordinary seven-month-anniversary gift for Blake, where she’s able to enact her revenge for things she’s experienced simply because she deserved to “take back everything” taken from her (Taylor, pg. 218, 2024). Such act of devotion are actions that can soften even the hard edges, and melt the hearts of readers from its irony beauty. Where the unhinged morally grey personality sets to fixates on the main character with affection not for what they can gain from the main character, but how they can serve them as a means of reciprocating the love they gained from the main character is tantalizing, healing, and dare I say, finger licking good.
While for some the brutality in their reign elicits an excitement, the attraction to morally grey isn’t just the bad boy motorcycle and knife play. The attraction to these morally ambiguous characters stems from the freedom in their expression and desire for reciprocation of passion. Exploring these otherwise taboo and dark topics, affords the reader agency to redefine the confounds of their experiences by re-imagining the traumas from their imaginative lens.
I leave you with a line from the song Monster, featured on—one of my the favorite musical album—Epic series by Jorge Riverra-Herrans, “If I became the monster, ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves, and deep down I know this well.”
The kinship to the monsters and the creatures that toe such a line is an intrinsic experience that calls upon the vulnerabilities in our own self. We bask in the unhinged creations, the tortured souls, and Machiavellian strategists to reclaim our freedom to live without boundary while recognizing the scars we carry. In these characters we can find kinship in our sorrows and pain, feed the merciless yearn for vengeance, or embrace the complication found of our inner being.
Book Recommendations with Morally Grey Characters
Reference:
-Keen, R., McCoy, M. L., & Powell, E. (2012). Rooting for the bad Guy: Psychological Perspectives. Studies in Popular Culture, 34(2), 129–144. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23416402
-Lutz, D. (2003). The Dangerous Lover: Gothic Villians, Bryonism, and the Nineteenth-Century Seduction Narrative (1st ed.) [PDF]. The Ohio State University Press.
-Monique, A. (2021). Sinful Vow (1st ed.). Asia Monique (Indie Published).
-Shassii. (2025). Collateral Damage (1st ed.) [Kindle]. Shassii (Indie Published).
-Taylor, K. (2024). Graves (1st ed.) [Kindle]. Katelyn Taylor (Indie Published).