John Crichton...Hero or Villian? [spoilers for season 3 Self-Inflicted Wounds & beyond]

[PEACEKEEPER GARO]

John Crichton is one of, if not my favorite character in television history. This is not because he's a perfect, cookie-cutter, stand-up hero like Dylan Hunt (Played By Kevin Sorbo) from Andromeda. He is my favorite because he is extremely complex and multi-layered. On one side he's a hero that will do his best to do what's good and honorable, such as sacrificing himself by disarming a nuclear wormhole weapon. On the other hand, he's a selfish man that puts his needs above others to get what he wants, especially when it comes to wormhole knowledge, or Aeryn. Because of him, directly and indirectly, countless innocent people have died, including Zhaan and those young women at the fort (sorry can't remember episode name). He helps his freinds as much as he hurts them. So what is John Crichton...that is which is the true John Crichton? Is the true John Crichton a hero?...or is John Crichton a villian?...you make the call.

[apestone81]

Crichton is, for all intents and purposes, real. As a character he is as real as I've seen on screen. He's not hero or villian, he's himself. There are no black and whites in the real world, and on Farscape I think it's done very well to show that. Crichton always tries to do the right thing, but sometimes what he wants gets in the way. He's a very real character. I think that's far more interesting than good guy or bad guy.

[SpyderDan]

My immediate fanboy reaction, "yes, he's a hero, duh!"

But he's not just a heroic figure, he's an ordinary guy in super-bizarre circumstances who's just trying to do the right thing. That often leads to non-heroic things.

[Moya's Starburst]

I agree with that last comment, he never had all the answers, thus leading him to miscalculate, sometimes.
But that doesn't make him a villain, it just says he is human.

[Jason Bridges]

everyone has a dark side even crichton. after all he's only human!

[TalynLives]

Yup. A lot of people complain about Season 4 and the drugs, "it's out of character" etc. and stuff. But for me, it was all in keeping with the "John Crichton" is "only human" theme. Like most of us, he has moments of incredible strength but is never free of his weaknesses and will opt for the easy option from time to time. It makes him compelling as a character, the feeling that he's not from some completely different breeding stock to us, but that he exemplifies the parts of us that exceed our own expectations when the time calls for it. The same with Aeryn, the whole "you can be more", "In the right environment, you can thrive".

When you stop having moments of weakness between moments of strength, that's when you lose the realness of the character.

[Owlman]

Crichton is your classic Noir Anti-Hero. Mostly doing good things, for not so good reasons or doing bad things for good reasons. Characters in the same vein are "The Crow" Eric Draven and Marv of Sin City.

I think as the series went on, Crichton slided more twords the villain side of the spectrum. Especially in PKW.

Someone pointed out that Crichton and the "Villains" of the series are mirror images of each other, especially Scorpy. In Season 4, Crichton became ever more dark, while Scorpy became closer to good.

The primary villains weren't really that bad, actually.

Crais was obsessed and wanted revenge
Scorpius wanted to keep his people free and alive
Grayza wanted peace.

They did some bad things, but so did Crichton.

Season 2: Obsessed with revenge
Season 4: Wanted to keep his people free and alive
PKW: Wanted Peace