Need some help writing!

[Stargazer31]

I'm writing a comic, and I need some help.
So basically, the main character's father was put under mind control ever since she was 6. Ever since then, he let her stepmother (who put him under mind control) get away with emotionally and physically abusing the main character. Anyway, later on, he wakes up from the mind control.
My question is: Should the main character forgive him, since he had no free will, or should she split ties with him, as he still enabled her abuser?

[GoldenHoneydew]

well it depends on what you plan on doing with his character in the future, is he going to be a prevalent character? or is he going to not be mentioned anymore after she cuts him off/ makes up with him?

[Stargazer31]

He won't appear again.

[GoldenHoneydew]

okay, and what type of person do you want to portray the mc as? a gentle nice person who's forgiving? or someone who doesn't give second chances?

[GoldenHoneydew]

I personally cannot give you the answer to your question because this all revolves around your character and how they think, use this scene to help build up what type of person they're going to be in the story!

[Spoonyenertainment]

Yeah I think that the personality is the key too.
If the mc is a calm and shy type the she's going to forgive.
But if she more of the yelling confident cool girl then she wont

[siluscomics]

I'd agree with @GoldenHoneydew it really depends on how you want to portray your main character. Also, what is his relationship with his daughter when the mother is not around? Is he kind? Devoted? Those would factor into my decision if I was the main character too.

[cherrystark]

For the sake of your MC, let her forgive him and move on. You can decide later if they want to rebuild their relationship. If she finds out he was brainwashed after he dies, for example, she's going to have to live with guilt on top of all her other feelings.

But from IRL, forgiveness is just as much for you as it is for the person who hurt you. Not forgiving is like the adage about you drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.l

Like @GoldenHoneydew said, the biggest thing is what type of person the character is? If she can see the bigger picture and understand that her dad is a victim too, forgiveness is a logical place for the story to go.

[JoshRaid]

She should definitely forgive him.

[liamnaughton7]

Well this opens the opportunity for a storyline in itself. If she doesn't forgive at first then he has to prove to her and more importantly himself that he wasn't that guy. If he doesn't appear again it could make his exit that all the more interesting and impactful.

[Stargazer31]

Thank you for the advice!

[Absol]

I can't say what your character should do, because, like everyone else said its mainly up to their personality and whether it fits the story you are going for. Personally, having been in a similar (but not physical and obvs without the mind control), I choose to forgive. I know that my parent loves me but is scared of the step-parent and we did have a falling out where we didn't speak to each other for a few months when I finally decided enough was enough. However, our relationship is stronger now then what it was despite the fact they are still married to the step parent, because we managed to have a long ass talk about everything and how we each felt during certain times and it brought us closer together and we could understand more about what the other person went through - because in these situations, it not just the MC who has been abused, the dad in your story has been as well; can you imagine how he'd feel knowing he let that happen under his watch if before that he was a kind devoted father? And like Cherrystark said, forgiveness isn't just for the parent, its for the MC as well. I appreciate this might not help you a lot because obviously, there's no mind control etc but I thought I'd try and explain it anyway