Okay...
If oppressing someone else bc of your own inferiority complex, or trying to force your crush into marrying you, doesn't qualify you as a bad guy then how about:
1. Deliberately and continously sending someone you dislike off to war, hoping they would be killed or at least suffer.
2. Trying to seize the wealth and title of one of your own subject (who has done nothing to deserve it), by underhanded means.
3. Threatening someone into submission by taking their sister's life hostage.
Ramsay/Theron is clearly a bad guy at this point in the story. He may get a redemption arc later, but until then I am NOT rooting for him.
I'm not saying he's a good person by any means. But not being a good person doesn't make you a villain. I mentioned his inferiority complex makes him act as a complete douche to Arthur but other than that, where are his villainous qualities?
1 - You mentioned how he sends Arthur to dangerous missions hoping he dies. Yes, that's messed up. But he has a henchman and several undercover people, and yet he hasn't had Arthur assassinated or tried to actually kill him (that we know of). Even when he saw Arthur all chummy with Charlotte and he got pretty crazy with jealousy (so much that he started harassing her with all the letters) he still did not try to harm Arthur or punish him in any extra way.
2 - You mentioned he tried to seize the assets of one of his subjects and I won't touch on that, because kings and people in power do it all the time. It's nothing new. Is it an asshole move? Yes. But again, you can be an asshole without being a villain. Also, I feel obliged to mentioned that they were trying to scam Albert originally, not Charlotte. The only reason why it bothers us is because we know Charlotte and like Charlotte. If it had happened to Albert we wouldn't even be sorry. Just something to consider about standards.
3 - Your last point about holding his sister's life hostage is the only thing I would agree it's pretty Villain-like, but I still feel obliged to point out that nobody is morally obligated to save a person they have no connection to. Obviously you should if you could, but it is not an obligation. That's what separates a good person from the average. If you take your cue from the flashbacks, Arthur and Ramsey's family broke long before this sister came into the scene, so she's virtually a stranger to Ramsay. They share blood but in this story that's clearly not very significant when it comes to relationships. He's not obligated to help her, and again, he's not really harming her (he didn't cause her disease or it's aggravating it in any way, that we know of). She is sick and she needs his help and the decent thing to do would be to give it since it doesn't appear to be harming HIM at all. But Ramsay is not a good person. He's an average douchebag with an inferiority complex. He's the person who would charge you for the medical equipment you need and if you didn't have money let you die, except that in this case, the money Arthur is paying is his loyal and willingness to do Ramsey's dirty work. Again he is not a good person, and if you're not rooting for him then more power to you. I never said you should. He's clearly in the wrong in the way he's approaching things, and the more he acts this way the worse it will be. I'm just sad that that's the end he seems to be precipitating towards, because he is, when it comes to possible MLs far more of an interesting choice than Arthur.
I agree with you that he might not be a straight up villain, but he is a bad person and I stand by that opinion bc of the reasons I listed.
I can empathise with his backstory and inferiority complex, but I don't believe that it excuses his actions. ╮(￣▽￣)╭
I haven't said otherwise. In my opinion, it's actions rather than intentions that define a person, so I agree there is no excuse. I just feel bad because he is a victim of circumstance almost as much as Charlotte or probably even more. He had a shitty father and shitty step-father and their influence ruined his entire life. He is in the brink of being an irredeemable character but he can still turn back. I don't think he will though, because the only one who could save him and help him see the error of his way (Charlotte) is in love with someone else (Not saying she cannot be, she has the right to love or not love whoever she wants, just talking from Ramsay's perspective).
To be honest I feel so bad for the king because he is not exactly a villain or even a bad guy. He has a massive inferiority complex and that makes him act like a douche sometimes but otherwise he's a genuinely funny and endearingly awkward character (Kenneth and Brandon obviously respect and admire him, plus their interactions are so informal that you can tell he's not arrogant or pompous or looks down on them, and Arthur clearly loved him as a child.) Even the fact that he's trying so hard with Charlotte while clearly having no clue about how to actually court a woman would be a cute quality under different circumstances. But it all comes back to that inferiority complex and the obsession that stems from it. It devours him and all the good things he has go down the drain. I actually liked him more than I did Arthur originally because while Arthur is the perfect suffered hero, the king has an actual personality and I liked the stupid way in which he approached Charlotte all arrogant only for her to shot him down and proceed to bicker. Mich more interesting than the insta-love of Arthur. But man, he's killing all his chances.