What is the appeal of Vitiate/Valkorion?

He just serves as the bad guy? Is that what makes a character unlikeable in your book? Because psychopaths do exist in real life, and make very compelling stories in fiction. If you can't see past the fact that he's pure evil, then that's a shallow thought process.

In real life, psychopaths have a life, an internal struggle, unique life experiences. I don't know how could you compare a fictional character with a human being.

Um...no. DC comics Joker is insane and has had many, many motivations througout his history. He's also not pure evil. Palpatine has a very clear motivation and has a very different philosophy from the Joker.

His motivation is to see the whole world burning, because he believes that people should embrace their destructive side, which is in tune with Palpatine. Only difference is that Palpatine had an education and was able to keep most of his animalic desires in check.

Originally posted by Freedon Nadd
In real life, psychopaths have a life, an internal struggle, unique life experiences. I don't know how could you compare a fictional character with a human being.

Well, a fictional character is a mimicry of a human being, so that's how I can compare them. Palpatine also has a life, and a struggle.

His motivation is to see the whole world burning, because he believes that people should embrace their destructive side, which is in tune with Palpatine. Only difference is that Palpatine had an education and was able to keep most of his animalic desires in check.

That's one Joker. The Original Joker, the 60's joker, the three modern jokers, the Bronze age of comics joker, the jokers from alternate timelines, all have different motivations for different reasons. The one they share is doing something batman doesn't want done.
Palpatine just wants power.

Originally posted by Freedon Nadd
In real life, psychopaths have a life, an internal struggle, unique life experiences. I don't know how could you compare a fictional character with a human being.

His motivation is to see the whole world burning, because he believes that people should embrace their destructive side, which is in tune with Palpatine. Only difference is that Palpatine had an education and was able to keep most of his animalic desires in check.