Billy Chapman

### What Makes Them Sympathetic

Has an extremely tragic and traumatic backstory that influenced all of his villainous acts.

### Type of Villain

Tragic Protagonist Villain

**William "Billy" Chapman** is the protagonist villain of the 1984 Christmas slasher film *Silent Night, Deadly Night*. He is an extremely mentally-ill 18 year old, whose perception of Christmas was butchered by several tragic events throughout his childhood, shaping him into a psychotic spree killer.

## What makes him sympathetic?

* The whole first half of the film is one big Trauma Conga Line.
	+ As a child, Billy's views on Christmas were ruined by his grandfather, who told him that Santa kills children that are naughty. What made it worse, is Billy loved Christmas before the visit to his grandfather.
	+ On the drive home from visiting his grandfather, a thief dressed as Santa shot his father and slit his mother's throat after sexually assaulting her. All of which, Billy witnessed from the bushes he was hiding in.
	+ Afterwards, he and his brother were sent to an orphanage run by a strict and abusive nun named Mother Superior who despite hearing that "Billy's trauma made him a ticking time bomb," continued to punish him for his troubled behavior, which entailed spanking and tying him to his bed when he had a nightmare.
	+ If seeing his mother sexually assaulted by Santa wasn't enough, Billy witnessed a nun and her boyfriend having sex through a keyhole. After which; Mother Superior interrupted, whipped the couple with a leather belt, told Billy that what he saw was naughty, and then spanked him.
	+ On Christmas, Mother Superior invited a Santa impersonator to the orphanage and tried to force Billy to sit on his lap. Understandably frightened, Billy punched Santa and ran away to hide, pleading to not be punished. However, we don't quite know how Mother Superior punished him, as this is where his childhood story ends, with the movie fading to a grown up Billy.
* Thanks to one of the nuns from the orphanage (not Mother Superior), Billy was able to get a job as a stockboy at a toy store. This was one of the few times we get to see Billy actually happy, making the next part all the more tragic.
* At one point, he had an erotic dream about his co-worker, Pamela, but it quickly turned into a nightmare when Santa stabbed him in the back. Upon waking, Billy cowered in the corner begging not to be punished, like he did as a child when he punched Santa at the orphanage. This shows us that even in the dream world, where one should be able to free, Billy was not safe.
* When Christmas came around, not only was Billy mortified to see Santa decorations, but he was also forced to replace a store Santa that couldn't make it, becoming his own worst fear.
* Though, he tried to keep it together, the final straw was reached after witnessing his female co-worker being raped by her boyfriend. This caused Billy to experience flashbacks to all his past trauma, making him lose his mind and fully adopt his role as Santa Claus.
	+ While he did murder 8 people and does adopt a somewhat sadistic personality while killing, Billy's beliefs that "Santa kills the naughty" and "Sex is bad" were never challenged and only reinforced throughout his life. So, when he snapped, his mind just became what he believed that Santa was because he was dressed as such. It certainly didn't help that prior to witnessing the attempted rape of Pamela, everyone referred to him as "Santa" and his boss further hammered it in by telling him that he has a job to do.
* His final words after being shot in the back by a police officer, are to the orphans: "You're safe now. Santa Claus is gone."