Villains Are Made

You know what the monster did. Do you know what happened to the child? They gave a child a number for a name. The gates came down; the nightmares stayed the same. I bent their guns to keep my people free; Now I demand the whole world kneel to me. I call it peace when no one dares resist. I hold tomorrow in a closing fist. I swore no child would know that fear again - Now children flinch when I reach out my hand. Villains are made, not born. First comes the hurt, then comes the war. We chose the blade, but not the scar; No crown can rule a broken heart. These hands could hold you through the storm - Now we're the ones you're hiding from. We pass the pain; the pain takes form. Villains are made, not born. They taught me bedtime monsters carved from ice, Then hid my blood behind a father's lies. They cheered my brother; I rehearsed a grin. A crown might make them let the stranger in. My mother's love was real. Why can't I stay The son she sees, not what those stories say? I make them kneel so they must look at me; Their lowered eyes are all I ever see. They left me with my father on the floor. A hidden kingdom shut its golden door. Your wars taught me to bring a country down; I brought those lessons home and took the crown. I swore to free the people left in chains - Then offered them an empire in my name. The scars keep count; I still go home alone. An orphan making orphans on a throne. Villains are made, not born. First comes the hurt, then comes the war. We chose the blade, but not the scar; No crown can rule a broken heart. These hands could hold you through the storm - Now we're the ones you're hiding from. We pass the pain; the pain takes form. Villains are made, not born. My father kept me warm and froze instead. I learned what power costs beside the dead. I broke a tyrant, swore to end his reign; Then taught his subjects how to praise my name. These hands could build a world where none need kneel - But who would keep them safe without my steel? I rule a nation from an iron throne; I cannot teach that freezing boy he's home. A bomb lay blinking where our parents died. Two children held their breath for two long nights. I watched my lover die, then die again; A house rose from the grief I held within. Two children laughing, Sunday light, a home; A town imprisoned so I'm not alone. I hear them pleading, but I can't let go - To free their homes, I have to lose my own. I asked for water, not a throne of gold. I held my daughter as her hands grew cold. My god laughed on; a black blade heard my prayer And fed upon the hurt he wouldn't share. I drag their children down into the shade; A father's love becomes a butcher's blade. It whispers vengeance in my daughter's name; I cannot tell its hunger from my pain. I watched my world grow hungry, then grow still. I made its grave the proof that I must kill. I swore no other world would end the same; Now half the stars wear ashes in my name. I killed my daughter for a single stone; The universe is quiet. I'm alone. I cannot let another answer stand - It means she died for nothing at my hand. I could have been a shield. I could have built, not ruled. A brother, not a king. A home for those refused. A door you could walk through. A father growing old. A hand that helped worlds grow. And every child we leave afraid Learns how another villain's made. Villains are made, not born. First comes the hurt, then comes the war. We chose the blade, but not the scar; No crown can rule a broken heart. We could have held you through the storm - Now we're the ones you're hiding from. A child looks up. The pain takes form. Villains are made, not born. One child, alone on an abandoned world. No one to teach them hate. Would that child still become a monster?