One thing I did like about My Little Pony Friendship is Magic story arcs is the main characters attempts to reform villains, giving them a chance to own up to their mistakes and learn to be better, as what happened with Princess Luna in the first season, and I found Princess Celestia's mercy toward her own sister to be endearing, Celestia could have banished Luna to the moon again if she desired, Nightmare Moon enforcing an eternal night did have destructive implications for their world, but instead she chose to offer Luna a chance to make amends, and she did. If she was never shown mercy, think about it, there would not have been any point in reform. Since Luna's release from banishment in the show, her redemption happened faster than Starlight Glimmer's did from episode to episode, but MLP character Starlight Glimmer receives far more negative feedback in the fandom than Luna does.
My point of this thread, is not to antagonize anyone, I am merely putting out a different perspective even if it is an unpopular opinion, and why the default assumption that there are individuals who are beyond redemption is inherently problematic, not just for story writing but real life as a whole.
I can give a real life example where redemption has happened, and it is not solely to do with rehabilitated convicts who became productive members of society or at least less problematic than they were before. An ex hunter turned vegan who stopped trophy hunting, otherwise known as big game hunting, because he regretted animal cruelty and while poaching is illegal in some countries, sometimes people turn away from this cruel and destructive practice for reasons other than fear of legal repercussion, though it is rare, this should tell people something about real life redemption in action. Do you think people like this would have learned kindness, if people told them there was no point in stopping violence because it is how people will always perceive them? while it is easy and convenient for us to write off people as automatically incapable of reform because they did something terrible, while I do sympathize with people who hold that view, more understandable in the case of people who were victims of abuse themselves, I think this assumption that this is always the case, that abusers will always be the way they are, therefore therapy is a "waste of time" does more harm than good. This Former Hunter Is Now a Vegan Activist | LIVEKINDLY
It's almost like encouraging abusers to continue abuse, because this is how society will always think of them. While it is true that some abusers continue manipulating or hurting others no matter what others may think of them, it is not necessarily the case in every situation. I believe the show MLP FIM was driving that point home that we should not give up on others or deny them the capacity for self improvement, just because we don't like them. I stand by that opinion, no matter what point of view others may have about that, that would not change if I were to become a victim of something horrible in future. Stopping the cycle of abuse and hurt should take precedence over the blame game IMO.