I had a lot of fun writing this. Here are some of my thoughts on my writing process and why I made some of the decisions I did when crafting this story. Read if interested!
First, Dave's character was a lot of fun to work with. He's certainly an unreliable narrator considering in his mind, everything he's doing makes sense to him. But every decision he'd ever made in the story was made in his own self interest. He's too blind to see that he's incredibly selfish, despite how hard he tries to convince himself that everything he's doing would benefit others as well. He wants someone to love him so badly that he clings to anyone that shows him any kind of attention, and blames everyone but himself when they pull away.
I wanted him to grow attached to the penguins a little more than the movie made it seem to be. I wanted him to not only hate the original quadrant for "stealing" the love from the humans, but also for denying him love themselves. Dave clearly saw their relationship in a much different lens than the penguins did. And of course, he couldn't stick around for long. The penguins had to be young enough when Dave had left that it would be believable that they forgot him, but Dave is too blinded by his own self hate to think of any logical explanation for why they would've forgotten him. Dave feels far too entitled to other people's affection to think clearly and more thoughtfully examine his relationships.
At the same time, there are moments when Dave's emotions are almost humanized in a way that part of you feels bad for him. You know that nothing he ends up doing is right, and that all of his logic is flawed, but you know that all he wants is to be loved, and anyone can relate to that feeling.
Glenne was a decision I made to reveal more about Dave than we could have seen without her. Giving Dave a companion revealed just how selfish he really is, and how desperate he is for love. He did clearly care for Glenne, but it's hard to tell whether he really liked her for her or only because she liked him and showed him kindness. This is pretty ironic considering Dave wanted others to like him just for being him. Glenne was a clear opportunity for Dave to see how he could be happy, but he misses it yet again.
Glenne tries desperately to ground Dave in reality. Ironically, she is far smarter than Dave despite having never really interacted with anyone else. Dave may have the book smarts, but he has no emotional intelligence, compassion, or empathy for anyone other than himself. She tries to get him to see that he could be happy without the penguins and even with her, but Dave is too blinded by his fantasies to listen. She tries to get him to think logically about his plans to reunite with them and be a family and how that may not be likely to happen, but he's too selfish about his own wants to consider that possibility. Ultimately, their breakup had to involve the penguins in some way. Glenne had to come to the realization that Dave would always choose the penguins over her, even if the penguins weren't guaranteed to choose him back.
The harder Dave worked to get to the penguins, the quicker he snapped when he realized that his efforts were futile. He obviously could not have actually met them again in that moment in Kenya, which would've compromised the fact that they didn't remember him when they saw him again in the movie. So having him overhear an innocent conversation between the boys was an easy way for him to see that they never needed him, and he hated them even more for it. And let's not forget that Dave is completely obsessed with and pressed over what he knew as a group of children!
There are moments throughout the story where Dave gets extremely close to the point, so close where you just want to slap him and tell him to get it together. Almost to the point where you wish he would just understand and grow as a person, even though you know it can't be or we wouldn't have a movie. Dave truly perpetuates a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more he's treated like a monster, the more he becomes one, and he's too blind to see that he's his own worst enemy. It's true what Glenne tells him in Chapter 24, the only one that truly hates Dave is himself.
Bringing Glenne back in Chapter 24 gives Dave yet another opportunity to change his ways and learn to be better. He once again fails. What I loved most about this moment was the fact that Dave never actually gets to answer Glenne about what choice he wants to make. Glenne just sees what he's created and realizes he's too far gone, and she realizes that despite how hard she wanted to see the good in him, he was already in too deep to ever truly choose her. She wanted so desperately to fix him and help him heal and be better, but it's simply too late. Dave keeps the photo of her terrified face to remind himself that even the woman he could've loved wouldn't even give him the chance to change, though it'll never be known if he would've taken it. Though the prospect is unlikely.
Dave is also extremely arrogant in that he truly believes that what he's doing is for the greater good. He never stops to consider whether any other quote "unloveable" animal actually feels the same way he does. He's behaving as if he's some kind of savior for those animals when at the end of the day, the true feelings of those other animals are irrelevant to him. He just wants to be a savior to himself.
I spent a lot of time rewatching specific scenes and moments in the movie to hammer out the details in this prequel villain origin story. Including small details like the Brine Marine Research Institute and the International Society of Smart People brought me a lot of joy. I hope you enjoyed those moments as much as I did.
Including Lorrie, Georgie, and Rod were decisions that I made to make an effort to get Dave to see how much more there is to life. All of them had messages to share with Dave that were meant to make him think deeper about his goals and what was meant for his life. They showed him what unconditional love looks like, and what it means to be truly happy. But Dave sees this and still can only apply these lessons to the penguins, completely missing the point that he can be happy without them.
Having Dave see Rod again and him having another moment where his emotions are more humanized was a pivotal moment for Dave. He sees Rod and remembers the way he helped him, and does something to help him in return by writing him a check to help his family. This is another opportunity that Dave could use to self reflect and reconsider what he's doing and see that he can do good and be loved just because he's himself and extremely talented and intelligent, but instead he reflects on the fact that "even a monster" could see the good in others sometimes. He can't even see that he made a choice that made him more than a monster in that moment, but still chose to continue on his revenge journey. It also begs the question of if Dave made the decision to help him as a way to ease his conscience about his own failures and self loathing.
Having Dave witness moments in the Madagascar movies helps remind us that the penguins are off having an entire life without Dave, while Dave is still dedicating his whole life to them. The penguins may have been too young to remember Dave, but they also moved on and created a brotherhood, working toward a greater good not only for themselves but for the other animals they associate with. These are things that Dave never considers when he sees them or learns about their whereabouts. All he can focus on is knowing where they are so he can strike when he's ready, completely ignoring the fact that the penguins have completely moved on. He cares far too much about them and what they're doing than he is about his own life.
There are also moments where Dave realizes he's good at what he does in his human role. He thoroughly enjoys his work in genetics. Although he has an evil agenda, he doesn't deny that he loves science and would actually not mind doing more with it if he didn't have his own plans. Once again, another path for Dave's life opens up, one where he can learn to be happy on his own and do something he loves just because he loves it. But Dave misses the mark again, still blinded by his own self hate, though he continues to deny that self hate.
The moments we see in the last three chapters where we are officially between the events of the movie were tricky. I wanted to show what happened between those scenes without those moments becoming just filler scenes. I wanted those moments to reveal more about Dave and his character, his feelings, and reveal how hard he buckles down on his revenge even when things aren't going exactly his way. He gets to the point where his revenge only matters because of how hard he'd worked to get there rather than whether it was actually worth it, though he wouldn't admit that to himself. And he continues to insist that this will give him the happiness he craves, despite mounting evidence that it won't. He almost gaslights himself into thinking that if he just keeps pushing forward, he'll finally fill the void he's always wanted to fill.
In the end, Dave still has learned nothing. He still wants to get revenge. He's lost everything, including his first attempt at revenge.
And he continues to blame everyone but himself.
I feel that his story is almost a tragedy in a way. The bottom line is that Dave just wanted to be loved, but because of his trauma and warped logic, he simply can't see that he can't achieve that in the way he wants to. He can't accept that he can't force anyone to love him, so he thinks that making everyone hate the same things he hates will help him feel something close to love again. You can almost feel pity for him. You know what he did wasn't right, but you also understand his desperation.
If you've made it this far, thanks so much for reading and coming on this journey with me. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing of this story. I appreciate any feedback, criticisms, and analyses!