Emmerdale’s John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) isn’t your typical soap villain. Following his introduction last year, the character has now been responsible for a variety of crimes ranging from drugging to murder, and they were all committed with one aim in mind – to be a hero.

His complex mindset was explored in great detail last week, when John rang a mental health helpline and unknowingly spoke to Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt).

He mentioned his distant brother Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley), and how he’s been compared to him for most of his life.

It was this moment that got us thinking about John’s character arc, and how his plan for Aaron was highlighted in his very first scenes.

What we know about John Sugden’s mindset

Let’s discuss John’s mindset first of all. When his connection to the Sugden family was revealed, we learnt that John was born as a result of his mother and Jack Sugden having a brief fling.

In the phone call with Paddy, he revealed that he had constantly been compared to Robert. The severity of Robert’s crime that saw him sentenced to prison in 2019 meant John could’ve easily researched his sibling and discovered where he used to live.

Because we live in a world where everything is online now, John would’ve also been able to access pictures of Robert and Aaron together.

Desperate for approval and to be better than the sibling he’s never met, John’s plan to steal Robert’s life began prior to his first scenes.

The dating app

In 2024, Aaron set off out of the village to meet a man from a dating app in a hotel. On the way, he stopped due to John flagging him down. He revealed that his van was broken, and needed to borrow a phone to call a garage.

John and Aaron got talking as Aaron had a look at the vehicle. It was then confirmed John was the man from the app and instead of sleeping together in a hotel room, they did it in the back of John’s van.

Hanging around near the village meant the chances of John landing on Aaron’s dating radius were pretty high.

John could’ve driven off there and then and never laid eyes on Aaron again.

Instead, he waited until Aaron was going to the loo in a bush and sped away, knowing the keys to Eric Pollard’s (Chris Chittell) car were inside his van.

It left Aaron stranded, and with also no choice but to find John again to get the keys back.

As John ‘reluctantly’ waited in the village for Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) to fix the van again, he began a casual relationship with Aaron.

Does anyone else think John broke the van deliberately?

Meeting at the side of the road and matching on the app wasn’t coincidence or fate – it was all part of John’s plan.

As the relationship started to blossom, we started to see more of John’s hero complex.

He orchestrated deadly events with residents at the centre of them, knowing he could swoop in at the last moment and save their lives. Sometimes, John would plan these because he felt paranoid about Aaron potentially leaving him. Other times, they were committed because he wanted to impress someone else.

Take Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) for example. John drugged and then saved her because he could sense that she wasn’t a huge fan of him. He was hailed a hero by Chas and her family after and ever since, she’s seen him as an incredibly good person.