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You either die a villager or live long enough to become the villain

I can agree.

City-folk were always evil.

Thus, villeins were blamed for the evils disrupting an otherwise peaceful world.
—Marisha Pessl, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2017

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Yup, villain came from villein, which means serf y fer a feudal lord.

And hero are noble (trait), which in and of itself, came from noble (higher birth)

"In the 1300s, villain described a low-born rustic. It came from the Medieval Latin word villanus, or farmhand. Just why a word would evolve from meaning farmer into evildoer is a little mysterious, although it probably has to do with farmers not being chivalrous, like the knights who were so admired in those days."

Interesting theory.

Which came from the even older villanus.

Not interesting. We saw this shift in every romance language, so it is quite proven.

"Yes I am a farmer... a farmer of evil deeds, muhahaha~" - 1300s Villains, probably

The 1300s were the times of the late medieval farmer revolts.

When they looted, raped and pillaged like in the good old days. Of course, who thought that they were to revolt against their noble lords and masters.

Not interesting

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Assurbanipal doesn't find etymological drift interesting, interesting...

It is not a theory when you have the drift in all romance languages at the same time. It is btw semantic drift.