Young Writers Society

Villains are so much fun to discover and write about, and yet, at times I feel that some people can't get the villain right. In my own oppinion a good villain has five major things that they need to have: A relationship to the main character, pure evil or nearly so, no conscience, bad character, and the reader has to hate them. Since my biggest examples for villains are from cartoon movies, I will use some examples from such.

First, they have to have some kind of relationship tot the main character. People don't just go trying to kill or hurt someone for no reason, there has to be a reason behind it. For example, Scar from the Lion King is jealous of his brother, Mufasa. (May be misspelled.) He will do anything he can to get what his brother has, even kill his brother.

Second, they need to be pure evil or nearly so. I only say nearly because sometimes it's good to have the bad guy become a good guy in the end. Personally, I think that there still needs to be an evil bad guy. If there isn't then the story dies. For example, in the Emperor's New Groove, there's Esma and Krunk (also misspelled) are the two bad guys in the beginning, and yet in the end Esma is the only one who is evil. At the same time, I still believe that only having one evil bad guy is good too. It just depends on where your story takes you.

Third, they need to have no conscience, unless they're going to be good (see above), because you can't have a bad guy that won't kill someone to get what they want. They need to be able to do whatever they want, and have no qualms about it. I don't have a specific example, but you get it.

Now when I say "bad character," I do not mean that they have to be a bad character, I mean that they're jealous and mean and rude. They hate easily and hold grudges easily. Take Hades from Hercules. He holds a grudge for THOUSANDS of years agains his brother. He's jealous and angry and very mean. Like I said, bad character.

Finally, the reader has to hate the bad guy. If you have the bad guy save a bunch of birds from a cat or something, the readers don't want him to be the bad guy. No, you need to have him be the one feeding the bird to the cat, or crushing them while cackling. Like I said above, evil. Like from Anastasia, Rasputen. (I have no idea how to spell these names if you couldn't tell.) This guy is pure evil. He sells his soul to destroy a family. You hate him. He's horrible and you don't want to see him suceed in anything. You cheer when he dies and when you see him suffer. He's creepy and gross, and you hate him. That is how you need to think of your villain.

Okay, so I'm not the only source of inspiration here. There's tons of people who have probably written very good villains. If you have anything to add or any questions to ask simply post them here or you can PM me. Happy writing.

I don't believe the reader has to hate the villain! I love villains! They, depending on their character, are usually my favorites. They're mischievous, they're creating trouble for the main characters (who I usually can't stand), and several more characteristics that make them completely awesome. I'm being a tad bit biased, but oh well.

1) Villains don't have to be evil at heart. They can be relatively good people who went "evil" for reasons they thought were good. Like Darth Vader. I read a trilogy once (don't remember the trilogy name) and I hated every single character. Except one who appeared in the second book. He was the "villain" who destroyed these peoples homes and blah, blah, blah. But he was awesome. He fell in love with one of the main characters. Anyroad, he died at the end of the book. Ticked off I was.

What I'm trying to say is, no one is completely evil at heart. I think it's dumb that villains have to be completely evil to do the things they do. Everyone has a reason behind their motives. Everyone has a sliver of good in them, it just sometimes takes longer to find in some people. If they ever have a chance to find it.

2) Everyone has a conscious. End of conversation. They can even have split personalities. Like Smeagol. And also, see above. Everyone has a motive and after awhile, they just kinda forget what started them on their psychotic rampage.

3) That's cliched! Villains don't need to have "bad character". Jealous, mean and rude. Jeez, I'm all those! Does that make me a villain or have bad character? Every single person carries those traits. So, those really are traits in every human being.

4) Like I said in the beginning. I love villains. Even though some really annoy me. But, it's usually the main characters job to peeve me off.

I know, this isn't very explainitory. (How the heck do you spell that word?) But, I'm not an overly huge fan of "cliched" villains. 'Cause I don't really understand why villains constantly have to be disliked.

Cheers,

Meadow

I like my villains creative, well-rounded, and smart. I like for them to be driven, persistent, and well-spoken. I like it when they're very proper and polite. I like it when they are able to act nice to the hero and genuinely seem nice. I like it when other people think that these villains are nice too, and all of the above.

I like it when they stand against the character and say, "No, you can't do this" to the hero. I like it when they're right. I like it when the hero has to really struggle against the villain.

I like it when they're twisted. I like it when you don't realize that they're the villains until it's too late and the character has to face a lot of trouble and conflict to overcome these villains. I like it when the villains have power. I like it when they're not afraid to use it. I like it when other people in the story support the villain for real reasons which are logical and not based on fear. I like it when these people are against the hero and will try to stop the hero out of their support to the villain.

I like my villains to know the worth of a human. I like my villains to be very worldly and sincere. I like my villains to be generous. I like for them to give out things freely to others. I like it when they refuse to have others repay them. I like it when they guilt-trip the people to do what they want. I like it when the people try to do their best to do whatever the villains say.

I like it when they mock the hero for his pursuit of the truth or whatever he has to find. I like my villains to discourage this and say that there is no black and white and that everything is gray. I like them when they blur morals until everything is acceptable. I like it when they take advantage of this and do whatever it takes to stop the hero.

Villains don't have to be evil, and in fact, I prefer if they aren't. I think a good villain has enough good attributes and reasonable motives, such that if the story were told from their point of view, they would seem like the good guy. Conversely, the protagonist should seem like the bad guy from the villain's perspective. Even Hitler thought he was doing what was best.

What can I say? I'm outvoted. In my oppinion it's better to have two villains, one you love and one you hate. Like Smeagol, you love his good side and hate his bad side (atleast I do) which makes him both interesting, and you cheer for him at the same time. But I didn't start this topic to be right about everything, just to give advice. (And to get some, which I just did.)

Well, I'd consider Smeagol one villain with split personalities. He's a good villain because he's got a good and bad side. The thing that makes him the villain is that the evil side wins out in the end. Look at Frodo. He's got a good side, undertaking this quest to save the world. He treats Sam like crap though. But in the end it's his good side that wins out, making him the hero.

And yet you still have the thread of Sauron in the background, and I hope there isn't any doubt that Sauron is pure evil.

Sauron defiantly needs to have a back story somewhere. Something that transformed his heart (if he had one) into a tiny black rock. People or anything really, ain't born straight evil.

I take the "pure evil" villain as one who's good for light reading. The stuff I read when I don't want to think about much of anything and I pick up the book a handful of times.

However, most books I like and quote a lot for characters have villains who are both good and evil. My own novel is... interesting in this respect. I realized recently my MC and my villain had almost exactly the same personality, principles, and to a point their history is freakishly similar. What makes them different? The villain is subjective in his "greater good." He always wants to end up on top. My MC is as objective as she can be. Often, she winds up at the bottom because that's what will cause the greatest good for her family, a certain political situation, or later the country. There's hardly an "evil" and "good" distinction in the story, when it comes to general actions they take. My MC breaks the law to reach the greatest good, so does the villain. There's really no black and white.

When it comes down to it, I love villains who are almost indistinguishable from the main characters. Those who cast self-doubt onto the MC and it's a believable accusation. Those who royally mess the MC up and they have to grow and strengthen in order to handle the villain's games. Pure-evil villains can't really do that. Those who you're never really sure of can.

Sauron was friends with Gandalf before he turned bad. I don't remember what caused it because I haven't seen the movie for years. I've never read the books, which are bound to go into more detail on why Sauron turned evil. In any case, he wasn't born like that.

When I write, I usually don't have a 'villain', but everyone has good and bad aspects to them. Everyone has something that they feel bad about, and everyone has good in them.

The most important thing for me in a good villain is motivation. If I don't know why he/she is doing what their doing, I don't feel like I need to care. If they are just pure-evil, that makes the story feel very one-dimensional. Good villains should be hate-able when they need to be hated, but also pitted later on in the story. That's just my opinion though, so whatever.

Agreed Wariofart (awesome name).

I think that the only key to a good villain is that they have the power to completely screw things up for the MC, and it is this power that also what makes them attractive.

I've always been drawn to villains, so much so that a lot of my stories have underdeveloped, 2D protagonists who are basically just windows that the reader uses to see the villain through.

Another key thing for villains, in my opinion, is that you can flip the story around to turn them into the protagonist. Good stories have characters with a real motivation and need to act as they do. No believable character is going to wake up in the morning and think "I'm the evil guy. I'm gonna act evil."

Those are my thoughts anyway

Style. Competence. Ambition.

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Though this may be on a superhero writing site, I believe they got it right.

It's always good if the villain has a knack of bringing out the worst in the protagonist(s).