9 replies to this topic

[Recompense]

What is it that makes a villain really Evil? Does anybody have any ideas on how to make a villain seem scarier/crazier/more monstrous than they actually are?

For example, I'm trying to write a villain who has a noble goal, but his method is twisted and evil. How do I make the reader feel attachment to him, without having them support the villain more than the hero?

Also, which is better, a Noble Villain, or a Pure Evil Villain?

[alucard]

Well you cant nessisarily say that evil is in the process of being a villain. Just going against whatever is set up. but that being said whatever type of justice you have there needs to be someone who wishes to destroy it, but there needs to be a strong motive. It cant just be a side character "i was abandoned when i was young and your justice didnt help me" naw its has to be something more deep. or maybe he was one who built it but was betrayed and was almsot killed but escaped and people assumed he was dead. but that would mean that the justice would be flawed from its leader's. But still theres twists if you ever saw "Code Geass" as it was shown many different twists happened to there justice but there was a true justice in the background. but without any story line thats about as much as i can say. Just basically a villain is someone who wishes to destroy whatever is there but usualy has a hidden motive that noone will ever see. a villain who just shows his true collors and doesnt work in the shadow's isnt very good now is it? hes gotta have a cover story or somethign to hide his motives. Take Uchiha Itachi, (SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING) he wanted to help sasuke but his cover was wanting the jinchuuriki. So but yea w/o story i cant help much past that:) hope it helped in some way. if i didnt well then dammit.

[FullmetalNinja25]

5 Things:
-Ambition, he must have a goal.
-A good background story, without one who would care about the villain?
-A level of uncaring but he doesn't necessarily have to be completely cold hearted.
-Have equally villainous people to surround himself with.
-Must be stronger than the good guy (at first).

[Angel]

Have you ever heard the term "The devil is in the details" ? Simple things that the villain does can make him/her memorable. Thinks like the clothig they wear, to the way they speak. My favorite is when the villain seems filled with energy, you never know what hes going to do, hes so unpredictable and just strait out scary. Umm it all depends how you wanna make the villain too. He can be driven by evil (lets destroy the world because I hate it) or Manipulated into it (vader is a good example) Rightous Evil (Kira from deathnote)
*shrug* hopes that helped a bit

[Cloud]

There's always the 'non-directional' evil.

They kill for nothing, not money, not anger, not love... they just kill for the sake of killing.

I.e. The Joker.

[Wandering Fox]

The villain needs to be REAL. I don't mean in the sense that they exist, but rather in the sense that they seem plausible. Let's take Cloud's example of the Joker, and look at why that character works so well. The Joker is a character that seems entirely plausible in reality, he's insane yes, but that doesn't make him any less real. He acts a specific way, he has mannerisms and character traits that are consistent, and he responds in a way that makes him believable. If we look at Heath Ledger's performance of him in The Dark Night, you should be able to see what I'm talking about almost instantly. The character simply feels real, which brings me back to my point. In order to make a good villain, you need to make them human.

It's something a lot of fan-fiction writers tend to overlook, just because you're writing about a different reality, doesn't mean you should wildly change things once they're set in that reality. By this I mean that once you make a character act a certain way, they should always act that way in similar situations unless something has happened to change them. One of the key aspects of creative writing is the idea of themes. You need to relate your villain to the reader. Maybe not in the same direct sense as you would for the hero, but enough so that the reader can get inside the villain's head.

Taking up the Joker example once more, you can actually get into his head. You can see why he does what he does, and why does it in the way he does it. You can FEEL it in the way he talks, and how he acts. Creating a good villain is more than just coming up with a cool look, and special powers. It's about creating something that embodies something that people, as a whole, fear. In the case of the Joker, it's the sense of wanton malaise with which he carries out his attacks. He's simply a person who's been bent and twisted by his life to the point where he just snaps. It's something people see as possible, and it frightens them (at least at a subconscious level), and that is why the character works. Everyone, at one point or another, can relate at least partially to how the Joker is feeling. They may never even realize it, but that simple connection makes it all work.

I suppose the simplest explanation of what I'm trying to say is this: Don't create a villain, create a person. Yes, your villain may be more evil than the 9th plane of hell, but that doesn't mean he can't relate to the reader. If you spend enough time on the villain, you create a connection between the villain and the reader, which makes the villain feel real to them. When a reader feels something is real, they relate to it, and when they relate to a villain, they begin to see small parts of the villain in themselves. When your reader starts to feel like the bad guy, he begins to see the hero as more than just a character, but as someone who has stood up to the villain. This idea of juxtaposition is what creates a good villain. If we look at the Joker one last time, we see someone who's sadistic, indiscriminate, and almost random in the way he acts, but when we look at Batman we find the opposite. He's clam, calculating, and plans before doing anything, and this is why the characters work so well. They play off each other, yet the reader can relate to both of them. In short, the idea is that a villain is more than just something to oppose the hero, but rather the villain is there to show why the hero is a hero.

Edited by Wandering Fox, 21 October 2008 - 10:48 PM.

[Kamina-Yoshi]

A well-rounded character with weaknesses, and some sort of humanity. That's a basic villain.


A super-villain should be taken after partially Orochimaru and Zabuza. A man on a mission, or some kind of vendetta. Controlling whoever he pleases, but having some sort of conscious.

Orochimaru, in my opinion, is the best Villain in Naruto ever.

[psycho666]

I think an excellent villain is made when they're especially clever and conniving, but you don't know they are. When you move along trusting them, perhaps not even thinking about them that much and then having them come around and bite you in the ass. He/she also needs to be relatable and have a very defined character, so possibly add some background or story to their profile. I also think it's important when their ideals and ambitions are familiar and you can connect with them in a sense so that your perhaps left torn between the protagonist and the villain, maybe even have their ideals be alike but carried out in differing fashions.

However, through all this you have to make sure that he/she remains evil and that your not routing for them to win because I think this happens a lot and then they're not even villains anymore. So perhaps you hate them while still torn on if you should or not.

[peanutbutter126]

I think an excellent villain is made when they're especially clever and conniving, but you don't know they are. When you move along trusting them, perhaps not even thinking about them that much and then having them come around and bite you in the ass. He/she also needs to be relatable and have a very defined character, so possibly add some background or story to their profile. I also think it's important when their ideals and ambitions are familiar and you can connect with them in a sense so that your perhaps left torn between the protagonist and the villain, maybe even have their ideals be alike but carried out in differing fashions.

However, through all this you have to make sure that he/she remains evil and that your not routing for them to win because I think this happens a lot and then they're not even villains anymore. So perhaps you hate them while still torn on if you should or not.

Took the words right out of my mouth. A villain should be well-developed with the reasons behind their, well, evilness, obvious. It's not very tactical to have a guy jump out of the bushes and yell out "Muhahaha, I am a villain, I will kill you because I want to and you shall fear me!"

That said, though, some people manage to develop their villains in such a... beautiful way that you really do end up sympathising for the guy.

[tcross]

Took the words right out of my mouth. A villain should be well-developed with the reasons behind their, well, evilness, obvious. It's not very tactical to have a guy jump out of the bushes and yell out "Muhahaha, I am a villain, I will kill you because I want to and you shall fear me!"

That said, though, some people manage to develop their villains in such a... beautiful way that you really do end up sympathising for the guy.

To me, the best villains are the ones eithertrying to do something noble, but are going about it the wrong way (like liquid and solidus snake from the metal gear series, even if their reason for really doing it was unabashedly selfish) or not have them be that way originally, but grew into it due to one of the seven sins(PATRIOTS from the same series is another great example, they started off wanting to change the world for the better, but greed corrupted some of the members, causing a rift and starting a civil war of sorts) Motivation helps as well.