A book I’ve been excited for, by an author I enjoy and respect, was just released. I’ve been listening to the audiobook edition with my sister and at one point I had to stop it. I could not listen to another repeated line from the villains. It didn’t help that the sound design for the voice was grating, but even if it had been the most melodious of voices I would have hated it. These one-liner villains were what the series had been building up to as part of the Big Bad’s Master Plan. They simply don’t feel adequate to face off against the rather brilliant protagonist. Therefore, this is the perfect time to discuss what makes an enjoyable villain?
“But these words people threw around - humans, monsters, heroes, villains - to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”
A VILLAIN OR ANTAGONIST?
No story is complete without an antagonistic force, whether it’s a person or nature. A villain does not always need to be the antagonist (see the excellent example shown in His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik). But what is the difference between the two, and how do you choose which you need in your story?
The antagonist is an adversary or adversarial force opposite of the protagonist. They are the main obstacle the protagonist must overcome to reach their goal. Frodo wants to destroy the one ring, Sauron and his forces want the ring back at all costs, therefore Sauron and his forces are antagonists. Raoul from Phantom of the Opera is the main obstacle to the Phantom’s desire for Christine (and vice versa). Each man is antagonistic to the other, but neither are villainous the way Sauron is.
The villain may not be antagonistic to the main character, but has psychological traits that we associate with evil such as a callous disregard for life, bullying, cruelty, etc etc. Rankin in His Majesty’s Dragon. The man is vile, but he shares the same goal as the protagonist.
As you can see, there is plenty of room for overlap between the two. It truly is important to know that they are distinct circles on a venn diagram, whether you’re reading critically or writing your own stories.
DESIGN STAGES: PLOT, HERO, OR VILLAIN FIRST?
Part of what isn’t working for me with the antagonists that spurred on this post is that they don’t feel adequate to antagonize the protagonist. If you have built up your hero, you need to have an antagonist who is at minimum equal to them. Watching your hero grow to be able to defeat antagonizing forces is an important part of a story arc. If you have a weak antagonist, then there is little to spur on that growth. Consider your antagonist and protagonist as on a teeter-totter. The bigger, stronger, scarier the antagonist, the more difficult for the protagonist to control the situation. The more the protagonist grows, the more control they can get until the antagonist can be defeated. If your protagonist is already more intelligent, stronger, and better at problem-solving than your antagonist, then how can your antagonist be anything more than a fly pestering them?
You never want to have your plot rely on your protagonist suddenly becoming uncharacteristically incompetent just to let the plot move forward (such as the sad old trope of killing all the henchmen leading to the villain and then deciding to let the villain go).
CONSIDER THEIR GOALS
If your antagonist wants to destroy the world, and your protagonist wants to stop it, delve deep into the “why” for both of them.
Why does the villain want to destroy the world when they are, presumably, on it and could die too? Do they have an exit plan? Are they suicidal? If they have an exit plan, what do they need to activate that plan and why? If they are suicidal, why? Why did they come to the conclusion that destroying the world is the best option available to them? If the answer to any of those style of questions is “well, just because” or “well, I need them to for the plot”, dig deeper. Create greater motivations beyond “just because”. Even when you look at one of the greatest archetypal villains, Sauron, he had reasons why he wanted to rule Middle Earth and do so in such a perverse and destructive manner.
Then you ask the “why” for the protagonist. Why do they want to save the world? Why do they disagree with the villain? What do they need to do to stop the villain, and why are those things going to be challenging?
Now you have the guideposts for your plot and your character development journeys. The plural is intentional—your villain should have development too!
COLOR & SPECIES CODING
There is an entire wiki on TV Tropes related to Evil Race Tropes. If you’re not familiar with the concept of color or species coding, it’s generalizing x behaviour or trait to y color or species. IE: all black robed figures are evil (Nazgul, Dementors, Wraiths), or all orcs are evil (Lord of the Rings, Warhammer 40k). There can also be the idea of a Light or High version of something, and a Dark version (ie: High Elves vs Dark Elves) that are seen as opposites and coded as light vs dark, good vs evil.
To put it simply, these are simplistic holdovers that it’s time to grow beyond. Humans aren’t all the same, why would one race be all the same? Even when you look at different animals, individuals within a species are always different. It is certainly easier to say that all of x race are y, but easy shouldn’t be your goal when it comes to writing. If everyone of a certain race follows your villain, ask why. Is there a religious or political reason? What about defectors and heretics? Diversify your world. It will be richer for it.
Note: this concept also applies to physical and mental disabilities. Using those as crutches for creating villains (such as disfigurement or borderline personality disorder) can have harmful, real-world consequences.
HERO OF THEIR OWN STORY?
I think we’ve all heard the quote that “Villains are heroes of their own story”. While this is certainly true for many villains, it’s not universally true. Don’t forget the self-loathing villain when you’re building your story. Not every villain must be the confident Lex Luthor or Manizeh. A villain can be self-aware of their villainy, enjoying the power and knowing that they won’t be remembered well by history (maybe it doesn’t matter to them if they’re able to bring about their goal). Don’t pigeonhole your writing into a small category for your villains.
Now, go create a compelling villain!
-L.J.
Author of The Dying Sun, Book 1 of The Gods Chronicle.
Pedantic Scribe of the ‘Scribe’s Journey Podcast’
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
““The fact is that we have no way of knowing if the person who we think we are is at the core of our being. Are you a decent girl with the potential to someday become an evil monster, or are you an evil monster that thinks it’s a decent girl?”
”Wouldn’t I know which one I was?”
”Good God, no. The lies we tell other people are nothing to the lies we tell ourselves.””