Contains some
spoilers for The Grisha Trilogy
Part 1 – Introduction
What is a villain?
A villain is the
bad guy, sometimes known as the antagonist. They challenge the protagonist and
create conflict in the story. No conflict, no story. The villain’s actions or
goal can create the motivation for the hero, as well as create the necessary obstacles
every hero should face in order to make a compelling story. Villains can take many
different forms. They can create life or death scenarios or simply pose a
threat to what the heroes truly want and/or need. A story can have multiple antagonists
posing multiple challenges. To avoid creating an evil villain that embodies all
the necessary qualities but none of the dimensions that make them seem like an
actual person, they require (like our heroes) motive, backstory and
personality.
Villain
vs Antagonist
While discussing
the many different types of villains, and how there can be multiple throughout
the story, it’s important to know there is a difference between a villain and
an antagonist. An antagonist is defined as someone who opposes or is hostile to someone or something,
but a villain is someone whose malicious actions and motives are significant to
the plot.
Types of Antagonists
There are many different types of antagonists and they fit in
many different boxes and vary between lists and personal opinions.
Human
A villain that is human or a being with human qualities. This
villain will have a motive, backstory and character traits.
Nature
The antagonist can take the form of a mindless force or natural
disaster. The protagonist’s goal is to survive.
Concept
In some stories, the protagonist overcomes a concept or their
own feelings such as ineptitude, grief or acceptance. Sometimes, the character
learns a lesson through another character’s negative impact, or challenges the views
and influence of society.
Organisation
The protagonist must fight society or an evil corporation,
often with a human figure head to battle with.
Monster
The monster is a physical being categorised by animal or
malicious traits they sometimes can’t control such as zombies, vampires and
aliens.
Reflecting the Hero
Sometimes villains can stand as a dark
reflection of the hero, inhabiting similar traits and showing an alternate path.
While Voldemort and Harry both share similarities (growing up as orphans,
finding a home in Hogwarts, connections to the Slytherin house, speaking parseltongue,
and being leaders of their perspective groups) they both experience and adapt
differently, eventually becoming enemies. Voldemort’s loneliness and ambition
leads him to desire power in magic and over others, while Harry’s loneliness and
ambition leads him to finding friendships and love, and developing a deep appreciation
for both. It also created added conflict as Harry struggles to accept the similarities
between them and learns to understand the differences.
Villains can also hold up a mirror to the hero, exposing undesirable
traits and forcing the hero to accept harsh truths.
Creating Villains
Most of the time, we already have some ideas in our head, and
often look to the internet or books for guidance to A) fill out our bad guys or
B) try to fix what went wrong when they feel flat or two-dimensional or
not scary enough. Sometimes we start from scratch and are committed from
the beginning to making a truly unforgettable bad guy.
I’ve searched for answers almost always part-way through my
stories when I feel lost. When something doesn’t feel right about my plot, the villain/hero
dynamic seems out-of-sorts or I’m simply struggling and looking to find clarity
somewhere along the line, I often find myself looking at the villain. I usually
have such a clear idea of what my hero wants, what their values are, and
what they’re willing to sacrifice. My villain, on the other hand, comes later
and sometimes changes and easily becomes blurred within the plot.
Whether your story is still in your
head, or you’re halfway through, or you’re going through edits and wondering
why you don’t really enjoy your own villain, getting pen to paper is a good way
to begin. Here are a couple ideas of how to get a ‘starting point’.
Write from personal preference
Write a list of villains you have
loved. The ones who have truly made you hate them, truly terrified you, or been
so sassy and full of personality that you loved every second they were on the
page.
Ask yourself why you liked them, and
what made them enjoyable to read. I have loved many villains over the years, but
for many different reasons, and they have served a different purpose and had
different traits. You may find similarities that link them, or strikingly
different traits that made them stand out.
If you know what kind of villain you wish to write,
this can help find focus, if you don’t, you may decide as you delve deeper into
your own preferences. Do you want to make a villain your readers love to hate?
Or one they love so much they almost don’t want them to be defeated? Or one
with truly heinous motives and actions but compelling to read on page?
I realised the villains I really
really hated were the ones no one could reason with and had similar character
traits to people in real society that I consider heinous. They had values and
beliefs that challenged my own personal ones, and no matter their experiences,
could never admit they had done - or believed in - something wrong. Umbridge
for example showed a number of truly dislikeable traits. She consistently
denied the truth over what she wanted to believe, exuded her power over both
children and adults, was condescending and passive aggressive, and considered (and
treated) others as inferior. What I ‘liked’ about Umbridge was how JK
Rowling made me truly hate her. Her need for order and her ‘sickly sweet’ exterior
and temperament made her interesting.
I realised the villains I love often stand out right
away with eccentric personalities and, quite often, great dress sense. My
favourite villains from childhood include Maleficent – with her long dark cloak
and polite, proper manner of speaking, Hades – fast-talking sass master with a
comedic hot-headedness, Dr. Facilier – top hat and coat tails, constantly
moving with magic in every pocket and silver on his tongue.
The Darkling from Shadow and
Bone, was a villain I loved. The author created so many moments of love,
hate and uncertainty that every moment he was on page, I was compelled to read
and keep reading. He first appears as mysterious, and intriguing, pulling the
reader in as a potential love interest. What I like, was how he, as a
manipulative character not only manipulated the main character, but the reader,
too. The strong connection between he and Alina left me constantly hoping there
would be a way for them to be together, that he wasn’t only using her but genuinely
cared for her. That he would change. The more human the character
seemed, the more I wanted him to become a ‘good guy’. The suspense of his character
created a compelling read and a compelling villain. I liked how I knew this
character was manipulating the hero but at the same time, did it so well, I wanted
to believe him, too. This seemed to fit with his motives. The Darkling wanted
to create a ‘safe haven’ for the Grisha, but is it what he truly wants or is it
just a side effect of his ultimate pursuit of power? Like his ‘love’ for Alina?
Write from how you want readers to
feel
Your villain will need to create
conflict in the story – either by creating obstacles for your hero that
prevents them from their ultimate goal or whose ultimate goal creates actions
leading your hero to find ways to thwart them.
Depending on the theme of your
story, or genre, you may have to decide how you want your readers to feel about
your villain. Truly hate? Agree with? Fear?
Hate, give your villain traits that
reflect the true evils of the world – racism, corruption, apathy. What traits
to you dislike when meeting people day to day? The person at work that takes
credit for others’ work? The acquaintance that gives compliments that are really
insults? The person you used to be friends with that constantly did wrong by
people yet constantly played the victim?
Agree with? Give your villain
motives that a reader can understand, albeit the cause, not the method. A
villain can have a righteous cause but be willing to commit truly evil crimes
in order to see it come to pass. What is something you would change about the
world if you could? Cure disease? Stop pollution? Freedom? Love? Could a
villain want the same thing but use extreme measures to obtain it?
Fear? What do you find terrifying? Someone in power that is
doing the wrong thing and obviously making it out like it’s good and everyone
is buying it?
Villains have the potential to make our stories truly memorable.
In the next post, I’ll cover one of the three most important elements of a
villain: motive.
Parts 2-4 will be uploaded soon. Subscribe to receive an update!
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