The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

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Villains 101

Written by guest writer [Moorn]

Section 1: Define Villain

Strictly speaking, the villain of a story is the primary enemy that the protagonist must overcome. More loosely, the villain represents not only a single character but the combined effect of a particular force acting against the best interests of the protagonist. Whatever the villain is, be it an evil emperor, an assassin, a disease, a comet, or what have you, the defining characteristic of that villain is that the villain must somehow act against the best interests of the hero.

(Note: If you aren't familiar with the terms protagonist and antagonist, remember that they are almost synonymous with the words 'hero' and 'villain', respectively.)

The villain is, IMHO, the most important part of the story. Ask yourself these questions:

If there was no day, would I still think the night was dark?
If there was no evil, would we still recognize good?
If we had no hands, would we concern ourselves with not having fingers?

In these statements, the hero is represented by the dark, the good, and the fingers. Each without the other part of the question would be meaningless, just as a hero is meaningless with an enemy of some kind. Any idiot can shoot a gun from behind to defeat a drunken bank robber/rapist/murderer/whatever the B movie producers chose for a particular flick. Only the X-men could defeat Magneto, because he was such a spectacular villain that regular schmucks just wouldn't do the job. Only Zeus could defeat the Titans, because of their incredible power. Only Thomas could defeat Hedda, because... I don't know, but I'd sell the bout on pay-per-view anyway. Only Frodo could defeat Sauron, because only he was short enough to avoid being seen by his enemies in tall grass.

Following me here? It's easy enough, and I'm only rehashing it because it amuses me. Bottom line: if your villain is weak, then defeating his evil ass doesn't seem very heroic.

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Section 2: What makes me so bad?

Now that you understand the concept of keeping your villain from being a pansy, let's talk about why the villain is what he is (I'm going to use 'he' throughout here, firstly because men are more easily identified with villainy, and second because I don't want to type he/she/it a dozen times and further interrupt the flow). 

Magneto of Marvel Comics fame became a villain because of his hatred for humankind. Fair enough, but that's not really enough. Why does he hate humankind? Well, as it turns out, in addition to being persecuted because he is a mutant, he is a survivor of one the World War II concentration camps of Nazi Germany infamy. Jews, gypsies, and other minority races were gathered there and systematically destroyed by the Third Reich, and it can easily be understood that such an experience would breed hatred in a man. 

http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/m/magneto.htm
for some more information on Magneto.

So Magneto hates humanity with good reason. Why don't we agree with him? Well, first off, it's because we, the readers, are human. It's very difficult to feel empathy for someone who is trying to kill us. Secondly, Magneto employed terroristic and ruthless tactics in his attempts to bend humanity to his will. It's tough to understand the motives of a guy who is willing to threaten and destroy those weaker than him. Thirdly, he has a really bad haircut.

Now... what about Sauron, the famous no-show villain from the Lord of the Rings trilogy? IMHO, Sauron is a lackluster villain. You may ask why. I may answer with a list!

1. Sauron never actually appeared in the current storyline, only flashbacks. His eye appeared, wonderful, I'm surprised someone didn't just shoot a spitwad at it and blind him.

2. Sauron's desire was, apparently, for ultimate power. Great, another megalomaniac villain. Why did he want power? To be powerful, of course!

3. Sauron himself was not intimidating. A burning eye miles away can't do jack squat. However, an orc with a pointy stick can do a hell of a lot at point blank.

4. When Sauron actually did appear in the flashback, he swatted some nameless elves and humans out of the way, only to be defeated by a broken sword about twelve seconds later.

Now, I'm not saying that Sauron wasn't a villain. Only that he wasn't a very good one. Sarumon actually served a much better purpose as villain, being a little more hands-on, and actually appearing in the stories. He had a few cool lines, too.

For this purpose, your plot line should avoid serial killers, mad bombers, space aliens bent on world domination, evil demons, mad dictators, and so forth. These kinds of characters, when properly employed, work beautifully... when a killer simply kills because he can, or because he's 'crazy', then he's not a good villain. Evil, yes. Good villain, no. 

Bottom Line: Your villain must have a reason for villainy. Even if its not a very good one, the villain must believe in his reason to the fullest extent.

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Section 3: Keep it within reason

Anybody ever watch Dragon Ball Z? Oh, I love the fights. Lots of ass-whuppin', lots of explosions, bright lights, cheesy catch phrases, and horrible voice acting makes for some decent viewing. 

http://www.dragonballz.com/index.cfm?page=characters
is a reference link for the curious.

However, if you're writing serious literature, you probably don't want your villains to be anything like those of DBZ. 

Lets ignore section 2 for now, and assume that you have a good villain with a powerful reason for being evil. Lets say you give him the power to destroy the world with a thought. Why doesn't he just destroy the hero outright? Why doesn't he blast the home planet of his enemy out of existence? Because that would make a really short book!

Try to keep your characters' power levels in check. Keep them reasonable. It's hard to connect with a villain who has ultimate power and somehow still gets beaten. 

We'll use Sauron again, and this a good for the one-eyed wonder. *cough* Sauron did not outright destroy Frodo, the one who could destroy him, because he simply couldn't do it. His power, though vast, was kept from him in the stories, allowing the hero to triumph.

A brief mention of the term Mary Sue is in order here. In a nutshell, a Mary Sue is a 'dream character'... the kind of character we would all like to be. Beautiful, powerful, good at everything... although the term has come to mean more than just personal traits. Cliche and overused past histories, for example, can be considered Mary Sue-ish in some contexts. For now, though, let's just look at the personal traits: power level and skills.

This sort of character, while irritating for a hero, is downright teeth-grinding for a villain. In the television show Dragon Ball Z, why doesn't Cell (a Mary Sue because of his ability to fly, ultimate strength/speed, martial arts super skills, and ability to blow up entire planets) simply destroy his enemies outright? He has the power. He just wants to wait for them to reach greater power so that he can fight them for more fun. Ehm... he just wants the show to go on, so people will keep drawing him. So he waits, taunting and teasing, until the good guys grow strong enough to defeat him. Then, oddly enough, he questions that defeat.

"What happened? I only waited three days to destroy my only threats, and told them to get stronger to fight me! Why did they do it? Damn them!"

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Section 4: Wrapping up

When writing a convincing villain, you have to keep in mind many of the same principles that you would for writing any other character. Once again, a list!

1. Make sure your character, if it's a person, has qualities that people can relate to.

2. A good reason for villainy is an absolute must. The very best kinds of villains are not acting because they wish to be evil, but because there is something that they believe or wish to accomplish. No matter how far out the rationale, your villain must see it as a good reason.

3. Keep power levels reasonable. Invincible enemies lose credibility when they're suddenly defeated.

Remember, believability is crucial. Love your villain as much, if not more than your hero!

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