forum Villains 101

Started March 18, 2018 by Zeland

tune

If anyone is having any trouble with their villain/ antagonist (the two are very different), say, they're too evil, lack motive, are too nice, seem two dimensional, etc, etc, I will give all the advice I can.

What makes a villain a villain and what makes an antagonist an antagonist? What makes a good villain or antagonist? Does the villain/antagonist have to be evil to be one?

@I'm Just Saiyan, generally an antagonist is simply in opposition to your protagonist, while a villain is that, but also often has evil intent. There are around a thousand ways to create a good villain/antagonist. It is hard for me to say the specific things that make an antagonist good, because an antagonist can be literally anyone who stands in the way of your protagonist's goal. However, I do have some pointers for villains.
A villain is generally evil, though I bet there have been exceptions. It is a huge mistake to make the villain evil just for the sake of being evil, as this is just unrealistic. The villain thinks they are the hero of their own story, we all do, he needs to have goals, obstacles of his own, some of which are probably related to the protagonist. Another thing you could do is give them aspects that readers are actually able to sympathize with. Perhaps make them care about their family a lot, or actually have a moral code. This is optional, but it does add another dimension to the character. One more thing, to make villains good, if they make a threat, make it be one that they actually would follow through. this may sound like a no-brainier, but say they threaten to kill your hero's sister. They capture her, have a gun or whatever at the ready, and can't do it. Unless they're bluffing because they don't like the idea of killing, which, in villains at least, is generally uncommon, this will render all similar threats null and void. That's all I can think of at the moment, at any rate. But no, Antagonists do not have to be evil. Villains generally do.

My villain is the father of two of my protagonists. He is absolutely awful to one of them and I honestly don't have a very good reason. I mean he's their father. I'm just not sure how far I can go with it before it's just wrong. Basically, his wife was killed by an unavoidable accident by the city that he now obviously hates. He wants to gain control over the city so that he can make sure no more innocent people are slain and so he can have his revenge on those who killed her. But he gets his morals confused on the way and ends up doing anything he has to(including being awful to his children, who he had with another woman) to get to this goal. Does this sound somewhat believable? If not suggestions are appreciated.

Firstly, what you have listed sounds completely believable to me. and for the answer, perhaps he has a bunch of frustration and anger built up inside of him and doesn't know what to do with it. Seeing as he has yet to find his peace via revenge/ fixing the city, its not going to fade away. maybe he can't let it out at work because it's a public place, or he really needs the job. maybe the only safe place to let it out is at home, as he is the one in power there. hatred is rarely rational after all, and many people don't find good places to let it out. Granted, this answer has a lot of assumptions in it, but I hope it helps.

I have a character that's an antagonist/villain, and I need help transitioning him from really evil to begrudgingly helping the protagonist, often with a selfish/ulterior motive. I really don't know what to do. Any help would be much appreciated!

Perhaps the antagonist's mindset isn't really that they are evil, just that they are going to do whatever profits them the most, whatever is easiest for them. If the benefits of working with your protagonist outweigh helping other evil people, he would naturally switch sides. And if you wanted him to become good eventually, perhaps the more time he spends with your protagonist, the more selfless and kind he becomes, sort of slowly losing his old selfish ways.

So, I had this story idea that I may or may not do that's kinda a plot twist I guess? Like, the main character who seems to be the protagonist in the beginning of the story actually turns out to be the antagonist, and vice versa for the seemingly antagonistic beginning character. Then, it would switch to the actual protagonist's (former antagonist) POV. Is this a good idea? Is it plausible?

Perhaps the antagonist's mindset isn't really that they are evil, just that they are going to do whatever profits them the most, whatever is easiest for them. If the benefits of working with your protagonist outweigh helping other evil people, he would naturally switch sides. And if you wanted him to become good eventually, perhaps the more time he spends with your protagonist, the more selfless and kind he becomes, sort of slowly losing his old selfish ways.

Thankyou so much!!!!!

This is very long explaining so bare with me! So my antagonist at first was the good guy as a child, even though his step-father was cruel and abusive to his mother and brothers. His step-father ends up killing his mother and his oldest and youngest brothers are able to get away from the abuse, yet the antagonist was stuck and has an abusive life alone. His step-father was trying to create him as a weapon for his own doings, yet another character in my story planing so far has stopped that from happening. When my antagonist gets older he ends up getting married to his best friend who he has loved for song long. He is happy but soon gets himself into a bad group of criminals. Thieves and murders had recently joined and made a guild together. As he joins, the antagonist then remembers his abuse from his step-father. All the pain, the lose of his mother, the suffering and the scars he has. His angry from his past life has built up all his life but when he finds this guild he finally snaps, in a way. He begins to get this idea in his head that in this group he can become more powerful then he is at the moment then he can be able to be more power then all those around him, even his step-father, even the gods he believes, and he begins to develop lust for power. By the time he and his wife have two beautiful young children, the wife finds out that he has been doing crimes and she wants him to leave the guild, for the sake of him,her and his children. The antagonist normally would have never hurt his wife, but his desire for power has create him to be more violent and corrupted and he got angry with her, thinking that she doesn't care or love him anymore and kicks her out of his home, keeping her children away from her. I later plan for him to become even more powerful, more corrupt, greedy, evil, and even ends up joining his step-father in a plan to take other their world, ending up as the weaponized person the step-father wanted all along. How does this sound for an antagonist character? Is there anything you would advise? Or did you like it?

A villain should be thought of as a character first and a villain second. Some writers only write a villain because it's "necessary", and they don't really care about their motivations, weaknesses, ect. This typically makes the villain unrealistic and almost comical because they are given stereotypical traits to make them seem threatening, instead of being threatening because they have genuinely scary motivations or traits. I felt the need to post this just because it's a massive pet peeve of mine.