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Do you create villains differently?

NINA28

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Never created a real villain before for any of my work, and although I read a lot, reading a Fantasy book doesn't tell you how the amazing Villain was created. I've read quite a few articles about making them the hero of their own story and being sympathetic. But I haven't read any that gave detailed steps. So do you just create them the same way you do a heroic character? There has been to a point where they change and become that bad person and heroic characters don't have that conflict, or somehow rise above it. Maybe it's in the personality, not in tragic events in their life. I have no idea how to go about doing this and I have two villains in my book. I wanted to develop them first because if I know what they want and what they are trying to achieve it'll make it easier to figure out the events in my plot which I'm struggling with. I'm happy to give information on both my villains if it helps. But I just need some guidance on how to do this. Whether it be links to things to read – whatever help you can give me.

Thanks. It's very much appreciated.
 

Maryn

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If the villain is the hero in his own story--a tenet I follow--then in his own mind he does not become a bad person, ever. He does whatever it takes to achieve his goal, same as the hero.

IMO, the best villain I've ever read was in Thomas Harris's "Red Dragon"--and no, it's not Hannibal Lecter. The villain does some truly awful things, but he's so well rounded you understand why he does every one of them.
 

indianroads

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If the villain is the hero in his own story--a tenet I follow--then in his own mind he does not become a bad person, ever. He does whatever it takes to achieve his goal, same as the hero.

IMO, the best villain I've ever read was in Thomas Harris's "Red Dragon"--and no, it's not Hannibal Lecter. The villain does some truly awful things, but he's so well rounded you understand why he does every one of them.

Agree. For me, the antagonist is someone with goals that conflict or are contrary to the protagonist. Even the most extreme sociopath believes they deserve whatever benefit that comes from their actions. They injure / kill because they perceive a threat to what they believe in. They steal because they believe they deserve what someone else has.

Human nature. As has been said, each of us is a hero in our own mind.
 
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Cephus

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Villains never think they're the villain. They think they're perfectly justified in what they're doing because from their perspective, they are. They think the heroes are wrong and, in a couple of instances that I've written, they turned out to be right. No villain should ever be a mustache-twirling caricature. They are all the hero of their own story.
 

gothicangel

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I far prefer the term 'antagonist' (their role is to 'antagonise' the MC). I create them very much in the same way as my MC, with the same psychological depth. My current WIP's antagonist is a good guy at heart, but he's made some very bad decisions in the past and doesn't believe that he can come good again.
 

K.S. Crooks

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To me good villains typically fall into one of four categories:
1) Those who do not care at all what they do to others to achieve what they want. (Ex. Darth Vader, Doctor Doom, Agent Smith, White Witch)
2) Those who provide sympathetic reasons for what they want, but they are going about it a wrong way. (Ex. Magneto, Poison Ivy)
3) It could be a case of power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
4) Those who are psychopaths/simply crazy. (Ex. The Joker, Buffalo Bill)

Villains are often the ones who drive a story. They appeal to people because they get to do the things we sometimes wish we could do. They push our sensibilities of what is acceptable to do in various situations.
 

Nerdilydone

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Villains never think they're the villain.

Nah, Richard III of Shakespeare knew it. There's a whole bit at the beginning where he's all like, "If I can't be a lover, I'll be a villain." Something like that. Then he's realizing at the end of the drama that he hates himself, and everyone else does too.

An antagonist is someone who stands in the way of the protagonist. He might not be a villain, he's just in the way. Like Aldaris from Starcraft stood in the way of Tassadar's goals, but wasn't actually an evil person. A villain is someone who is bad, but may or may not be in the way of the protagonist: technically speaking the sea-witch of the Little Mermaid is a villain, but (in the original) she's not actually standing in the mermaid's way. She helps, in a bad way, the mermaid reach her goal of being with the prince.
 

NINA28

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Thank you all for the help I really appreciate it and I think I'm ok now and understand it a bit better. Going to go forward now creating my antagonist and "hero" character together. Might be them opposing strengths and weaknesses.
 

Thomas Vail

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A villain should be created much like any other character - what do they want, and how are they going about to achieve that goal? What is preventing them from doing that? Approach them from that angle and it should give you a foundation for putting together a character.
 

kwanzaabot

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I mean, my villain started off as just the MC's father. A side-character that would eventually lead to a "you walked out on us, up yours, Dad" conversation that honestly felt pretty flat.

Now he's the evil mastermind that's been manipulating a messianic prophecy for purely selfish reasons (of which the MC was conceived to fulfill, though is in fact the latest in a long line of failed messiahs, many of whom have been outright killed or else sent to their certain deaths by The World's Worst Father).

I think sometimes a great villain sort of reveals themselves.

Daddy issues? What? I don't have *nervous laughing*
 

angeliz2k

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People who do terrible things often think of themselves as the hero of their own story, but I think more commonly they think of themselves as the victim. It can be breathtaking, when people so something horrific and then bleat about how they're the victim of persecution. Think of Larry Nassar (or don't, if you can help it). The dude serially abused girls and young women, then has the audacity to complain that he's a victim of the justice system because the judge allowed all those women to make statements at his sentencing. I read a book about the Columbine shooting, and what stuck out to me was how Eric Harris, pretty clearly a sociopath, felt somehow victimized by the "inferiority" of everyone around him and felt entitled to do whatever the hell he wanted.

The only character I've ever created who might be considered a "villain" thinks he's been wronged, and he has, but it doesn't justify his own behavior. To create a really good antagonist, I think you need that kind of push-and-pull. The reader understands and maybe even sympathizes with where the character is coming from, but they still know the character is fundamentally wrong.
 

K.S. Crooks

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To me good villains typically fall into one of four categories:
1) Those who do not care at all what they do to others to achieve what they want. (Ex. Darth Vader, Doctor Doom, Agent Smith, White Witch)
2) Those who provide sympathetic reasons for what they want, but they are going about it a wrong way. (Ex. Magneto, Poison Ivy)
3) It could be a case of power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. (Ex. Thanos)
4) Those who are psychopaths/sociopaths/simply crazy. (Ex. The Joker, Norman Bates, Hannibal Lecter, Buffalo Bill)
Villains are often the ones who drive a story. They appeal to people because they get to do the things we sometimes wish we could do. They push our sensibilities of what is acceptable to do in various situations.
 

indianroads

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Antagonists usually are people with objectives that are contrary to your protagonist. Often - actually most of the time - they believe they are doing the right thing and can justify their actions.

Beyond this, there definitely are sociopaths who just get off on hurting people.
 

Sonsofthepharaohs

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To make a truly convincing and fully realised 'villain', I think it helps to start with the character, rather than the role you need them to fulfil in the plot. What drives them? What are their personality traits? Who do they hate / love and why? If you don't get inside their head and really show what makes them tick, so that to the reader their actions seem totally plausible, they will come across as cartoonish or plot devices.

Basically, you treat your villain exactly as you treat your main character. So that if you were writing the synopsis from their POV (and I usually do give my villain a POV) it would follow exactly the same structure as the main character's POV - they would have a goal, take actions towards this goal, meet opposition, but ultimately fail (if your hero succeeds - maybe the villain wins, hehe).

Also, don't forget that your villain has a character arc just as much as your MC does.
 

indianroads

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As has been said - villains are usually people with objectives that are contrary to your protagonist. That's sort of the typical form.

Then there are those with NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) - that believe that only they matter. The lazy that steal from those who worked to attain a good life, those who kill a romantic rival, and on a grand scale those like Hitler and Stalin who want to reshape the world to their liking with them on top of the heap.

Then of course, there are the sociopaths, those who create mayhem and pain simply for the pleasure of doing so. I had such a character in one of my books - they called her the 'Nurse', and her job was to torture those that objected to the government's edicts. She was fun to write - but it was a little scary how easy it was to see the world through her eyes.