villain – USA Today Bestselling Author DelSheree Gladden

Villains and Secondary Characters: The Easy Way Out

It can be very tempting to take the easy way out when it comes to creating, developing, and wrapping up a villain’s character arc by deeming them “evil” and going no further.

A villain’s motives are one of the character aspects that can easily be neglected without even realizing it. When creating a villain, he or she must be motivated to do something that will make the hero’s journey more difficult. These motives have to be believable and realistic, though. They have to be TRUE motives in order to be believable.

Mental illness is not a villainous motive, though it can be part of the villain’s overall character profile and influence his or her motives.

Motives also need to make sense. If villain’s goal has to be met simply because it “HAS” to be met in the story, that is an Author-Created motive or will not create as strong of an interest with readers as a motive which comes from deep within the villain’s personality and backstory.

An example of an author-creative motive that doesn’t make sense and irritates readers/viewers is from the film “Hocus Pocus” when the witches have a whole group of children hypnotized and arriving at their home to be drained of life, yet the witch Winifred insists they put off their ultimate goal of endless youth to hunt down the trio of main characters who escaped their clutches, which of course leads to their ultimate downfall. Logically, the witches should have sacrificed the children in their possession, assured their youth and power, and then went after the characters who escaped.

Having characters demonstrate a few stereotypically “evil” characteristics or acts with no substantive backing falls flat with readers. True “evil” is complicated and complex and is built off villains who are equally complex.

How Do You Create a Complex Villain?

Start with these 5 questions…

What is the villain’s motivation to reach their goal?
How will they determine success?
What can the villain NOT lose?
Why does the villain fight the hero?
What will the world be like if the villain “wins”?

Answering these questions will help you dig deeper into why a villain does what he does, wants what she wants, and believes what he believes.

One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.
Charles M. Blow, journalist

When developing villains, strive to make villains human, but a human who has been twisted and warped into doing and believing despicable or immoral things.

Villains and Secondary Characters: Show vs. Tell with Villains

Because is it so important for readers to connect with the villain or antagonist, show vs. tell is a necessary discussion.

The two extremes of the show vs. tell villain spectrum are the Throne-Sitting Villain and the Hands-Dirty Villain. There are, of course, myriad points between these two on the spectrum, but finding the right balance for a particular story can make or break a reader’s ability to make and maintain a connection to the villain.

The Throne-Sitting Villain

This type of villain rules tyrannically, but never takes direct action. He or she remains apart from the hands-on aspects of the plan or journey. He or she makes decisions and delegates the dirty work.

Readers never “see” this type of villain actually being evil. The reader must rely on author “telling” him or her that the villain is bad news. This creates a weaker connection with the reader, in most cases, and makes the hero’s connection to the villain more abstract.

Secondary antagonists become more important barriers or stumbling blocks than the main villain and readers typically form stronger bonds with those characters instead. This may be an effective tactic over the course of a series, where individual lower-level antagonists are featured in specific books or sections with the overall villain remaining in a “throne-sitting” role until entering the story for a final confrontation.

A good example of this type of villain is Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. Minor villains such as Saruman, Gollum, The Witch King, the Goblin King, etc. present multiple barriers along the heroes’ journey to keep them from destroying the One Ring, all while Sauron quietly directs things from his tower. Sauron never really presents as an embodied, physical villain the heroes need to fight, leading to a weak connection with the readers as actual main villain of the story.

The Hands Dirty Villain

This type of villain takes direct action against characters who the reader cares about, creating an immediate and recognizable sense of threat and dislike in the reader’s mind.

Direct action by a villain against a hero creates an emotional investment for readers. Rather than simply an overarching feeling of conflict, every action and decision matters to the reader because it could directly impact the characters who the reader is emotionally bonded to.

The close conflict between and hands-dirty villain and the hero creates an intensity in the story that is hard to match with a non-present villain. Tensions run higher with more frequent or up close interactions or battles.

A good example of this type of villain is Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series. Umbridge is an agent of Voldemort, but while Voldemort rarely makes appearances in the series, villains like Umbridge inflict physical and emotional pain on Harry on a regular basis, constantly reminding the reader how much he or she dislikes the villain and wants him or her to fail and be punished.

Finding Balance

A villain in a story doesn’t have to be only one or the other. It’s important to evaluate a story carefully in order to determine what point on the spectrum will work best. A villain may also move along the spectrum during the story in order to control pacing. When planning interactions between heroes and villains, consider how that reaction will impact the reader’s connection to both the hero and the villain.

Villains and Secondary Characters: Characteristics of a Villain

AMC ranked the Top 20 villains from films, which I think gives writers a good starting point when considering what characteristics make for a good villain. Let’s take a took…

Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) in Psycho (1960)
Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) in The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) in It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction (1987)
Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) in Double Indemnity (1944)
Regan MacNeil (Satan) (Linda Blair) in The Exorcist (1973)
The Queen (voice of Lucille LaVerne) in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) in A Clockwork Orange (1971)
HAL 9000 (voice of Douglas Rain) in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968
The Alien (Bolaji Badejo) in Alien (1979)
Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) in Schindler’s List (1993)
Noah Cross (John Huston) in Chinatown (1974)
Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) in Misery (1990)
The Shark in Jaws (1975)
Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton) in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Man in Bambi (1942)

What characteristics do all or most of these villains share?

POWER

Villains shouldn’t be easily defeated. It must be challenging for the hero to overcome the villain or it won’t be an interesting or fulfilling quest. This could be physical, mental, emotional, or some combination of power.

A villain can’t be unbeatable, though. Develop valid reasons that the villain is difficult to defeat, such as having more experience, knowledge, physical ability, connections, etc.

Vary the types of power a villain has in order to create interest and multiple avenues of challenge. Types of power might include, physical strength, magic, intelligence, money/influence, resources, etc.

Make use of opposing powers. The villain should have power that corresponds to a hero’s weaknesses. This will push the hero to develop and grow and create a more interesting storyline and character arc.

Changeability

It is important that a villain be changeable. A villain having the ability to change threatens the opposition and has the potential to stall the hero’s progress. A stagnant villain is boring and easier to defeat.

Possibility of change also opens up avenues for a villain or antagonist becoming a reluctant ally. An unexpected turn can increase reader interest and allow for the goals of the hero and villain to temporarily align before returning to battling against each other.

The villain achieving his or her goal is often more important than individual conflict with the hero and can break ties and push him or her to accept temporary alliances in order to further a goal.

Personality

Villains must have rounded personalities with depth in order to be believable and interesting.

To be rounded, a villain cannot be all evil or do evil things for evil’s sake. He or she should have multiple motivations, which are often conflicting and a source of inner struggle.

To create depth, villains should have a complex history and challenging experiences. Often he or she will have suffered some level of psychological or emotional damage that has skewed his or her perception of love, power, and/or right and wrong. The villain’s initial state at the beginning of the story should be shaped by past experiences without relying too heavily on common tropes.

Evolution

A villain must evolve and have a definable character arc. His or her goals, motives, and agendas should change throughout the story depending on what is experienced.

Evolving doesn’t necessarily mean “seeing the light” or changing for the better. Villains can become worse or more damaged if that is what the experiences dictate.

Villains should also learn from his or her mistakes. Do not allow a villain to repeatedly make the same stupid mistakes. It will be seen as unbelievable and irritating. Villains should be trying to defeat the hero just as hard as the hero is trying to defeat the villain.

Questionable Morality

Villains are rarely completely immoral. They simply have a warped sense of morality due to past experiences. This atypical morality may be derived from superior intelligence that makes a villain believe he or she knows better and sees more clearly than others.

This leads a villain to develop their own moral code. The villain usually believes in the “rightness” of his or her own code and believes that societal or religious morality does not apply because he or she is above it.

Determination

Well-crafted villains don’t give up easily. A villain is most often single-mindedly driven or obsessed with achieving a goal. However, it’s important that a villain still have moment away from this drive where the reader can learn more above him or her and see more deeply into his or her psyche. Truly obsessed characters are tiresome to read.

A driven personality is one the focuses intently on the idea of winning, and this attitude can be a consuming aspect of a villain’s nature because it ties the self to the achievement of the goal. It also pushes a villain to refuse to fail, which can push a person well beyond what a regular person would be willing to do.

When developing a villain, consider these elements and go beyond concepts of good and evil or right and wrong and focus on making a villain as interesting and, in some ways, relatable and likable, as your hero.

Using archetypes effectively

Let’s dig into archetypes and discuss there uses and some examples of common archetypes and some you may be less familiar with.

What are archetypes and should you use them?

Archetypes are a typical character, action, or situation that seems to represent a universal pattern of human nature. Archetypes can be used effectively when done right. For example, the “Hero,” “Innocent Youth,” or “Mentor” characters appear in many works of fiction.

The challenge is creating an archetype without falling into stereotype. Even if your character is following an archetypal pattern, they still need to be complex and unpredictable at times.

Archetype Examples:

Hero: Predominantly “good”, struggles against evil to restore balance, justice, etc. (Luke Skywalker)
Mother Figure: Guides and directs, offers spiritual or emotional nourishment (Glinda the Good Witch)
Innocent Youth: Inexperienced, weak, seeks safety with others like him/her, trusting (Frodo)
Mentor: Main task is to protect the main character, gives advice and training to help him/her succeed (The Giver)
Doppleganger: Duplicate/shadow of hero to show their dark/evil side (Mr. Hyde)
Scapegoat: Takes the blame for everything (Chuck from The Mazerunner)
The Villain: Main goal is to oppose/defeat the hero, who the hero must defeat (President Snow)
The Trickster: Causes trouble, conflict, stumbling blocks to hero’s progress/success (Gabriel aka The Trickster from Supernatural)
The Übermensch: Seemingly unbeatable, omnipotent; good or bad (Superman)
Outcast: Exiled (physically of socially) due to some mistake/transgression (The Beast)