There are countless blogs online describing how to write compelling characters, how to flesh said characters out, and even how to use shortcuts—such as character design—to bring a character to life. What often ends up overlooked by writers and bloggers alike, though, are the methods needed to craft an engaging antagonist. Part of what makes the protagonist interesting is her connection to the villain. These tips are by no means exclusive to the bad guy (character motivation, for example, should be given to everyone) but should still be used as part of a checklist when crafting the antagonist.
Whether it be the villain’s desires, his connection to the story’s hero, or what he looks like, there are several areas a writer should consider when crafting him.
1) Relationship to Hero
The heart of any story is it’s protagonist. It doesn’t matter how beautifully designed the world is, how exciting the magic, or how well plotted if the protagonist is disappointing. However, part of crafting a well liked (or at least interesting) protagonist is giving them a compelling villain to play off of. On a more literal level, what is the relationship between the villain and the hero?
Is the villain a blood relative, as Darth Vader is to Luke Skywalker? Is he or she only after the hero because of a prophecy which foretells their failure, such as in the cases of Voldemort or Narnia’s White Witch?
The villain could start out as somebody close to the hero, such as a beloved brother or best friend who betrays him (Judas is probably the oldest example of this character). The villain may even be someone the hero wronged at some point, prompting the villain to seek revenge on the hero (this is the type of villain seen in the first Incredibles film).
Whatever the villain’s connection to the hero—whether they are relatives, rivals, or simply seeking revenge against one another—there needs to be one. There are plenty of relationships an author can choose, but if the villain is evil just because and the hero is stopping him just because that’s what heroes do, this isn’t good enough. Many villains in super hero films can come off as boring, because they don’t have that connection to the protagonist; if any hero could defeat the villain, a reason needs to be added as to why it has to be your hero who can do it.
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2) Character Motivation
The relationship to the hero ties into the villain’s motivation, but it won’t necessarily be their motivation. For example, Jadis has the goal to destroy any humans who wander into Narnia; she wants to prevent the prophecy of the four children from coming true. Despite this, her actual motivation is power. Her destroying the children is a means to an end. Jadis is motivated by her desire to be queen, and maintain rule over Narnia.
Characters in other stories can have deeper motivations than just power, though. For some villains, it will be revenge they want. For others, they may even have good intentions: they do bad things to teach lessons, or to improve the world. These villains believe they are doing the right thing. To them, the ends justify the means.
The most interesting villains will have a motivation which makes them sympathetic. The kid who was bullied in school becomes a villain because he wants to be seen and respected. The villain who lost his mother turns evil as a means of saving the family he has left. The villain takes over a city, because he sees it as dysfunctional and believes he could alleviate all of it’s problems if he was in charge. The villain who sees technology as dangerous could possess people with it, so that people will learn to avoid it and live their lives screen free.
For other villains still, it may be more personal. The bad guy will try to destroy the kingdom not because she cares about the kingdom itself, but because she wants revenge on a queen sister who abused her when they were young. In some cases, the hero may have honestly wronged the villain. Maleficent, in the remake, was betrayed by her closest friend; in order to enact revenge, she cursed his daughter. Her choices weren’t right, but they were understandable. She wasn’t just evil—she had a legitimate reason to be angry.
If you can give your villain a valid reason to be mad, or a political ideology that viewers can actually agree with, this will make them more sympathetic, and therefore believable, to the audience. The audience doesn’t have to agree with the villain’s actions, but they should be able to sympathize with them. An example of a “bad guy” who embodies both aspects of this—being truly wronged by the world and having a political stance that actually makes sense—is Karli, the antagonist of Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Karli was wronged by the government, being forced out of her home, along with thousands of others, when the original owners were returned to the world. Though the original owners were justified in wanting their homes returned, people like Karli were suddenly thrown on to the streets, without warning, after being promised they would be looked after. This in itself garners sympathy for Karli, but the ideology she builds from it—that everyone should join together as one people, forming friendships and caring for each other, regardless of race—is equally compelling.
What will set a villain, such as Karli, apart from the hero isn’t her beliefs, but the way she handles things. Villains like Karli could come across as justified, but for the rampant murders they commit or the destruction they cause to achieve their ends.
To look at a more mainstream example in Marvel storytelling, Thanos has an understandable reason for destroying half the population. He feels that the universe’s resources are exhausted, and that removing half of all people will make life better for those who remain—there will be enough food for people to eat, enough land, and so on. Thanos remains a villain, but one audiences can understand. At the end of the day, he wants people to be happy.
3) Physical Appearance
Physical appearance isn’t everything, of course. If your bad guy looks cool, but is poorly written, nobody will remember him. That said, some of the most well written villains eventually become forgotten because they look boring. If your villain has brown hair, brown eyes, and wears a t-shirt, people are going to forget him. He should have at least one distinguishing feature: even if he is painfully average to look at, he should have a quirky t-shirt, be blind in one eye, or walk with a limp. There should be a physical trait which marks him out.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with going all out. You don’t want to overdo it, and have a character with six quirks nobody cares about; if he has white hair, blue streaks, is missing a leg, has vitiligo, and happens to have a different colour for each eye, you’ve probably gone overboard.
All this said, his or her appearance can be distinct from that of everybody else. Picture any celebrated villain, and you’ll quickly spot what makes them different: Lord Farquad is a midget of a man with bobbed hair and a pretentious red suit; Darth Vader is mostly machine, his face obscured by a mask which emits heavy breathing sounds; Voldemort is sans nose like a snake, bald and, in the book version, has red eyes; and Sauron, at least as far as the films go, is a literal eyeball wreathed in flames.
Villains with unusual or exaggerated appearances are easy to remember. Nobody is going to forget Sauron or Darth Vader in a hurry. Their looks have become iconic.
4) Origin Story
Most readers or moviegoers are suckers for a good origin story. There is a right way and a wrong way to implement an origin story, though, and how you handle one can make or break a villain. Some would argue that adding an origin story later can even ruin a great villain (most people were disappointed in the origins of Darth Vader, as told through the Star Wars prequels). Writers have to decide if including a backstory, such as through a flashback or a spin off story, is even necessary—what does it add to the villain? Does it explain, in a convincing manner, why he is the way he is? Does it make the viewer root for him or her on some level? Does it make him more interesting?
The story of Zuko is an example of a backstory done well. When viewers first meet Zuko, he is a young man who’s only goal in life seems to be catching the protagonist, Aang, and serving the Fire Nation. However, in a flashback episode, viewers learn of Zuko’s fall from grace, the relationship he shares with his father, and the mystery surrounding the disappearance of his beloved mother. At the end of the day, it’s not honour Zuko is after—it’s love and acceptance from the only parent he has left. When viewers learn the truth about Zuko, they can’t help feeling that, if pushed into the same situation, they may have done the same.
Anakin’s story is an example of a backstory which wasn’t well executed. Anakin as a character seemed to lose so much of what people loved about Vader. He was whiny, impatient, reckless, and selfish. Vader, by contrast, came across as unfazed, collected, powerful, and dedicated to his cause. Vader had his moments of anger when choking out his generals, but the way he did it still seemed controlled (and therefore more terrifying). When Anakin loses his temper, he slaughters innocents or uses the phrase, “It’s not fair!” This made him more unlikable than scary.
Even villains should have lines they don’t cross, particularly if they are to have a redemption arc. Anakin crosses all lines, which makes forgiving Vader in the original trilogy more difficult than it used to be. Did viewers need to learn Vader was a child killer? There are some crimes which an audience won’t forgive, no matter what a villain does to redeem himself. It seems the only line Anakin didn’t cross was kicking puppies.
5) Redeeming Quality
Some of the best villains have redeeming qualities which allow readers or viewers to like them, even if they’re still rooting for the hero. A classic example is having the villain adopt a child. This child, an innocent, then follows the villain around, allowing viewers to see his or hers gentler side.
Knowing the villain can be gentle gives them more depth, making them more believably human. Even hardened criminals can have a little sister they look out for, a romantic interest, or that one person they would die to protect. Such a situation even adds tension to the story: after all, if the hero wins and kills the villain, who’s going to look after their adorable or abandoned dependent?
If saving children isn’t your villain’s jam, he can do something else. It’s possible he makes a point of using ground tactics in his raids, so as to avoid damaging the environment or incurring debt for the city as a result of destroying too many buildings. He may have a pet he lavishes love on; when fighting his corrupt battles, he makes a point of avoiding animal cruelty. As his tanks storm the streets, he jumps in front of one to shove a cute dog from their path.
The villain could be polite, respecting all differences in gender, sex, race, and religion, only fighting the hero as a means to an end. He or she could be serious about civil rights, and even be fighting the hero as a means to promote them.
If the author plans to shift the villain into anti-hero territory, they could justify the murders themselves: people will root for the villain if the people he kills deserve it or are otherwise worse than him. If your villain makes a point of tearing down corporations, picking off rapists, or kidnapping those who abuse animals or children, people won’t be able to help cheering his evil ways on.
6) Quirks
The word “quirky” can be off putting to people these days. After all, the trope of the “quirky” character has been done to death. That said, every character can have a random quirk for the audience to smile at, including the villain. This can be something as simple as having a passion for crochet, swearing excessively, or having too many cats.
For villains, quirks can be used to highlight how ridiculous they are. The best quirks will reveal a character’s personality. A villain who is overly dramatic and temperamental, for example, can have an “angry wig” on hand for particular situations. Villainous types can enjoy playing the piano, making tiny figures, or secretly want to fall in love (as seen in Tangled’s I Had a Dream sequence).
Quirks will likely come more into play within a children’s story, but they can be used in narratives for mature audiences too. The quirk could be something like the villain taking everything literally, launching into dramatic monologues, or something else which startles or annoys the hero. Quirks can provide comic relief, as well as remind the audience that your villain is still human. If he always orders a medium latte with extra whipping cream, added cinnamon, and then proceeds to befriend everyone at his favourite coffee shop, the audience will laugh and appreciate him all the more.
Conversely, quirks can even be used to make the audience hate a character. Though quirks can serve to showcase a villain’s personality, they can also be used as a mask, a red herring, to show what the villain is not. Dolores Umbridge is a character everyone hates: she’s vicious and cruel. However, the fact she loves pink clothes, doilies, and kittens—typically sweet traits—makes her leap off the page as a character readers love to hate.
7) The Redemption Arc
Not every villain needs, or will have, a redemption arc. Some villains are just bastards, and aren’t in need of being forgiven or redeemed. That said, there’s something attractive about the redemption arc. They have been around for several hundred years, going back as far as Greek mythology.
Heroes and anti-heroes can also have redemption arcs, though villains will often have redemption arcs to become either of the two. People don’t change overnight. Therefore, a redemption arc in which the villain makes the transition, at least initially, to anti-hero could be more believable. He still kills people once in a while, and he can’t help getting into fights, but now he has a moral code, and some of his killing will be for good reasons. Everyone loves a character who is imperfect, and a redemption arc can make a second Big Bad look comparatively worse.
Villain A looked bad, but since defecting it’s become apparent that Villain B was the problem all along. In this situation, a kind of tug of war may assume, with the protagonist and Villain B vying for Villain A to defect or return. This dynamic is seen in Star Wars, with Luke (the protagonist) and Palpatine (Villain B) arguing with Vader, persuading him to either turn good or remain evil. In some cases, Villain A may also try to save Villain B; if the cause they shared is one the audience can sympathize with, there will be hope for viewer and anti-hero alike that Villain B can also be “saved.” Villain A may love Villain B deeply, putting him in a difficult situation when he’s forced to choose between becoming a true hero or saving the one he cares about.
The outcome could go several ways: Villain A turns evil again, breaking the heart of the hero and the audience because he can’t kill his first friend; Villain A, in order to do the right thing, accepts that Villain B can’t be saved and makes the difficult decision to kill him; or, in rarer cases, Villain A manages to save Villain B as well, demonstrating that they can follow their beliefs without hurting innocents.
Redemption arcs can create a story that puts people on the edges of their seat. For added spice, writers may even use the popular “Enemies to Lovers” trope, in which the hero not only redeems the villain, but falls in love with them. It takes skill to execute this in a way that feels realistic, but if done well combining the villain’s redemption with a romantic subplot can make readers or viewers obsess over both characters and the relationship they share.
8) Paralleling the Protagonist
In addition to the actual relationship the hero and the villain share, there should be something else which connects them. On a basic level, it can be their abilities. Both are wizards, but one has gone over to the dark side, so to speak. On a more personal level, it can be shared similarities.
In Star Wars, Darth Vader is the last remaining force user—until Luke comes along. Even before viewers know the relationship connecting Luke to Vader—that Vader is Luke’s father—they know a) both can use the force and b) anyone who uses the force can be drawn to the dark side. It’s a question that’s raised for audiences: will Luke be drawn to the dark side too? Even without knowing how connected Luke is to the villain, people recognize the threat that Luke could become just like him, simply because they both started as Jedi.
In Harry Potter, especially in the second book, Harry notes how similar Voldemort is to him. Both loved Hogwarts, both were orphans who were left alone without friends or love, and both are parseltongues and skilled wizards. This connection allowed Harry to first connect with Voldemort, and then to doubt himself: if they are so alike, couldn’t Harry turn evil too? In the fifth book, when Harry experiences Voldemort’s anger first hand, he even asks this question: is he going bad?
By establishing similarities between the hero and the villain, the writer can make the protagonist more engaging by introducing the fear that the hero could turn evil as well. After all, they weren’t so different once. In Lord of the Rings, the threat of Frodo becoming a wicked servant to the Ring is underscored by Gollum, who himself was once like a hobbit.
On the flip side, the villain could also be a foil character to the hero, a complete opposite whose traits serve to exaggerate the hero’s and vice versa. The hero could be patient where the villain is restless; the hero could be energetic where the villain is relaxed; and the hero could be hygienic where the villain is filthy. The villain could even have some of the good qualities to play off of the heroes flaws: where the hero is reckless and loud, the villain is collected and well spoken. Where the hero is thoughtless, the villain is empathetic, using his knowledge of what others want to manipulate them. The hero might be something of a jerk, while the villain is polite. The hero might be chaotic, while the Big Bad plans everything and follows the rules.
By having such an opposition of traits, with flaws and strengths being given to both, the hero and the bad guy alike can stand out. Each of their traits can be given prominence by the other, and a villain’s redeeming qualities can be used to exemplify a hero’s flaws or vice verse.
Foil characters should even look different from the hero. If the protagonist is dark haired and brown eyed, the villain should be blonde and blue eyed (or red eyed, if that’s what you’re going for). The hero can be buff, while the villain is slim (or vice versa).
Whether the hero is very alike to the villain, or his polar opposite, highlighting these traits can not only strengthen the personalities of both characters on their own, but the connection they share with one another.
In Conclusion
Whether it’s the relationship the hero has with the villain, the Big Bad’s backstory, a redemption arc, or simply the way the bad guy looks, there are a number of methods writers can use to make their antagonists leap off the page. Some of these tricks are important for all characters, while others are specific to the villain, but all should be used as a checklist when crafting the Big Bad.
Not every story even has a villain, such as in the case of a fluffy romance or slice of life, though most narratives have an antagonistic force the hero must contend with, such as machinery or deadly weather (which is a blog for another time).
What else would you do to craft a compelling villain? What other villains did you think of when reading this? Do you have an original villain you’re excited about? Let me know.