How do you make you villains threatening and have stakes in your story?

[aqua03]

(Consider this a part 2 to this thread....)

So I recently sat down to work on writing Drachenseele when I suddenly noticed a big problem: The villains aren't particularly villainous or the protagonists justified in terms of their animosity towards the villains.... The original idea of Drachenseele was to do an Undertale-esque flip on the "Chosen Heroes have been chosen by prophecy to go stop the horde of monsters that nearly destroyed the world in the first place years ago" by revealing that after the initial war and the big bad evil o…

So the main thing I think I realized regarding the antagonists of Drachenseele, the terrorist group Royal Crimson and the Dredge Empire as a whole is that I really haven't quite established their threat or the general stakes of the story as a whole.

Like sure, we're told that Gufuu and the Dredge were dangerous in the past and how the world has been poisoned and is on the brink of destruction thanks to rapidly worsening natural disasters along with how dangerous Royal Crimson is along with the modern Dredge kingdom despite their extreme isolation from the rest of the world, but from what I've currently had written out so far for my story, they haven't really done anything to sell themselves as an actual threat worthy of such drastic action by the heroes.

Like sure, they're underhanded and beat up the heroes in CHapter 1 only to get driven back by the awakening of a massive dragon named Haru, but other than that, they don't really seem like that much of an actual threat all things considered the more that I look at it. Mostly because I feel that I haven't properly established the true stakes and conflict of the world yet.

So how should I go about doing that? How do you guys properly establish the conflict and stakes in your stories so that your villains are a genuine threat and not just "Oh hey, it's the bad guys. They're bad because reasons. Go stop them before they can do the bad thing."

Thanks for the help and advice.

[rajillustration]

It helps if they take away something we care about. Like often villains in stories will do bad things to some randos and it's not really that impactful--but if it's something that we have been introduced to and something that we've made a connection with as a reader, it makes the villian so much worse when that thing is taken away. Like there's lots of ways, it's just finding which things the cast holds dear, and which things the villains would take from them.

[WoollyPAR]

Ok ok, the best way to build up a villain and make them threatening is to make the stakes personal to the main character. Y'know, have them threaten the MC's way of life or something important to them. Make sure the stakes aren't too high unless you're planning to follow through with it since the readers won't think it's a threat and will expect the villains to be defeated. Have the lengths of their villainy shown before hand, so the readers know they aren't bluffing and that they can actually pull it off when they threaten something personal to the MC.

Another thing you can do is have the villain shake an unshakable character, even just a little bit. Be careful though, since you can really only do this once or twice before it loses all meaning to the readers that this character has been shook.

A big mistake you can make is to not pay attention to how much of the villain's psychology you reveal to the readers. Not enough and the villain makes no sense, too much and they're too predictable. Give the readers enough to have a guess as to what they'll do next, but not so much that they can see their plans from a mile away. Part of the threat is wondering how much is too much for them to handle mentally.

If you want the readers to HATE the villain, have them threaten your audience's favorite character instead of the MC. The readers will certainly be scared of the villain then and want the MC to punch their face in, or whatever the MC does to beat enemies.

It's most important to try your best to make threat less about their power and more about their resolve to go through with things and what specifically they're threatening.

Sorry if this was too long, I wanted to be thorough

[TheDoublekey]

That's actually a very nice question to which I'd love to answer! So, I particularly love to tackle villains when it comes to stories I write and what I usually do is give them solid motivations to do what they're doing. The stronger their intentions, their past, their ideals, the more threatening the villain will be. It's also important to give the villain a way to grow and develop on to something even more threatening.

I usually tend to create villains who are very relatable and have issues that everybody could feel close to them. Something along the lines of "What would you do if you were in their position?".

And of course, the ideals of the villain have to clash with those of the heroes and that's when the stakes get high. A clash of well-established ideals is a way to make a good conflict.

[lilithfairenwrites]

The simple answer is having your villains do something. Have them succeed at something they set out to do. Have them prevail over the good guys in some way. Villains who are constantly thwarted by the protagonist in every encounter quickly become unconvincing as threats, as much as the narrative may try to set them up as such cough Kylo Ren cough.

[SeraphicMayin]

Same as above.

Let the Villains win in the early lower stakes stuff and explore the consequences therin.

Having the Villain succeed early on forces the Heroes to get creative and to take risks which in turn increases the stakes. And it increases tension of its the heroes being foiled at every turn UNTIL the story climax.

To keep things interesting the Heroes should be able to find small wins along the way but it should feel like they're losing the overall battle until the end where through their own wit, strength or knowledge they win against the villain.

Of you know you want to have some kind of payoff later, you need to go back in the script and add in the setup or moment that sets that eventual scene into motion so everything makes logical sense and the Hero's final win doesn't look like it came from nowhere.

[aqua03]

That makes sense when you put it like that. I guess part of me realizes that I'm actually kinda really uncomfortable with having my heroes lose and be vulnerable for some reason. (Chock it up to maybe my own fear of failure as well possibly... )

I should probably work on a way to get more comfortable with writing things that let my characters lose in smaller ways to better establish what's at stake without falling into the "All or nothing" trap I realized i might be falling into as well. (You know, stories where the stakes are so high that the heroes have to always win or else the villains win even at the slightest, then it's game over, if that makes sense.)

[scribesunlimited]

We made the mistake of making our first villain in "The Depths" too one-dimensional and predictable. We really didn't give him a saving grace until his inevitable demise and we kicked ourselves for not making him at least a little more likeable somehow. He kind of got lost in the moment, I guess. We're doing better though this time around.

[DiegoPalacios]

So how should I go about doing that? How do you guys properly establish the conflict and stakes in your stories so that your villains are a genuine threat and not just "Oh hey, it's the bad guys. They're bad because reasons. Go stop them before they can do the bad thing."

No matter their goal, their actions have to actively cause harm.

Maybe they kidnap citicens to enslave them/turn them into monsters or actively attempt to destroy or conquer the city.

Think of any criminal. Make them commit a crime that is serious enough to make the protagonists want to stop them.

If the antagonists don't take initiative to be dangerous, your heroes may end up looking like a bunk of douches

[domisotto]

Think about things that revolt you on the news or you are credibly afraid of in daily life. Make your villain do them.

I was just watching an old movie and in a situation just after the war, they talk about a thief who tells a little girl who doesn’t know her father is dead, that the father is recovering in the hospital and is about to come home and he wants to check how the family is preparing for receiving his friend, the hero. Then he sends her for ice cream and cleans out the apartment, leaving her and her mother without means to feed themselves for the rest of the month, because that’s the time of rations.

This kind of carefully build and credible evil imo hits home more than the slaughter, particularly when told by a shocked child and a crying mother.

I prefer something closer to modern mentality and experience added to the stuff of fantasy for our many fortunate generations.

[SeraphicMayin]

That makes sense.

Conflict ought to start in a way where the stakes are low. Like an early game of chess, where you win some pieces and lose some pieces without harm to your overall game.

Then over the course of the story to the climax, the conflict should escalate. Only the story climax should be an all-or-nothing moment.

It the losses the heroes suffer that helps them to grow as characters. You can't appreciate the joy of victory if you've never tasted defeat.

Essentially, don't allow the conflict to feel like it's all or nothing right from the start. That undercuts any chance to raise the stakes.

[aqua03]

Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for the advice in that regard. I know I did try to write a higher stakes beginning in earlier drafts, but that ended up making the tone too dour and mean spirited as a result. (Mostly because everyone blamed the protagonist for their leader's untimely death.)

I'll definitely try to work harder at making sure my protagonists do have room to fail and grow as a result. (Which, funnily enough, is something I've been trying to teach myself as well recnetly.)

[AmazementComics]

This question is easy. I'll tell you in three simple steps.

1. Make their motivations clear

You want your audience to know what their end goal is. This is were you need to get creative and do research. If they are good at manipulating people, chances are they'll give someone an ultimatum. Meaning they'll make that person obey them out of fear or because of sort of humiliating secret that will be exposed if they don't. If it's world domination, flesh out a reason as to why that appeals to them. Like if the villain feels like they are far superior to humans/ other fictional race and that they're sole purpose is to be conquered.

2. Make them relatable

I'd suggest giving them a tragic backstory. Examples include witnessing the death of a loved one or a mass genocide. So in order to prevent that same tragedy to someone else, they feel it would be safer if everyone takes after their leadership to the greater benefit of society. Another example includes being isolated and abandoned from the world at large, hence making the villain feel powerless. Then when they get their opportunity at power, they end up abusing it because they feel like they were robbed of anything that was "good" or "valuable" in the past.

3. Let them win (on occassion).

A hero is only as good as their villains. Creating a meaningful villain means allowing your heroes to taste defeat. Not just a simple defeat. We're taking defeat in terms of character death or complete destruction of a city or village: a huge defeat. This will make your villain compelling as they are disturbed. Then when the heroes inevitably defeat the villain in the end (which may not always result in a happy ending), it leaves ample room for the villain to return to challenge the protagonist(s) in some other form or fashion.

Hope this gives you some insight.

[antonioIII]

I do things like this:
1: Show the villain doing a bad thing(like killing or torturing somebody) and make sure to show that he is outstandly powerful.
2: Show us a character/thing we should care about(like a peaceful woman, child or animal who we know it is harmless and defenseless, specially against the villain)
3: Put both on tense situations(like, the villain staing alone with that person) or even, if you Really want to show the villain does not play around, make kill/torture that person.
I didn't came up to the chapters with an actual Villain in my Doctor A though, but it is how i did on mostly of my other stories.

[Stargazer31]

My main villain is actively endangering the protagonist's half sister, and has traumatized the protagonist.