Opinions on villain MCs?

[ReneVergence]

I had an idea for a story recently that follows the comeback of a villain so I was curious what the forums have to say about focusing a story on the antagonist! It's not uncommon to get some sort of backstory for a villain, usually so you get the gist of their motivation or relationship to the protagonist, but I haven't seen many series that go full on antagonist-protagonist.

[Pony_wearing_a_hat]

Sounds really cool! Villains are inherently interesting characters because their motivations must go beyond "It's the right thing to do" and people tend to love them anyway. Any story you want to tell, from any perspective yu want to tell it from, has absolute potential to be interesting.

[miss.monocle]

My comic actually does feature an antagonist-protagonist plot line with a focus on the villains in the story. I think that it can work out well if the writer has a thorough understanding of their antagonist-protagonist's personality, struggles, and goals. Oftentimes, writing a villain main character results in an asshole that only the author enjoys, a villain who doesn't actually make sense as one, or a villain that gets a redemption arc even when it doesn't fit.

The main thing to keep in mind is adding in notes of the villain's humanity and the reasons as to why they do what they do. This is especially important to display from the very beginning so readers understand that this is a morally gray person and not someone who is irredeemable. For example, my main character robs a bank from the start, but only hurts a person that discriminated her and she shares some of the money with the boy who defended her.

The other important step is how the heroes of the story are written. It's important that they also have flaws and might not be the shining examples of heroism that they believe themselves to be. This gives an interesting foil to the protagonist-antagonist, as well as gives readers more of a reason to root for the antagonist. No one really wants to root for a villain MC if the hero is the objectively better person. For example, the heroes in my comic are pretty inactive due to looking out for themselves more so than other people.

Also adding in a true villain to the story can work well to give the antagonist-protagonist MC a reason to do some morally gray good things that readers can be on board with. That's my two cents on how to write them, as I love morally gray characters and villains who aren't entirely awful!

[childofbooks]

I like villains. Especially the smart ones with solid motivation. I would gladly read a story with a very well designed villain MC like Death Note.

For me, grey characters, like ones that are not a saint or pure evil, are always more charming. They feel "human" and this makes me care for them, understand them, empathize with them as the reader. This caring is the core thing that'll keep me reading.

One of my favorite mangas ended with the MC going from protagonist to antagonist and destroying %80 of the world and I loved the ending! It was so naturally chaotic in an amazing way. I think people would also find this type of story interesting.

[suyaa3838]

i love my villain MCs to death, and i absolutely recommend writing this point of view to anyone who thinks they'd enjoy it. there's so much you can do with it, from over-the-top comedy with no morals whatsoever, to really deep character studies that evoke a ton of complex emotions within the readers.

needless to say, i actually wish there were more stories that embrace the villainy and stick with it. in my experience people are absolutely down for it, especially if you humanize the cast with relatable emotions, desires and flaws alike to really get the reader to root for them -- no matter (or even because of) how selfish or morally questionable they may be, comically so or otherwise.

[noenoh]

oooOOooooh I love stories with villain MCs! and love these stories more when the hero is also cool like in Death Note and Morirary the Patriot

[ReneVergence]

I was actually going to mention Death Note in the original post since it's the best example I could think of. Also, what's this manga called? I've been looking for more interesting ones to read so you've got me curious.

[childofbooks]

Oh, I really don't want to spoil the manga for you. It is super famous so there's no way you don't know the manga and the moment I tell you its name... everything will be ruined :')

But if you're ok with spoilers then I'll PM so others will not be spoiled :D.

[djourner]

I actually love the idea of 'no heroes or villains' a story where on a moment to moment analysis the 'villain' shifts to be seen as someone else.
Sometimes a character who is written as a hero is the villain upon hindsight... and that is a great way to make a powerful twist. And sometimes hindsight is not even needed as it becomes obvious on the spot they are going down a dark road.

My problem with villain MCs is that they need to simultaneously do atrocious things and have good enough motivations for going so far... I usually don't like the villain who goes 'I did for the LoLs!' And they actually did it for the laughs and not some concealed broken part of their psyche... When I see that I usually just sigh and turn away from the series.
The opposite can also happen if you go too dark, as a protagonist with 0 morals can often feel inhumane and 'too edgy for anyone to like' it can create more of a hate view and you hope on every line or page that they will be dead in the next. (I'm looking at you light yagami)

That can usually be thrown out the window on a comedy series. And usually comedy series with villain protagonists are some of my favorites. Megamind, Kuzco, the princess from maoujou de oyasumi are all hilariously self centered and arrogant to the point where it's funny, that way it's fun to watch them be a prick and its also fun to watch them get their comeupins later. (and might even make a turn to good guy depeding on how you want to do it)

If you want some good 'villain protagonists'.
Akemi Homura from Madoka.
Lelouch from Code Geass (even if he falls more on the antihero.)
Nana hiragi from talentless nana

Also... Keep in mind if you have an episodic narrative, it is entirely possible to make one of your characters (even one of the 'good guys') into a villain for an episode, and it can be an amazing story telling tool... Maybe that character has a particularly bad trait that he needs to grow out off, and usually having a 'I fucked up too much' moment is a great catalyst for change.
Though I can't say much on this particular type of twist without spoiling some stuff from my own story ^^

[sorible]

The webtoon Your Throne does something similar where they have a main character who is portrayed as the villain but over time, we get to know that they have good reason behind their intentions. If you decided to do something like that, I would check it out for sure.

[FafasMcMelt]

It all depends on how it's done, really. There is no concept to good or too bad, only good or bad execution. On one hand you can't rely on the familiarity factor for your story, but you have the novelty one instead, so it on you to succeed. Good luck.

[ISNEKO]

I like villains. But usually at some point in order to make the villain relatable and/or likable they have some tragic backstory revealed or some shit like that, making them a tortured soul the audience feels sorry for and I lose all interest and kinda just want the story to end or I give up on finishing it.

[Aleksei]

You know, this make me remember that time when DC make a whole series of Eclipso as the principal character. He took over the island nation of Parador, planned on world conquering, and Amanda Waller made a team to take him out. Eclipso killed almost everyone (one of the biggest failures on Waller's career) until the Justice League Task Force, the Spectre and the Phantom Stranger went together to stop Eclipsos menace. In the end they stop him by reuniting all the crystals that hosted Eclipso into one crystal that contained him... but that was his plan all along, as he had not enough power to do that himself (because he was separated), so he did this little plan to force earth heroes to do his bidding! Now with all his power in only one containment, he was more powerful than ever, but he conceded the battle and was 'beaten'. We don't saw him until other writter took him, but. anyway. the idea remains. Take a villain and make him win, even when he loose, without have to say that 'he was a tortured soul and we must love him for that' was very fine for the time.

[samiluu]

it sounds very interesting! it is maybe a bit difficult to do that without sounding like justifying wrong actions but I would love to see something like that without doubt, I love complicated psychologies