Your thoughts on villains. Tell me about yours!

[starsyscomics]

I highly recommend his works if you have time to watch them, they're brilliant fantasy. I haven't played those games, but I'll look into it!

[AnnaLandin]

What a villain is like depends on the story/creator.

I personally don't really enjoy the cackling mad, woe-unto-the-world-for-I-am-eeeeevil type of villain - unless the entire story is set up to the overblown and melodramatic, in which case it fits. But insert that kind of villain in a story where everybody else has realistic motivations? Nope.

I just... I want to be able to understand why characters do what they do, and the same goes for villains. Nobody wakes up in the morning and things "Today, I'm going to be evil!". No, everybody wakes up in the morning thinking they're doing the right thing - or are at least able to justify to themselves why they aren't. They do what they do to achieve a goal, and that goal is rarely "let's be evil". Everyone's the hero of their own story.

A story with the villain as the main character would definitely work, but the creator would have to work hard to get it across to the reader - as readers, we tend to assume the main character is the good guy, and letting the readers know that they aren't can be a challenge.

As for your last question... I wish I could tell you about Grassblades' main villain, but I can't! XD It might spoil the story, since they haven't really shown up yet! So far, the main antagonists have been a.) a bunch of hapeless bandits, b.) a thing with a snake tongue and terrible teeth, and b.) Masahiro's own horrendously bad mood.

[gateofselidor]

I don't like to use evil as a starting point for villains. Evil is boring, and in reality most people are more complicated than that. My main antagonist is acting based on her religious beliefs, and truly thinks that she's doing the right thing. The mercenary who does her dirty work is mostly in it for the money, and doesn't think much of her motives, but he's sort of curious to see where it's all going.

[shazzbaa]

Now, I love me a good sympathetic villain, but that's not the only good kind. Not all villains think they're doing the right thing. Some of them know they're doing monstrous things, but feel like it's the only way to accomplish something they need or want and they're not willing to let that thing go. Some of them feel like they can get away with it because, heck, nobody's perfect.

Ain't no rest for the wicked, money don't grow on trees, etc etc.

I also think it's possible to have a completely unsympathetic villain that still rings true. Professor Dolores Umbridge, anyone?

I have one villain in a story I'm working on whose motivation can essentially be boiled down to "desperately wants to keep a cushy job he's not technically qualified for." He has a reason for the horrible things he does -- it's just that that reason isn't really sympathetic at all. You don't have to feel for an antagonist in order for their actions to make sense.

But other than that, I'm gonna have to join the "I can't tell you about the villain in my main comic because it'd spoil things" crew. xD

[Mharz]

I don't think I have ever encountered a story that has a villain who do evil things for no particular reason or simply they just want to be evil. There's always a reason why they do these things even psychopatic types has a story as to why they ended up like that. That's what make these "villains" interesting.

There is a quote by Shakespeare that says, "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."

These characters become "villains" because the protagonist and most people see their deeds as wrong or bad based on their own principles and perceptions. Plus they don't know each other stories which is why every faction believe what they're doing is right and the other faction is wrong. Everyone has their own sets of rights and wrongs and everything is basically just a conflict between different beliefs and principles.

As for The Angel with Black Wings, the villains currently shown for now are the classmates who are bullying Ray. Of course since I think bullying is wrong, I absolutely sympathize with Ray but what are those bullies think of Ray? Only time will tell.

[IchiruSakuraba]

Personally I do believe there can technically be a limit to how evil a villain should be. Yes you can go very far before it's too much and then again that scale will differ for every reader. I think it's best to keep in mind when creating said villain, what is their purpose and is the action taken actually necessary? (There are some villains I've seen do things that did some pretty nasty things, but it had purpose and rather than driving the audience away it actually kept peoples interest.)

A main character can totally be a villain! And so many people have already given great examples! And haven't you ever watched something and wondered what the story would look like from the villains point of view? To know what it is that's driving them and going through their head?

I have quite a few right now, all for different stories... the one I'm working on to upload here the main character could actually be perceived as one himself, but then again he has his own enemies. I'm not gonna say much, just because I want it to all be a surprise when I upload in the near future ^-^

When you think about it... when a villain is a main character, do you really think of them as such? Yeah, they're doing something you may think of as "bad" but don't you usually put that thought aside and perceive their enemies as the only villain? Maybe I'm putting too much thought into this haha.

[BraveHeartTatsumaki]

I don't think there's a limit for how much someone evil can be. Though recently I haven't found a good evil in the recent series I've seen, though I liked the concept for the evil for Pokemon Black/White and Pokemon X/Y (both in Game, not anime, though XY is still airing and the evil will appear soon), those bastards really made mad, specially Gethsis from Black/White who just used his own child to fool everyone when actually he wanted to become the king. While Lyssandre in X/Y he wanted to make a world without Pokemon so he wanted to awake an ancient weapon of the end to kill all of them like WHAT.
In my comic, well, like just started I can't say much, but there are 2 main villain (there are more but they are the subordinates of those 2), one basically wants revenge for the world that made him suffer, and the other I want to put the concept of the "corruption in ambition", how much ambition can make you break morals, rules, everything, just because you want to and you think it's correct to do so. That's all I can say xD

[Stronas]

Thanks for the insight!

From protagonist to antagonist is always interesting, hard to pull off though, sounds like something that requires some clever writing I've seen the other way around plenty of times and there's something oddly satisfying about a bad guy joining the good guys, or becomig the good guy, Like Gaara and Obito in naruto. It just gives us another unique perspective on those characters.

A villain being used by something or someone else can definitely lead to countless interesting things, I really love that concept!

[Stronas]

I agree! And i'm sorry, but i couldn't help but giggle when i saw the name of your villains (the ghosts), very original though and sounds like something worth checking outI bet the third villain is the ghost of Ghandi. Called it!
And i felt threatened from merely reading about Frenzy, sounds like someone (something) that has to be taken down at all cost... which is fitting for a villain. I mean, fitting for a personified deterministic force!

[Stronas]

Thanks for the reply, i'm struggling with creating a villain and this definitely helps! And for your villain; That's crazy! Simple and genious. Sounds like something I would expect from the show Adventure Time... just better!

[starsyscomics]

Redemption arcs are the best but watching a character you love make a choice that sends them right into big baddy territory is great too. >)

[Dingbat1991]

In Lento, the recurring villain, Dr. Mask, is meant to be a cliche of villains and isn't meant to be taken serious. There are also one-time, more competent villains however.

[daisam]

I think that there are a variety of types of villains just like regular people. Each having a varying degree of villainy as well as impact. Thieves are a type of villain with less impact then an organization of super villains. In one of my series I have a varying type of villains, each with their own, unique story, and unique way of doing things. To compare two from this series, one was a psychopath from childhood and enjoys watching people suffer till death. The other is a villain that puts a lot of thought into their plans. She uses her power to change what people remember only to put those memories back at the right moment. There are a lot of other types of villains, and the reason why they are villains is told through their stories and actions.
To me I really love the villains because they sometimes have the coolest lines, powers, or just back stories in general. This is my thought on villains, and you should check out my series Becoming Heroes!

[Stronas]

Thats's happening in pokemon? Can't tell if that's dumb... OR AWESOME?! I always thought it needed more tension! And yes, the classic "Ive suffered greatly so everyone else should aswell" Villain Abit like Pain from naruto i suppose I'm struggling with creating a villain, but I think that's the type of villain i'll end up with <3 Thanks for the reply!

[shazzbaa]

I'm struggling with creating a villain [...]

Another possible way to come at creating a villain, if you're NOT doing villain-as-protagonist, is... how does the villain relate to the heroes? What scares your heroes? What's hard for them? I first thought about this when someone pointed out that in Legend of Korra, Korra leans on her powers and her identity as the avatar.... so a villain who can remove people's powers is actually perfect for her; it plays right into her worst fear, and should've forced her to face that fear directly.

If you have a hero who thinks everyone is either good or evil with no in-between, then a sympathetic, grey-morality villain would challenge the hero's worldview -- your hero would learn a lot about himself and his own assumptions through trying to make sense of that villain. But if you have a hero who believes everyone is more complicated than simple good & evil, then a villain who is truly despicable and unredeemable is going to be far more challenging to that hero, because the hero will have to question -- maybe there are truly evil people?

[altimys]

One of my favorite villains is Makishima from Psycho-Pass. He's unapologetically murderous, and his actions seem to be based more off a philosophy than personal reasons. His character is a bit vague because they never really give him a backstory, but I kind of like that, because there are hints to why he acts the way he does, but we're never given a very clear answer.

As to writing villains, I do like it when there are reasons given for their actions, but I don't like it when the author has written the story in a way as for us to hate the villain, and right at the climax reveals some backstory that makes us sympathize with them. In my opinion, it would be much better to have that backstory more or less exposed (or at least hinted) .

[BraveHeartTatsumaki]

"Ive suffered greatly so everyone else should aswell" Inmediately came to my mind Sephiroth from FFVII, don't get me wrong, I love him and the game, but that phrase fits SO much to him xD
and yep, it's been happening, in the anime XY Lyssandre is fooling to the co-protagonist of the series and it's obvious he'll make him fight against Ash Ketchum, our hopes are very high in this season.
You're welcome xD

[jacintawibowo]

I'm glad I could help. I had a writing class with a very thorough professor, so I like to share what I can!
What a compliment! Thank you :> I love Adventure Time.

[Stronas]

I'm actually gong to checking that out. Been playing pokemon since forever, time to watch aswell! o.o
And how did FF7 not cross my min as i said that o.o (One of my favourite games ever, cant wait for the remake and the New zelda!)

[BraveHeartTatsumaki]

You should! though I'd recommend you to watch only the important episodes.
When I first wrote my comment I didn't even remember that either xD it's one of my favorites, though, I also like the witch Artemisa from FF8, she was crazy xD (I'm also waiting for it, and suffering cause... no money HHHNNN)
You would check to the evil in JoJo's bizarre adventures, Dio, he's crazy but you see clearly why he became evil since the beginning, it might help you a lot because you'd see his development alongside with the protagonist