Your thoughts on villains. Tell me about yours!

[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

[Cielle]

I think "how evil" a villain is/should be really depends on the story and the intended audience. Not that you can't have complex villains in "kids" media. Just look at Avatar: Fire Lord Ozai is really super bad, and the moral questions that show gets at certainly aren't typical of those seen in a lot of "kids" shows. But that complexity is part of what makes it so successful.

In that vein, to me, the best kind of villain is complex. They aren't bad just to be bad; they have a reason for their actions. My favorite kind of villain is one whose reasons are powerful enough that you almost support them--a well-intentioned extremist, if you will. If they truly believe their goals are noble--even if their actions aren't--it makes it all the more tragic.

Sometimes you want bad guys just to be bad, though. I really love it when a villain is portrayed at first as being actually an okay person (just heartbroken or driven to some kind of extreme), but then the plot twist reveals that they're actually just a psychopath. I LOVE THAT SH*T. To be honest, I think villains are often more interesting than heroes.

As for the villain of my comic, she hasn't been introduced yet so I don't want to say too much about her. The main antagonist for the first part of the story, on the other hand, has been introduced. But 'antagonist' and 'villain' aren't necessarily synonymous. I can't say more because spoilers, but I will say that Reus deals with areas of grey morality and questions what justice truly is. How do you do the right thing if you don't know what is right? Anywho. The villain is definitely a villain, but a complicated one.

[Stronas]

Thanks for the reply, and YES, those villains are the best! I've found myself cheering for Madara from Naruto for example, though trough an illusion, he has the Powers to create a PERFECT world. That, and he is freaking AWESOME, hehe. And for the looks like a decent person at first but turns out to be s a insane psycopath villains... The Governor from The Walking Dead?! And your villain sounds interesting!

[harrodeleted]

I've always liked villains that have a clear motivation, and if you were in your shoes, maybe you'd do the same thing.

The villains in my story will all (with maybe one exception) feel that they are doing the right thing, not just for them, but for everyone.

And I think that's kind of how it works in the real world too! Rationalizing actions are always possible, and the greater the damage you can do, the greater the need to rationalize it!

[Wolferbow]

I always thought of a villain as being a good opposite to the good guy. Maybe they could be someone the hero Could have become if they weren't careful. I think if there are multiple villains in something they should be characters of their own and vary in badness which ads more diversity to the rouges gallery. Like how you can have a bad guy who wants to take over the world and is strong enough to do it, then you have a bad guy who's just kind of comic relief. He's still bad but in a different kind of way.
Just look at the Batman comics. He's got all these villains but on different levels of evil. The Mad Hatter isn't as difficult to deal with as Bane or Joker.

[chiharu_j]

I feel like villains are always given such a bad rep but sometimes you can actually end up finding them more exciting than the main characters of the story and sometimes it's hard to seperate the villain from a good guy I mean someone like Ciel in Black Butler, he's not exactly a good guy but he's not a villain either. Well anywho, I can't really talk about a specific villain in Kami Element mainly because they haven't shown up yet but besides that some of my characters might have properties of what is considered a villain but they won't necessarily be one, the types of people that could chop you up with a cheerful smile. I just like people with interesting personalities usually warped in some way or the other