Do You Have Any Tips On How To Create A Villain?

Do you have any tips on how to create a villain?

Hi :)

How to create a villain

A good villain is ultimately what makes a hero heroic and is therefore a very important part of your story.

Why do we need a villain?

opposite of the story’s hero

their goals and motivations oppose those of the hero

the hero is reacting to the actions of the villain

showcases the hero’s weaknesses

the character of the villain should be one of your priorities while planning the story

Types of villains

human villains

fantasy villains (with magical abilities, superpowers, etc.)

animal villains (e.g., Jungle Book)

abstract villains (an idea, a society, a corporation, etc.)

if you make your villain more abstract, it can have advantages, but it also makes it harder for your readers to relate to them and understand them

if you have an abstract villain, think about using human representations of that villain for your readers to project their feelings and thoughts onto

more specific types of villains:

likeable villain

unsympathetic villain

unpredictable villain

Characteristics of a villain

There are many different types of villains, but they also share a few similar characteristics:

own beliefs and morals – What do they believe in? What is morally correct for them? Do they see themself as bad/evil? How far will they go? Do they make exceptions for some people or do they not care at all? Maybe they want to do the right thing, but they go about it the wrong way.

goals and motivation – goals are things they want to have or want to accomplish, but motivation is even more important, it explains why they want or need their goal to be fulfilled, you need to invest time into giving your villain a (at least for them) plausible reason for what they are doing

connection to the hero – the hero reacts to the villain’s actions, maybe their fates are intertwined, maybe the hero’s actions in the past led to them becoming the villain, the villain is interrupting and then furthering the hero’s character development the same way the hero is doing to the villain’s development

worthy opponent – being especially powerful, clever, a specialist in something the hero is not, seemingly unbeatable until the end

compelling backstory – people are usually not born bad, it’s something they’ve become over time, it explains the motivation, probably not just one defining moment, if you want one event that changed them, then also think about the reactions from others to that event or what happened afterwards that made them turn evil

similar characteristic to the hero – think about where it went wrong, where did they turn to the dark side? Like I said before, a tragic event does not automatically lead someone to become a villain. Losing their parents young for example can turn them either into the villain or the hero, decide why they turned in that direction that they did

More tips:

Make your villain interesting

your reader should love to hate, but also hate to love them in a way

give them their own character arc and show development

make them special the same way your hero is special

give them a magnetic personality

don’t make them too predictable or the readers will lose their fear of them

Humanise your villains

not born evil, maybe they were corrupted

nothing more frightening than seeing yourself in a villain

give them positive qualities

make the readers sometimes sympathise with them

give them moments of relatability

your readers should be interested in the villain, but not necessarily root for them (only if that’s your true intention), because it could undermine your hero’s actions and motivation

Make them lose

If your story doesn’t end with evil ruling over the world, you need to know how to make the villains lose:

give them weaknesses

let them be a slave to their own moral code

let them have fatal character flaws that in the end the basically defeat themself

give them a worthy ending, something appropriate for a great opponent

Good luck creating believable villains!

- Jana