What makes a hateable Villain?

[The Fanfiction Nymph]

Recently I got stuck trying to create a more prefect villain for myself and I was curious...

What do you think quantifies a truly hate-able villain?

[Lurai-san]

I'd have to argue that a villian doesn't have to be hated, but it seems that you want your villian to be hated.

Well, I'd say hate is a really personal thing. Some people hate 90% of the people in the world and others don't hate anyone. I suppose hate springs up from really barbaric deeds, such as murder, rape, and torture. However, remember that Hitler, although he never tortured anyone directly, was behind the genocide of thousands and thousands-- it was him that everyone hated.

It really depends what you've got so far. For extra measure, have him kick some puppies.

[Kiddo Seanchain]

That's a pretty subjective question. It really depends on the person as one person may consider one thing more evil than another action. Personally, I hate villains that exploit the weakness of others.

[The Fanfiction Nymph]

I have been subtle with his some of his transgressions and it dose not seem to be enough. Without getting too graphic I'm not sure how to make him really horrible. I've been told that so far he just seems mysterious and cruel. crying I was going for something much more wicked than that.

I mean the guy is a rapist, racial purist. I do not know what I can do to show how evil he is beyond that...

[Klaark]

Uh...have them do douchey things?

I assume you mean the good kind of hate where we keep reading to see how the b*****d will pay rather than throw the book away because we're annoyed.

[Umbre]

I suppose it all comes down to motivation. Why a villain does the things that they do can either make a fan sympathize and almost want them to succeed, or it can make them utterly despicable. The common themes tend to be greed, insanity ( usually portrayed inaccurately), lust, and the need for power. It's generally best to play with your audience and abuse them through the villain. >D

[The Fanfiction Nymph]

Umbre

I suppose it all comes down to motivation. Why a villain does the things that they do can either make a fan sympathize and almost want them to succeed, or it can make them utterly despicable. The common themes tend to be greed, insanity ( usually portrayed inaccurately), lust, and the need for power. It's generally best to play with your audience and abuse them through the villain. >D

Sounds like something you enjoy heart

Thank you

[Alexxx-Dria]

Hate-able villains? Well, usually they are rather deceitful.
First step is to make your hero/heroine very loveable. To where the reader gets attached.
THEN step in and add your villain deceive them. Hurt them terribly. Emotionally or Physically.
Ugly villains are hated easier. But, if you make the villain hot, the reader feels twice the betrayal biggrin
ninja

[L Bloodrose]

Yeah, it's hard to make a villain everyone despises, especially the people like me who root for the villains, (usually.) Use an example of your friendly neighborhood villain, one that you really hate. I, for one, hate those villains that tease you - you know, leave messages on the wall (usually in blood - what a cliche~!) and when approached, acts all innocent to everyone else, and you can't pin him down because of lack of solid evidence. >.<
Descriptive enough? xD

~Z

[The Coffee Bean Charity]

whether or not one loves or hates.
I think it all has to do with respect.
One could dislike a hero but he still qualifies as a hero because his respect for humanoid kind, and the duties he fulfills because as a respectful individual and quoting spider man, "with great power comes great responsibility", he feels respect towards civilization and his duties and/or himself/ his integrity he will follow those beliefs.

A true hate-able villain is one who purely has no respect for other intelligent sentient beings and molests them (molests meaning bothers) on any level for his or her own personal amusement or gain.

but I'm high.
soooo....
that may or may not have made any sense at all.

[Prolly Naut]

Hmm It's very hard to answer this question. Some villainous characters (not only in literature) take part in terrible things, yet you can't help but enjoy their presence. For example: Lord Voldemort/Tom Riddle, Darth Vader, Joker, various other pop culture villains, etc)

Perhaps you could just look into a non specific antagonist. Remember those Junie B. Jones books where the antagonist was "reality and a child's misinterpretation" or in classics like Uncle Tom's Cabin and Huck Finn where the ideas or state of society are the antagonist?

Shrugity shrug shrug... :0

All in all I suppose if you have developed your MC to a point then your readers will most likely instinctively dislike the force(s) or characters that act against them.

[Tiana Luscinia]

He or she can't be a sympathetic villain. So you can't give the villain any qualities or experiences that the average person can relate to and sympathise with. But at the same time you shouldn't make him a flat, boring "Mr. Badguy" either. Because that may not make him hated. He'll just be viewed as an obstacle in the hero's way and the reader may have little reaction at all.

[Mortok]

Actual 'hate' is difficult to acheive, because readers will always be aware in the back of their minds that your villain is a fictional creation. It sounds like you're on the right track, though. Racism and a propensity for rape are not generally considered admirable qualities.

If you simply want to portray him as evil, Stephen King, in his book, On Writing recommends having your villain kill a child or an animal. According to him, killing an essentially defenseless being that has done no harm to you is pretty much the epitome of evil acts.

[YouHadItComing]

The level of hatred a villain can achieve is entirely reliant upon the writer who created them.

It's difficult to create a character that is hated, namely because most of the time the author relies on the hatred of the main character to reflect on the reader. Getting a reader to hate a character means the author would have to have the villain do something that emotionally affects said reader, which is nearly impossible given the wide range of morals and how severe people react to them. For instance, I read murder mystery novels at a rather frightening rate. This means that I really don't care how the serial killer guts his victims, I'm in it for the "whodunnit?"

This is because I place very little value in imaginary murder. Now, you show me a scene of a guy strangling an imaginary kitten, and I'll howl for imaginary blood. It's all about what affects the reader.

One thing that I would recommend is having them kill a character the audience has come to love. That is the easiest way to get the audience to hate your villain. However, that is another set of problems entirely.

Be careful with this tactic, however. I have actually thrown books away because the author killed off my favorite character. To this day, I refuse to read anything by Karin Slaughter because of the mailbox incident in Skin Privilege/Beyond Reach.

... Just remembering that makes me angry. So, yeah, have the villain kill off an audience favorite, and (s)he'll be hated. I have to go sulk.

[Sir Icehawk]

Klaark

Uh...have them do douchey things?

Seriously. It really isn't that hard. Have them do things the POV character won't like or the reader won't like depending on who you want to dislike this person.