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 Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:56 pm
What qualities do you think help create the best villains, and what are some examples of your favourite baddies?
Personally, I love villains that have redeeming qualities that cause the reader to actually not want them to lose to the "good guys."Plus, I like them to be arrogant, clever, and humourous in a sarcastic way. Artemis Fowl from Artemis Fowl is a good example of this. Lord Asriel from His Dark Materials is a close second-fave in my villain category. razz
Or just have the villain be a creatively sadistic jerk that I can't wait to see the heroes bring down! blaugh The problem is that when most writers try making a "supremely evil" villain, he (it's usully a male) bores me because his personality is too predictable. Voldemort from Harry Potter, Ba'altazar (sp?) from The Wheel of Time, The Lone Power from Young Wizards, and many more "completely evil" villains might have varying pasts, however, they possess almost the same personalities so that - even though some sub-villains are interesting - the head "Dark One" that readers are supposed to hate doesn't evoke anymore than a shrug. Mke the villain interesting, dammit!
Heh-heh, enough ranting from me... sweatdrop What do you all think?
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 3:27 pm
I, for one, try to make my own villains very crafty and intelligent. Usually, I write my main villain that way, and have their using others to achieve their main goal. It's important for a villain to be deceptive so they can properly hide behind the scenes, acting as puppeteer without being acknowledged as such. Intelligence is essential.
I also like villains who actually win. A successful villain must, in my mind, have enough foresight to know how to deal with his opposition when the time comes and be able to achieve his goals. Again, that plays into the idea of intelligence being key.
Oh, and it also helps if they're very stylish. wink It's just fun when someone can proclaim they have no morality and look better than everyone against them.
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 4:11 pm
I prefer villains over the good guys any day! They just seem so unique and yes, they do have their own qualities that stick out a lot.
I like my villains to be a bit on the snobby "I'm far much greater than you" side. It makes me love hating them, yet at the same time I hate loving them! It's a love/hate relationship for all villains (except Umbridge from Harry Potter scream )
I also like them to have distinctive features that stick out... like something they always wear, or something they always do. Such as, I read this one book where the villain was a bounty hunter and he always had to have to upper hand. He wore some odd jump suit which really made me like him, along with his attitude. ^^
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 5:20 pm
I agree with you on many fronts, Minerva. "Super villains" such as Voldemort aren't really frightening. Being completely evil kind of takes away from that third dimension that allows a reader to connect to a character.
Having redeeming qualities is also a plus for a villain. I have a soft spot for what I call the "villain of circumstance"- The person who is left with no choice but to do bad things (ex. Krogstad from Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House).
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:22 pm
I like villains to have something worth fighting for. If they have a reason, if they are smart enough to have a drive behind them rather than the "Because I feel like it/have a tragic past" that you get from authors who just need an opposing force. Also, a truely good bad guy, you will fear. A villain that dosn't inspire fear when they appear is simply in effective.
Like, one of my favorite villains is, Mab the winter queen, from Jim Butcher's Dresden files series. She isn't really evil in the first place, and her goals are constant, with an obvious drive ( Winter Queen: Do everything in her cold fury to gain the upper hand against Summer, and the Summer Queen. Simple right? ). A woman with a horrifying amount of power, who is constant in her thinking, but crafty enough to be unpredictable.... Just read the books.... You would understand better, how absolutely terrifying she is if you read it.
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 10:30 pm
DevonyEvony, it is fun when the villain is stylish, isn't it? razz I actually like it quite a bit when the villain is attractive and the hero is only average-looking, or even ugly, to show readers that a lovely exteriour does not indicated a lovely person on the inside.
iPumperdiddle, I can honestly say that there's no villain I despise more than Umbridge. It took talent for Rowling to write her because she's the only evil character that has caused me to scream aloud at a book in rage. pirate All other villains are either boring, mildly interesting, or totally cool, cool but I never felt the inspired HATRED for any of them except Umbridge.
red_moon_wolfess, I've seen many mentions of Dresden series. I should probably pick it up sometime...
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 10:51 pm
BookWyrm: First, I love your name... great play on words XD
Dresden files is a great series. What got me into the series was the first paragraph on the book "Dead Beat" Seventh in the series... I didn't know it was the 7th one when I picked it off the shelf, but the first paragraph is harmless enough plot wise... Good enough to get you hooked for good.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:06 am
That is true, that is the one reason I do not like Harry Potter. So you sort of want Voldemort to get his own way, and he is like one of those villians that never ever die.
I think that the only Harry Potter villain who was any good was Dolores Umbridge. Since she was evil in a secretive way.
I like it in books where you have a villain who is equal in power to the hero. Because then it gets pretty interesting.
Or when the villain is not really a villain, but they just want their own way, so do bad things to get what they want.
Thats like a book i read, which was for children called Percy Jackson and the lightning thief
Spoiler Alert
The villain, who Percy is looking for in the whole book is really one of the Gods (As in Greek Gods). Who he trusted but only wanted power.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 8:26 pm
I like villains that aren't too cliche... like some villains want to take over the world... It's so cliche! Every other villains wnats the same thing!!!
I like them interesting and sort of complex and sort of likable in a way... some good example are:
1. The Evil Stepmother - Cinderella: Most villains want something like money or treasure. All she wnats is to keep her stepdaughter from becoming queen. Simple yet so evil!
2. Joker - Batman: I know this dude isn't from a book, but he's like my all time favorite villain and he's so smart and witty and clever and funny...
3. The One Ring - Lord of the Rings: Some sya that the villain in this book was Sauron, but where was he the entire book?! The one ring is the real villain... It makes you hate it and love it all at the same time! Now that's scary...
4. Bob Ewell - To Kill a Mockingbird: a drunk man who abuses his daughter and accuses an innocent man of rape just because he's black and he's white. I hate him already! He's just so despicable!
Villains should be evil and cruel and sadistic such but they have one aspect about them that's likeable... maybe they're handsome((sexy)) or maybe they dress nicely or maybe they're really smart... I think they also should have good motivation and an interseting past that causes them to act that way.
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 6:30 pm
I hate it when they make the villain hideous or otherwise physically inadequate when put up against the hero. I like villains that are appealing to the reader. Someone that you love even though that person makes your skin crawl. I like them to be someone who you know is beyond hope and redemption but that who you wish to god that you could save....Yeah, I know I'm weird.
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Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 7:42 pm
for a villian I like them to be sexy but the hero too
since so far in most things I've read an sen they'er normal sexy so why not continue
for how evil I like the type that you could pick as your favorite character and want to live on or excape and have them be a little sadistic if not htey become boring and predicable
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Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 5:38 pm
I think a villian needs to have the element of surprise. Without it they are just boring and predictable, wheres the fun in that?
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:54 am
I love a villain who is a bit more on the intelligent side and can usually outsmart even the likes of the main protagonist a few times.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:45 am
I'd have to agree that Umbridge makes an excellent example of a villian--not because she's "evil", but because she's malicious. She thinks she's doing those things for the greater good. After all, "everyone is the hero of their own story" and the best villians are doing what they think is the right thing to do, not just because they can.
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:48 am
I agree with everybody who said that Umbridge is indeed the best villain in Harry Potter. Still at least Voldemort has a better motivation than Sauron. stare
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