What makes a good villain?

Well, IMO the first idea will work better. Let me explain my point of view : if the secondary villain gets manipulated by the main one, the story will end up with two villains that are roughly the same type, one being the "clone" of the other.
As for the first idea, at the beginning the situation should be as I said previously, two versions of the same villain, and then, if the secondary villain gets into "true darkness" as you say, it will cause, first, the character to become deeper, and then, the story to be more enticing.

And if your story is long enough, you can make that character start out good, then he is manipulated, then he realizes he was manipulated and becomes truly evil. But well, that's maybe too much evolution for one single character.

That was my opinion. But well, it's your story, and you do what you want with it.

Ah. A bad past that ignited their current motives...maybe along the lines of being neglected as a child, left to be raised by wolves. Or some kind of possesed villain.

But...I use no villains in my fics. So I'd go with what's been said previously. xD

My idea of a realistic villan is a person who actually learns from mistakes, uses psychological torture as opposed to physical pain, crushes problems as soon as they arrive, and is not above screwing whomever over to further his own agenda.

ze_gobou said:

Well, IMO the first idea will work better. Let me explain my point of view : if the secondary villain gets manipulated by the main one, the story will end up with two villains that are roughly the same type, one being the "clone" of the other.
As for the first idea, at the beginning the situation should be as I said previously, two versions of the same villain, and then, if the secondary villain gets into "true darkness" as you say, it will cause, first, the character to become deeper, and then, the story to be more enticing.

And if your story is long enough, you can make that character start out good, then he is manipulated, then he realizes he was manipulated and becomes truly evil. But well, that's maybe too much evolution for one single character.

That was my opinion. But well, it's your story, and you do what you want with it.

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Massive blast from the past: I'm going to reply to this a month late (I think you were referring to my story).

I'd say that the most important trait for any antagonist/villain is ambiguousness. Take for example Anakin from the last Star Wars movie. Going into the movie, everyone knew that (SPOILER!!) Anakin was going to become Darth Vader. However, what people didn't know was when they should stop "rooting" for him and recognize him as the antagonist of the story. When you leave the complex morality of a character's actions up to the reader's interpretation, your story will be much more engaging and complex.

Plenty of things can make good villains. Just depends on what you're looking for and how it fits the story. For example, if you're writing a very realistic, serious fic, you wouldn't want to put in a villain that just acts evil for the heck of it, and doesn't do much more than bully the protagonist.

A good thing to keep in mind though is to keep your villains both interesting and believable. What they're doing needs to make sense, and it should always be logical. And, any unique twist you can give a villain (as long as it makes sense) can make the story a lot more fun to read.

Try recalling some antagonists from books you've read, as a lot of good literature includes plenty of unique and twisted villains. There's really no limitation with what you can do to an antagonist, or with any character for that matter.

Oh yeah, and good luck!

some kind of strange thing about you

examples:
a scar on your face
an eyepatch
anything else in james bond
a cool cape
weird voice
being a nazi(no offense to the nazis)
being tall(no offense to the tall people it's just that i think a cool villian is tall)

Dr.Ray Quaza said:

a scar on your face

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It's perfectly possible for a good guy to have a scar on their faces, actually. This usually indicates an antihero or someone who might've been through a fairly nasty accident. For example, Kano in Kagerou is technically the hero of the story (actually, literally is the hero of the story), but he bears a cut on the side of his face. (Long story involving that too.)

an eyepatch

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Disfigurement =/= villain in general. It's also possible for a hero to have an eye patch, as this, again, hints at the background of the character, rather than whether or not they're good or evil.

For example, Xander at the tail end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer sported an eye patch. (He continues to sport this eye patch through the comic book series, and yes, he's one of the good guys. In fact, he's one of the titular hero's best friends.)

anything else in james bond

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For cliches, yes.

a cool cape

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Cape =/= villain. In fact, if western comic books have taught us anything, it's that cape = hero. (Superman, Batman, Robin, et cetera, anyone?)

Not to mention a number of protagonists and heroes in the Pokemon franchise tend to wear capes. Lance, for example. Wallace and Eusine for two others.

weird voice

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Define "weird."

And even then, having a weird voice doesn't mean anything except you have an unusual voice. It's not like Pokemon characters aren't strangers to the concept of the over-the-top kind of voice. *motions to her avatar*

being a nazi(no offense to the nazis)

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Uh, given the fact that the Nazi party has come to be a symbolism of extreme prejudice and, you know, genocide, I would say that there's no real need to add "no offense" here. I think even the Germans agree about this one.

being tall(no offense to the tall people it's just that i think a cool villian is tall)

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...Uh, que? Being tall =/= good villain. It just means you're tall. There's been plenty of tall heroes throughout media. For one, Sailor Jupiter.


In general, no, superficial traits do not make a good villain. It's the way the character acts that defines whether or not he or she is (believably) evil.

it looks like that post took alot of time

teehee

How long did it take you to post that? Wonderful job of spamming, by the way. I applaud your efforts. *starts slow clap*

By the way, I'm tall, so I guess I'm just inherently evil and scary. Plus the fact that I have scars... Holy simoly, I should be arrested right now and taken down by some dashingly perfect character that's beauty will captivate all, and can use all the weapons in the universe, and has magical sparkling hair and teeth. And can paint with all the colors of the wind.

I seriously wish that people would get away from the over-the-top clichés for villains and use a better way to write them, like for instance, following the examples on this list. Or is someone else going to jump onto me for forcing my opinions on them and "oppressing" them?

Astinus said:

How long did it take you to post that? Wonderful job of spamming, by the way. I applaud your efforts. *starts slow clap*

By the way, I'm tall, so I guess I'm just inherently evil and scary. Plus the fact that I have scars... Holy simoly, I should be arrested right now and taken down by some dashingly perfect character that's beauty will captivate all, and can use all the weapons in the universe, and has magical sparkling hair and teeth. And can paint with all the colors of the wind.

I seriously wish that people would get away from the over-the-top clichés for villains and use a better way to write them, like for instance, following the examples on this list. Or is someone else going to jump onto me for forcing my opinions on them and "oppressing" them?

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I agree with Astinus. The best villain is one you never see coming. It's easy to assume that the villain will dress in black and have a scar over his eye, but what if your villain turns out to be the main character's own brother, or best friend.

I think little spammer dude was just saying what he likes about villains not that it would make a good fanfic villain as well as other ppl who wrote cliche'd ones...

don't worry about the spammer troll. you know as well as anyone else on this thread that a combination of motives and psychology crate a great villain. If you have played Kingdom Hearts, you will instantly recognize Riku as one of the best possible villains. he is a close friend of the protagonist who becomes an enemy through circumstance and manipulation, even though he is essentially after the same thing. all he is missing is a conscience. in the end, he is defeated and redeemed when he sacrifices himself to seal away evil. he has a clear and sympathetic personality and the player can easily relate to him, often much more than the blissfully ignorant main character. riku even has a scene where he tries to replace the main character, calling him a "delivery boy." this is what makes him a great villain and a great character.

if you would like an extra example, send me a message and I can show you a rough draft for my story, where an alternate reality Giovanni (epic originality fail) is the villain who was corrupted by power

We're no longer worrying about the 'spammer troll' because the thread is over 3 years old! Please check the date of the last post in threads before posting please, as bumping threads over a month old since the last post is against the rules, never mind 3 years. =p

Closed.