Writing Fantasy

He Who Must Not Be Named

Hello! This part was requested by softski!

I don't know about you guys, but I LOVE me a bad guy, especially one that I love to hate. Baddies like Voldemort, Maleficent, Loki, & Captain Hook are sometimes the best (and scariest) parts of a book or movie. Whether it be they make you scared shitless, or they're so interesting and endearing that you're just simply captivated by them.

Now, the question is...how do I make a good villain?

The answer is a little complicated, sadly, because the type of villain you need generally depends on the story you're trying to tell.

First we need to distinguish the difference between a villain and an antagonist because a lot of people don't seem to know what separates these two. An antagonist, believe it or not, antagonizes the protagonist. They create conflict and throw curveballs into your protagonist's plan, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they're evil. The antagonist of the story could simply be someone your protagonist is competing against for the state title for wrestling. A villain, however, is similar to an antagonist but with a little ✨ spice ✨. These guys stand in the hero's way and do it evilishly well. Think of it the same way as every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square. Every villain is an antagonist, yet not every antagonist can be considered a villain.

In Fantasy, the villain can be literally anything (which is a reason why I love Fantasy). Typically you'll see the bad guy being an all-powerful wizard or a cruel monarch who rules with an unfair iron fist. However, the "villain" of a story isn't always a person. Sometimes it can be an entity (think of the darkness from Kingdom Hearts or Hexxus from Ferngully) where it isn't a person you can see, or even just an idea (like a social construct). Hell, if you wanted to, you could make the villain a terrifyingly psychotic little kid, the choice is up to you!

Here are a few guidelines/ideas to help you on your way:

(For reference, this video is where I got this list)

What makes a good villain is how powerful they are. When your hero squares up to the villain, they should be intimidating with how much power they hold. None of their fights should be a cakewalk for the hero, not even for the final one. Think about Harry Potter. The poor kid is scraped and bruised, and seriously injured every single time he goes toe-to-toe with the Dark Lord himself. You want the cards to be stacked against your hero as high as it can be (but not too high because we still want our hero to have some bit of a fighting chance). This conflict between the hero and the villain is what drives the story.

Next, the villain has to have a good, believable motive. The "evil just 'cause" motive won't cut it. Why is your villain doing what they're doing? Is it because something in their past triggered them to do this? Are they scared? Bigoted? Come up with a reason as to why they've chosen to go down this path. It's also important to remember that your villain believes that they are the hero in their own story. Your readers don't necessarily have to agree with their stance, but they should at least be able to grasp and understand it.

When creating your villain, treat them like any other of your characters. Make them complex. They need to be multifaceted with different sides to them. What do they fear? What do they love? What's their backstory? Just keep in mind that you should not disclose your villain's whole backstory in your book unless it is absolutely necessary (i.e. for context as to how long they've ruled over the kingdom, how long they've studied magic), but you should at least know it for yourself.

Your villain also needs to be believable. Their mannerisms, body language, and their words--especially their words. When writing your villain's dialogue, please please PLEASE do not make them sound like a Scooby-Doo villain, I beg of you. Your villain needs to be threatening, not laughable.

Your villain needs to be threatening. You can have your characters talk on and on about how evil and vile your villain is and the disgusting things they've done, but you also gotta show us. Show us the evil deeds. Make us truly believe that your villain is bad news. And this shouldn't be a one-time thing, there should be multiple examples of your baddie striking fear in both the hero and the reader.

That's all I have for now, if I think of something else I will definetly add more.

I hope this helps and if there are any questions I can answer please feel free to comment them down below!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next part!
<3 Melody