Given the number of villainous post I’ve written, I feel I should start this one with a disclaimer: I actually am not obsessed with villains. Nor am I a super-villain in disguise. I rarely sport an evil laugh, nor do I have a secret lair where I practice mustache curling and cape twirling. My childhood aspirations never wandered so far as wild and dastardly schemes for world domination. What can I say? Guess I’m a low achiever.
Though I have no such lofty goals for myself, I do enjoy crafting devious plots for the villains in my novels. And the villains themselves … well, they are so much fun to write. Villains can run the gamut from the black cloaked, mustache twirling variety mentioned above … to the creatures of pure evil and darkness you find in many epic fantasies … to the conflicted villains you just can’t help feeling sorry for … to those twisted ones that are just plain horrifying.
I’ve experimented with these four different sorts of villains a good bit over the years. I won’t say one sort is better than the others. Each has its uses for different times and places. Nor is this an all-inclusive list. Not remotely. But I thought it worthwhile to give some favorite examples of these different common types of villains.
Mustache Twirler
Sometimes a story is all the better for a good, old fashioned mustache twirling baddie. The mustache twirler is all about style. He enjoys his nefarious reputation and intends to get the most out of it. He may be of average intelligence. Or he may be brilliant. Regardless, he’s a bad boy and he enjoys it.
“Every fairytale needs a good, old fashioned villain.”
– Moriarty, BBC’s Sherlock
Some “mustache twirling” villains that instantly spring to mind include:
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Captain Hook
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Captain Barbosa, Pirates of the Caribbean
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Moriarty, BBC’s Sherlock (Though if he ever saw this post, he would undoubtedly resent being called a mustache twirler and put a kill-order out on my head.)
Obviously, the mustache twirler can tend toward the comedic, but he can also be plain scary. See Moriarty for a prime example. If you decide not to turn your main villain into a “mustache twirler,” this sort of villain also makes for a great evil henchman.
Pure Evil
You tend to see this type of villain more so in epic fantasy than anything else. The things at stake—the world, humanity, life as we know it—tend to attract the worst sorts of unfeeling, inhuman monsters. These villains have no regard for human life and tend to spill it cheaply. They are powerful and always seem to have the upper hand. There are few things more terrifying than a monster who just wants to see the world burn.
Some examples include:
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The Dark Lord Sauron, The Lord of the Rings
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Ruin, The Final Empire Series
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Voldemort, Harry Potter
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The Joker, The Dark Knight
Sympathetic
No matter how terrible this villain’s means, motives, goals, or actions may be, there is something about him we can understand. Some deeper longing we can relate to. Some terrible event in the past that causes us to sympathize. Some goal that still doesn’t justify the villain’s actions, but makes us understand how he could become what he is.
This villain believes he is in the right. Believes it so strongly that the hero—and maybe even the reader—may wonder. This villain sometimes even believes he is saving the world … and the hero, well, he just doesn’t have the guts to do what is necessary.
“Every villain is a hero in his own mind.”
– Tom Hiddleston
Some examples that spring to mind:
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Loki (You knew I was going to mention him, didn’t you? He’s one of those villains we love to love.)
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Javert, Les Miserables
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Sadaes, Way of Kings and Words of Radiance
I’m currently writing one of these villains for my WIP, and even as I write him, I can’t help feeling sorry for him. In another sort of story, in another sort of world, he might have been a hero. Or at least your ordinary not-mass-murderer.
Twisted
*Shudder* These villains are just plain scary. They take the “sympathetic” side and turn it into something dark and twisted. There is still a “valid” reason behind everything they do. And it’s not just because they want to see the world burn or mankind destroyed. Sometimes like the sympathetic villain, the twisted villain might think they’re saving the world. Or at least accomplishing some higher, more worthy goal. But they don’t care how many bodies pile up along the way. They often take “mentally unstable” to the extreme. Nothing, no sense of right or wrong, no hint of conscience, is going to stop them from accomplishing what they desire. Examples?
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Emperor Commodus, Gladiator
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Colonel William Tavington, The Patriot
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Taravangian, Words of Radiance
Maybe once upon a time you would have felt sorry for them. But now? Well, they’re the sort about which you can truthfully say:
“He’s not the kind you save. He’s the kind you stop.”
– Falcon, Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Do you have a favorite sort of villain? What are some other common “types” you can think of? Other examples of these types?
I love a good villain . . . I'm not sure what my favorite kind is, though. I love the Dragon and Keeper (Pure Evil), and the Duke (mix of Mustache Twirler and Pure Evil), but I also like more sympathetic villains . . . IDK. I think the villains in my own stories of late tend more towards either Sympathetic or Twisted, but I'm not sure if that's any indication.
It can be hard to decide sometimes … and sometimes the best villains are the ones you hate the most! :)
A well-done villain can really add to the story. Sometimes, a really twisted villain can ruin a book for me if he's TOO awful, but I think I've avoided books with those sorts of evil.
Another type of villain? Well, this may fall under the twisted category, but there's the villain who loves being evil. Take the Emperor from Star Wars for example. I mean the guy is evil. And he LOVES it! Look at him! Cackling in glee as he blasts lightning out of his fingertips. Rarely do you see such delight in movies. xP
The villains who have been kind of forced into being evil (Xane from Well of Ascension, The Winter Soldier, Maedhros) always strike pity in me, because I see such potential in them if they're able to break free of the "chains." Often though, they'll just sulk around and say it's too late for them, until they turn into Mr. Twisted. Sigh…However, if they do turn good, they usually become the awesomest sort of hero.
I know, you can't help feeling sorry for them … and wishing someone would slap them up the side of the head until they get some sense knocked into them! :)
I admire a villain that is powerfully and uncompromisingly evil. Darth Vader as I knew him before his Anakin Skywalker past had been revealed would be my primary example. (Darth Vader was awesome!)
In my fantasy/science fiction novel The Crystal Portal I wrote the villain Sargon Balal with the intent to make him pure evil out of the Vader cloth. But I think I wound up making him more of a Mustache Twirler…(oh well)
But I came to a point in my writing where I was majorly stuck concerning where the plot should go next. I realized with a shock that my problem with not knowing came from focusing too much on my good guys. The villain is the one who actually drives the plot in most stories. The villain is the powerful actor with a plan that the good guys must react to. Once you figure out what your bad guy is aiming for and how he or she plans to get it, writing the events in the lives of the heroes becomes much easier. Villains are essential–your focus on them is appropriate, Gillian.
Oh gosh I literally JUST wrote an article about this for a friend's eMag. O_O Like, I literally used the words "Pure evil" to describe one type of villain.
XD I HAVE ESP.
Anyway, my favorite is the sympathetic kind–brilliant blog post, by the way!
Wow. Great minds think alike, eh? :)
I like a scorned woman/seductress type who can charm men to her every whim. Maeglin from the Silmarillion is a nice example of twisted but somewhat sympathetic. The guy had the world's worst home life growing up.
I always felt so bad for Maeglin. Poor fellow.
I love a sympathetic villain. I think there always has to be a REASON the villain is evil … and in my reading and writing both I like it to be made clear what that reason is. Voldemort is one such … Javert … Loki … great examples!!
I agree, Ashlee! The reason is so important. Villains without a reason often come across as cardboard stereotypes … or robots. Actually wrote a post about this a while back: http://ofbattlesdragonsandswordsofadamant.blogspot.com/2013/11/villainy-101-villains-are-people-too.html
Oh, you have to love the villains! I guess my favorites are either the sympathetic or the pure evil. Javert is one of my absolute favorites in a non-fantasy context. He just could not understand or accept Jean Valjean's change.
I love villains who are charming, people/creatures you could easily be drawn to. Like another commentor, I like the seductresses for some unknown reason. I guess my favorite villains are as follows, ranked from most favorite with 1 being my absolute favorite:
1. Rhi Sora, Dragonwitch, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. Extremely sympathetic.
2. The Wolf Lord, (Starflower,) (Anne Elisabeth Stengl).
3. Vollys, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, (Gail Carson Levine).
4. The Lady of the Green Kirtle, (The Silver Chair), (C.S. Lewis).
5. Keeper, (Entwined,) (Heather Dixon).
6. Cren Cru, (Shadow Hand,) (Anne Elisabeth Stengl). (Possibly the most terrifying villain because of the back story. Very sad but frightening. I pitied this entity but was terrified as well).
7. The Dragon King, (Heartless), (Anne Elisabeth Stengl). Pure evil at its finest.
8. Darth Vader.
9. Jadis, The White Witch, (C.S. Lewis).
10. Queen Siddonie, (The Catswold Portal), (Shirley Rousseau Murphy).
And the list goes on.
In my writing, I've been known to create over-the-top villains, but I'm trying to get away from that now and write more sympathetic villains. Still, every now and then, it's fun to write real "baddies".
God bless.