What makes a good villain?

[mjdiddy1]

Your protype should be Magneto. Why? Because he believes his cause is right and in his eyes the X-Men are the villians (even though we see he will crush anything that tries to derail his dream). Magneto is the type of villian that you see as a threat because he can accomplish his goal especially if you miscalculate his intentions. But what I like about him is he's a bad guy you would love to see team up w/ the hero to take out a greater evil. So in nut shell the villian must have a valid and believable purpose. He doesn't necessarily need to be evil but have that mean streak that gives that "don't f with me feel."

 

[Bronson]

Yes Magneto is a great choice. He can justify his actions with logic and i his mind, he is in the right.

 

[xXx]

Thanks! Anymore suggestions?

 

[Kritish]

The best villain ever, Anbus from StarGate SG-1.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

A best villain imo is one you hate.
For example Tim Roth in Rob Roy.
The pantomime likable villain is overused.

[YT]SVaslN1NiT0[/YT]

 

[GregComicFan]

The BEST villain is always the hero who does wrong. It creates an immediate moral dilemma for the other guy (the "real" hero) who must stop him. The motivations of the hero-gone-wrong may make perfect sense, but the means he uses to implement what he feels is RIGHT are immoral, and so the true hero must step in to foil the plans of the hero-gone-wrong

I took a bunch of fiction writing and screenwriting classes in college, when I used to be interested in that stuff. most screenwriters and writing books would agree with me....the best villain is the villain who doesn't think he's the villain. He thinks he's the hero, but he's warped, and his moral compass is shifted.

The WORST villain is the villain who is evil, pure evil, for no reason.

For example, aliens and monsters and the devil in movies are incredibly boring to me because they're just pure concentrated evil. They have no other personality traits...they're just evil for the sake of being evil.

BORING!

Greg

 

[GregComicFan]

Also...I think good villains bring out an aspect of the hero that needs to be explored. The Spiderman films did a good job at this. Each villain indirectly caused Peter Parker to explore some aspect of his character he had previously not needed to deal with. But this isn't so much "what makes a great villain" but rather "how the villain can figure into the plot".

 

[Abaddon]

I don't really agree that heroes who are evil for the sake it are boring. Just look at characters like Joker, and Iago. Both are incredibly twisted and without any real motivation, and yet people are still drawn to them.

 

[Acid Snowman]

The BEST villain is always the hero who does wrong. It creates an immediate moral dilemma for the other guy (the "real" hero) who must stop him. The motivations of the hero-gone-wrong may make perfect sense, but the means he uses to implement what he feels is RIGHT are immoral, and so the true hero must step in to foil the plans of the hero-gone-wrong

I took a bunch of fiction writing and screenwriting classes in college, when I used to be interested in that stuff. most screenwriters and writing books would agree with me....the best villain is the villain who doesn't think he's the villain. He thinks he's the hero, but he's warped, and his moral compass is shifted.

The WORST villain is the villain who is evil, pure evil, for no reason.

For example, aliens and monsters and the devil in movies are incredibly boring to me because they're just pure concentrated evil. They have no other personality traits...they're just evil for the sake of being evil.

BORING!

Greg

That's firmly established, but I stated my opinion earlier in the thread that a warped moral code won't determine your actions, it will just reinforce them. Serial killers strike out of mental trauma - not because they believe life is meaningless or the Devil will give them milk and cookies in Hell if they kill that old lady. Being 'evil' (being a dick for the sake of it) can be used to great effect for villains like the Joker, but not because there evil for evil's sake, but because something messed them up so badly that they can't function as human beings any more. In addition to the charisma and personality, that's what seperates the Joker from the Being from Xylapane 10 who's evil for no reason.

EDIT: Oh, and the worst possible villain would be a radio wearing a tutu.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

The thing about rob roy, that really, you don't see alot, if ever, is that both the hero and the villain, are like pawns for bigger fish, alot of the stuff is outside there control and they accept it and have to follow it, alot of the time with villains, they are directly controlling the world around them and the head figure.

 

[xXx]

Thanks Guys!

 

[Cyrusbales]

As a screenwriter, I'll throw in my piece:

-Don't make them a villain, design a character, they are not going to be purewly evil through and through, whether it's a paedophile or crooked policeman, they will have many dimensions. If you can show balance to your creation, it will have far more quality.

-Before you write anything, the basic rules apply:
1)How does the character see themself
2)How do other characters see him/her
3)How does your character think
4)Design a backstory.

Any narrative is genrally just a snippet of a much bigger story, for example someones life, we see only a small section within the narrative. You need to construct how they got there, and where they go afterwards.


THE BIG POINT:

AVOID CLICHE AND STEREOTYPE! These are just quick routes to making a 'character' without any substance. Many narratives opt for these rather then characterisation, yes it's quicker, but leaves a shallow impression.

Before writing your narrative, write something else with the character, whether it's an interview or something, but make sure you know all your characters before you start on the narrative.

 

[xXx]

Thank you so much! I have given my villains a backstory which needs a major tweak. When I get on the ball with this project, I'll make a thread and update frequently.