Stop Making Bad Guys
"I will unleash this horrible power and destroy the world!" the villain yells. "There's nothing you can do to stop me!"
"But why do you want to destroy the world?" the hero asks.
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because it's eeeevil. Now shut up and die."
How many times have you heard a villain give some version of this answer? Or not answer the question at all? I know the title of this post is a bit weird, but it got you to read it, didn't it? Today I'm going to talk about why we should stop making "bad guys" that are bad just because they are and how to improve them.
The "Plain Evil" Bad Guy
My biggest problem with books or movies is when the villain has no motivation for his Big Evil Plan. Movies more often, but there have been books too. They want to conquer the world or unleash the monster or whatever for no apparent reason. And that's a problem.
Without a visible motivation, why is the villain doing this? Why is he killing people and destroying property and going after the hero without reason? Wouldn't it just be easier to find a different career path? It also doesn't help us to understand him and possibly empathize with him.
The movie I'm specifically thinking of is The Dark Tower. It's based on a Stephen King novel and probably the only one I'll ever watch. It was a great movie and I really enjoyed it, except for one thing. Can you guess what? The villain had no motive. He wanted to destroy the Dark Tower and bring on the apocalypses, but for no visible reason. It annoyed me because if that one thing had been improved, it would have been practically perfect. (To me, anyway. The critics and a lot of people didn't like it, but I did.)
Having an evil plan isn't enough. You need a good motive for why the villain is going to all this trouble to get it. It's just like with the hero. Without a reason to fight the bad guy, why is he even doing it? Why doesn't he just walk away and let the world go to pot?
The Wonderfully Motivated Bad Guy
What if, instead of having a villain with no motive, you give him some wonderful backstory that motivates him to destroy the world, unleash evil, etc., etc? Just think how much better your story would be that way.
The best villains are the ones readers empathize with. The ones they love and don't want anything bad to happen to. And that only comes through backstory, motive, and personality. All of which needs careful building.
Compare the guy from the Dark Tower with Loki, one of Marvel's most popular villains. He has a great backstory (turns out he's an ice giant and not even Asgardian and was never told that). He has a great personality (trickster, charmer, sarcastic). He has great motivation (he was to rule so he can be love and adored the way he thinks he deserves). All of these come together in a villain you can root for and love.
What motivates your villain? Revenge? Love? Desire for power? There are so many motives out there to chose from, you just need the right one to line up with everything else. Don't tack on a motive either. It has to flow naturally from their background and fit with everything else happening in the story.
Down with "Bad Guys"
So pleas, let's stop making evil overlords who want to conquer the city to conquer it. Villains who want to end the world just because. Let's make villains and antagonists with deeply rooted motivation that make readers fall in love with them.
What are your thoughts on villain motivation? Who is your favorite villain and what is his backstory? Tell me in the comments.
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Yes to everything in this post!
ReplyDeleteI'm taking psychology this year and last week in class we were discussing "what's makes people evil/do horrible things?" After watching the Milligram experiment, and it really struck me how much potential there is for more complicated villains. People aren't just one thing in real life, why should they be in fiction?
That is an excellent point and something I think we should apply to all characters. Villains especially. Also, psychology sounds like an interesting class. My sister would adore taking that. :)
DeleteThis is a great post! You made some really good points. That's something I'm delving into right now with my nano novel--who the villain is and why they are doing what they're doing. It's such a fun idea to build on an explore. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hannah. I wish you luck with your NaNoWriMo novel!
DeleteThis is so useful, even though it was years ago. I love to write and this helps me, also agreed on the destroy world without motivation or reasoning. Some villains I made are evil because of how they were raised or affected by said hero. I have one that kinda does a thanos but not to much with the I wanna bring balance. Instead he was raised on a different planet and was born with the gift of the eternal winter. His species were known for the hunt and hunted the animals on their planets but eventually he saw that as wrong and well froze over his entire planet only leaving a few left who worked for him. He eventually found space travel and woild travel planet to planet seeing if he deemed them good or sinful and if they were sinful then he would try to end the planet though to the ones he saw were good or the good in the sinful he tried to save them and even understood them. After his defeat in the very end he lives just in the shadows rethinking his ways and once a massive threat came in he helped the heros. Its kinda a good intentions but bad way of doing it.
ReplyDelete