what makes a villain

As long as they are subject to thematically congruent antagonistic forces, the rules are the same. Seeing the aftermath of a display of power is more impressive than a wordy boast about their power. Xan may seem like the villain in P D James’ The Children of Men but isn’t the broader antagonistic force that of infertility itself. The antagonism might be within the heroic character themselves. Subscribe for DnD tips and resources right in your inbox!

Basically, antagonistic forces can be anything as long as they are the main obstacle in the way of the protagonist achieving what they most need. Look at Dexter. A good villain will have a reason for doing the things they do. As I write above, the villain stands or falls on the plausibility of their world view – the villain is the hero in their own eyes. It’s up to your players whether they believe them or not.

They are used as a mechanic to get your players to engage in your world and accept missions. We will now review your request and get in touch with you. The goal can be as terrible as trying to subjugate an entire race because they believe they are superior, or it can be as misguided as believing there is only one way to solve a problem. Players should be motivated to stop their destructive plans, no matter the cost. They should have their own backstory, morals, and goals. Granted, when I wrote what makes a good superhero, I advocated we should strive to be heroic. Reader, do you like villains? Craig has also co-written a thriller movie script, Writers Retreat, which was filmed in 2014 and premiered at the Sitges International Film Festival, and he continues to be commissioned to write scripts for TV and film. It’s because those followers believe in either the villain themselves or the villain’s goal. Villains should evoke an emotional response from players. Serious about writing and getting published? A story is a map of this change over time, or this failure to change over time. Also, a great villain has some personality quirk which makes them stand out.

A great literary villain can be almost pure evil.

It might be centred around a group of people. Batman without The Joker would have no need to act.

You also need to consider their backstory, motivation, and (most importantly) relatability. Or it might be a best friend who continually leads the main character into activities which are against their best interests. The term ‘villain’ defines a character who personifies the forces which thwart the progress of the main character. An effective Big Bad is also a skilled leader. And if your protagonist is special well, given that it is the job of the villain to oppose the protagonist, then in order to seem anything like able to compete with the hero, the villain needs to be special too.
Here are some examples of basic motivations that can be expanded in your campaign: There’s a reason that villains seem to have a large supply of devoted followers. I would however caution against this simple equation, quite apart from it perpetuating discrimination against people who are unfortunate enough to be physically disfigured, it has been done to death.

If you show the reader that it is emotionally logical for the villain to have passed from a state of health to their current corrupted self as a consequence of events, you humanise the villain. For example, Catwoman‘s sexiness and constant purring or the Little Mermaid’s Ursula‘s constant flamboyance. That’s as cliche as slowly lowering heroes into into a pool of mutated sea bass. Then check out this article on character motivation.). And do not get me started on Mister Fantastic and Doctor Doom, former best friends and eternal rivals. Craig has also co-written, , which was filmed in 2014 and premiered at the.
It may be that your story is a tragic and the hero fails to beat the villain in the end. We’ll use it to process your order, manage your account, and keep you informed. Do they constantly underestimate their adversaries? We establish what makes a villain irresistible and engaging. Villains are obstacles that eventually lead to opposition. Your email address will not be published.

Players should be motivated to stop their destructive plans, no matter the cost. Have they misplaced trust in an ally of theirs or even in their own power?

In some genres like fantasy or science fiction they can be ‘the one’ level of special.

Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Is your villain heavily scarred from fighting in previous wars? These followers can be as complex as the person they follow and so can their reasons for following them. Some of the greatest villains contain something in them you see in yourself. And a decent villain needs gravitas, needs the emotional plausibility and heft to pull the villain into their version of the theme, into their version of reality.

As long as we know why they are like they are – In The Godfather, Michael Corleone gets pulled back into the family business of murder and extortion through love of his threatened father. Any unhealthy version of the theme will do. Why not mix it up? Everyone loves villains. One of the easiest ways to get your villain killed off early by your party is to have them show up constantly. Why are they like this? Big Bads are most effective when they’re plotting far away from an adventuring party. But what makes a good D&D villain? If you feel that you need exposition, make a big moment out of it. Answering this involves taking this question right back to ask ourselves: what is a story? The villain personifies the specific forces of antagonism which aim to prevent the protagonist from completing their internal and external journey. And why do we admire Hannibal Lecter in Thomas Harris’ novels? When because of doing that, the villain loses something/someone precious.

It is the villain whose actions provoke the need for the hero to act. Its structural purpose is to serve as the opposition of the hero character and their motives or evil action… Both scientific genius. It’s an easy-mode way of eliciting sympathy from your players. It’s ok to prepare a short speech every now and then, but conversation should happen as organically as it does with your other NPCs. If the heroic character struggles to embody the positive possibilities in a work of fiction, the villain convincingly embodies the negative aspects. There being a suggestion of a relationship between moral and physical disfigurement. Your email address will not be published. Have we missed anything?

It shouldn’t just be about cold, calculated evil just for the fun of it.

Your protagonist has to be special. The crux of a story is concerned with how the main character changes, or fails to change, over time, in contact with internal, external and relationship pressures.

Your villain might espouse a version of loyalty which states you must have only loyalty to yourself, or loyalty to chaos, or loyalty to crime, or loyalty to the dead.

It is the test of wills between the antagonist and the protagonist that generates the struggle. The line between fighting evil and becoming evil can get really blurry in D&D. Many villains are highly complex and seemingly lost in their amorality. Only somebody as prodigiously gifted as Moriarty could aspire to being a villain worthy of Sherlock Holmes special powers. Whether it’s a critical misunderstanding, a lack of knowledge, or good intentions taken to an extreme, giving them a sympathetic flaw serves to add realism to your character and humanize them. We send out modules, resources, tips and more every month! Learn how your comment data is processed. If the villain is a mirror reflection of the hero, he becomes more complex. Your antagonist could’ve grown up in the same burned down village as one of your players. Show why they became corrupted, To compete with the protagonist, your villain also needs to be special, Your villain should feel unbeatable, at least for a while. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.

Anne Wilkes in Stephen King’s Misery turns out to the fan no writer wants. The comparison of how two characters deal with the same tragedy will add a richness to the characters and your world. Make the players question whether or not they are completely in the right. The villain is what the hero might have been, what the hero might be, should they make the wrong choices, which is what gives rise to the clichéd piece of film dialogue, ‘ We are not so different you and I, Mr Bond.’

Your villain must be suitable and specifically adept at preventing the thematic success of your hero, hence must embody a negative version of that theme.

In just one hour.

This is usually best done through means other than personal exposition. Are dinosaurs the antagonistic force of Jurassic Park? A villain can be anyone who is antagonistic towards your heroes.

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