How to Create HATEABLE Villains (Writing Advice) 

I doubt there’s ever going to be a villain more hateable than Joffrey. Such a fantastic performance from the actor.

The danger of trying to make a villain funny is that he often comes off as annoying rather than menacing as a result.

I think that Homelander is an amazing villain, Antony Starr really nails the role.

I just want to point out: Hate the villain - don't hate the actor or actress portraying the villain. You hate the villain because they acted phenomenally in the role. I've heard stories of Lena Headey (Cersei from Game of Thrones) receiving hate at meet 'n' greets because people don't like the character she played. Learn to separate fantasy from reality. Even the woman who played Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter (Imelda Staunton) I saw her in an interview on The Graham Norton Show and she's quite charming and funny.

A recent example for me is Jack Horner in the recent Puss In Boots movie. The character was just an asshole for the sake of it with no care for humanity, and he honestly felt refreshing for me with the trend of redeemable/morally grey villains these days.

6:25 The best part about this scene is after he leaves Tyrion: "Imagine Stannis' terror" Varys: "I am trying"

As a hateable villain, Dolores Umbridge of the Harry Potter series immediately comes to mind. I believed that she worked hard and earned her position as Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, but she did NOT earn her appointment at Hogwarts, and she proved herself to be the "anti-teacher" at the school, preventing the students from learning. Although she portrays a paper-thin charming face to some, she reveals herself as vicious, punitive, cruel, power-mad, unfair, and racist. We've all known someone like her in real life. During Voldy's reign, she revels in threatening "Mudbloods" with Dementors and imprisonment, and she falsely uses the locket to tie herself to a pureblood wizarding family--both actions involving lies. In a cut scene from the film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dolores, in the forest with Harry and Hermione, declares that she hates children, and bemoans that she tried to bring order into their lives, but they refused. This helps us feel a little sympathy for her, but it doesn't excuse her. On the other hand, I think with Voldemort, we end up feeling sorry for him because we learn so much about him and his Tom Riddle years. We know that he's cruel, power-mad, racist, and, worst by me, horribly disloyal to his cronies while demanding absolute loyalty from them. Yet we also know that he's driven by an exponential fear of death--so much that he murders others to preserve magically his own life. He was born from an unstable family and a forced marriage, and, abandoned and "orphaned", he grew up with his emotional needs neglected, feeling alienated yet special. I think we hate what Voldy is doing more than we hate him. I also think that Voldemort, through study and experimentation, has earned his power and expertise. I don't know if he assumed anything that he didn't earn, even his leadership of the Death Eaters. Of course, earning it an executing it wisely are two different things. His selfishness, lack of loyalty, dismissal of love, and misuse of some characters (Kreacher, Draco) eventually make some of his followers turn against him. I think with Voldy, we feel fear, but with Umbridge, we feel disgust.

Let us not diminish the skill and talent shown by Jack Gleeson in playing Joffrey... What a spectacular performance and what a hateable character. He was fantastic!!

A few others are Joaquin Phoenix’ character in Gladiator, Edward Longshanks in Braveheart and Ramsey Bolton from later seasons of Game of Thrones.

I think 'self righteousness' is probably the cornerstone of 'hateability.' Nurse Ratched embodies this IMO, though she does have some complexity. But even 'simplistic' villains such as Joffrey has this to a degree, given that he sees himself as entitled to do anything he wants and that anyone who resists him is in the wrong and need to be punished.

I really like the tack that "John Wick" took where the villan (the son) is extremely hateable, but he is backstopped by a relatable villan (the father).

David from “The Last of Us” is a perfect example for this video. They never explained how he earned his power, he manipulated his people into eating each other, he tried to rape Ellie, and he implies that he’s done it multiple times. The moment Ellie kills him brutally was so satisfying to watch.

Commodus from Gladiator is also an example of hateable villain.

A hateable villain doesn't necessarily have to be the most evil, he mainly just has to be purely antithetical to the protagonist's goals. For example Lord Cutler Beckett in the pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is technically the good guy because he's upholding the law and he's trying to defeat the pirates who are criminals, but it's the pirates we are made to empathize with through the story. This makes Beckett, the lawful character, the villain of the tale. And due to his deviousness, is very hateable indeed.

What I like about these villains, aside from the simplicity, is the relatability of the situation. It reminds us of the unfairness we all face in life. It's the direct or indirect bully. The jerk boss. The economy that lets morally corrupt layabouts become rich by default and lets hard working honest people be poor. We relate to the situation where we see unfairness and feel utterly powerless to fix it. That comeuppance allows us to release some of that same tension in our real lives vicariously.

Great examples! Surprised Delores Umbridge didn’t make the cut on this one, Potterheads hate her more than they hate Voldemort 😂

I think a villain never getting their comeuppance is what makes me hate them the most. The real life villains in politics, the justice system or corporations getting away with heinous acts comes to mind.

I'd add a villain who was a friend/leader but then betrays the protaganist & the reader. Griffith from Berserk is a great example. For awhile he's a charismatic, brilliant leader & friend who really understands the protaganist. He's literally lifting everyone up with his success, etc. But then he betrays everyone who ever believed in him. You learn it was all a sham & his followers were just cattle to feed his acension to godhood. (P.S. you should read Berserk & watch the good 1997 anime)

What comes to my mind is the character of Firelord Ozai from Avatar the Last Airbender. Even Azula, Ozai’s sadistic, psychopathic daughter, is at least made a pitiable character by the end of the series, after her friends’ betrayal basically causes her to have a psychotic break. But for Ozai, there is absolutely no redemption, and his defeat - especially through nonviolent means - is incredibly satisfying. And I remember reading somewhere a fascinating analysis of the deeper symbolism of Ozai’s villainy. For as large as he looms over the whole series, his face isn’t even actually shown until the final season. Instead, he is functionally the personification of imperialism and colonialism and violence - and for this reason, even in a show known for complex and compassionate portrayals of its heroic and villainous characters, Ozai is the one character who *cannot* be presented in an empathetic way. And in fact, part of what makes Azula a little less hateable is that we see how this imperial/colonial power she was molded to wield and desire has actually stripped away her humanity and left her miserable and hollow - a tragic figure and not just a villain.

One hateable villain for me is Lady Tremaine. Every time Cinderella receives a glimmer of hope, it immediately disappears because of her stepmother. For example, she told Cinderella she can go to the ball "IF" she gets her work done and has a nice dress. When Cinderella comes down in her pink dress happy, Lady Tremaine immediately fuels her daughters' anger to rip Cinderella's dress into rags. I call these villains "Plan X Villains" because they always can find a way to get what they want until the end.

You know what's especially genius about Caledon's death in Titanic? Is how flippantly Rose says "He put a pistol in his mouth. Or so I read". She cared so little about him she didn't even bother to look into it, or confirm it, or anything. She just read it and thought "Huh. Neat." He's not even worth the energy it would take for her to hate him. She doesn't get any pleasure from it, or relief, or satisfaction, or anything: he's worth so little to her that she just didn't care what happened to him.

Judge Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Maybe my favourite Disney villain in terms of credibilty. Not as iconic as a Scar or a Hades, but you see him and you know he exists in the real world in one way or another. And that's the disgusting thing. His fall was very satisfying.

I never saw Ivan Drago as a real villain. Never hated him. I didn't see the Creed movies, so I'm going only off of Rocky 4. He did kill Apollo, but not deliberately. He was just that hardcore as a boxer. And he was cold about it afterward, but it felt like the movie was telling me "this is how hard life is over there" while reinforcing tough-guy Russian stereotypes, not saying "this specific man is a sociopath". Having his wife appear in the movie and say they had received death threats further made him look like just a really good boxer, not a super villain. And then at the end, when Rocky beats him, there's a message of unity. Now, Joffrey...perfect choice. He's had maybe ten minutes, if that much, screen time and I'm cheering for a child getting slapped in the face.

The villain from the Patriot is a perfect example. He comes from a rich family in England, murders a boy early in the movie, his actions are so bad that his higher ups despise him, and most important, he continues to do worse things as the movie progresses

Two characters spring to mind: Raymond Cocteau in Demolition Man, and the warden in Shawshank Redemption. Wesley Snipes's Simon Phoenix was a great example of a loveable bad guy in that one, which was a nice counterpoint to the hateable Cocteau.

I'm not a writer and have no interest in ever writing a screenplay or novel, but I really enjoy watching your videos! You do a great job with these. Thanks!

Paul Reiser as Burke in Aliens fits the bill. He does some despicable things and I always enjoy his end.

I'm fascinated by the way that Better Call Saul flips this formula on its head. (Spoilers coming) Chuck in so many ways fits the bill for the hateable villain -- he's needless cruel to Jimmy, he's a jerk to characters we like, he's hard to like or sympathize with, and he gets what feels like a deserved comeuppance. But he's also the moral voice of the show and the one warning us that Jimmy/Saul is a bad guy. It's really clever writing that plays around with established formula to do something interesting and different.

One of my favourite villains that I found hateable as a kid was Saruman from LOTR. Aside from Christopher Lee's epic performance, he's so hateable and so great is because of how he's essentially a traitor who throws his friends and everyone else under the bus for power, despite being a Wizard who is supposed to be a force for good. We also see the both the horrible acts he does and the way everyone responds to it. We see the destruction he causes to the villages of Rohan and we see the fleeing peoples perspective. We also see the fear and desperation of the people of Rohan at Helm's Deep as Saruman sends his hordes to kill them all, creating much tension and making the ones he attacks seem like hopeless underdogs, making us root against Saruman while seeing him as a legit threat. We also see Treebeard's horror at the trees he burned for war, which gives us more reason to root against him and it makes it all the more satisfying when the Ents destroy Isengard.

A good follow up video could be on contrasting villains we love to hate vs villains we just hate. The former bring out the best in the heros and make the story better, while the latter makes the story worse. Sometimes they are just a bad villain for the genre, are too annoying, are only effective because the heroes are acting uncharacteristically incompetent, or are a bad twist/sympathetic villain. Just an idea. Keep up the great work 👍

I felt like Drago had a sort of redemption arc during the fight. By the end he no longer wanted to be a puppet of the Soviet system, and he felt real respect for Rocky just like the live audience did. He showed an ability to learn and change, so I could no longer hate him.

6:10 For Number 3, I instantly thought of Zorg from the Fifth Element. He was immoral and cruel, reneging on deals, committing murder, plotting to betray all of humanity. But he was so cool you couldn't hate him.

I'd say my favorite vile villain is Emperor Palpatine. He sees everybody as beneath him and something to use, even Darth Vader. To me, the most thrilling moment in "Return of the Jedi" is when Vader seizes Palpatine and hurls him into the abyss!

Eustice from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C. S. Lewis) is a very interesting hateable villain, because, while he does get his comeuppance, he then goes on to also get a redemption arc, and even goes on to be a primary point-of-view character for the rest of the series.

One of the best examples is Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Voldemort isn't as hateable because, like the Joker, he's cool, calm, collected, interesting and charismatic. Umbridge by contrast just causes needless suffering for her students because she enjoys it and has no good qualities.

One example of a hateable villain is Nurse Ratched from ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. She cold, cruel, heartless and uses inhuman techniques to dominate the inmates of the asylum under the guise of helping them improve themselves.

You picked three brilliant villians. I enjoyed your explanations almost as much as I enjoyed their individual comeuppances.

Biff in Back to the Future fits the bill, I think! In the first movie he has his power only by the virtue of being taller and stronger, in the second movie he is literally handed the results of all sports games so it’s even _less_ fair than luck. That makes it so satisfying when he drives into manure or when George McFly punches him in the face!

Griffith from berserk is one of the most hate able villains you’ll ever come across. The things he does makes the viewer deeply sympathize with Guts and makes you live for the day that Guts gets his revenge.

Lots-O is a hateable villain I happen to love, he is one of my favorite villains of all time. A fantastic performance from his voice actor Ned Beatty (may he rest in peace)

I think a few other hateable villains that come to mind for me would be The High Evolutionary, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Professor Umbridge.

How to create a despised villain: 1. Give them overwhelming negative and dishonorable traits such as cowardice. Make them a spoiled brat. 2. No sad or relatable backstory. 3. Make them physically unattractive. 4. Have them kill off our favorite characters.

I find it a lot easier to write a completely hateable villain than a more realistic one with redeeming qualities that people still dislike so much they cheer when he/she goes down. I've done both.

I think Ramsay Bolton even one-upped Geoffrey esp in the come-uppance. If the come-uppance has irony in it, like being fed to the dogs that he had carry out his dirty work, it's that much better. But good in finding those stories that carried all the elements. While Ramsay didn't kick the dog per se, that was a metaphorically good substitute I thought. In anime, Full Metal Alchemist when Mustang, a kind of heroic mentor character, burns Lust and Envy...to their "cores". in revenge for the death of his friend. It's truly drama that stays with you for weeks. It's hard not to replay those comeuppance scenes.

What a great video. I love these tips. A hateable villain that comes to mind is corrections officer Percy Wetmore, from The Green Mile. He shows many of the characteristics mentioned in the video: he got his job on account of being the nephew of the governor's wife, he liked to abuse his power, and he intentionally failed to soak a sponge thereby causing a horrific execution of an inmate in the electric chair. It was ever so satisfying when the other corrections officers locked him into a padded cell.

The High Evolutionary is a great example for this. His de-appreciation of himself and other things around him, and high ambition to reach his goal by putting it ahead of all priorities, such as committing genocide of his created species to create a “better” species, caused his followers to turn on him, knowing that they would be a means to an end, even if a win was headed in his way.

If there's one villain I love to hate, it's Gaston from 1991's Beauty and the Beast, and I'm not sure why because he breaks a lot of those rules. He's charismatic to an extent, he earnt his position by being a good hunter and training from a young age to be 'the size of a barge' (although he probably caused a shortage of eggs!) and he's a subversion in that in a Grimms' fairy tale, he would be the unquestionable hero. Plus who can forget the "Gaston" song! I suppose he's not a hateable villain really, but you love to hate him! Granted, he starts off as a relatively harmless doofus, and when he actually becomes dangerous (which starts at the very end of the "Gaston" song), the comedy stops and he's nothing but menacing.

William Hamleigh from The Pillars of the Earth (the book, haven't seen the miniseries). He spends the whole friggin book "kicking dogs" and his comeuppance is one of the most satisfying pages of fiction I've ever read.

One of the things I find most helpful in your videos is how you always define what we're talking about. Here it would have been easy to assume we were all on the same page as far as what a "hateable villain" is (I know I did), but you took the time to be very clear and precise with what we're talking about. You take this approach in nearly all your videos and it works really well. BTW I just started Entry Wounds and the opening is great. You mentioned how that opening came to be in a previous video and I have to say, you nailed it. My wife came into the bedroom while I was reading and I actually shushed her -- that's funny if you know my wife. Anyway, if any of you viewers are on the fence about giving Entry Wounds a try, you absolutely should.

Ramsey Bolton’s face when Littlefinger’s army defeats his is priceless. That episode was peak GoT

I agree with what you said at the beginning. I get why people consider hateable villains to be a clich nowadays, but I feel like there are a lot of situations where it works better than having a sympathizing backstory. Also, I'm going to be honest, some of my favorite movies are ones with hateable villains (Shawshank Redemption, Titanic, Gladiator). And yes, I absolutely love seeing them get what's coming to them.

I like how you mention giving the villain a “kick the dog” moment. It’s the opposite of “save the cat”, which is when you have the hero do something good in order to give the audience a reason to like them.

One thing I really love when it comes to comeuppance is when there is ironic circumstances involved. EG: With Joffrey, he ended up dying on what was meant to be the happiest day of his life where he married his queen. There’s just something so undeniably satisfying when villain punishments spawn irony with them.

As for a hatable villain who didn’t get their comeuppance, unfortunately, I think the one that most sticks in my brain is Mr Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life.

The Titanic guy taking the child is a pretty respectable move. He's resourceful. Cheers

In _Titanic_ I found Cal's footnote of an ending fitting since it shows his loss of status and prominence.

Todd from Breaking Bad, despite being around for such a short period of time, is undoubtedly the villain I hate the most. Seeing his neck get snapped is one the highlights of the finale.

Hantengu is a pretty good example of a hatable villain to come out recently. His personality splitting gives him the biggest cheat code against the Demon Slayers. Plus his backstory showed that he was a thieving, murdering con-artist even in life, and a merciless eater of humans. All the while, he is the only demon who straight-up demands sympathy and plays the victim to his victims.

Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds. Hides behind an air of civility yet you just know he's going to do something incalculably heartless at any second.

If I had to name a character who I love to hate, it would have to be Lady Tremaine from Cinderella, specifically the 1950 animated film.

One of the biggest things i find makes a villain hateable is when they not only have this power and status, but the story will also show them using that as a shield that allows them to commit atrocities that people cannot or will not retaliate to. In a straight up fight these people would likely lose but people cant raise a hand to them and they know it. It's the fact that they are both bullies and cowards that makes them hateable.

Nice advice. Thanks for the insight. In my opinion, villains in storytelling can be assigned to 8 broad categories: 1. The “force of nature”; De-personification is the main trait of this villain. The strong point of such a “character” is that the readers/ audience can’t approach it in ethical terms. Whether it is a wild animal (creature feature movies), a robot (terminator 2), a force of nature (volcano eruption in Dante’s Peak) or a fictional being (Allien series) the primary reaction that it induces is primordial fear (a man vs nature feeling) not a process of understanding. These types of villains “are what they are” and the key goal of the hero is to survive and then understand (if the storytelling allows it). 2. The “mastermind/ evil genius”; The key theme that shrouds this villain is “all according to plan”. These are usually characters with above average IQ and a charming personality. They also express some level of sociopathy but their intellect acts as a counterbalance to their callousness hence the readers/ audience detests some aspects of them and admires others. These villains act behind the scenes, weave master-plans that have many branches, are usually way ahead of the protagonist during most of the plot, have means (weapons, followers, wealth) that amplify their skills and their end-goals are most of the time concealed. These villains justify a many vs one storytelling where a group of characters cooperates to take them down without creating the feeling of injustice. Many James Bond villains, dr. Hannibal Lecter, the Master from DR.Who and James Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes are good examples of this type of villain. The unique part about the latter is that the protagonist (Holmes) exhibits roughly equal intellect as him, therefore the story feels more like a chess game and less like a cat and mouse game. 3. The “monster”; In contrast with the “force of nature”, this character is an actual person. Their key trait is full fledged sociopathy/ mental deviation. Most of the time these villains can understand the mainstream concepts of good and evil they just lack the empathy necessary to internalize them. This trait can come up as justified or unjustified, depending on the writers choice. They can have an abusive background or may have experienced a trauma at some point in their lives. If the writer chooses to write them as a corrupt/ inhumane being then these are the most overused villains we love to hate. Usually their motives are pedestrian (money, power) or plain unjustifiable sadism. This division is what creates two subcategories in their narratives, the “corrupt” (usually more thoroughly profiled as cluster B personalities with more pronounced motives and goals) and the “serial killer” (who is written more in terms of actions and less in terms of psychography). The “corrupt” is a usual villain in soap operas whereas the “serial killer” is a Jack the reaper kind of character (dr.Hannibal Lecter, Kevin Spacey from seven). 4. The “trickster”; This villain is a more freestyle version of the “mastermind” with some key differences. First of all, their actions are more opportunistic. They have a general modus operandi but not a master-plan therefore they are more frequent as side-antagonists and not as the main one. Secondly, their goals are more vague; their defining feature is that they establish the illusion that their actions are driven by boredom or because they just love inducing chaos. 5. The “villain by fate”; One of the rarest types in storytelling, they are recognizable by the fact that at some rate they didn’t chose what they are. They where either brought up in a way that broke them, they were “programmed” to wreck havoc or their inherent instability (this term can be translated as many thing in a story) “forces” their hand. If their actions aren’t morally reprehensible, they can receive sympathy from the audience/ reader. Dr Octapus from the second Spiderman movie is a good example. While his actions are fueled by the mad-scientist mentality it is the tentacles the push him to cross the line. His last line (“I will not dies a monster”) sums up one of the most frequent endings these characters have, “redemption by death”. 6. The “collaborator”; If I had to name a villain type that the audience/ readers will most probably hate (even more than the “monster/ currupt sub-type”), it would be the collaborator. This character is, in terms of mentality, a “good guy”, being able to maintain a sense of mainstream black and white morality. What grays the character are their choices; they understand “good” but they are not willing to make the sacrifices required to deliver it. These are the characters that will usually present with excuses like “… but they have my children”, “… but I will starve to death”, “… but the villain is too strong”. This contradiction is what causes the audience to disrespect them because it feels like they put a price on their morals. And their corruption usually becomes apparent at these fleeting moments when they don’t just do what is necessary to survive but seize the opportunity as an “excuse” to succumb into their inner immorality. 7 The “agent”; A loyal soldier to a greater cause. This character adopts the worldview of a greater power, whether this role if fulfilled by an actual person or a secular/moral system (ex. a political extremist). Agent Smith in the first matrix is (obviously) a textbook agent. This characters give of the sense of a puppet being handled by a puppeteer and they usual don’t grasp the full length of the cause they are serving. Many secret agents in spy films are this type of villain (ex. Luke Bracey in November-man if he is not assigned as a villain and not as an anti-hero). Moreover, the agent is in many cases a transitional role for the character. Once they gain deeper insight into the ploy they serve, they might switch sides or evolve into a different type of villain like the “userper”, a villain that starts of as a small fry and ends up being the main antagonist of the story. 8 The “parasite” or “negative force”; A villain that is not characterized by any hyberbole. They exist in the same in-universe realm/ class as the protagonist. They don’t exhibit any skill or knowledge that puts them on a different league than the protagonist and they are “earthly entities” carrying traits (good or bad) that we expect to come across in everyday life. They identifying feature is that they act in a way opposite to that of the hero. If a hero is a sum of predominantly good choices the “negative force” is a sum of mostly bad choices. It’s not that they are inherently bad it’s just that in the critical moment they will usually choose vice over virtue. Common patterns of behavior are being truant, emotional sapping to their social environment, egocentric and shortsighted. This too is a character that can be expected to evolve into something else during the progress of the story. The two students from Scent of a Woman (movie) form a nice pair of “hero”-“negative force”. 9. The “rising star” (*edit): A prodigy by every means, this character may bear virtues and skills (initially?) even superior to that of the protagonist. Unfortunately, they fall victim to the one vice they have (whatever that is) and cross to the dark side. This villain has heavy undertones of tragedy since they essentially could have been the hero but never thrived. Darth Vader from star wars and Harry Osborn from the original spiderman trilogy are good examples of this kind of villain. Finally, since the villains tend to evolve towards chaos the same way that protagonists tend to evolve towards order or closure, I feel that the villains are usually written as a hybrid of 2, more rarely 3 types, more than a clear cut single type. A common trait of a villain is breaking the rules and being unpredictable so their demeanor might not be that straightforward. Not that a hero can’t be a complex character as well.

This is good. It didn't occur to me to create a hateable villain. This is something definitely to consider

I am working on a feature film script, and I wanted to ensure my villain is hated right from the moment we meet him and that the audience positively loathes him more and more as the story unfolds. This video really helped me know that the way I designed my villain is on the right track. Thank you so much!

Joffrey was such a great villain that he had an explanatory backstory but we were all still relieved when he was taken out. One of my favourite villains is Roboocop's Clarence Boddiker. Dick Jones was great too but Clarence and his gang really chewed up the screen. It was also great to see evil henchmen actually have personalities. Glenn Close has some good villains - Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction and Cruella de Ville (before the retcon).

I guess I like stories with a hate-able villain as much as the next person. I find though that the stories with a villain that has relatable (maybe even noble) motivations and who just goes completely overboard when pursuing those goals stay with me the longest. I'm not sure if those two are actually mutually exclusive or not, but they seem to be.

Syndrome from the incredibles He made a plan and killed lots of retired heroes but his greatest weakness was that he like to show off A car going at his direction at full speed because he kept talking instead of leaving and the fact that he has a cape depite his greatest power being his intelect makes his defeat a very satisfying one for a villian that makes himself to be hated since the begining of the movie

Tim Roth's portrayal of the despicable Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy elicited a visceral response from me. The acting was so good that it legitimately broke my "this is just a story and that is just an actor" barrier. It's the absolute best hateful villain portrayal I've seen in a film, and just happens to match your list quite well.

Cutler Beckett for Pirates of the Caribbean comes to mind. A really well written character with an ending that he totally deserves. The actor did a great job

The Creed movies made Drago more sympathetic than he was in the original movie.

An important aspect of the comeuppance is that it matches the character in some manner. It shouldn't e something random or unrelated to the character. It has to be something that fits.

Klaus Schwab.

Another thing about undeserved power and no charisma is sometimes an entourage of followers who appreciate everything the villain does and says, making you questions your sanity. Like in Titantic, when Rose's snarky remarks about Freud get barely noticed but everybody applauds Cal for saying that a real mean makes his own luck. Same with Geoffrey and his mother/ the court, or Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic. They hold power because they are believed and applauded beyond all rationale.

Great video. Umbridge will always be my #1 go to for this, as you listed all of the traits, I said Umbridge after each one : D. Thanks for the great content!

I started GM-ing a TTRPG that takes place in the Fallout universe. My villain is a cold-hearted bastard named Slick. He doesn't really take any smug satisfaction out of harming people because he simply doesn't care what happens to other people. In order to fulfill his goals, he'll step on whoever he feels he has to step on and not think twice about it. He's very self-centered, a true sociopath. I wanted my party to hate him as a person but I felt it had to be something more than "he's an evil dickhead" full stop. I wanted to give them a personal reason beyond the continuous injustice of his mere existence. His "kick the dog" moment is at the very beginning of the campaign where my party had just finished a relatively uneventful caravan security job. They stop at some unimportant town in the middle of nowhere (that I designed to be their main hub area) where Slick says he can handle the rest of the job from there and that they should go see the boss about getting paid. But *he* was their boss. *He* was supposed to pay them. And by the time they realized this, he had already abandoned them, his pockets a little heavier than he had originally planned so he's happy. And while tricking someone out of money isn't as unnecessarily evil as kicking a dog, it's about as personal. This was my way of getting my party to hate my villain personally. I figured it'd be a smart move to start them off on a quest for petty revenge, so I can then have them stumble upon this whole conspiracy he's got going on that threatens the entire wasteland and everybody in it. My villain has big plans but stiffing the party out of their pay at the beginning had nothing to do with it. It was just a spur of the moment decision on the character's part to save a bit of money. Pennies to him but he's just that damn greedy and he assumes he'll get away with it so I want that short-sighted greed and ego to ultimately lead to his downfall. He is a truly heartless bastard who doesn't care about anyone but himself and I want that selfishness to get a lotta people killed if he isn't stopped. So I began his story by pissing off the wrong people and I can't wait to see what my friends do to him.

I've watched a handful of your videos now and I must say these are the most information rich videos on writing I've come across. You not only know your stuff but you are able to communicate it clearly and concisely. Thanks for your hard work.

Jar Jar Binks: 1. Kick the dog - his actions leads to huge catastrophe, that why he was banished from gungan society, he almost killed Qui-Gon when they just met. 2. Unforgivable behavior - he is an avatar of that 3. Not charismatic, charming, or funny - yes 4. Give them Power they didn't earn - he became a general of the entire gungan army and a senator of Naboo 5. Comeuppance - killed by Darth Vader in robot chicken.

Love these videos. Jumps right in, easy to follow, informative, tightly edited, pleasant speaking voice and pace that keeps you engaged. Not surprised that you teach with so many natural gifts.

Great video, Brandon! It's like you were reading my mind! I definitely needed this reminder as I am introducing a particularly horrendous villain into my current WIP. Thanks for the insights!

Joffrey and Cersei are perfect templates on how to write villains who are absolutely *insufferable*

I think part of it is also that we have to see the villain has every oportunity and resource to be a good, if not great, person, and instead they use all that ooportunity to be horrible. Joffre could have brought peace to the kingdoms, instead he decides to start war. The dude in Titanic was suave, charming, rich and could have been a good man, instead he decided to be a jerk about it. Ivan Drago had every chance to display good sportsmanship and instead used the mic to be callous for no reason.

Thank you so much for your great videos. Ive never published a book, but have been working on one for a bit under a year. For the last few years ive just been scrapping my work and starting over many times over, because i would reread what i had written and just didnt like it. It was something i wouldnt read. Ever since ive found you a few month ago, I can finally reread my work and see progress; you have elevated my writing to a whole new level. Thank you.

the general from Rambo IV, the bullies from Klass, the guys from I spit on your grave, the mafia from Equalizer 3, and Umbridge from Harry Potter come in mind.

The video clip of Joffrey's excruciating demise earned millions of views within minutes of being posted on the web. Not only comeuppance for a super-hateable villain, but a brilliant performance by Gleeson.

A mini-Masterclass in villainy. Good insights and examples!

Nothing to do with the subject of this particular vid, but I just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful series. As someone who is currently editing a prospective debut, it's priceless. A little validation for things I'm currently doing, and a lot of tips for improvement. Love it.

Great job at the subtle differences from a villain you love and A villain you hate!

A niche example: Angus Bumby from Alice: Madness Returns. Your entire life, you believed your family died in an accidental house fire. Now, imagine finding out your therapist - the one who was supposed to help you - not only was responsible for the fire, but he stalked, raped, and then murdered your sister. Then, he started the fire with the intent of killing everyone in order to hide his crime. And that he ALSO has been grooming and selling orphaned children into sex trafficking, and has been trying to do the same to you. I read somewhere that American McGee, the creator of American McGee’s Alice, deliberately did not give Bumby a backstory because his crimes were so heinous, he didn’t want people sympathizing with Bumby. I think this was a good call.

Annie Wilkes, Anton Chighur are two of my faves for different reasons. One is a complete sadist and the other is a seemingly unstoppable psychopath. Both of them capture the screen.

Great topic and great outline of how to make hatable characters. To come up with my most hatable I had to think of what characters generated the most negative emotional response from me. I have two I’d like to share: 1.) Tom Berenger’s character Staft Sgt. Bob Barnes in Platoon. Yes, his reputation for keeping his men alive is solid but it often comes at the risk of those he doesn’t like in his platoon and at the expense of innocent lives. 2.) Doug Hutchison’s character Percy Wetmore in The Green Mile. I hate that character so much I could swear I can smell his greasy hair every time he’s in a scene. Great topic and thanks for putting it out. Cheers from Boston ☘️

You are simply amazing! I love your content!!!

Keep tha vids coming, I've been learning a lot watching your channel! :)

Hello there! Love your videos. Please make one about dumb unbelievable deaths of powerful characters. Like "taking a bullet" moments when there was absolutely no need for that, the character is perfectly able to avoid the danger and save the other character, but bad writing chooses not to. Take the Mulan live action, where the Witch can do almost anything, and dies with a simple arros which I'm sure she can just turn into chocolate like freaking Majin Buu.

I had to come back and say a big "Thank You!" I've been contemplating a villain for a steampunk tale I've been tinkering with, and after pondering your advice, a big "Click!" when off in my head and more than a few options popped into my head!

I think it'd be interesting to see how to do the things mentioned in the video while also making the villain seem like a realistic person and not a caricature "evil villain guy".

Furudo Erika from Umineko is my favorite hateable villain for not only how she goes completely against the themes of the story she's in but more so because you learn what those themes are in the first place from how hard she goes against.

Professor Umbridge. Thats how.

I have been watching your videos for some hours now, Jeez what an amazing channel this is , Subscribed!

I love this. Great video!

Colavaere Saighan in the Wheel of Time books. She's a villain that is SO hateable. And when she finally gets her comeuppance, it's super satisfying.