In the first part of this series, we're boiling down baddies to their essence: What makes us dislike or care about them, and how can that contribute to a better story? learncharacterdesign.com / bageldenizen
the best villains always motives that the protagonist has trouble arguing with. Villains are better when you can logically see why they are doing something rather than them just doing it because their evil.
True!!!! Take flowey from undertale for example. He literally did some really bad stuff in the past and I’m the main story but only because he was literally forced to see the people he loved get harmed and couldn’t intervene (plus he also died a bunch of times)
Would that just be a great antagonist? A villain’s motives are traditionally evil, even if the protagonist doesn’t know how to argue against their motives
Magical Grim maybe try to build off of their choices and interactions they might face. Then add what you might personally want and what you might consider to go well with the character (I'm just putting ideas out here so I hope they are helpful in some way 😅)
Put a balance between what is universally considered right and wrong within the villain. Give them a motivation, a will to act, then see how they fare under different circumstances, interacting with different people. Consider how far they will go in achieving their goal, and how far they are willing to. Show that the villain, while having a certain conviction in pursuing their ideals, has other sides, rules, etc... that would influence the process. Ultimately, craft someone who is both comparable and contradictory to the protagonist.
Make a character that isn't quite evil. Take away the wish to be above and the occurring trait to put others down so they can lift themselves up and instead have them oppose( The thoughts, wishes, morals, or character in general ) the main character or character you want to be good. Make them have less morals than the hero and they'll still look like the bad guy.
Enderrocer GD Lil tip: I'm just telling you so you don't present a grammatical error if say you are to sell copies or something: It's spelled Oxygen. Enjoy your day!
What about an antagonist that is NOT evil? One example is "L" from Death Note. The protaganist is a maniacal killer who wants to play god ironically named "Light", and the antagonist is a policeman trying to bring this killer to justice named "L". Who's the villain?
Up for debate. Light: The man who is a serial killer with thousands of people killed by him but stopped all wars and made crime go down by 70%, L: A detective trying to stop the worlds most dangerous killer ever, but if he catches the killer he allows war and crime to start up again.
The fact that people would support a maniacal shadowy overlord who straight up murders anyone even so much as accused of any crime anywhere in the world is deeply, deeply disturbing. But it certainly explains why the justice system is so broken in basically every country.
If the antagonist is good, it's an anti-villain. Some examples are Dib from Invader Zim, or a character I made called Storm, who works for a villain, but isn't evil herself
I always believed that L was the good guy in the show. He stands strong with better morals the Light does. And even though Light does have kinda good reasoning it does not excuse all that he has done. The ends don't always justify the means.
I think my villain disagrees a lot with the protagonist. There's a huge scene where you find his motivation and his humble beginnings, and he really takes away everything the protagonist loves just to test him. Not to brag, but I'm saying that this video helped a lot!
Depends on the villain. I don't really write heroes or villains though, I tend to lean more toward just writing about people. What turns a character into an idea that audiences interpret as a 'villain' are when they're experiencing varying degrees of pain. Pain is what causes people to do terrible things. I think it's dishonest to imply that any person is inherently villainous.
That’s so true. There’s also heroes who have gone through a lot of pain and that’s what drives them to be a better person. Like shoto todoroki from my hero academia (an anime) he was abused by his father but he still wants to become a hero!
The main villain (and by that I mean the one who caused everything, even though he doesn't appears until the last saga) of my story doesn't sees what he's doing as evil. In fact, to him, the protagonist and his group are the "evil" ones. His deal is that he wants to cover the world in darkness, triggering a so-called "evolution" of mankind. (I make it very clear that light and darkness don't necessarily mean good and evil. There are servants of the gods who commit atrocious acts, and wielders of darkness who are very sweet people, one of them being best friends with the protagonist.) He believes that doing so is his ultimate act of love towards mankind, for he sees their complexity and potential, and wants to bring that out. The reason why he uses darkness for that is because not only he was born from the dark matter of the universe, but he sees his brothers, who were born from the light of the big bang, as the ones who hinder mankind, ignoring their potential and "covering them with the light of ignorance".
I'm thinking of making my "villain" character as my protag's best friend. She doesn't seem like the antagonist, but it turns out she was all along because she started the story's conflict and had been lying the whole time to keep everything under control, even if it ends up hurting the protagonist. I'm trying to keep her as uncliche as possible, what do you think? Great vid, by the way! I probably wouldn't have gotten this far if it weren't for you, Brookes ^_^
That’s really interesting, and I respect your originality. We often try to control our friends behavior, and maybe it could all be somehow related to that? Thematically?
Maybe it could the that she wants to hide the mistake, but is so busy in doing so that she stops being a good friend, and ends up hurting people she cares about so that they’re still her friend?
Was it this video or the second part that I talked about Marvel villains? Yeah, lots to be desired from them so far! Zemo was great though, in my opinion, just as a subversion of a lot of stuff.
My Villain is the protagonist. He works for an organization that likes to create human animal hybrids. He's normally very relaxed, and takes enormous pride in his torturous work, like singing in the lab while people are screaming, putting amalgamated skulls on his mantle piece. He has insomnia though, and his lack of sleep can make him sometimes tweak out. He'll yell and destroy things, and simple things will frustrate him to a boiling point. He's also chided for not being serious enough and having too much fun at his job. The job isn't for fun, it's for creating powerful beings that can be manipulated. He'll often sing or doodle in meetings, and laugh when people berate him. He's really lonely, and tries to hide his angst with all the bravado. Is this character really overdone?
O.liveil y e e t I think his personality is on point; psychopaths tend to be childish but they hide their soft spots with brave exteriors. However, I need some back story to truly understand this character, because he just seems like one of those villains who are evil "just for fun" without a proper past to explain his actions. Of course, his reason for creating the hybrids is so he can manipulate them, but why does he do that in the first place?
People probably won't want to read the story if it is entirely told from the point of an unsympathetic villain whose only motivation seems to be to be as over-the-top evil as he possibly can. In fact, it feels like you are making a kids story and this is the villain and the heroes will probably be some of those animal hybrids that were created but then somehow lost.
O.liveil y e e t honestly i have a complete female version of this haha right down to the human animal hybrids, except their for her personal projects and she works alone
I love when villains want the same outcome as heroes do, but don't believe their means would achieve it at all if not only make things unitnetionaly so much worse than the villian themselves.
I have only one story idea where the villain is really, truly fleshed out and scary in this way. It's set in an X-men like world, but where superheroes are more numerous than humans, and the heroes oppress the humans like in segregation in the south. Not officially, but... de facto. The hero is a human girl who really wants to be a superhero, and despite everyone telling her no, she becomes one by creating magnetic gauntlets to swing around the city like a magnetic spiderman. The villain is basically her, but he went to extremes to get powers, and his hatred of the superhero institution has turned him into a vigilant terrorist who wants to make every human superpowered to create equality. It's kind of like Season one of Legend of Korra hits the original Xmen movie. I think it'll be different enough. It'll be superheroes set in Britain instead of America for once, so hopefully that'll be enough to make things different.
Michael Offner that sounds cool, but I'm not sure helping humans be super powered and terrorism is the same, also making it be in Britain won't change things up enough, add more weird shit.
Its Shrek It's more that the villain uses terror to get his message across. Plus his method for gaining powers nearly killed him (hmm, that's a bit cliche, might want to change that.) and would probably kill half the population as well. As for weird shit, trust me, I've got enough ideas to differentiate. I'm typing on a phome right now tho and don't have the parience with a type keyboard to say it all.
Its Shrek Have't got a name yet. I'm putting most of my efforts into learning and a different project now, but I'm keeping the set of four concrete characters and vague story ideas in the back of my notebook for later. All the characters are based on bands, and an Arctic Monkeys inspired villain is just too good to pass up.
I rarely make evil 'villains'. My antagonists are done in a way that I actually try to make them as much like regular people as possible, to the point where you are meant to actually root for them to a point and they would be worthy of being called a protagonist if it were not for the importance of the actual protagonist. The more important the task the protagonist(s) are performing, the more likable I try to make the villains. Hell, in a project I'm currently working on, the protagonists are trying to gather certain items to stop a plague from wiping out an entire race of people so the antagonists consist of a slave master with a 4 year-old daughter to live for, a slave who yearns to find the mother he lost as a child, and a bounty hunter with a family to feed, tracking a close friend of their's, one of the protagonists.
is there any way to present two characters in a way that both come off as protagonist and antagonist at the same time, with no clear cut "villain" or way to discern who is right? Say one main character is a former politician, and the maddened bloodthirsty leader of slum criminals, with very twisted morals, a sadistic personality, and unrelenting brutality, but a with very kind heart and a very magnanimous personality, as he's the one who started many campaigns and projects to help the bottom class, including funding an orphanage, hospital, and a (now delinquent run) school. With a passion for support the, in his eyes, "wronged bottom class" that hasn't been given a chance at becoming anything better. The other character is the current mayor of this backwater and underfunded microplanet/city, a ruthless and cunning individual willing to do everything it takes to do what he thinks is right. Even if that involves lies, deceit, and murder. However, really all he wants to do and has done is keeping the main populace safe, and that means keeping the "properly civilized" lower to upper class civilians safe and separate from the "morally twisted and hateful" bottom slum classes, eventually coming to the decision to start culling them due to the recent increases in outbreaks of violent rioting as many have started entering the main city and killing those living in the outer parts. (I'm still new to this obviously. If anyone has critique or knows where I could find some that would be helpful)
Jaden D. My characters are all inherently bad people if you would read from a different perspective. Take the phrase "No one saves the monsters from the hero." What is the villians objective? How does it clash with the hero's motive?
Jaden D. I think writing characters like that requires a split perspective; like each chapter changes POV so there's no definite hero of the story. I'm not sure if you're an anime fanatic, but Death Note pulls this off quite well. The story is centered around Light, who can write anyone's name in his Death Note and they'll die in seconds, so he uses this power to kill criminals. However, L thinks this is unjust because the criminals never get a second chance, so L tries to imprison Light while Light tries to kill L so he can continue his "justice". It really makes you question what's right and what's wrong, as well as who will prevail in the end.
Jaden D. The two biggest things in my eyes would be as follows: 1. Give each character about the same amount of time on paper. Don't write 50 pages on character A and ten on character B, because then it'll look like character B is the antagonist, because they got less time to talk. 2. Very clearly show positive qualities in both characters equally. Then the reader(s) will feel for both characters as protagonists, then as antagonists when they're doing evil things
Thank you all for your input, I'll take these all in mind. However, what if I were to throw in the little catch that I can only narrate from one perspective, and the rest can only be told through other characters, hints and propaganda, and other things without him directly being a main character, and yet still both feeling equally horrible? (Id be revealing information about both, but how to go about painting Blotski Drahmnes as equally bad/good as the main character is my sticking point.) Just a bit of a minor thinking/narrative challenge for myself, but one I plan to go through.
My villain is a fairy, that can also change into a dragon. She always disguises as a good girl. Kind of like a yangire, but more controlled. She's very shy in front of other people and is usually drawing dragons. The part that other people don't see, is she's planning with her fellow dragons(good ones too) to steal some complicated dragon word thing, that powers all humanity's tech and use it to improve the dragon lives. She's like a villain to the heroes, but a hero to the dragon.
This is really helpful! I just introduced the real villain in my story ( there are 3 villains in total cause the story is long. ), and I needed to make sure that she was good enough to make her fit into reality. So, thanks for making this!
I have to really thank you for this, I was having trouble designing the perfect antogonist for my story. It is one of the few reasons I've been making it for so long. Thanks to this advice I have some ground to work off of, and I feel it will help me a lot. Once again, thanks for making this! Keep up the good work! :D
Thanks for this! I've actually been thinking of changing the main villain in my superhero story. Not all that much, but who he is in relation to the main character. It might seem a little contrived to have him as someone Gabe knows but ever since my friend wrote a certain scene, I couldn't get the concept out of my mind that that person should be something to the story. Our villain was kind of bland. Power hungry and trigger happy with his redshirt lackeys. It's fine for a roleplay but for a story we're going to put out there, I think even if briefly if he's changed to be connected to Gabe's past is more compelling. Instead of being a random guy who took advantage of the power shift, he has a similar background to Gabe but bought into the criminal lifestyle unlike the hero who mostly did it to survive. Also for a related story that's supposed to connect, he made more or less the same kind of villain. But I think for the related story I'll keep him since my character I believe is more interesting. Both as a contrast to the villain and being a more compelling character. An assassin single mother who works to keep her daughter safe and even becomes an adoptive parental figure to one of the heroes (outside her job, she has no ill will toward them). Though maybe some interesting things can also happen as her late husband died working under this villain. What do you think about these concepts?
A lot of times, I think the best villains are the ones that can be "examined" just on the negative impact they leave. Building up a sense of dread towards the character using their effect on other characters that know the villain. Someone who's affected several very different people with something they've done, causing them to develop a common trait or series of traits; for example, trauma and resulting coping mechanisms.
Personally for me, I find a story and it's characters most interesting when you get to know a villain and their background and goals well enough that eventually you aren't entirely sure who to side with.
@Phase that’s called a sympathetic villain. I think that those are the best kind because they’re more realistic and make the story a lot better (especially when they end up being the true hero of the story)
Okay, THIS is a homework I can do. WAIT. THIS is an EXERCISE, NOT homework. You almost got me. hehehe Time to watch part 2. No homework, please. jk Wow you have a lot more subs than 2300, as you got to 51K this week! Congrats.
I like that type of villian. Villians who want to make peace over the world, but tries to achieve their goals in the wrong way. Good intentions, bad decisions.
One of the stories I'm writing is based on a TV show (I've been changing things to keep it from being too similar, but you can still see its roots), and the character I most want to utilize _but also_ most need to modify is the classroom bully: the show portrayed her as a spoiled brat with NO GOOD QUALITIES, and I don't want to put someone like that in this story as a major character, even as a petty villain. Borrowing her shoes and writing something with her as the protagonist sounds like a great way to find her good points, thanks.
I have a character who has little regard for most human life- but that's because he's a vampire. If he were to care about every person he laid eyes on, the guilt of killing people to supply blood for his "pack" (since he is what you could call the "alpha" of it, or just the head) would drive him mad, if we can exaggerate here. I don't see him as an antagonist, though... He has shown that he can care for others, even if it is just for close allies or friends. So, I'm confused here. Would those qualities make him an anti-hero?
rolling girl , I actually have an antagonist who has no regard for life and merciless killer,.and the motive for it, is because he wants to bring the world to it's knees with a new weapon and will even go as far as threatening innocent lives to get what wants
I wondered when your next video would come out. Where are your glasses though? Did you leave them so we don't see the reflection of your script in them? :D Anyway. Nice video!
I'm making an RPG based in sort of a mixed-time (swords and shields but also giant robots and lasers) in an alternate history world. Though I really should be working out the kinks in the game's mechanics, I just keep getting drawn to the story writing, haha. Your videos have helped me along in designing my character's stories and motivations.
You have the Golden Theme!? Where did you get it?! I've been looking everywhere for it but it's out of print and people on Amazon are charging insane prices for it!
I like to base my villains off my own flaws (at least the ones I’ve identified). That might sound pretentious, but it makes them easier to write and understand!
My story is of the fantasy genre and my antagonist is the ruler of a kingdom with people only of his kind. He is a dark pixie (it's better than it sounds) along with everyone else in the kingdom. When he was younger he was told not to go into the outer woods, or where the humans live, but he disobeyed and became friends with a boy in a nearby town. That boy later betrayed him and sold him out to the rest of the town and the townspeople charged into his kingdom, killing numerous amounts of his kind, including his mother. They were driven out of the forest and he returned to the kingdom with a hatred for humans. When he eventually took on the mantle of king he started to attack towns and villages and take all of their resources for vengeance but to also help his kingdom and his people and the only thing he cares about is his kingdom and his daughter. In present time he plans to start a war with another empire but another one of his kind escapes past the walls and into a nearby village out of curiosity and becomes friends with many of the people there and plans on stopping his plans. This is the protagonist of the story, who is also his daughter. Does he seem like a good antagonist, and please tell me if you have any suggestions
Uhh, try to make the villian not know that his daughter is the protagonist untill the climax of the story. Like a have seidge on the village and the daughter along with the people fight a battle. The remaining soldiers retreats and they tell their king that they have a powerful demon or something. Idk. but eventually in the final battle make sure the king knows his daughter is against him. Make it a Brutus stabbing Caesar moment ( shock and betrayal etc.) How you want to end it is up to you :P
A character in a story I wrote for my Nephew, is not a hero, Nor a villain. But he’s also not a neutral character, it’s hard to explain him. And when I was making this character I was watching your and other youtubers videos on villains, and ones on heroes.
My villain well he was once a human who had a daughter but he mostly focused his life in his job (he is a scientist of technology)one day his daughter got hit by a car and died ,the father felt in pain of his daughter death that he wasn't there for her,his pain wouldn't stop of his guilt he tried making a duplicate of her but it wasn't the same he felt just pain ,every day he would here the voice of his daughter saying ,,it's your fault,you weren't there for me" he soon gone mad and came to a conclusion to remove his pain and other human emotions he replaced his body as a machine he no longer felt anything ,but this change made him think what if he removed emotions from life and replace it metal ,and so he build an army and develop a weapon he called ,,the seed of re creation" he would spread this seed to other world's transforming organic life into machine and the life forms he would capture he transform them into machine all part of his army.. Any thoughts and changes I should do ?
I find that some of the best stories don't have evil villains, but relatable antagonists. For example I've already came up with a villain with high ethical morals and ultimately wants to do good, but his methods of doing so has hidden threats that he fails to acknowledge so the protagonist has to stop him despite having similar ideologies. A moral-yet-flawed-antagonist if you will.
My story has a few villains. The most present danger is the archdemon who has possessed the elder brother of the protagonist, while the hidden villain is the one who manipulates the events in order to try and overtake the continent with the demon army, someone bound to the Archdemon as she has been able to reincarnate over three thousand years, each time carrying the knowledge gained through past lives forward with the goal of revenge and destroying the barriers between the spiritual realm and the mortal one.
I really like villains, who by doing the things that made them to be seen as villains were holding off much worse and otherwise UNSTOPPABLE threat, often forcing the hero to take his place to prevent such scenario after the dumbass killed the villain off. ↑ This story arc is a beautiful case of an anti-villain and uses the sisyphus cycle for its story, as it essentially never ends. Or the villain, who is portrayed as villain, but through the story and reading between the lines, we can find the villain is actually the better one of the two(but probably not by that much, to keep it realistic), after realizing how we were cheering at a war criminal at best. ↑This story tells the tale how propaganda works, and of its horrors.
Working on a series, and the protagonist is currently holding several of the characters in a confined area. I want to make it so people question whether the protagonist is actually the antogonist and vice versa. But of course in the end I want people to know that the defining characteristic between them is the reason why one is good and bad, but they won't know that at the beginning. Any tips?
i have a question I've heard of a some people talking about a different kind of villain, a "force of nature" character who doesnt have a fully constructed mind set or views, an example being the Joker. a character who is evil to be evil, dehumanized. or maybe, a literal force of nature like a storm, or a volcano. Would you consider these kinds of villains to be just as valid as the more human kinds? as long as they are done right of course
I always find the best antagonists to closely accommodate the protagonist. Like two people who do the same thing but with different end goals. A mother needs money, and is in desperate times, to the point she becomes a stripper and private dancer to hopefully find a better life for her and her child. While doing what she does, she could meet another stripper who was forced into the profession, but instead of for the goal of finding a better life, it is for money and lust. Then they feud for their own personal gains. I find this to be a more relateable subject than maybe "This person wants to destroy the world, I MUST stop him". I just feel that evil can exist like this, but unless it directly needs to come into conflict with the character without it being a coincidence or a long impossible stretch that the idea is more enjoyable. But maybe that is just me. I usually do the same thing with characters who end up as friends. They have different end goals, but are friends for the sake of coexisting in their field.
I know, I'm late, but I'm currently making a villain for an animation series I'm making, I need to know if basing it off someone who wronged you and the character representing revenge, hatred, love, and sorrow is a character based off real life events? ( If anyone is wondering, this villain is based off my crush)
My story takes place in a computer and my villain character is a guy named Morbus, he WAS a prince from a different dimension,a evolved earth that's like ours except everything,literally EVERYTHING(mostly in nature) can kill you easily,so humans evolved to be able to live in this earth,they are even smarter they have more advanced technology and they even know magic and have gone to space and met aliens,and also met people from different dimensions,they all prospers in a huge government ruled by many kings and queens,my character was a prince he was around 11-14 at this time in this world his parents were kind rulers like other kings and queens in this world who were fair to all,one day these monsters spawned from evil(I'll explain if someone asks) and attacked this world,almost killing everything,for the night the monsters went to cave for search of survivors Morbus knew there wasn't any and that that cave was gonna collapse and kill the monsters,he tried to trap them in with a giant boulder invincible boulder he put a spell on but the monsters grabbed him and tried to kill him with magic,Morbus survived the attack but he was disfigured,his skin turned into a mess of static,code bars,glitches,like missingo thing,but the cave collapsed killing the monsters,later Morbus was found by the survivors and he was deemed a hero for what he did,but the people were secretly disgusted by what he looked like,Morbus also stumbled a lot and fell over,he couldn't talk well and had a hard time grabbing things or doing anything with his hands or anything we can normally do,he also heard voices in his head,each representing an emotion that told him what to do,one of them was what would become the evil Morbus and was the only negative emotion:hatred,later after a few years Morbus was seen as a freak and not a hero,he was bullied,teased,insulted,beaten,and done other bad things by almost every one,the ones who didn't do it just watched,ignored,or even cheered at his pain,when this happened one of the voices in his head disappeared,the hatred voice told him to defend himself,but Morbus ignored him,one day when Morbus was 18 he wanted to ask some girl he liked out,but when he tried he was made fun of and beaten by other people around him,and the girl also said some really harsh things to him,this is when Morbus snapped,all the voices in his head gone even the real morbus disappeared the only voice left was hatred,he took control and other voices appeared,rage,paranoia,fear,disgust,pain,etc,at this time "Morbus" discovers not only did the monsters magic disfigured him,it also gave him great power,the strongest of them all was the ability to make a disease that can kill in days,hours,even in seconds it was also very painful,with that power he brutally killed every thing in the town then the world,then he disappeared into a pocket dimension he made and watched humans ,they still caused the pain he felt on others,a few years later he discovered an organization of people who also has suffered the wrath of humanity,they want to destroy humans and all life,so they no longer spread their pain,Morbus joined this group and is now one if it's 4 leaders and now wears a suit that looks like a kings outfit which is combined with small armor,an outfit that belonged to his father and is the only thing he has to remember him
I have a side character to the protagionist playing the villian for a bit in the story. It's a weird clash between "I have to make this character more blunt and murdery, she's a demon." and "This character is suppose to be after the tougher they act the softer they are saying, that's too murdery, we need more softie." I could go through a thousand drafts trying to get this character down to a perfect T. Hopefully your videos can help me a bit.
My villain is somebody who is taking up his dead father's life goal to conquer the continent, while my hero and his friends band together to make a rag-tag resistance to try and stop him.
My villain is a Griffin prince, who was imprisoned years ago for rebelling against his fathers wishes, and attacked the opposing kingdom in fear of an invasion. When his parents learn of his genocidal attack, disgusted, they sentence him as a murderer and send him away to the depths of Tartarus. Centuries later, he escapes to find that his kingdom had been banished and sealed away with magic, imprisoning everyone in it. The opposing kingdom he had attacked years ago retaliated, and now all the other griffons suffered the consequences of his actions. Since he wasn't sealed with the curse on his kingdom he could still enter and leave it as he pleased. In it, he found that his parents had passed away from a broken heart, and all that's left is his aging brother keeping what's left together afloat. The villain takes his place as a vengeful king, searching for a way to break the spell, and free his kind from their imprisonment. The protagonist at one point in the story is torn in aiding him in his quest, as it will risk the Griffin king to not only free his people, but to unleash his army causing an all out war between them and the humans. Essentially, he's just a guy who made a horrible mistake in the past, and by trying to fix it, he'll just end up making more.
I think Kira from the anime Jojos bizzar adventure part 4 is a (almost) perfect villain. you can clearly see and notice that hes evil but his personality makes him so much better.
I have a group of villains but I most of them don't have a name: 1.[no name]-A little, black cat with a whichcap who cannot only use magic to optain what she wants but she can use her claws too.She's very selfish and she can easily make u do what she wants; 2.Eggster(idk where did this name come from)-A yellow chicken male(just to avoid the other word u can use to describe it)who is irresponsible and loves eating(his "mouth" can widely open and with his tongue he can drag u inside it)and he also has very sharp teeth; 3.[no name]-A big,flying,purple eye with the wings if a bat and who can shoot lasers.He's very serious when it comes about doing his job and he hates Eggster. 4.[no name]-A black dragon with pants and whose eyes cannot be seen,with big black wings and sharp claws.He is very destructive but that's his way of appreciation; 5.[no name]-A giant alien monster who destroys everything usually for no reason; 6.Eldrill-A little white lizard who can use the power of electricity and who has drills for claws.He is a little psychopath. 7.Red-A little red dragon who has the power to copy other powers.He is egocentric but heis Eldrill's best friend. 8.Myredor Solfa-A big red dragon who doesn't jave any amazing powers except for his intelligence.He doesn't like fooling around or relaxing. 9.Plan D.-A grey seashell with 4 tentacles coming out as his legs and arms and with seven orange eyes but he likes having just one eye opened at a time.He likes discoverying and verifyng everything aswell as killing for his studies. 10.Dradies-A purple,three-headed dragon with fur.His left head is dumb and his right head is a genious while the middle head is malefiscent.He gives random dislikes on random stuff when he sleeps... I'm not very good at this.....
Another note for creating a good villain: ensure that the protagonist has a *reason* to reach a conflict with this character. Otherwise, (unless you're going for something very specific) it makes the story look quite 1-dimensional and/or forced.
Do you think you can review some of my characters and tell me if they are good or bad? I've been working on a few for five years (almost six) and need some reassurance.
I have a story where the hero and the villain are so similar in personally that they can basically be the same...hold on...that gave me an idea for another story...Thanks
I'm currently stuggling with choosing which character should be my protagonist. My original main character has a fully constructed story (with sub plots and everything), however, I feel like I've lost touch with her. She feels a little static to me; like any other young female protagonist. The other character is actually one of the villains. It wasn’t until recently, when I stopped really enjoying my main character that I saw potential for another perspective. The problem is the villain's story arcs wouldn't extended as far as the original main character's would've, even when I try to inject some extre sub plots into it. Well that, and the fact that she could potentially be off-putting to readers if written to her full villain-y glory. I really can't decide what to do... Should I go with the villain or the original main character?
I always try to make my story not just black and white. Usually the villain does in fact feel, but they just believe what they're doing is right. I even redeemed a few villains (Not them all of course).
I have an idea for a character thats a hero in their story but at the end of their story they enter another other universe (thats from a different story) and questions arise about whats not revealed because one character at the sight of them brings back memories they had blocked out and the rest of the group is totally fine, then see their face thats in fear that as far as i have it right now
Now, I want to play a little game with you all: I will talk about three characters in a story I´m writing on, a.k.a. list their abbilities and actions, without revealing their names or their place in my story. Figuring out the latter will be your goal in this game. :) Ready? Go: 1. The owner of a small shop who, for mysterious reasons, sells diamonds, original paintings from several centuries ago and other stuff for very little money without going bankrupt. Every attempt of figuring out how he does this ends with the person sent to get this information getting attacked by an ancient ghost and ending up in hospital. 2. A 2000 year old demigod who is the personification of the concept of lies who observes the whole world and controls society by making lies more or less likely to be believed as he sees fit. He also occasionally shape shifts into someone else and hides in plain sight. 3. A 3000 year old vampire who only cares for himself and either supports or hinders society based on his mood. He posesses great knowledge of everything and uses it to either cause or prevent trouble for various reasons.
So! The current main antagonist of my story - Starfall - is named Lord Daggertooth. He is basically a warlord who was once a soldier in a king's army. He wants to take over the country because as a soldier, he always felt like he was belittled and cast aside, when he was actually one of the best soldiers around. So, when he was still a soldier, he decided to hire assassins to kill the previous king. Is that an interesting villain???
ReyaitheShadowWolf all I can say is a soldier paying assassins to kill his king is an extremity for that he would need more motivation or a more reasonable reason than just not feeling valued ,like did he personally hated the king in anyway ,does he has reason to see him the cause of any suffering he went through.
Damani Campbell Interesting, thanks for the critique. ^^ I mean, Daggertooth's backstory isn't fully fleshed out yet, this is just basic info on his past.
Okay so here's my idea for a villain, ready? Name: John Christmas Goal: Get The 7 Sisters(protagonists) to join his Street gang or rather them merge. Motive: So he can have no threat to his gang or even himself. Personality: Calm, cunning, Bray Wyatt-esque, Strategic Methods: Hacking, Manipulation(Blackmail), Non-violent force What do you think, is there stuff i need to add? fix? IDK let me know
My villain is a lonely man with personality disorder, unconcerned for feelings of others, lacks interest and is detached from social relationships and has restricted emotional expression. Hates loud noises and respects anyone who doesn't act obnoxious, kills anyone who has annoyed him in their own house with objects from their own home, and always burns the murder weapon somewhere else after use. Due to his personality disorder and intelligence, he is difficult to track down and is never suspected for murder beacuse of his calm nature. He blends in crowds so well that detectives who investigate crimes committed by him, might have been sitting next to him on a train, walked past him on the streets or questioned him at his own house without ever suspecting that he's a murderer.
My antagonist is the son of a poor family who was manipulated into helping construct a mansion for a wealthy family. The wealthy family had promised to let them move into the mansion once it’s done, but when it is they were shunned out and weren’t allowed to come in. The son was angered by this and swore to take out his revenge on the family. A couple years later he managed to make a living for himself after his parents passed away ( he’s 16 currently). A descendant of the wealthy family (protagonist) had crossed paths with the antagonist and saw the poor condition he was in, so he offered him come and move in into their house. Once the antagonist found out where he lived, he took advantage of this and begin to seek revenge on this family. Sorry this was long, I just wanted some constructive criticism to see if ny antagonist has a good motive.
One great anime with a good hero/villain relationship to me is Death Note. At the beginning of the story you want to root for the protagonist, but once the antagonist of the story comes in, with better morality then them, you realize who you should be rooting for and it's not the protagonist. It is quite interesting in that the protagonist of the story is the villain, which is a good change of pace from the normal hero story.
My protag is a monster which live in forest with animals, plants and ghost stuff, wanting to protect them, knowing people will destroy the forest. My antag is some guy which lives in a town with other people, wanting to protect them, knowing that forest creatures will destroy the town.
My antagonist is like a person who plays god and creates a kind of "zone" where a community lives to do work so that their supplies can be shipped to people who live in space because of an apocalypse that they "accidentally"created
I think villains are so much more fun to design. Also, I've noticed that if I'm coming up with characters for some story I want to write, my hero tends to have some of the same major character traits as the villain.
Also, the way I decide who's going to be a "hero" or "villain" is what flaws they have and how they deal with them. If they let their flaws control them and cause them to look at themselves as better than others, then they're a villain. If they deal with their flaws (not suppressing them, dealing and trying to be a better person) and try to keep their flaws from controlling them, they're a hero.
here is a question. in my story there is a group of 8 people, but one character can be said to be the main one as most of the focus is on her and she was the first introduces as well. now, what if my main character *is* the villain?
I'm making a story that focuses on the multiverse, and alternate realities, alternate versions of the same person, etc. The villain of this story is an alternate version of the protagonist, who ended up absorbing dimensional energy in the past. However, after absorbing that energy, despite it giving him incredible power, it ended up starting to kill him. He needed more and more energy to survive, eventually it led up to him devouring entire realities. He eventually comes to the protagonist's reality, and the protagonist fights to protect his universe. Is this a good villain? I want some feedback, some constructive criticism to help me make this story good.
"...Plus, it might reveal to you something about yourself and help you grow as a person, and realize that that lunch lady who wronged you was just doing the best she could." Got real for a second, there.
my villain is one who was never noticed as a kid all because of another kid. nobody saw him, heard him, smelled him and even felt him. he vowed to get revenge on that kid and joined an evil society. due to him never being noticed, he had a big adventage in sneaking around. he stole powerful weapons and kidnapped multiple people, not knowing why and what he was doing. I have big plans if I ever animate. there's many more things that I would do. what's yours?
My villain started out as a pretty friendly demon. Yes, I know, demons are bad, but he was friendly at first. Anyways, he was summoned into the real world by a lonely child, and the two of them quickly became great friends. However, during that time period, humans didn't trust demons under ANY circumstance. The child's folks forced him to leave the demon in the dust. Now, the child was the only real friend that the demon ever had, so naturally, the demon was CRUSHED by this. Not knowing an appropriate way to respond, the demon lashed out at the child's folks and was defeated and sent back to where he came from, where the other demons looked down upon his actions, and threw him in jail. From this point forward, the demon was referred to as 'Mal'. The time Mal spent in jail robbed him of any sanity he previously had, and he became completely mentally unstable. This whole ordeal had taught Mal to never trust anybody because they could ALWAYS betray you. Anyways, Mal escaped jail, but was still trapped in his home dimension. The main characters learned about Mal when Mal associated with a lesser villain. The characters eventually learned that Mal was looking for a way out into the real world, seeking revenge on all of humanity. The story from that point forward revolves around the main characters trying to keep Mal from escaping, because with the seemingly limitless power that Mal possesses, his freedom would mean the end of the world.
In my writing, I like to establish why the villain is bad as soon as possible, for two reasons. 1, I want my reader to start cheering the protagonist on very fast, and hate my villain. 2. I dislike it when you instantly know someone's the villian, but they only start to be bad late in the series. It's like, "Okay, I know this guy is evil from his design, but is he actually going to do something bad?"
An excellent of a villain is Yoshikage Kira from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. He doesn't want world domination or even a position of power. All he wants is a quiet life, free from outside stress, which is something we can all relate to. He doesn't seek out the protagonist to fight to the death, rather he wants to hide so that he can live peacefully.
Naython LD and that's pretty boring at the same time he is pretty ambitious less and I don't know about that relatability which doesn't mean much anyways .
I won't deny that he has no grand ambition in life. But I am glad that there exist a villain in the world that doesn't want to rule the world or actively seeks out to harm the main cast outside of pure self-defense.
Everyone talking about how villains shouldn't be black and white but I'm using this to make a mock mario and luigi rpg,,, actually I take that back paper mario had count bleck
