Villains and Antagonists - How to Write Villainous Characters?
In today's post, I want to address one of the more significant challenges a writer faces: creating an evil character. At first glance, this may seem very easy, but there's more to it than just having a character do nasty things. Antagonists need just as much planning time and ulterior motives as that of the main character (s) themselves. This blog post will show what adjustments there are and how you can construct a convincing villain or antagonist.
Enjoy your time!
Lord Voldemort, Darth Vader, the Joker, Hannibal Lector, Annie Wilkes, the clown from IT all fascinated us and frightened us simultaneously. You wouldn't want to run into any of them on a deserted street in the middle of the night; you'd rather cross the road and scramble to run home at any sign of danger. They're all evil — that's precisely why they excite us.
They are the antagonists and baddies in their universes and have taught us that it is far from enough to have a wonderfully well-engineered main character; the antagonists also need enough space within the story to unfold their full effect. When the opponents are on an equal footing with the heroes, you can root for yourself and develop genuine emotions. The following three sections will show what possibilities one has as an author to depict evil externally, how one can construct such characters internally, and justify the motivation behind their behavior.
Each of these steps basically stands on its own, and you can swap them with each other, depending on your personal preference, but for this blog post, they are deliberately chosen to work your way from the outside to the core. Likewise, it should be pointed out that a villain and antagonist mean two things that are not entirely congruent, but they work very similarly in their basic structure. For this reason, they are used as a synonym in the following.
STEP 1: External construction
This first step is about drawing a rough outer structure of the malicious Character. In doing so, three areas were selected where one can already make it clear that the figure is not a positive one. The best way to do this is to imagine pointing a camera at her and readers becoming viewers who are supposed to get first impressions of the Character through visual means.
- Look: On the one hand, there is the possibility of giving the figure optical features that make the Character appear more menacing, such as an impressive physique, gait tattoos, a unique style of clothing, scars, a conspicuous hairstyle, etc. It is essential to give the Character an immediate presence so that the other characters — and thus the reader — can immediately identify the Character as unfavorable. On the other hand, the evil can be hidden and only appear in special moments, so that unique looks would not be necessary, apart from a minimal trait or two. Particularly in the case of exciting books in which the reader is asked to guess who murdered someone, for example, it can help to present the Character as relatively usual and thus make her disappear in the crowd
– Voice/choice of words: Few nasty characters act with a whiny squeaky voice and use childish language, so the options, in this case, are somewhat limited: either you focus on a firm, raspy, stern, loud voice, or you don't figure also appear rather inconspicuous here. The choice of words is different: here, you have the freedom to portray the evil Character as cursing, to let him speak aggressively, to make insulting comments, and - if necessary - to give him a rather harsh style of speech. At this point, it can help to construct the villainous Character as a contrast to the Main Character, to emphasize the menace even more.
– Facial expressions/gestures: scowling, narrowing eyes, cold stare, aggressive facial expression, clenched teeth, threatening posture, showing inner hate and madness — these are all variations in depicting a character as evil. It would be helpful to recall films that had good antagonists and internalize how you could tell for yourself that this Character is an evil one. Again, this is for inspiration to give your characters a visual profile.
STEP 2: Internal structure
After the previous step showed how malice could be represented visually and how many different levers one has as an author to form the shell of an antagonist, the inner structure is still missing. So here you choose between 4 different ways, which are very important and can also merge depending on the situation.
Like in fairy tales!
Fairy tales are considered to be material for a younger audience these days. Suppose you look at the old stories by the Brothers Grimm. In that case, it's clear why: Characters are characterized by a prominent structure, and it's immediately apparent who the bad guy is Character is, the motives of such figures are hardly explained, and they are just the evil opponents of the heroes. The reason for this little reflection on the villains' deeds can be found in the intentions of fairy tales: they are moral guideposts. They are intended to clearly show young people which behavior they should see good and find bad. Writers who want to model their villains according to this pattern should care.
Examples: The Stepmother (Cinderella/Cinderella), Shan-Yu (Mulan), Cruella De Vil (101 Dalmatians), Shir Khan (The Jungle Book), Mr. Hyde (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Sauron (Lord of the Rings ), Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter), Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street)
The straight line
In this method, you must create an antagonist that is very goal-oriented. The Character hardly shows any other emotions, fully embodies and lives out his evilness, but - in contrast to the previous path - does not have to be clearly defined visually. Another difference: here, the evil Character is fully aware that he is doing morally objectionable things and cannot be dissuaded. She is a very one-dimensional, straight-forward character whose only function is to be evil, yet has enough self-awareness to reflect on one's desires and actions.
Examples: Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter), Hans Gruber (Die Hard), Darth Vader (Star Wars), Agent Smith (Matrix), Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes), Amon Goeth (Schindler's List), Biff Tannen (Back to the Future)
The three-dimensional way
This is a slightly more complicated variant, as it requires giving the villain a sculpted, natural, and multi-layered character. The Character seems real because it has several emotional levels and is evil, and can also show other sides. The evil keeps coming out of the Character, even against the will of the Character. All in all, it's not an easy task to create an antagonist who picks up readers on different levels, but that's precisely what makes the Character so memorable and fascinating. In this way, it should be noted that the villain is given as much room to develop as the protagonist so that you have a duel on (emotional) eye level. Both characters must be equally well developed, and the reader must be shown the strengths, weaknesses, desires, ideals, and motives of both sides. The outer structure of the figure can support the inner system, but it doesn't have to. Even optically inconspicuous antagonists, whose Character is clearly and diversely defined, would be possible with this method.
Examples: The Joker (The Dark Knight), Hannibal Lector (The Silence of the Lambs), Jack Torrance (Shining), Annie Wilkes (Misery), Hans Landa (Inglorious Bastards), Patrick Bateman (American Psycho), Count Dracula (Bram Stoker ), Norman Bates (Psycho)
Reverse Ying & Yang
This possibility combines the three previous ones and makes something entirely new: At its core, it's about constructing the main hero or the main heroine and forming the antagonist into the exact opposite. In yin and yang, two sides complement each other perfectly, promoting harmony; in the reverse case of this method, however, precisely the opposite should happen: Due to the visual, moral, emotional, socio-cultural, gender, sexual, and intellectual differences, there is friction and antipathy between the characters, which can even culminate in hostility. It doesn't matter whether the evil Character is self-reflective, one-dimensional, or three-dimensional; only the contrastive relationship to the actual (positive) main Character is essential. The contrast to the protagonist defines evil or the antagonist.
Examples: Draco Malfoy, Step Sisters (Cinderella), Scar (Lion King), Cobra Kai Sensei (Karate Kid), Saruman (Lord of the Rings), Grinch (The Grinch), Calvin Candie (Django Unchained)
STEP 3: What made the Character the villain/antagonist?
One big mistake has to be avoided at this point: no person and therefore no character is malicious or mean for no reason. There are always reasons that have driven a person so far away from average, morally correct behavior, and these must also be immortalized in books. Here one can identify three categories into which, as far as specified and explained, all the examples mentioned above could also be assigned.
1. Dark might
It is probably the most easily explained basis for evil behavior: a dark force has taken possession of the Character, be it supernatural powers, illness, or mental insanity. All characters that hardly act rationally lose control (from time to time) and no longer have themselves under control fall into this category. Portraying a character from the outset, early in the story, as wacky, insane, excessive, and evil on that basis shouldn't be difficult, as horror movies and thrillers provide a lot of inspiration for this. However, it is much more challenging to integrate this takeover by the "dark power" as a gradual process.
Here it is very advisable to note specific changes in mood, interactions with others, reactions to news or situations, and let the Character go from a regular base to become more and more crazy/gloomy and thus more unpredictable. These steps are significant for planning and creating a character arc for yourself of how the Character behaved at the story's beginning, middle, and end.
Examples: Jack Torrance (Shining), Annie Wilkes (Misery), Hannibal Lector (Silence of the Lambs), Joker (Batman), Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter)
2-side principle
The most plausible reason for deviating from the right path and drifting into the role of the opponent lies in different concepts of morality and justice. The character chosen to be the antagonist or villain of the story has been socialized differently than the main character. Thus the ideals and goals of both are very different. Again, it plays a role that they are basically on two completely different sides, and the differences between them are so significant that a rapprochement hardly seems possible. The characters are too different to get along with each other, so they keep clashing. The maliciousness or the role of the opponent, therefore, results from the past and the various growing up,
Examples: Stepsisters vs. Cinderella, Joker vs. Batman, Draco Malfoy vs. Harry Potter or Calvin Candie vs. Dr. King Schultz (Django Unchained)
3. way of understanding
Follow the initial idea that harmful or malicious actions do not happen without reason. You will inevitably reach a point where you can logically understand specific actions, perhaps even empathize. As writers, we are free to shape a character's backstory as we see fit. In particular, with villains and antagonists, various options can serve as a root for later crimes: horrible childhoods, drugs/ Violence in the family, abuse, belonging to a gang, terrible social environment, prison, traumatic experiences, etc. Overall, this path is about the reader developing a particular form of understanding for the actions of the negatively charged Character; they may even find themselves torn between finding the person's deeds less harmful or not quite sure which character to cross their fingers for. This is a beautiful place to challenge the reader's moral understanding, spread a little uncertainty, and lead them down the wrong path. But you should be aware that the evil in the story is made a bit more humane and that it might lose some radiance. For example, if you describe a boy who likes to beat up other children at school, that arouses certain emotions in the reader. But if you explain that this boy is also being beaten at home by drunk parents and wants to let his anger out, then the plot changes. Indeed not an easy path to take as an author,
Examples: Grinch (The Grinch), Biff Tannen (Back to the Future), Mr. Freeze (Batman), Maleficient, Frankenstein's Monster (Frankenstein), Phantom (Phantom of the Opera)
Finally, when you have gone through all three steps and decided on specific variants based on your preferences and purposes within the story, you can be sure that you have created a compelling character. It is just as legitimate only to use 1-2 categories to go through every step down to the smallest detail. It is only essential that you are aware of the many options. It keeps in mind that you can mix all of the listed adjustment screws - also, depending on the situation, the borders between the individual classifications are static but fluid.
As authors, we have our characters' fortunes in our hands at the end of the day, so personal preferences will always decide. You should only look at the whole writing buffet before you buy it. Otherwise, you'll be annoyed that you left much better options behind.
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