09-22-2013, 12:11 AM
Villains: A Description
Villainy.
Do away with the idea of Morality. Remove it completely from the equation when you consider what you're doing in the story. Think of the individual from birth, to present and all the events and people they have met. Decide how they would react to the various events and peoples in their lives and ultimately design and map out their reactions. Even if this villain is in a single scene. Even if they are a definitive part of the backdrop. Even if they only show up for that one time monologue of greatness.
The Best Villains are defined by their past. How they came to be and where they turned off the norm. Really, that is the only standard for dividing a villain from a hero, is which of them is taking the Recognized, Supported and Convincing path and which is not.
Every Villain, mundane or godly, has events in their past that define when they went off the 'Acceptable' Trail and ventured into the 'Sacrificial' one. A Villain is a creature of goals, without the stricture of public acceptance to hold them back.
A Villain is an opinion that trumps all other opinions. Period.
A Villain is, above all else, without compromise. Conviction defines their motives and methods and any deviation from their efforts is considered a flaw, a mistake or a setback.
So how best to 'Torture' or 'Defame' your heroes or the public or the innocent or the weak? Have the villain show those who would stand in their way, the method by which they define their lives. Be this, Religion, Law and Order, Mercy, Compassion, Humility, etc. etc. All those topics and aspects and virtues that ultimately compromise the self for the greater good and better living.
And then have the Villain take said Virtues apart at the seam in front of their eyes. This could be as simple as a murder, as complex as a humiliating deception or as personal as relegating the Individual they are torturing, to that of a gnat or a bug. Have your villain take the aspects that define the heroes, innocent or otherwise? And make them irrelevant, obsolete and/or, worst of all?
Wrong.
Villainy.
Do away with the idea of Morality. Remove it completely from the equation when you consider what you're doing in the story. Think of the individual from birth, to present and all the events and people they have met. Decide how they would react to the various events and peoples in their lives and ultimately design and map out their reactions. Even if this villain is in a single scene. Even if they are a definitive part of the backdrop. Even if they only show up for that one time monologue of greatness.
The Best Villains are defined by their past. How they came to be and where they turned off the norm. Really, that is the only standard for dividing a villain from a hero, is which of them is taking the Recognized, Supported and Convincing path and which is not.
Every Villain, mundane or godly, has events in their past that define when they went off the 'Acceptable' Trail and ventured into the 'Sacrificial' one. A Villain is a creature of goals, without the stricture of public acceptance to hold them back.
A Villain is an opinion that trumps all other opinions. Period.
A Villain is, above all else, without compromise. Conviction defines their motives and methods and any deviation from their efforts is considered a flaw, a mistake or a setback.
So how best to 'Torture' or 'Defame' your heroes or the public or the innocent or the weak? Have the villain show those who would stand in their way, the method by which they define their lives. Be this, Religion, Law and Order, Mercy, Compassion, Humility, etc. etc. All those topics and aspects and virtues that ultimately compromise the self for the greater good and better living.
And then have the Villain take said Virtues apart at the seam in front of their eyes. This could be as simple as a murder, as complex as a humiliating deception or as personal as relegating the Individual they are torturing, to that of a gnat or a bug. Have your villain take the aspects that define the heroes, innocent or otherwise? And make them irrelevant, obsolete and/or, worst of all?
Wrong.