What makes a good villain?

[Collingwood]

I have an idea for a mod and was wondering what makes a good villian?

[McclaudEagle]

Make a normal looking person. A lot of villains are made to look evil, and as a result, are far too obvious. It also adds a good twist to find an everyday, unsuspecting looking person is actually a very evil person. Another good one is not to make them like some brainless mass murderer. Give the villain some depth of character, intelligence, etc.

 

Those are some of the things I think make a good villain, hope that helps.

[Ghogiel]

A moustache and some sort of accent..

[darkblayd]

Villains need a story, sometimes more so than the protagonist. Even the devil has his motivations, evil for a the sake of evil works in a comical sort of way but it's not really believable.

 

A villain needs style and presence, they have to be amusing just by being on screen since they get less attention than the main character. Even if they are amount to an ugly blob appearance wise, a villain should be cool in some way shape or form.

[greywaste]

depth?

 

Failing that a great sense of humour :

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXCvyrtVHOc

[Skree000]

That depends if you want to have 2 dimensional (evil evil evil villains) or multilayer believable villains (there are many kinds but imho those are the main two types)

 

for the former, it doesnt really matter what they do as long as its evil, doesnt matter the scope or motivations or intentions, they are just cardboard cutouts for the heroes to defeat.

 

for the latter, that gets fun (and tricky)

Believable villains need to have a believable backstory behind their actions. They need to have motives, real ones that people can relate with.

They need to have a Story, just as much as the hero does.

 

imho the best villains in literature are the ones that you love to hate, this is because of their multi-layered tapestry of a backstory that you learn the more you hear and see about them. (unless you just love to hate them because they are so corny and unbelievable, just being evil for evils sake)

 

 

There are a lot of websites talking about villains, a lot of sites devoted to writing for example, check em out there are TONS of resources on the nets, ive barely scratched the surface here

[ishmaeltheforsaken]

Play KotOR II. The Sith Triumvirate are pretty much the best villains ever.

[Darksun45230]

Let's take an obvious example:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Killing-Joke-Alan-Moore/dp/1401216676/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323907808&sr=1-1

 

(I strongly recommend you read this before reading any further.)

 

The Killing Joke is about a universally known madman the Joker. The Joker wasn't always mad though and this graphic novel (or comic) attempts to tell that tale. The obvious example of an antagonist (or villain) is one compelled to act as an opposing force to the motivations or actions of the protagonist (or hero.) In the Killing Joke, the Joker sets up a situation where his actions tell us more about his character while propelling the plot along.

 

 

a) Joker escapes from Prison by using an imposter to take his place. Telling us beneath his mad exterior is a calculating interior (hence making him dangerous ergo setting us up for the rest of the plot to unfold.)

b) Joker steals an abandoned circus from a shady dealer who he promptly murders after clumsily pitching it to him.

c) Joker walks to Commissioner Gordon's home, shoots his daughter in the spine, strips her nude, then takes snapshots of her wounds (ending Barbara's career as Batgirl forever.)

d) Joker abducts Commissioner Gordon, strips him naked and dehumanizes him with photos of naked Barbara bleeding out on the carpet.

 

 

 

All this occurs while the Joker is reliving his former life because...

 

 

The circus he uses for his base he used to live in as a failed comic. His life's story is tragic and emphasizes the randomness and cruelty of life which is shown by the sudden and unexpected death of his wife and unborn son, being manipulated by two thugs into committing crimes he otherwise wouldn't do, and finally swimming toxic chemicals (to escape from Batman) that drive him mad.

 

 

Obviously, this is the most extreme of examples but the makeup of a villain are circumstances that force them believe that the only right reaction is a negative one.

 

There are plenty of other examples of villains which all depend on their desire. The Joker wanted to be the random force of chaos he believed the world was made-up of. The various flavors of Emperor (from Mateus to Palpatine to [insert Fantasy villain here]) responds to our desire to control things. The clearer you can define the idea your villain represents, the closer you are making that character feel more "real."

 

This is why people like Ancano

(Mage Quest villain)

are never really remembered and people like Andrew Ryan are.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

Bethesda is terrible at making villains. Whatever you do, don't follow their example.

[Artistdude05]

Personally I always found motivated villains to be the best. Or even villains who have an agenda that you normally can agree with, but dislike because of their motivations or how they go about doing things. It just seems more compelling when you can humanize the villain in a way that makes it all the more tragic when they commit their evil deeds. Evil for the sake of evil is fine for certain stories (like comic books, childrens cartoons, ect), but people are rarely that simple. No one wakes up one day and thinks "Ya know, I think I just might become a nihilist hell bent on killing random people for fun. Would give me a new hobby".