On Writing Villains
Jul. 15th, 2006 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mllelaurelMy writing block has lifted a bit, recently, and that got me thinking. There are tons of guides for creating your protagonist (though I may still tackle the issue at some point, seeing as how I'm contrary like that), but surprisingly little advice when it comes to villains. And let me tell you, writing villains is hard.
These are just a few things I've gleaned from my own writing, as well as the stories I've read or watched. The things I say may not apply to everyone...yaddy blah, usual ass-covering disclaimer.
Included are spoilers for Star Wars, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Tokyo Babylon/X, Yami no Matsuei, X-men and the Vampire Chronicles. I may be forgetting some, or some of the info may not be real spoilery, but either way. Ass? Check! Cover? Check!
Ok.
Action
The first (and, I think, most important) factor is action. A well-written modern-day villain can't just threaten and posture. No audience will take him seriously until he proves he means business. To put it another way, a bad (or farcial) villain will tie the heroine to the train tracks and leave her for the hero to rescue at his leisure. A good one will tie her to the tracks, and then run her over with a train. Repeatedly. George Lucas was aware of this, back in the seventies, when he first had Darth Vader set his scope on Alderaan - and then push the button, vaporizing the planet and all its inhabitants.
Proximity
However, in the same action, Lucas missed the second point of villainy - proximity. A villain who looks his victims in the face; for whom 'having blood on his hands' isn't proverbial is all the more scary than one who has the buffer of distance and anonymity.
But what about villains who don't particularly want to get their hands dirty? Blood stains are a bitch. They never wash out of that nice silk shirt or Armani suit. Here, too, proximity is key. The villain may abstain from cutting up the hero himself, but he's right there, up close where he can see hear and smell - don't forget smell - every last detail of the torture session. Joss Whedon provides two good examples of this, on Angel ("In The Dark") and Firefly ("War Stories"). Both Spike and Niska choose to leave the torture to a professional (which is more suspect in the case of Spike, who's always been a hands-on type, but that's an analysis for another day), but both are there to provide the verbal counterpoint, give orders and, well, gloat. Gloating's an acceptable villain hobby, so long as it's backed by action.
Now compare that to a villain who sends his thugs to off the hero and then goes to take a nap. Or turns on the Slicy Ray of Doom and leaves James Bond unattended. Who would you rather not run into in a dark alley?
Touchy Subjects
Up to a certain point, a villain is still fully redeemable. There are a number of things he can do, however, that are unforgiveable in the eyes of most readers/viewers. Top among those is rape. Mileage may vary, but for the most part, nothing will redeem a rapist in the audience's eyes. Other button pushers include harming animals (children, the elderly, or kindly parental figures could be substituted as well, here). Interestingly enough, murder is not included in this list. I'd need more of a psych degree than I have to properly analyze that reaction, but for some reason audiences don't view death as the ultimate horror. Not even close. If I had to make a guess, it's because a murder victim doesn't have to live with the consequences, though admittedly his loved ones do.
To illustrate this phenomenon, I'll use two villains who appear to be quite similar, at first glance. Seishirou, from Tokyo Babylon and X, and Muraki, from Yami no Matsuei. Both come from anime/manga series, and from the same genre of manga and anime - dark shoujo. Both are admited, unrepentant bastards. Despite this, Seishirou redeems himself, if not before his death than at least through it. He may have been responsible for the death of a popular and likeable character (Hokuto), but he's managed to walk right along that tight line of what's acceptable. Muraki, on the other hand, had crossed way, way over that line before the series even started. It doesn't help that he's committed more than one crime, either - rape and harm of a child.
Redemption
At some point, early on in your character creation, you will have to face a decision. Do you want to redeem your villain, or simply leave him as a terrifying obstacle to the hero and co? If it's the latter, read no further. If it's the former, however, you have a lot more work to do.
Pennance
There are multiple ways in which a villain can be redeemed. Of those, pennance is the most obvious/surefire. This villain, seeing the error of his ways for whatever reason, will seek to atone for his crimes, helping the hero, or others who may need a rescue. This method of redemption must be motivated by a real desire to change, rather than a quest for approval or a reward. Nobody's perfect, of course, and rewards/approval can still be earned.
Sacrifice
Akin to pennance is sacrifice, more plainly known as 'make the villain suffer, to show us that he's changed'. This can be a long and painful process, such as Spike becoming the Buffyverse's whipping boy, from the time he fought to regain his soul and onward, or a final grand gesture, like Seishirou's death (by his own hand, really, despite Subaru's involvement).
Of course, the suffering can't be pointless. The villain can't just self-flagellate and expect us to care. Do that long enough, and all he'll get from the hero and the audience is 'get over yourself'. No. In this sacrifice, there must still be a heavy dose of pennance. Seishirou believes he's giving Subaru the revenge which the other man craves. Spike stays behind to close the Hellmouth, a process which kills him.
Motivation
That said, you may not want your villain to ever transition to the side of light. Maybe you just want the audience to understand where he's coming from, without having him change his stripes. This, you do by showing his past and his thoughts; his reasons for doing what he does.
Past Trauma
A popular way to do this is by introducing past trauma. The world has hurt our villain, and he bloody well wants to hurt it back. This way is popular. It's not, however, always effective, especially if the ones caught in the crossfire are innocent bystanders who had never caused the villain pain, never would cause him pain, and would likely have helped him if they were present for/made aware of the situation.
A note of advice - don't try this approach if your villain's committed a button pusher crime. It's proved incredibly ineffective. Case in point, Muraki. This was the point Matsushita Yoko tried to push through with him, and man did it not work! The anime, from what I recall, saw this weakness and made Muraki's past much less of a point.
It's possible to get around this by having the villain's targets be those actually responsible. But then, who's to say this villain's a villain at all? You do this and you simply have a protagonist, who just happens to be high on the moral ambiguity chart. Case in point, The Bride (Beatrix Kiddo), from Tarantino's Kill Bill movies (as well as
the leads of the previously-written revenge movies that inspired them).
Worthy Cause
What else can you do? You can give the villain a worthy cause. Make him believe he's doing the right thing, and that his ultimate goal is worth all the casualties. Note how it doesn't take Palpatine long to convince Anakin to join the Dark Side, in Revenge of the Sith. Why? Cause what he's saying makes a scary amount of sense. So think about it. Is your villain fighting to free his people, perhaps? Or save the world? Or help someone he personally cares about, all those random people be damned? The X-men's adversary, Magneto (Erik Lehnsher), wants to end the persecution faced by his fellow mutants, even if he has to kill all the humans to do it. In his case, the cause is combined with past experience. Having lived through the Hollocaust, Erik knows all-too-well the horrors humanity is capable of, when it comes to its minorities. (Of course, his motivations and actions may occasionally fall out of whack, but that's what you get in a multi-author medium, such as comics.)
Maybe your villain is totally wrong. Maybe he's delluded or being manipulated. But as long as he believes he's right and his reasons make enough sense to the audience he is compelling.
Charisma
Lastly, there's a final trick; the icing on the cake. If your villain is charismatic enough, the audience will be much more willing to forgive a multitude of sins. A villain who is clearly having fun carries the reader/viewer right along with him. A villain who is funny makes the reader laugh. A villain who is cool is, well, cool. Only later does the audience look up and go 'waaaaait...that wasn't nice!' Spike (whom I realize I've mentioned fifty gazillion times already, damn him for being such a handy example), Lestat of the Vampire Chronicles, the X-men's Mysqique. They all have those quallities of fun badassness, mayhem and all.
A likeable quirk (one that doesn't interfere with the core menace) also never hurt. Spike's love for Dru. Lestat's pampering of Claudia. Mystique's dedication to both Magneto and their shared cause (yeah, ok, she mostly goes in the 'cause' cattegory. But admit it - she kicks serious ass, and thus belongs here as well.) All of the above give just the right touch of sympathy, without turning the afforementioned characters into fuzzy puppies.
And there you have it. My essay on writing villains. Now my fingers kill, but I think I'm done. Next, I will write an essay on how to write good conclusions.
These are just a few things I've gleaned from my own writing, as well as the stories I've read or watched. The things I say may not apply to everyone...yaddy blah, usual ass-covering disclaimer.
Included are spoilers for Star Wars, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Tokyo Babylon/X, Yami no Matsuei, X-men and the Vampire Chronicles. I may be forgetting some, or some of the info may not be real spoilery, but either way. Ass? Check! Cover? Check!
Ok.
Action
The first (and, I think, most important) factor is action. A well-written modern-day villain can't just threaten and posture. No audience will take him seriously until he proves he means business. To put it another way, a bad (or farcial) villain will tie the heroine to the train tracks and leave her for the hero to rescue at his leisure. A good one will tie her to the tracks, and then run her over with a train. Repeatedly. George Lucas was aware of this, back in the seventies, when he first had Darth Vader set his scope on Alderaan - and then push the button, vaporizing the planet and all its inhabitants.
Proximity
However, in the same action, Lucas missed the second point of villainy - proximity. A villain who looks his victims in the face; for whom 'having blood on his hands' isn't proverbial is all the more scary than one who has the buffer of distance and anonymity.
But what about villains who don't particularly want to get their hands dirty? Blood stains are a bitch. They never wash out of that nice silk shirt or Armani suit. Here, too, proximity is key. The villain may abstain from cutting up the hero himself, but he's right there, up close where he can see hear and smell - don't forget smell - every last detail of the torture session. Joss Whedon provides two good examples of this, on Angel ("In The Dark") and Firefly ("War Stories"). Both Spike and Niska choose to leave the torture to a professional (which is more suspect in the case of Spike, who's always been a hands-on type, but that's an analysis for another day), but both are there to provide the verbal counterpoint, give orders and, well, gloat. Gloating's an acceptable villain hobby, so long as it's backed by action.
Now compare that to a villain who sends his thugs to off the hero and then goes to take a nap. Or turns on the Slicy Ray of Doom and leaves James Bond unattended. Who would you rather not run into in a dark alley?
Touchy Subjects
Up to a certain point, a villain is still fully redeemable. There are a number of things he can do, however, that are unforgiveable in the eyes of most readers/viewers. Top among those is rape. Mileage may vary, but for the most part, nothing will redeem a rapist in the audience's eyes. Other button pushers include harming animals (children, the elderly, or kindly parental figures could be substituted as well, here). Interestingly enough, murder is not included in this list. I'd need more of a psych degree than I have to properly analyze that reaction, but for some reason audiences don't view death as the ultimate horror. Not even close. If I had to make a guess, it's because a murder victim doesn't have to live with the consequences, though admittedly his loved ones do.
To illustrate this phenomenon, I'll use two villains who appear to be quite similar, at first glance. Seishirou, from Tokyo Babylon and X, and Muraki, from Yami no Matsuei. Both come from anime/manga series, and from the same genre of manga and anime - dark shoujo. Both are admited, unrepentant bastards. Despite this, Seishirou redeems himself, if not before his death than at least through it. He may have been responsible for the death of a popular and likeable character (Hokuto), but he's managed to walk right along that tight line of what's acceptable. Muraki, on the other hand, had crossed way, way over that line before the series even started. It doesn't help that he's committed more than one crime, either - rape and harm of a child.
Redemption
At some point, early on in your character creation, you will have to face a decision. Do you want to redeem your villain, or simply leave him as a terrifying obstacle to the hero and co? If it's the latter, read no further. If it's the former, however, you have a lot more work to do.
Pennance
There are multiple ways in which a villain can be redeemed. Of those, pennance is the most obvious/surefire. This villain, seeing the error of his ways for whatever reason, will seek to atone for his crimes, helping the hero, or others who may need a rescue. This method of redemption must be motivated by a real desire to change, rather than a quest for approval or a reward. Nobody's perfect, of course, and rewards/approval can still be earned.
Sacrifice
Akin to pennance is sacrifice, more plainly known as 'make the villain suffer, to show us that he's changed'. This can be a long and painful process, such as Spike becoming the Buffyverse's whipping boy, from the time he fought to regain his soul and onward, or a final grand gesture, like Seishirou's death (by his own hand, really, despite Subaru's involvement).
Of course, the suffering can't be pointless. The villain can't just self-flagellate and expect us to care. Do that long enough, and all he'll get from the hero and the audience is 'get over yourself'. No. In this sacrifice, there must still be a heavy dose of pennance. Seishirou believes he's giving Subaru the revenge which the other man craves. Spike stays behind to close the Hellmouth, a process which kills him.
Motivation
That said, you may not want your villain to ever transition to the side of light. Maybe you just want the audience to understand where he's coming from, without having him change his stripes. This, you do by showing his past and his thoughts; his reasons for doing what he does.
Past Trauma
A popular way to do this is by introducing past trauma. The world has hurt our villain, and he bloody well wants to hurt it back. This way is popular. It's not, however, always effective, especially if the ones caught in the crossfire are innocent bystanders who had never caused the villain pain, never would cause him pain, and would likely have helped him if they were present for/made aware of the situation.
A note of advice - don't try this approach if your villain's committed a button pusher crime. It's proved incredibly ineffective. Case in point, Muraki. This was the point Matsushita Yoko tried to push through with him, and man did it not work! The anime, from what I recall, saw this weakness and made Muraki's past much less of a point.
It's possible to get around this by having the villain's targets be those actually responsible. But then, who's to say this villain's a villain at all? You do this and you simply have a protagonist, who just happens to be high on the moral ambiguity chart. Case in point, The Bride (Beatrix Kiddo), from Tarantino's Kill Bill movies (as well as
the leads of the previously-written revenge movies that inspired them).
Worthy Cause
What else can you do? You can give the villain a worthy cause. Make him believe he's doing the right thing, and that his ultimate goal is worth all the casualties. Note how it doesn't take Palpatine long to convince Anakin to join the Dark Side, in Revenge of the Sith. Why? Cause what he's saying makes a scary amount of sense. So think about it. Is your villain fighting to free his people, perhaps? Or save the world? Or help someone he personally cares about, all those random people be damned? The X-men's adversary, Magneto (Erik Lehnsher), wants to end the persecution faced by his fellow mutants, even if he has to kill all the humans to do it. In his case, the cause is combined with past experience. Having lived through the Hollocaust, Erik knows all-too-well the horrors humanity is capable of, when it comes to its minorities. (Of course, his motivations and actions may occasionally fall out of whack, but that's what you get in a multi-author medium, such as comics.)
Maybe your villain is totally wrong. Maybe he's delluded or being manipulated. But as long as he believes he's right and his reasons make enough sense to the audience he is compelling.
Charisma
Lastly, there's a final trick; the icing on the cake. If your villain is charismatic enough, the audience will be much more willing to forgive a multitude of sins. A villain who is clearly having fun carries the reader/viewer right along with him. A villain who is funny makes the reader laugh. A villain who is cool is, well, cool. Only later does the audience look up and go 'waaaaait...that wasn't nice!' Spike (whom I realize I've mentioned fifty gazillion times already, damn him for being such a handy example), Lestat of the Vampire Chronicles, the X-men's Mysqique. They all have those quallities of fun badassness, mayhem and all.
A likeable quirk (one that doesn't interfere with the core menace) also never hurt. Spike's love for Dru. Lestat's pampering of Claudia. Mystique's dedication to both Magneto and their shared cause (yeah, ok, she mostly goes in the 'cause' cattegory. But admit it - she kicks serious ass, and thus belongs here as well.) All of the above give just the right touch of sympathy, without turning the afforementioned characters into fuzzy puppies.
And there you have it. My essay on writing villains. Now my fingers kill, but I think I'm done. Next, I will write an essay on how to write good conclusions.
