Let’s talk writing : Villains

Warning! Spoilers for the MCU ahead! (And technically, The Lion King, but I think everyone has watched that one)

If I am honest with you, a story’s worth, to me, is determined by its villain. (And yes, I do know that there are stories without any antagonist.)

A villain is probably the most important character in the story, right? They provide problems for the hero(es) to solve, they basically control most of the plot and they’re generally too cool for words.

What intrigues us, the readers, most is a good villain with an even better motive. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the villain should necessarily be complicated.

Take the classic Disney villains, for example. They all have a single motive that is selfish, they all do evil stuff to achieve their goal and their main job is to provide resistance to the hero, who works against them.

There’s no room for reason in their mind, because they have no other personality than to achieve their goal, even by foul means. Or still fouler ones.

Take Scar – probably my most favorite classic Disney villain – he is jealous of his brother, the King, and detests the idea of Simba ever becoming King. He gathers a posse of hyenas as his minions and downright murders Mufasa.

He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. His motive is selfish – he should be king. There’s no room for reason. Every inch of him oozes evil. And surprisingly, personality.

He has more character than Simba, Timon, Pumba, Nala or anybody else in the movie, for that matter!

And this is a recurring theme, not only in Disney, but in all forms of media. The villain seems to have the most personality in all the characters.

This makes the villain fun to write. They usually radiate charm, confidence and sass. And the abundant presence of character makes them fun to draft.

But then again, there are a lot of types of villains.

There’s always the reluctant one disillusioned that they are doing the right thing and are saving the entire universe *cough* Thanos *cough*

But Thanos also confuses me a little. He, on the most part, is supposed to be a reluctant villain. He is burdened with the cause of “saving” the universe. He doesn’t want to be a villain.

This is clear because after he snapped and obliterated half the life on all galaxies, he uses the stones again to destroy the stones.

He believes what he’s doing is right and once the stones served their purpose, they are of no use.

But then again, at some instances, he is shown to be a real villain. I mean, he kills Loki for the sheer fun if it, and is shown to be cruel at certain parts of the story

Speaking of Loki – the main antagonist in the movie Avengers – he is the complete opposite of Thanos.

He actually likes villainy and his body language just oozes charm. Even though we figure out that he was sent by Thanos later, he acts like he owns the place.

He enjoys giving the Avengers something to fight for and constantly manipulates them with ease. This makes him, in some aspects, more dangerous than Thanos.

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As villains come in a spectrum of various personalities, it can be fun to experiment with them time to time.

Their motives can be as simple or as complicated as you want, they could be manipulated to believe the wrong thing is right, (which creates the probability of them joining the good guys and a whole other world of possibilities!)

I’ll see you soon with another Let’s talk Writing post!

P.S : I’m planning to do a Q and A. Start typing your questions in the comments below! Bye!

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