Before this Steemit blog turns into one dedicated entirely to gaming, I thought I’d shake things up a bit by writing about something that’s very near and dear to my heart: Villains. Specifically, how to create a sympathetic and multi-dimensional villain. The “anti-villain”, if you will.
For those unfamiliar with the term “anti-villain”, it’s used to describe villains who believe wholeheartedly that what they’re doing is for the greater good, but their actions – and consequently the results of their actions - end up being the opposite of anything good. Like anti-heroes, they believe that “the ends justify the means”, but unlike anti-heroes, their beliefs are never validated.
Anyone can create a villain, but not everyone knows how to create a sympathetic one. Not every villain needs to be sympathetic to be entertaining, of course! DC’s The Joker is a fantastic example of a villain that isn’t sympathetic in any way, but who still manages to excite and thrill the audience.
But in my experience, villains that make the audience uncomfortable with how human they are during their weakest moments are the most compelling and successful kind of antagonists. If your audience is split on what to make of the villain - one side loving that villain dearly and hoping for some kind of redemption while the other side absolutely hates them - then you can pat yourself on the back because mission accomplished! You don’t ever want anyone to look at your bad guy and go, “meh.”
1. He’s Just a Poor Boy (From a Poor Family)
Create some kind of tragic backstory for them. The most common version of this is giving your villain a truly awful childhood, but it really is up to you. You might find that the “sad childhood” concept has been done to death, so don’t be afraid to try something new!
There are so many options to pick and choose from – they can be a broken person after losing the love of their life, or instead they can be someone who had to resort to doing terrible things simply to survive. The choice is yours, but whatever you decide, make sure it will pull at your audience’s heartstrings.
2. The Bad Guy Who Thinks He’s the Good Guy
Your villain needs to believe that what they’re doing is ultimately what is best for everyone involved. To them, they’re the hero in your story. Their motivations are pure, but their actions are not.
3. Yes, More Mr. Nice Guy
Don’t be afraid to make your villain likeable. This doesn’t mean you have to turn them into a cheerful goofball, but do try and humanize them as much as possible.
One way to do this is to make them gentle when no one would expect them to be. Have them show some remorse over the (innocent) lives they’ve been “forced” to take in their grand quest to “save the world.” Or give them a hobby that a mustache twirling villain simply wouldn’t have.
4. Keep Your Enemies Close...
Create some kind of understanding or bond between your villain and your hero. Since your hero is your audience’s primary gateway into the world you’ve created, you can show there’s more to your baddie by getting your hero to realize that first.
Villain/hero relationships are a fun way to challenge both yourself and your audience!
These are only a few of the methods you can use, and you can use only one, or all of them. Don’t be afraid to play around with these methods to create something fun and unique.
Happy writing!
This is a really cool way to think about anti-villains and makes me want to revisit some of the villains from my favorite shows to see if they fit into this role. Off the top of my head the only anti-villain i can really think of is deadpool just because he's such an iconic anti-villain but now i'm going to have to rethink a lot of villains.
In terms of sympathetic villains though I really found the tv series Gotham to be amazing for this reason. The backstories to characters like the penguin, riddler and mr freeze are amazing and truly make you both sympathize with them and view them in an entire different light.
I absolutely love villains. If a villain is well written, chances are they'll be my favorite character. They're also the most fun to write! :)
The interesting thing about Deadpool is that he falls into both the anti-villain and anti-hero categories, since his allegiances shift and change so often during the course of his story.
Do rethink a few of the villains that you may not have thought too much about before. There are many of sympathetic or anti-villains out there, but they tend to get dismissed by most people. Mostly just because most people watch or read something with a "surface level" interpretation. Not that everything needs to be overanalyzed, of course, and sometimes a villain is just a villain, but it's a lot of fun to dig a little deeper. At least it is for me. :)