Stereotypical Villains and Broken Antagonists

I love the antagonists and villains of stories. They're as important as your main character/hero. They're involved in the story just as much as the protagonist. It's important to get this character right. Ultimately, you want your reader to both love and hate your villain. Like Loki. Everybody loves Loki and most people actually feel bad for him. He has the perfect backstory and is a broken soul, wandering around in a very broken world that he is trying to make more broken. Thor is trying to stop Loki from destroying the world, and yet he can always still see the good in Loki. that makes the best villain and hero pair, honestly.



Disney used to do a pretty good job at creating villains that were both loved and hated at the same time. Maleficent, The Queen of Heart, Scar Face, and the Evil Queen. All those villains with aching backstories and stereotypical ways of dealing with their pain as they destroy the happiness of the heroes.

I read a novel called Asher's Song by a One Year Adventure Novel  student and in that novel he -- the author -- had one of the best villains/antagonist I have seen. His name was Caleb. I enjoyed the parts that Caleb was in and also dreaded them, because he caused problems for the hero of the story -- and I adored Asher (the hero). Caleb did bad things, he destroyed lives, killed people just because. The best part about this antagonist was the fact that he had a backstory. He had a reason to be the way he was. He was very broken. Caleb had motives, goals, and dreams just like normal people. He also had some psychological problems which made him really believable. Poor guy.

The hardest part with villains/antagonist is that they always end up being stereotypical. Whether you write him/her as such, or the readers just interrupt the villain/antagonist like that, they usually end up with "stereotype" tattooed on their foreheads (metaphorically, or course).

Here's the hardest part. Sometimes the villain/antagonist is overplayed. You write him in a dramatic backstory that causes the readers to feel sorry for him, to want to give him a hug and tell him it'll all be okay someday. They are written too broken. Villains are the way they are because of the choices they make. You have to show that in your writing. Often times as writers we want to justify our characters because they feel like apart of us. We want to make sure the reader knows why they are doing what they are doing. We want to show exactly what happened and why they are in the spot that they are in. Which, overall, is okay, because it helps the reader fall in love with both the hero and the villain. It's one thing to show a bit of why they are where they are and another thing to give two chapters on the brokenness of the villain. Show why they are where they are, but also make sure you show the realism of the choices they make and have made in life. No one ends up being evil just to be evil. There's always a reason, but it doesn't negate the fact that they are usually criminals and bad guys (or girls).

"If can make the reader love the villain as much as the hero, then you will have a truly good story." ~Unknown.

I wrote a post on my other blog about killing your villains. The difference between justice and revenge. Villains/antagonist need just punishment. If you constantly have your heroes kill the villains off, then where is the morality in that? They need the right kind of punishment. Just like any other human being. Loki wasn't stoned to death on the spot. He was taken back to Asgard to get a trial and be locked away. Don't kill off your villains/antagonists just yet.

Well, what about stereotypes?

Stereotypes are written because they work. People like them, but they are often overplayed and dramatized. The stereotypical INTJ and INTP villains are used so often because people like how they work; how they handle things. But it's nice when you see an ENFJ villain/antagonist. It's like a breath of fresh air when a villain is ENTP or even ISFP. It's away from the normal. And the readers will more than likely fall more in love with the weird and feeling kind of villain, rather than the calloused and always closed off INTJ. You can create awesome villains/antagonists when you think outside the box with them to make them not so stereotypical.

Creating unique villains, with a little bit of a backstory will help you write a more solid story line. Villains are always my favorite to write. There's so many possibilities involved. So many ways to make up what made them bad guys. So many different paths and choices you create for your villains and antagonists.

What about you? What makes up a good villain? Do you enjoy creating the antagonists and writing their backstories? I'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment and share!