🦹‍♂My Favorite Villains 🦹‍♀

Hello! I'm finally here with my favorite villains for ya'll! I think this one is my absolute favorite post I've written. It'll be both a deep analysis of each villain and tips to write a memorable villain. Thank you for reading and feel free to comment!

Warning: Major Spoilers

If you don’t want to be spoiled, you can skip the “backstory” of each character and just read the “memorable” and “writing tips” parts.

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Source: Pinterest, Artist: Unknown, Book: Vicious by VE Schwab

Backstory:

I absolutely love this book because there's no hero in this story. Everyone is a villain, it just depends on whhich villain you sympathize with. I happen to love Victor a lot more than Eli. What makes Victor a great villain yet antihero is that he is blatantly out for revenge. Now I don't condone revenge in real life, but I think revenge makes for an interesting motive in fiction. He feels absolutely betrayed when his best friend rats him out to the police for accidentally killing his girlfriend and finding an ability. He gets confined into jail for 10 years and goes back to get his revenge. The backstory, which takes place in flashbacks, is that he was best friends with Eli, yet felt jealous because Victor was the sidekick for this seemingly perfect guy. Eli found a possible way to creat extraordinaries (EO), or those with powers. Ei finds his first, then Victor his own. However, Eli rats him out to the police after Angie's death as a murderer and EO.

Memorable:

What makes him memorable is that he has the major perspective of the whole book. I get to sympathize with him because of his story and root for his victory. Sure he killed a few people to carry out his plan, but he's definitely not as bad as Eli. Eli killed many EOs because he felt as though they were unnatural while he was God-like. He felt as though he wasn't unnatural because his power was just regeneration, or healing. Victor is a great villain because he doesn't think he's God-like. He uses his power (to create or take away pain) to take revenge after he escapes from jail, only using a non-EO and a little girl who can resurrect the dead to do it. Victor's ultimate goal was revenge, but he also did it to keep the remaining EOs safe. He did have to use a little torture and manipulation, but Victor got the job done while ultimately protecting his allies. He took in the little girl, who Eli had previously killed, as well as a dog. This can show that Victor is still a little humane, even for a villain. I also loved the diverse age range. From 12 to 22 to 32. I'm so scared to read the sequel. I really don't want it to ruin the images of Victor and Sydney.

Source: Pinterest, Artist: Unknown, Manga/Anime: Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba

Backstory:

I didn't read the manga, but I loved the anime. Well, the first season. Light Yagami was a genius student who didn't have any motive to kill until the Death Note randomly fell into his hands. Any name written in the Death Note ends up dead, along with some other complicated rules that go along with it. He starts to use it to kill convicted prisoners and other criminals, thinking that he is making the world better by getting rid of every bad person. Ironic, isn't it?

Memorable:

He's memorable mostly because of his intelligence. Many villains are usually classified as intelligent or dumb, but he's a plan genius. Of course the things he did was wrong, but he came up with plans and successful ideas even when he was cornered. Both the villain, Light, and the hero, L, were beyond intelligent. I loved every plot twist I didn't see coming, which was a lot. I mean he managed to manipulate everyone who close to him and physically take down his biggest enemy.

Source: Pinterest, Artist: See Signature, Book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Backstory:

Young and innocent Dorian Gray meets Lord Henry, who then begins to take on the lord’s ideology that beauty means everything. He wishes to keep his beauty forever, which then turns true. However, a portrait of him painted in the beginning of the novel dons his age and inner ugliness. Dorian becomes vain and self-conceited. He kills and leads others to kill themselves. Dorian finally figures out the cause of this portrait’s ugly nature and tries to destroy it, which ends up in his own death as an old man with the picture restored to its original beauty.

Memorable:

Dorian is memorable because it is often outside influences who affect our own values the most. The whole story in general is original. Dorian is one of the only villains I’ve seen who finally realize that he has become a terrible person, yet still tries to destroy the picture to rid of his guilt and reminder of his crimes. He might not age physically, but he could no longer go back to his original youth and innocence after being brainwashed by Lord Henry, who many analysts think of as a representation of “the devil.”

Source: Pinterest, Artist: Lecidre on Devianart, Series: Harry Potter by Jk Rowling

Backstory:

Draco grew up spoiled and conceited, and when life hit him in the face he wasn’t ready. He was a bully to Harry Potter and his friends, but there was more to him than that. He was given the task to kill Dumbledore, as Voldemort knew he wouldn’t be able to do it. He ended up leaving the war (at least in the movies) and later married and had a son.

Memorable:

Rowling was worried people would see Draco as someone other than villain because of Tom Felton’s looks, but I truly see him as a complicated character. To me, there’s a difference between a school bully and a true villain. At least if the trio can forgive him, so can I. Everything he grew up believing and following was challenged as he had to realize just how terrible Voldemort was. Draco had a lot of pressure to live up to, especially since his life and his family’s lives were on the line. After the war, it was clear that his values had greatly changed. He didn’t kill Dumbledore because he didn’t want to be labelled a murderer and because he truly respected the heaster. I think Draco switched not only for safety, but also because he truly was a good character. In that deleted scene where he throws Harry his wand after he is “resurrected,” I feel like that was the moment fans could be like, “yes he is not a villain.” Draco also raises his son without the prejudiced beliefs he grew up with. Now that he was free from pressure, he could live like he truly wanted to. Because of his complicated nature, Draco is one of my favorite villains.

Source: Pinterest, Artist: Unknown, Series: The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

Backstory:

Sebastian (or Jonathan) Morgenstern was givin Lilith’s blood by his father, making his mother look at him as a monster when he was born with black eyes and a strange personality. He was raised in secret by Valentine, which led to his own rebellion against his father and self-righteousness taught by him. Valentine psychologically and physically abused him as well as trained him to be a soldier. Fast forward years later, he became the second villain after Valentine’s death. He used the infernal cup to create his dark army. He was finally killed by Clary when he was stabbed by a sword embedded with heavenly fire.

Memorable:

Sebastian is memorable because he never really had a chance. Because of Valentine, and partly Jocelyn for leaving him, he never had a chance to grow up as a caring and strong person, using his abilities for good. His motive to rule with Clary was based on the fact that she was his only family member yet to betray him and the only one who could potentially truly love him. He was lonely and raised as a tool to his father rather than a son. When the heavenly fire burned the demon blood and he suddenly became what he could have been, Sebastian was seen as a very kind person.

Writing Tips

So what makes a memorable villain? There are 6 characteristics all similar to these villains that I encourage writers to look into.

1. Age

There are many generalizations when it comes to age. So what’s the similarity to the five above? They are all young. With youth comes innocence and growth. Innocence is important to an individual because some things should be learned with time rather than dumped on a person. Those who haven’t grown into an adult yet still don’t have their prefrontal cortex fully developed yet, which is the part of your brain involved with judgment, responsibility, and reasoning. Each villian had their innocence taken away from them way too young and also had a sort of recklessness linked to an undeveloped prefrontal cortex. I also love villains who are extremely young ot extremely old. This comes from the generalization that young or middle aged individuals have physical or mental strength. It truly scares me when there’s a 5 or 80 year old villain.

2. Self-Rightousness

Almost all of these villains have a sense of self-rightousness or some other personal motive like revenge. There needs to be a strong motive as to why someone wants to kill others or rule the world and self-rightousness happens to be a popular one. It’s truly an interesting road to go down depending on backstory. Sure many villains have the trait, but it’s the backstory that may be different.

3. Backstory

That brings me to my next point. There has to be some sort of backstory which contributes to a villain’s development. How did that villain become a villain? Was it through biological personality traits, childhood experiences, or both? I start to sympathize with a fictional villain because of their backstory, even if their deeds are horendous (emphasis on fictional).

4. Intelligence

Contrary to popular belief, it’s actually the smart villains that catch my attention. With a combination of street-smarts and book-smarts, any villain has the ability to outplay a hero. Of course we want to see a villain lose, but there can’t be obstacles. The battle between Light and L from Death Note is the best example I have seen so far. It was a battle against wits, not physical strength.

5. Power

Whether it was a supernatural ability or an impressive character trait, each villain had some sort of power beyond the average. The power doesn’t even have to be mentioned, it just has to be noticed. Something has to be different about the villain that separated them from others, besides their need to kill.

6. Main Perspective

All of these characters had a main perspective. Actually, most of them were the main characters. This is highly desirable by me. I love seeing how they become who they are currently. That usually also helps with sympathy or lack of sympathy from the reader depending on how you want your villain to look. The villain’s perspective doesn’t have to be through first person point of view either. Most heroes find out somehow, usually when they’re captured for some odd reason.