Scratch

Alternatives wrote:

Ask Voldemort or Galbatorix.

I've never heard of the second one, but the first one is from Harry Potter, right?

Alternatives wrote:

calebxy wrote:

Alternatives wrote:

Ask Voldemort or Galbatorix.

I've never heard of the second one, but the first one is from Harry Potter, right?

Yeah, and the second one from Eragon.

I see. I haven't read the books nor watched the films of either of those. 

Andres-Vander wrote:

The ability to inflict emotional pain onto protagonists, to be able to confront them on personal levels and antagonize them at every step. A touch of ruthlessness doesn't hurt.

Very good points, thank you. 

RedRocker227 wrote:

They need to have something mysterious about them. Like the Joker in Batman is only the way he is because he was abused as a child (according to my B.V. teacher, I can't stand Batman  ). They also need to have something different about them, like they could have no conscience. (The thing that causes the feeling of guilt.) They also need to have a weakness, in my opinion. I hope this helps! 

Good points. And I find they need to be exceptionally good in at least one point. Like the Joker from The Dark Knight, for instance, I'd say was more than a match for Batman on the intelligence side of things. And in the first movie, there was Ra's Al Ghul, who was actually the person who trained Batman! And in the new film, Bane surpasses him in strength, and is probably nearly equal in intelligence.

Last edited by calebxy (2011-12-14 13:13:25)

Alternatives wrote:

calebxy wrote:

RedRocker227 wrote:

They need to have something mysterious about them. Like the Joker in Batman is only the way he is because he was abused as a child (according to my B.V. teacher, I can't stand Batman  ). They also need to have something different about them, like they could have no conscience. (The thing that causes the feeling of guilt.) They also need to have a weakness, in my opinion. I hope this helps! 

Good points. And I find they need to be exceptionally good in at least one point. Like the Joker from The Dark Knight, for instance, I'd say was more than a match for Batman on the intelligence side of things. And in the first movie, there was Ra's Al Ghul, who was actually the person who trained Batman! And in the new film, Bane surpasses him in strength, and is probably nearly equal in intelligence.

Andres and red both made excellent points, but I dislike a villain having a weakness. They should be impeccable, only to be beat by persistence and determination.

But how would they be possible to beat without a weakness?

Alternatives wrote:

calebxy wrote:

Alternatives wrote:

Andres and red both made excellent points, but I dislike a villain having a weakness. They should be impeccable, only to be beat by persistence and determination.

But how would they be possible to beat without a weakness?

Nobody is inhuman. What I meant was they shouldn't have something the hero or heroin can hold against them. Of course they should still be human, with emotions and such.

I see. That's what I thought you meant. And I agree, though it depends how much of a challenge you want to make the villain. For instance, generally you'd want to keep the biggest threat for the last book/film (if it's a series of them).

my-chemical-romance wrote:

They should have a reason, not just "Hurr durr, I'm evil and everyone hates me"

Villain motivation; yes that's definitely important. I generally think about much more than the actual plot of my stories when I'm writing them. 

Andres-Vander wrote:

They shouldn't be evil completely. They should be ambiguous

Loki (from Thor) is a good example of that, I think. He's a very sympathetic villain.

Alternatives wrote:

Ask Voldemort or Galbatorix.

Oooh, Galbatorix. I like saying that.
Galbatorix Galbatorix Galbatorix Galbatorix Galbatorix
Galbatorix Galbatorix Galbatorix Galbatorix Galbatorix

my-chemical-romance wrote:

I liked the whole "Government is antagonist" in GTA 4, controlling people with threats to arrest them if they don't do it. It means you're fighting against a faceless corperation which is turning people against you meaning the antagonist is never the same. I don't like the whole evil thing with them.

That's certainly a good point.

They should have a detailed past. Villains don't wake up one day as a kid and claim, "I'm going to destroy the world."

A very clever person with a sketchy past... or one that used to be a hero, but went rouge.