Talk your Villain

I’ve always loved villains.

A good villain in a story can make an otherwise bland tale suspenseful and fun. On the other hand, a two dimensional, poorly developed antagonist can make a story fall totally flat. I can think of one recent example of this, (and please, please forgive me if you disagree), but I really don’t care for Moff Gideon from the Mandalorian. He’s supposed to be really scary. He has really cool armor. He’s powerful. He’s definitely mean. But yet, I just don’t find his character convincing. I sort of feel like he was placed in the show to be scary and help propel the plot forward, but I don’t feel that I know much about him beyond his role as “evil.”

There are many reasons why a villain might fall flat. For me, one of my biggest gripes is when the antagonist has no personality or motivation or interests besides just being bad and making the protagonist’s life miserable. That type of antagonist makes me think of a very basic story tale, where the characters and the message are straightforward and simple in order to appeal to children who are just beginning to understand the concepts of right and wrong, good and bad. For the most part, real life and human beings in general are much more complex than this simple binary.

When I first started working on my writing I had a very hard time with this. I used to do this all the time. As time has progressed, I’ve improved in this aspect of character development. But it’s still a source of struggle.

Tell me more about your antagonist, your story’s “villain.” What is their motivation in doing what they do? What are they like? Do they have any redeeming qualities, and if so, what are they? What do they do for fun besides being mean? Let me know in the comments.

Let’s give the villains some time in the spotlight!

Have a wonderful rest of your day!

-Winter