The Secret To A Relatable Villain:  An Illustrated Guide

thecaffeinebookwarrior:

@moonsp1r1t​ asked:

Do you have any advice for writing villain motivations, especially making them relatable?

A while ago, I made a realization that was life changing:  

Villains can – and frequently do – have exactly the same motivations as heroes.  

Think of them as the shadows, the inverted versions, of benevolent desires.  

I’ll show you what I mean:

1.  Love

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The hero:

The hero wants love and validation, and earns it through their actions – namely, treating those they care about with support and value.

Examples:  Megamind, Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

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The Villain:

The villain wants love and validation, and believes others owe it to them.  They’ll frequently get enraged and violent when the objects of their affection deny them.

Examples:  Tighten from Megamind, Severus Snape from Harry Potter, Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Ross from Friends.

2.  Power

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The hero:

The hero wants power in order to gain agency and autonomy for themselves and/or promote justice and improve the lives of others.

Examples:  T’Challa from Black Panther, Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones.

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The villain:

The villain wants power in order to dominate others and to do what they want without consequence.

Examples:  Killgrave from Jessica Jones.  

3.  Family

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The hero:

The hero will do whatever it takes to protect their family, while abiding by a code of underlying morals that they will not violate.

Examples: Dean Winchester from Supernatural, Joyce Byers from Stranger Things, Marlon from Finding Nemo, the man and the boy from The Road.  

The villain:

The villain will do whatever it takes to protect their family, including taking away their freedom, abusing them, or hurting and killing other innocent families.

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Examples: Eddie’s mom from IT, John Winchester from Supernatural, Mother Gothel from Tangled, whoever Bruce Willis’ character in Looper was.

4.  Safety

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The hero:

The hero was raised in an abusive, violent environment.  They’ll do whatever it takes to never have to experience that again, and to make sure others never have to suffer in the same way.

Examples:  Finn and Rey from Star Wars, Katniss from Hunger Games.

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The villain:

The villain was raised in an abusive, violent environment.  They’ll do whatever it takes to never experience that again, including doing the exact same thing to other people.  

Examples:  That one dude from A Series of Unfortunate Events, Severus Snape (again.)

5.  Justice

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The hero:

The hero wants a remedy for injustice, and goes about it by attacking the source of the corruption or providing a platform for the truth to be told.

Examples:  Every classic superhero, Robin Hood, The original trio from Star Wars, Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter from The Help.

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The villain:

The villain wants a remedy for injustice, and goes about it by hurting innocents to get an audience or power.

Examples:  Killmonger from Black Panther, Magneto from X-Men.

The realization that evil or destructive people are human, and, essentially, want the same things as good people, is a realization that makes them easier to write in an identifiable way.

I hope this helps, and happy writing!  ❤