Writing Realistic Villains

[IJuggler]

I find it really difficult to make a functioning villain in stories. To me, a villain should be smart and either know they're doing bad and relish in it (which would signify a strong mental disorder), or make them be doing something that seems evil but is done for a good purpose (which would make me question the characters reasoning; couldn't such a smart person think up a positive way of doing it?). I just can't see either type being able to function in day-to-day life, and that's sort of one of the things characters should be able to do.

Does anybody have any input, experiences, thoughts? I'm asking because a character for a big fic I'm planning will be a villain, and he'll be pretty mainline in the story, so I want him to have depth.

 

[harryheart]

Well if I get what you're asking then I see your problem and can sympathise with it! I to struggle to create realistic villains that aren't too outreagous or a little too unrealistic. So I think the best way to do is define their tasks and outlay the 'evil' he will cause and thus based on these events be able to create a backstory to these characters with past events in their lifetime that will really help you direct the character for their future! That's what I find best : )

 

[Giratina!]

To be honest, the process of creating a villain usually doesn't involve any consideration on if something will be too unrealistic. I've had a psycho pixie Legendary, I've had a corrupted Typhlosion, I've had a band of cosplayers including a happy-go-locky Pichu thief and a Rhyperior in a rubbersuit, I've had an actual Rhyperior, and plenty of others. I would treat them like I do any other character. "Okay, so I need Villain X's personality... hey, what if Villain X acted like this?" Of course, there are limits on where I will go, but frankly I see villains as a way to be a bit more eccentric than most other major characters. I'd be hard-pressed to find a protagonist with clawed boots, or who's held a vendetta for ten years against someone who did absolutely nothing to her, even after he's been cruelly punished all ten years.

 

[RoflLuxRay]

As for my experience, creating a villain is like baking a pie. And before doing so, everyone has a reason to bake one. What I mean, is that for starters, villains have a motive to be evil, no one is evil out of the blue or because they felt like. Anything worthy of trauma may cause a grudge on your character. Also, when doing it, you don't wanna put too much fantasy (unless it needs it), because it may come out a little too hard to believe. On my personal opinion I believe the villain's name s also an important part. No villain is named with common last names, try looking for last names somewhere around you (like any weird teacher for example).
Good luck writing!!

 

[Elemental Charizam]

To me, a villain should be smart and either know they're doing bad and relish in it (which would signify a strong mental disorder), or make them be doing something that seems evil but is done for a good purpose (which would make me question the characters reasoning; couldn't such a smart person think up a positive way of doing it?). I just can't see either type being able to function in day-to-day life, and that's sort of one of the things characters should be able to do.

Well, no. There tend to be intelligent people on both sides. Intelligence alone doesn't free you from bias and errors in judgment, nor does it make you all knowing or prescient, or give you exactly the same moral compass. Self-examination and logical thinking can do something to cushion the first two, but no-one's entirely free from either. I don't know how you're defining intelligence - perhaps you include those two things - but, either way, you can very easily have an intelligent "do what I had to do" character who is portrayed as villainous.

I don't think many people revel in evil (as in, they don't think "yes, I'm doing evil, what fun"), but plenty of people revel in power and its execution, and do pretty awful things because they have no need to control their urges - the kind of person that shoots a guy for scuffing their shoes. You express disbelief that such people can function from day-to-day, and I'm sure they wouldn't, were they part of your particular slice of society. Plenty of people like this do function in other parts, though, at least well enough to survive. Maybe they do so because they have a great deal of power in society at large, as in the son of a rich aristocrat, or in their particular peer group, as in a gang leader.

You could have a character make a mistake in the heat of the moment and later rationalise it to fulfill their need to view themselves as a good person and then, because they now think of their behaviour as fine, continue to act that way. Maybe you don't even want a villain. You can have an antagonist work within your moral and ethical compass but still cause harm because he's running on flawed intel. Or you could focus on a system and the way it makes people within it act immorally.

There are tons of options. Perhaps the problem is that you don't know enough about the kind of people you view as villains? I'd suggest looking into it.

 

[The Divine Emissary]

"I want him to have depth."

That's the key aspect of a true character. My recommendation is that you let go of this overly simple "hero versus villain" philosophy that attracts so many readers that provide absolutely no contribution to a story. Trust me, I've written fan fiction in the past that has garnered me no success as a writer because I didn't feel like I made any significant impact on any one person, aside from maybe a rare exception or two. I believe that by creating a character with depth, whether this person is labeled as "hero" or "villain," is essential to the development of that character. You can make your character the hero for all you want, but the main thing is to have an antagonist.

The antagonist could take the physical form of another being, or can be more abstract like a personality trait, or more large-scale, like a series of obstacles that that individual character needs to overcome. Whatever it may be, it needs to have some sort of original edge to it. You do not want to type the biography of a character and make him not face any challenges. Perfect characters normally have this characteristic of neurosis because they're, more often than not, perfectionists who desire everything right. That could definitely be a unique antidote to the then-established Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu. By creating dimensions of a character - the more, the merrier in this instance - you can definitely create any character that has two sides to him. For this villain you're creating, I highly recommend you mold his being into something that you want. Make him a multi-sided die, so that, when rolled, a different shade of himself could emerge. Don't make him a villain, per se, but a being. Make him possess an animosity about himself, a vibrancy, or life, to him that can make him seem real to both you and the audience that will read about him.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Well, I write a lot of villians, and I find that examining their motives and sublities is key. Someone like Cyrus, he sees himself as doing what is necessary for the greater good, and he's able to justify his evil deeds to himself because, to him, they have to be done. Someone like J or Charon who's out for money and pretty much only money, they don't have that altruistic "greater good" line of thinking and justify whatever it takes to get themselves ahead. Someone like Jirarudan...well, he's not really a true villian, but he's certainly a "bad guy". He does selfish things, but doesn't intend to involve anyone else, much less endanger them.

And then you have people like the Hoenn leaders, who're basically a less severe version of the Cyrus type since they *do* have a limit to what they can justify as necessary. Or minions like Bashou or Harlan or Jupiter, who do what they're told because they believe in their cause. And remember how gameverse Saturn changed his tune pretty quickly in the postgame? He's more of a reformed villian, seeing what good there had been and working to seperate it from the evil deeds of the past.