The Characteristics of a Villain

Humanity has existed for longer than millennia now and ever since our inception we’ve told stories of heroes and villains to each other, what makes that tale so compelling? What is it that is inherent in the struggle of heroes and villains that compels people to write about it so much? These are questions with no easy answers but today at Vocal media blogs we hope to explore this question and hopefully come to some definite conclusions from top ghostwriters for hire.

What is a hero?

A hero is an individual with the correct moral compass and sets of ideas and beliefs, many cultures, religions, societies have their own definition of what makes someone a hero. These are further influenced by the material conditions that the society finds itself in. A hero in a specific culture if we are referring to real people might be a villain in another. For example, George Washington was and is a hero to the people of the thirteenth colonies and is still a hero to Americans today, but to the British he was always a conspiring villain. This is due to the difference in beliefs between the two societies as well as their political conflicts.

What is a villain?

A villain is an individual who partakes an activity that people consider to be immoral or unpleasant, often the antithesis of the hero. The villain works to undermine the hero at every turn out of perhaps a rivalry with the hero or having goals which create conflict between the hero and the villain due to their contradictory nature.

What makes a villain compelling?

What makes a villain compelling is their relatability, their motivations as well as the type of person they are presented as. Often villains in movies tend to be very good looking to show the dark side of beauty so to speak, and its allure. They are also shown to be very personable and likeable through their magnetic charisma. A good example of such villains is for example Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars, although a bit anti-social and not always the most charismatic individual, he was one that a lot of people could relate to due to his very real mental turmoil. Or perhaps the recent Joker movie in 2019, which featured Joaquin phoenix playing the joker in a role which showed his mental illness. Many cheered for the joker due to him representing class struggle and the struggle of people mental health problems in contemporary society. Often motivations can lead to helping a villain stand out and become engaging to audiences. This is why Joker did so well at the box office. However there are many villains who are compelling simply due to what they represent, an example of this would be Judge Holden from the novel Blood Meridian written by Cormac McCarthy in 1985, a book which saw him commit despicable acts against innocents but at the same time many were compelled by his monologues and speeches specifically the one he spoke about war “It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.” Cormac McCarthy, Judge Holden 1985. This quote shows the nature of the man in how he is compelled to engage in never ending bloodshed because of the type of beliefs he holds about the nature of the world; it’s also implied throughout the entire novel that he is but a representation of the brutality of the wild west during the 1900s.

What makes a villain uninteresting?

What makes a villain uninteresting is the lack of appeal that they might have in terms of motivations, role in the story or actions. A top ghostwriting agency says A term is often thrown around in the literary industry which is “One dimensional” This means that a villain or character likes much of a personality outside of their minor role in the story, nothing is known about them, and the story doesn’t work to sell them enough as a serious character. This is a huge problem when writing stories because if the villain isn’t resonating with audiences, then no one will feel engaged with the rest of your story because of how empty it feels. The villain is more than half the driver of the central conflict of the story. It’s quite a difficult task to make the villain interesting. A lot of aspects needed to be taken care of to ensure that the villain doesn’t come off as a Saturday morning cartoon villain.

How can one write a story with a fascinating villain?

The best way to address this problem is to first lay the groundwork for the world of the entire story and then work to see how the characters will fit into the whole universe that you’ve created. The characters need to exist within that environment and need to have a purpose that drives them forward. Sometimes this can be achieved in an organic way “X character existed and did Y thing which led to Z character intertwining with them and thus a conflict is born” The characters need to show a certain development that led them to becoming the way they did, the best stories develop their characters from the ground up, showing their entire history till they reached the point of villainy. This might be a daunting task to attempt but it’s one that pays dividends when considering audience reception and engagement. you might be intrested in the guide to finding a reasonable ghostwriting services

Conclusion

We hope that you can comprehend now what makes a villain fascinating and how to create one yourself for your story on your journey as a future writer!