Character Design: Being Really Evil

By Ben Miff

At some point in your stories, you’ll probably have to include a villain of sorts. If there’s no-one (or nothing, in some cases) to put your characters up against, then chances are they’ll just wander around, muttering about pretty flowers and the like, and how they wish something interesting would happen. The villains in your stories can be one-shots (a quick obstacle, like an obstructive dragon or something) or something a bit bigger (such as the main evil character that generally just wants everyone dead or something else which isn’t exactly friendly).

The villain needs to be established as a villain in your writing. If the character’s nice, and then halfway through decides that (s)he wants to be a villain, it will leave a lot of readers confused. Very confused. The villain therefore needs to generally start being evil right at the beginning, or being “nice”, but at the same time hinting that they’re actually not, and this is just a cunning ruse. This can be done via correspondence with shadowy figures, evil snickers away from the group, or any other sort of action that will make them seem evil.

Designing the villain, you have to decide on a personality pretty early on. Otherwise, you have no structure to build around. Villains have a wide range of personalities that are available; they can range from the all-out commanding figure which can easily crush most that oppose him/her, to the little cunning figure in the middle of the command chain that twists everything to their own means. Whatever you choose, there are also a few wild card personality features you can build in; however, many will be chosen by the main personality structure that you choose.

Once your personality has been chosen, then you can start to figure out their general appearance. The massive commanding figure will tend towards brash clothing, possibly carrying around weapons, which tends to make him/her stand out. On the other hand, the little cunning figure is

likely to fit in with the crowd as much as possible; after all, that way no-one will suspect them. You can also illustrate them with little details that will display their evilness; the tattoo on their arm, or a small scar.

Your villain also needs to have an aim. Being evil for the sake of being evil is rare, although not entirely impossible, especially if your villain is a complete nutcase. Again, there’s a wide range to choose from; your character can want to have more power, more money, or more of anything; they may want revenge for past deeds, or they may even just want to be left alone. Whatever it is that they want, you need to tell the reader; it will give them motive, and flesh them out.

Once you’ve got these components, you have the form of your villain. There’s one more thing that is important to know, however; how they deal with opposition. The commanding figure is likely to charge in, while the little cunning figure is likely to run away, and remind themselves to get a better defensive system next time, in the case of being attacked; meanwhile, when opposed on matters of scheme, the commanding figure will ignore the advisor and possible have a go at him/her for questioning him, while the little cunning figure is likely to think about the advice, and if they decide that it is good advice, claim they came up with it on their own. These conflicts tend to be an important part of the story; they need to be well thought out.

The villain also needs to have individuality. So far, these steps give a pretty much identikit villain. To create this individuality, flesh them out with some extra details. While you need to ensure that they do not conflict, since these would result in the character becoming unrealistic, you need to ensure that your character also does not seem too bland, as this will result in your readers being rather bored, since the villain is predictable and therefore they know much of what is likely to happen. With the individual details your villain can stand out as something new, which will draw the readers in.

Once all these details have been established, all that remains is to write the villain. You may find yourself returning to the notes you’ve made to figure out what your villain would likely do, which makes them a useful resource. However, if you don’t need to it does not necessarily mean that you’re writing badly; it can also mean you already have a good image of the villain inside your head. During your writing, ensure that you have a good idea of where the story is going, and write away!