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!