Oh, villains! You Love them! You hate them! You love to hate them! Villains or the antagonist of the story is the opposing force to your main character’s goal. They are usually the big stepping stone in your whole arc to complete the main conflict and/or the last battle on the climax before the end. A good antagonist will make you cringe, sweat, even give you a stomachache if done correctly. My best advice for writers out there is to give the same or more attention to the antagonist as the main character.
The antagonist can be part of the conflict that your character endures throughout the story arc. It should be interesting, it should be more powerful than your MC so you can have a very entertaining story. The name comes from the Greek antagonistes which means competitor or villain.
When it comes to villains there is one person that comes into mind right away: George R. R. Martin. I mean he is not the only one but he has a diverse range of villains that break the stereotype of doing a mirror villain. A mirror villain? A villain that has the same powers and looks like the opposite of your MC. So why is that bad? Well, it isn’t. There is no rule set in stone to what a villain should do or look like. But it is interesting when it is completely different from your MC.
So on this page, you got some world-renown villains. Darth Vader, The Joker, Thanos. You also have some villains that break the stereotype. Take Dolores Umbridge (in pink). In The Harry Potter series, your main villain is Voldemort. But this pink uptight lady has infiltrated into Hogwarts and makes the characters miserable. When it comes to villains you can give all negative features to them but you also can make a circle of good or a mask that will disguise the villain as being completely evil. Umbridge’s mask? Her clothing her appearance. Besides that, you cringe every time she is mentioned.
You know between his madness the Joker will make you laugh. You know Darth Vader, deep inside has his young Tatooine Anakin still attach to him when he fights for his son on episode 6 or shows mercy to reveal who he truly is. Even Thanos. He works for love. Such a romantic that Thanos.
So when you are developing that villain you have to take into consideration that some part of him is “human”. That will make the antagonist more relatable and you will understand why he does what he does. Trauma can be an engine. Jealousy, envy, mourn an idea of how he sees the world. Magneto from X-Men is not that bad if you think of it. He thinks mutants should govern the world not powerless humans who want to destroy each other. He thinks mutants should live in peace. Yes, he wants to exterminate humans, but it is because humans wanted to exterminate mutants in the first place. Cause and effect. And between that, you have a circle of goodness in Magneto that would make you think and know, the why he is doing what he does.
So how else can you make it exciting for the audiences? Why not making the bad guy the protagonist and the good guy the antagonist? Why not making a conflict so big that the only way to conquer everything is for the antagonist and protagonist to join forces to overcome something.
One book I will recommend is Blake Crouch’s, Dark Matter. Don’t worry I won’t give any detail. BUT! It has something that you see coming as an antagonist and then it punches you in the gut and throws your world upside down. Sometimes unexpected villains can be satisfying if done correctly. Maybe is the love interest? Best friend? A family member? What if the MC has multiple personalities. That’s why research is very important when developing your story and of course setting the audiences for that awesome climax so the book has that WOW feeling at the end.
So enjoy your villain making as much as your MC. Give it advantages so that your MC has to work to overcome the main conflict. And make it interesting. A villain well done can make your characters look better than what you have portrayed them to be.