The Villain: The Most Important Part To Any Story (Part 3)

Okay the series on villains is back. I’ve looked over what I wrote and some of it is definitely misspelled and not English, but it’s a lot to write in one sitting so I’ll try to fix stuff as I see it. (I just spellchecked the first sentence and already misspelled two words…one of them being misspelled)

HISTORY IS KEY

Moving on. I still wanted to write more on the history of villains and why it is so important that as an audience we see that they are not one sided or flat characters. I now want to delve into another story, the play Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Now for those of you that haven’t seen the play, then you might have seen the movie starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and of course my favorite, Alan Rickman. I’m going to be talking about the story so if you don’t want anything spoiled, I’d go rent it (or better yet, go see the play) then come back and read the rest here.

The play involves the main character being a villain, something that is rarely done because sometimes it just so hard to bear, and if you’ve seen the play you probably understand. You see Benjamin Barker was once a regular man living in London, making his wages by shaving people. It sort of sounds weird in that context but that’s what barbers did. He has a lovely wife (Lucy) and a daughter (Johanna). Everything is going just peachy until Judge Turpin has Benjamin falsely arrested, where he is held in some prison for many years. The play begins with the people of London talking about Sweeny Todd as if he were evil made flesh, naming him the demon barber of Fleet street. We soon find out Benjamin is out of jail and returning to London, but he no longer has his cheery disposition. Instead he has been turned stale and sour to how he was unjustly treated. When describing London he has these kind words to say:

There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit
and the vermin of the world inhabit it
and its morals aren’t worth what a pin can spit
and it goes by the name of London.
At the top of the hole sit the privileged few
Making mock of the vermin in the lonely zoo
turning beauty to filth and greed…
I too have sailed the world and seen its wonders,
for the cruelty of men is as wondrous as Peru
but there’s no place like London!

Benjamin returns and sets up shop a top a pie shop and takes on the new name Sweeney Todd. His main goal is to kill the Judge that wrongfully imprisoned him. Not to mention that his wife is dead and his daughter is the ward of the judge (which basically means she’s too young to touch but that doesn’t stop him from doing other things….moving on). There’s more story to it but what you need to know is Sweeney Todd begins killing loads of people (some on his list, many not) and the dead bodies end up being baked into pies by his accomplice Mrs. Lovett. Ironically the pie shop becomes the more popular in town. Eventually Sweeney Todd gets his revenge on the Judge, but not before learning that a crazed beggar woman he killed, was his thought to be dead wife. Not only does he find this out but Mrs. Lovett, his accomplice and beau (more so on her side than his) knew the entire time and said nothing. Sweeney Todd pushes Mrs. Lovett into a furnace where she burns alive and he holds onto the body of his dead wife. Oh and a boy I never mentioned cuts his throat to end the tale.

I know I breezed through that but the important thing here is we see a balance between what makes a character a villain and what makes them a hero. Villains are not the only kind to be vindictive, Marv from Sin City is the first to come to mind though I’m sure there are some better examples. So what is it that separates Marv as a good guy and Sweeney Todd as a bad guy? And there lies the rub…but hopefully some understanding. It’s true that sometimes the bad guy is just evil for the hell of it, but more often than not the villain has a motive that seems very logical to them. In other words if we changed a few minor details between these two characters and changed how the storyteller told their story, they could easily switch places as villain and hero. It’s hard to consider Sweeney Todd a hero, and ultimately I don’t think he is, but it’s also hard not to feel sorry for him in some sense.

So from this I think we can pull two fundamental things:

- Villains are often victims of circumstance just like heroes, only at some point they cross the line

- A good villain is someone we can feel sorry for

STANDING OUT

The next important aspect to any villain is they need to be able to stand out. In other words the most iconic and memorable villains have something about them which immediately makes them jump out to the audience. It’s sort of hard to nail down what it is exactly that sets them apart from the endless throngs of forgotten villains, so lets look at a few and take note about them.

Orochimaru

Orochimaru is easily one of my favorite villains of all time. Now I know many of you haven’t watched Naruto and never care to (why should anyone watch a show that has been going on for nine years? It’s like cigarettes, I might as well see myself through till the end, right?). At it’s best the manga (Japanese comic book) is spectacular and at it’s worse it is monotonous and boring. But that doesn’t mean something great can’t come out of it. Orochimaru is almost a ninja equivalent of Voldemort…except I think he’s even worse. He was kicked out of his village as a student for capturing other students and experimenting/torturing them. He later makes it his sole purpose to destroy the village that denied him the recognition he longed for. Along the series he’s killed endless people. Killed children and then worn their faces as a disguise. Killed children that trusted him so he could use their souls to resurrect the old dead village leaders (as a slap to the face), he kills his former master (the village leader), he kills another village leader and wears his face, he has leaned to prolong his life by possessing other people’s and he convinces the main protagonist’s best friend to turn bad so he can secretly one day have that body for his own. Creepy enough yet? But it’s not just his history that makes him great, it’s his style. Despite his often effeminate clothes, being voiced by a woman, and having some sort of purple eyeshadow on, he is downright creepy.

The creator of this character did a great job making him stand out. He’s not your average villain drenched in black. He has this sort of pedophile creepiness to him and shows no regard for human life what so ever. Oh and his skills…bizarre. When fighting his master he has a snake come out of his mouth and then the snake has a sword come out of it’s mouth, which he then uses to fight with. Now that’s creative..strange, yes…but creative. He’s also been known to regurgitate himself (like a snake shedding it’s skin) in order to recover from attacks.

The Joker

Whether the movie version or the cartoon there is no other villain who is as iconic as the Joker. What other villain is a crazed man dressed as a clown? Nobody, and you couldn’t do it even if you wanted to because those clown shoes have been filled. Stuff to note: His purple suit (rare unless worn my pimps), a man wearing makeup (unless he’s a drag queen), and his array of strange comical gadgets. I feel like it’s easy to understand why he stands out so let us move onward!

Kevin

In the movie (played by Elijah Wood) and graphic novel Sin City. What sets him apart? I would say the steep contrast with his appearance and what he really is. In both the movie and graphic novel he looks somewhat like a nerd or bookworm. His sweater shirt has also got the iconic Charlie Brown symbol across it, which conjures up the thoughts of the bumbling and low self esteemed Charlie Brown. However Kevin is anything but. His appearances are deceiving because he’s incredibly agile, with very long fingernails which he uses as weapons, and he’s a gifted martial artist. His glasses are almost always whited out, the glare of light hitting them to hide his eyes, thus shutting off the audience from the window to his soul. He doesn’t speak but another character who is killed says that when he did talk his voice was like an angels. He has a knack for killing prostitutes and than eating them, leaving the rest for his pet wolf. But the part that sticks out the most…when being tortured, having his limbs cut off, and his own pet wolf eating his insides he still does nothing but smile, effectively robbing the aforementioned Marv of the revenge we wanted. If that doesn’t stand out I don’t know what does.

Slade

What really sold me on this character was the voice (Ron Pearlman’s). It really stands out because it’s always calm and collective, in the same breath it also seems to mock the Teen Titans because they are children. It also never hurts to have a bad ass helmet and costume. But the above all shining moment for his character, the point that really made him stand out…in one episode he is fighting Robin on top of a building. Robin begins to fall off so Slade reaches out his hand to help him back up. This of course confuses Robin when he’s pulled to safety. After asking what he saved him Slade retorts “we aren’t done yet”, and proceeds to sock Robin right in the face. That definitely is a stand out moment. He saves his nemesis only so he can finish him off himself.

Darth Maul

Now despite all I’ve said about villains needing back story and some level to relate with them, there are those times, though few, that a villain is just plane cool do to their get up and persona. I would argue Darth Maul is the second most iconic Star Wars villain, right after Darth Vader. And though he was only with us a short time, he left a lasting impression of awesomeness with his cloak, tattoos (or skin…I’m not quite sure) and his double sided light saber. All the villains after him in the Star Wars movies were a bore. Count Dooku (despite being played by Christopher Lee) was very forgettable and even though Grievous could quadruple wield lightsabers, he still didn’t hold a candle to the powerful yet brief fire that was Darth Maul.

Andrew Ryan

Maybe the most classic video game villain that I can think of ever encountering and it’s only been out a year. This man tried to create a world away from religion and politics, where great minds could really focus after their goals without fearing ethics or persecution. What happens? Bioshock. His underwater city goes to hell as every inhabitant has gone crazy and go around killing each other. But what about Andrew Ryan himself? Nope he’s fine, in fact the entire time you are running around fending for your life he’s casually playing golf inside his office, locked away in safety. Even though the world which he built is crumbling around him, he can’t help but try to remain an entity, almost like a god or wizard of Oz over Rapture. And when you finally meet him, what happens? No huge boss fight I can tell you that. The video below will show you what happens, so watch as your own discretion. Just know it is hands down one of the best storytelling moments I’ve ever encountered by far. I was so confused when I came this part in the game that I had to look it up online to make heads or tails of it.

I’d give some examples of bad villains but you know who they are…or maybe you don’t because you’ve forgotten them. Whether it’s poor backstory, or no flare about them, forgettable villains massively outnumber ones that are. And it’s my quest to hopefully create villains that are memorable and hopefully help you create them too.

Hopefully this was helpful. There are a few more points I’d like to go over so look forward to at least one more part of this villain collective.