So I’ve been writing about a villain series which you can find over on the right hand side and I had just a couple more things I wanted to say about how to make a villain memorable.
In review, we’ve talked about:
1) The villain needs some sort of logical or even illogical reasoning behind what they do. Very rarely are good villains created without purpose.
2) A villain who wants to destroy the world is probable but somewhat implausible. In other words if your villain wants to turn the world into soot and ash, what do they have worth keeping once all is said and done?
3) Having your villain being relatable will draw the the reader in just that much more. Show your reader that when it really comes down to it, they aren’t so far off from one day becoming your villain, if circumstance permitted.
4) Your villain is almost if not more important than your main character. Without a dynamic villain that stands out, your hero has nothing to shine against, thus making them fall flat.
5) The more back story for the villain the better. Like I spoke in #3, help show the audience that your villain wasn’t born inherently evil, it was thrust upon or chosen by them.
6) If you want your villain to stand out they have to have style to them. Whether it be they way they talk, their clothes, their personality, etc., you need to find a way to set your villain apart from others and help them to fit into your story.
7) There’s often a fine line between the actions of the bad guy and good guy. Help the viewer see that perhaps if the story was told in a different tone or context, they would be the good buy.
Of course these rules don’t apply all of the time. If done correctly you can make great villains by doing the exact opposite of what I suggest. Check and share with your friends to see if your character is getting across what you want and whether they are flat or not. And make sure this friend is willing to tell you how it is.
Now for a bit more
We’ve gone over a pretty broad scale of what a good villain needs, so lets get down to some more specifics. In fact many of these are just little nuances that you can use to spice up any character (if you’ve done acting before I’m sure some of these might sound familiar). In fact I would even encourage you to study other characters. What is it about your favorite characters that you like? What sets them apart? Okay, now to the nuances.
Nuances
Demeanor is the kind of air someone gives off. Not not literal air but it’s a feeling or aura they exude. I’m not making this any easier am I? Ha, ha. Okay, when in doubt, teach by example.
Ex. The Scarecrow or Jack Ripner…okay, any part played by Cillian Murphy
Cillian Murphy is an incredible actor. Everyone I’ve talked to agrees he’s not only frightening in Red Eye (whether you liked it or not) and he’s much creepy when he’s not wearing his mask in Batman Begins. Why is this? Cillian Murphy has, as I was saying, an incredible gift for getting across a feeling that makes the watcher feel uneasy. It’s not so much what he says or what he wears…it’s how he presents himself. Now watch the clip below and really take in all the feelings and thoughts he’s portraying with just his face.
1) What’s the first thing you notice? For me it was that he seldom blinks but he never loses eye contact which says to me he’s a thinker. I can’t help but think his mind is wandering, daydreaming about putting on his mask and getting rid of this schmuck in front of him.
2) I would say his face is tense, but not because he’s afraid, because he knows he’s in full control of the situation. I would say his face is tense with anticipation.
3) Soon his face breaks and he very nonchalantly states that if this guy talks, he’ll kill him. In most stories the bad guy really milks his “I’m about to kill you” monologue. Instead Dr. Crane speaks as if it were not only strictly business, but just a fact of life or something very obvious. In other words he downplays the life of the man before him which is not the norm and somewhat unsettling.
4) Finally it seems Dr. Crane simply can’t take anymore of this other man’s ego and for a moment resists the temptation to give in to his urge to wear the mask, but ultimately thinks it’s for the better. Then he gives his rhetorical question, “Would you like to see my mask?” It’s true he’s frightening when he’s wearing the mask and those psychotropic drugs take affect, but there’s a coldness to Dr. Crane that can only be seen in flesh and blood.
Ex. Long John Silver
Besides Muppet Treasure Island holding one of the top places in my heart when it comes to DVDs, Treasure Island also holds an incredible antagonist who again holds a certain air about him, only it’s always a disguise. The relationship of Long John Silver and that of the protagonist, Jim Hawkins, is a complex one. Before Jim even knows Long John is a pirate, he’s told by another sea faring man to beware of the one legged man. Well later Jim meets a one legged man but he’s the most cheerful of men, has a parrot, and is the ship’s cook. He always follows orders and even went out of his way to find seafaring men for the sea voyage.
Well it ends up Long John Silver is, to put it plainly, a liar. The men he suggested are all pirates, he makes sure several of the respectable men are killed, and he raises a full scale mutiny against Captain Smollet and the very few left of the Hispanola that aren’t on his side. Throughout the story Jim and himself run into each other, but despite what predicament, Long John is always in a chipper mood, as if everything is going as planned.
In fact later in the story, after being caught, Long John tries to escape and Jim catches him. Jim is going to blow the whistle when Long John threatens to shoot him. In the end Long John can’t shoot Jim and Jim can’t blow the whistle. Long John truly sees a kind of hope in Jim and Jim sees what he does not want to become.
So what is there to learn from this? To quote Keyser Soze, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist.” In other words sometimes a good villain is cheerful and of the best caliber and disposition, but it’s all a ruse to get what they want. And we can also see a deeper character in Long John because he doesn’t shoot Jim. There’s a part of Long John that wishes he didn’t have to live the way he does, but the other half of him either figures it’s too late to change things now, or just plainly doesn’t want to.
Start the video below at about 1:45 to see the ending scene between Jim and Long John.
Ex. Thin Man, Seamus O’Grady, and Eric Knox
Okay so these next ones all come from the two Charlie’s Angels movies that they made, which again have a dear place in my heart. It’s not afraid to make fun of itself the entire time, the villains are great, and the action is pretty fun.
So below here are (in this order) Eric Knox, Thin Man, Seamus O’Grady. All three of them well crafted villains with incredible nuances about them but I’m not gonna spell it out for you. This is homework! So go rent or find the movies online for free and watch them and real take in what the characters have to offer. Here’s a little taste.
While there is a bunch of Irish men, Seamus is the freaky shirtless one.
