What do you think there needs to be, to make a great villain?

[Blobpie]

Believable motivation:
Five kids kicking a dog for fun is bad motivation

Now the same five kids kicking a dog because he attacked one of them is better motivation

Remember, no one is a villain in their own story

 

[Snowbell]

A British accent.

 

[GmonXyZ]

Personally, i think The Joker is the perfect villain;
- highly intelligent psychopath with a warped, sadistic sense of humor(eccentric prankster).
- Purple suit FTW!

 

[Nooners]

I invite you to this very, VERY educational read on how to create a great villain by Rich Burlew, creator of Order of the Stick.

Seriously, read this article.

http://www.giantitp.com/articles/rTKEivnsYuZrh94H1Sn.html

 

[Raika]

I think motivation is key.

Do you have any idea how happy I am that this is the first response?

Yes. Motivation is the single most important factor in writing a villain. We've seen what happens when a character has no motivation and just does bad things "because he's evil". The result is a really fucking boring, poorly written character.


Case in point:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[TitanAtlas]

First a backstory. Something that somehow makes us feel how the villain feels. What he was.
Second Reason. I want to feel like in any other situation i could side with this villain. That his goals truly are the answer.
Third Motivation. A villain that will do his rule no matter what others think.

Optional: Evil stach and or Monocle.

 

[irani_che]

They have to be a character, fully rounded but we dont always need to know everything about him
two examples of good villians who were more memorable than the hero

Bill the Butcher, Gangs of New York, we knew why he was the way he was and at times almost agreed, but he is still brutal and a flat out villian

the joker from dark Knight,
he didnt need a reason to do the things he did provided he did an excellent job enjoying it.


a good villian is charasmatic

 

[trooper6]

It depends.

It depends on a lot of things...but I'll say it primarily depends on genre, because genre effects so many other sorts of things.

A black and white world needs a different sort of villain than a shades of gray world.
A swashbuckling four-color hero like Flash Gordon needs a different kind of villain than a moody anti-hero like the Punisher.
A slasher horror film needs a different sort of villain than a soap opera.

Alexis Colby from Dynasty or JR Ewing from Dallas are iconic memorable villains...but so is Jason from Friday the 13th...or The Car in Duel. Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2. Baby Jane in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? The Joker? Sure. But also Ming the Merciless.

Some villains are unstoppable with no motivation, humanization, or backstory...and that's what make them work best. Some are humanized, tortured and misunderstood...and that's what make them work best.

But it has to be appropriate to the story. Some folks get irritated when their villains are given backstory, justification, and humanization...they just want to hate Joffrey from Game of Thrones and wish torture upon him. Some folks get irritated when they don't know the inner life of the villain--Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre leaves them cold. Some want snarky one-liners from Erica Kane, other want massive violence from alien invaders. Some want Darth Vader level iconic imagery, others want the face of the mundane like the Mayor in Buffy.

There is not universal good villain, as there is not universal good hero.

Context is key.

 

[shadyh8er]

Charismatic enough to be likable.

Evil enough so there's no doubt he/she's the villain, but not so evil that he/she becomes hateful.

Smart enough to evade capture.

Unpredictable or carefree enough to be scary.

Flawed enough to be beatable.

 

[roushutsu]

A big part of what I think makes a great villain is that they need to be the antithesis of the hero, but still similar in enough ways to make them have a strange kind of bond.

Couldn't have put it better myself. I've often found that some of my absolute favorite villains happen to have some really kick ass heroes to counter them, and likewise some of the weakest villains (in my eyes anyway) didn't have particularly interesting or engaging heroes to fight them. The relationship heightens tensions throughout the story and further develops the characters. Of course I like villains that have unique traits and all, be menacing, calculating, all that fun stuff, but it's his or her interactions that can easily make or break them.

 

[bobmus]

I think motivation is key.

Do you have any idea how happy I am that this is the first response?

I aim to please. However, I also charge in the currency of internets. Or cookies.

 

[Terminate421]

Not having the damn plot device for almost all the events of the game or movie or whatever. I'm so sick of villans who can orchestrate an election 1500 years in the future but somehow forget to do good death traps or account for a plucky group of do gooders.

Captia: Mad science
Awesome.

Somehow your avatar fit that statement. I've seen you before but the way you said that made it sound like it flowed well with the avatar.

OT:

Villains must be able to accomplish quite a bit, or at least enjoy what they are doing. The thing is a sense of threat. The Joker is great for his humor and ability to blow someone up whenever he wants or queen Myrrah has an entire army of locust ready to take you down.

 

[370999]

Depends. Sometimes being deeply sympathetic makes a villain great as you can feel yourself feeling sorry with him. Sometimes it it being utterly terrifying that makes him stand out. Sometimes it making an argument that makes you question who's right.

Heroes come in a variety of shapes and so should villains. Stories, the best ones, tell something that makes me care. villains should help facilitate that.

So depends. Checklists don't make art great.

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with this gentledude right here. Every time I tried to nail a good villain's characteristics down as something necessary, I could think of some other great villain that doesn't fit.

This is concerning specific characteristics of the character, though. As far as general rules of writing go, though, the villain being written incoherently, with plot holes or something to that extent is never a mark in favor of him (or, rather, the writer).

Indeed. I would even go on to say that the best way to test how great the villain is, is what was he meant eo evoke and do and how do the audience see him as. I can take plot holes or inconsistency of character if the villain works, if when I'm meant to feel terror I do, when I'm meant to cry "Punch that fucker in the face!" I do.

I imagine how deeply unsatisfactory that is to any aspiring writer however.

 

[GiantRaven]

There are lots of different things that make a good villain, but what I feel makes the best villains is the belief in themselves that they are doing the right thing.

As a few examples...
Arcanum's Kerghan
Green Lantern's Sinestro
Preacher's Herr Starr

All fantastic villains.

 

[Raika]

I think motivation is key.

Do you have any idea how happy I am that this is the first response?

I aim to please. However, I also charge in the currency of internets. Or cookies.

My mother makes some pretty good chocolate chips, how many do you want?

 

[Dreadman75]

First and foremost: Motivation is key. Without motivation a villain just becomes...I don't know. What do you call a villain without motivation?

Second: Info and backstory. How did the villain become who he/she is or come to the point he/she is at in the story. However, it must be noted that too much info and backstory is boring and risks creating plotlines similar to Metal Gear Solid's, all over the place and almost incomprehensible.

Third: They need to be a clear and present threat. They need to come off as being capable of just about anything.

There's probably s some other things I missed. But these seem to be the characteristics of some of the better villains I've seen in various forms of media.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule: The Joker practically spits in the face of guideline number 2.

 

[Substitute Troll]

Alduin was a terrible villain. Why? Because we were forced to believe he was the villain, and he was abscent most of the time. And because he had a ridiculous voice.

Letho was an awesome villain. Why? He had a reason that wasn't fucking retarded (herp derp I want to control the world), he wasn't evil per say and he was almost always around the corner. Plus, he was a fucking badass.

 

[templar1138a]

One big thing that I enjoy is when the villain is the protagonist. Revisionist fairy tales, Sith characters in TOR, Death Note, these are all effective in that regard. It's also important for them to have a motivation that clearly is in line with "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

However, I DON'T like the mopey "You don't understand me, I'm mopey and evil" villain that's supposed to be the antithesis to the egomaniac variety that plagued stories for generations.