The most realistic villains to write are just selfish jerks.
I know critics want depth and uncomfortable relatability, but "dude just wants wealth and power, and is willing to step on others to get it" might be the most relevant to reality villains in existence.
I know critics want depth and uncomfortable relatability, but "dude just wants wealth and power, and is willing to step on others to get it" might be the most relevant to reality villains in existence.
Comments
But yeah, there aren't enough genuinely evil villains anymore.
Its possible to have a villain that falls into this trope and doesn’t suck but you need to lay the foundation for it
Simple is good but barebones is dogwater
Villains are always more realistic (and generally more interesting) when their "evil" is partly understandable bc "evil" stems from SOMETHING, people are not just "evil" especially in real life lmao
Most people are emotionally and momentarily driven, and it makes the figures both more reprehensible and relatable.
It's similar that unlikeable heroes just want to "save the world" and then do. It's not believable.
Then I think, "Nah that would make you a villain, and you want to be a good girl not a bad girl, you don't want to be a bad girl cause they go to heck and you can't go to heck can you?"
just harness all your intrusive thoughts and make a big jerk
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man
And capitalism isn't something that bad guys do.
My American propaganda told me so.
Thanos is a perfect example on how to portray a bad guy and just just some dude who is evil just because.
And if I make him as cartoonishly villainous as REALITY would dictate, well, maybe it'll fit with high-ish fantasy?
IRL, their backstory is meaningless, generally spotted with petty, mundane traumas and overwhelming privilege.
Yeah, actually!
I'd glanced at your reply a hot minute ago, was just now really thinking about it, and came back and gave it a better read.
Hell yeah, I agree tbh.
Not necessarily the angle I was approaching from, but fuckin-A, BRose!
It's on how well you sell it and write it
Did they grow up poor unsure of where their next meal might come from, or the opposite groomed as a prince to see others as beneath and the world as inherently theirs.
In answering that, you keep your simple motive, but
Trauma or what have you can shape that. Suddenly, they can be understood and disagreed with. Tragically blinded.
The real villains are acting in the right, for the greater good. That's why we're always falling for their schemes, and almost always lose.
that'd make him very relatable to a sizably sad sector of our population without much backstory at all
every villain is the hero of their own story
wait
Taken to an extreme I did not mean, "just" could imply that's *all* there is to them, which would indeed fall into mustache-twirling villain territory, yes 😅
All the more reason to do the heroic thing and do it anyways.
It reminds me of a quote, "abusers know they're abusing you. It's an active choice"
The greedful villain knows they are what they are, & yet they do it anyway
Thank you! 🙏🥹
https://gofund.me/41f9548c
I like villains that remind us of people in our lives, where their backstories explain but dont excuse. Like Bojacks mother.
They don't do it for money or fame. Just for the joy of hurting someone like they were hurt.
You relate to their actions in a sad way of "___treated me like they treat their kid..."
"sociopaths" and "psychopaths" dont exist, theyre people who have APD, and narcissists are either self-centered or have NPD. none of these conditions make you inherently bad
A sincere belief that you are owed wealth, power, or land can be enough to spiral someone into building up the "evil" of obstacles, justifying atrocities.
Good person might: have a traumatic experience>seek help>heal and help others
Bad person might: have a traumatic experience>become hardened/cruel because of it>use that as an excuse to hurt others
I'm just not sure why some people heal and others harden
It just doesn't seem helpful to be like "if you're a bad person now, you can never change your ways because you just suck"
...
I really, really wish.
And there’s a lot of depth and uncomfortable relatability there.
He was so refreshingly unapologetic about being a huge wad, I didn't know how badly I needed that until I saw it.
>becomes sentient
>goes on the internet for 5 seconds
>humanity is a plague
…yeah man I get it
nvm he stepped all over me but thats my fault ngl
those are definitely the worst villains.
give me a nasty freak who wants what they want
like that spiderman villain who learned to rearrange DNA and started turning people into dinosaurs instead of curing cancer