Unforgettable villains represent who we fear we actually are. Unforgettable villains tell us what they want. Never be thwarting. Unforgettable villains are shaped by the heroes they face, and vice-versa. And their little dog, too. Unforgettable villains have something distinctive about how they look, sound or act that anchors them in our memories. I asked screenwriter Chris Csont to look at some of our favorite movie villains with these ideas in mind. Batman would scare a few mobsters and still get six hours of sleep before the next Wayne Enterprises board meeting.
Luke Skywalker would finally have a chance to pick up those power converters. Villains not only make life difficult for our heroes, they create dramatic action everywhere they go. They carry the weight of the narrative along with the hero, helping to move the story forward with their own agenda.
How can you make your villains unforgettable? Villains are the central character of their own story. Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark sees himself as a bold adventurer and expert archaeologist, able to discover treasures that no one else can secure. He even makes his case for the way that selling tainted medicine to hospitals, resulting in the death of children, is no big crime.
In a country that was just torn apart by war, he stands in a ferris wheel with the protagonist, his friend Holly Martins, looking down on the anonymous strangers below and asks a question to both Holly and the audience:.
Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?
Lime is offering up an extreme version of a relatable quandary: how we justify personal gain at the expense of others. From politicians to military commanders to terrorists, unforgettable villains make these kinds of grim calculations. By showing us their thought process — by letting them grapple with the issue out loud — they come alive for the reader. Good triumphs over evil. True love prevails. In the Star Wars saga, Darth Vader is often near triumph.
He defeats Obi-Wan Kenobi, killing the one man he believed still had any sway over the Force that could oppose him. He captures Han Solo and draws Luke into a trap.
He fights Luke to what seems to be the point of submission. In Raiders, if Belloq truly believed he was the villain, would he be so eager to put on a headdress and perform the ritual to unleash the power of God? Control of the Ark convinces him that he will not face any consequences for partnering with the Nazis or attempting to kill Indiana Jones numerous times.
Old Joe overpowers an assassin and makes his escape. He has succeeded at not only making his way back to the past, but in bringing back information on who the Rainmaker might be. Even Hans Gruber might change plans and abandon the robbery of Nakatomi Plaza if things were falling apart. But almost everything is going to plan. These small victories help keep him pushing forward.
From evil sorcerers to money-hungry explorers, unforgettable villains often exist on a periphery, far from the lives of ordinary people.
The Wicked Witch of the West lives far from the happy center of Oz. Harry Lime fakes his own death, forcing him to move through the city like a ghost to avoid detection. Darth Vader spends a good amount of screen time onboard a moon-sized battle station, separated from the everyday life of the worlds that station threatens. Roy Batty is an outsider several times over.
Consider these qualities when you hear his last words toward the end of the film:. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears…in…rain. Time to die. As an outsider, Batty has experienced a powerful, condensed emotional reality.
Nurse Ratched goes home every day to what we can assume is an average house. But her workplace gives her a particular perspective on the world, surrounded with mental patients, moving among them, sometimes separating herself from them by the glass windows.
She is literally partitioned off. Heroes and villains define each other for the audience through their actions and interactions.
But I am telling you to tap into your dark side long enough to know what makes a good villain tick. Maybe in childhood, maybe in adolescence, maybe later.
At some point, rather than learning and growing, their maturation process stunted and stalled. Roots of bitterness and anger sprang up in them. On the surface they may have many, if not most, of the same attractive qualities of your hero. But just beneath the surface fester the qualities you can access in yourself if you allow yourself to. But giving him motivation will make him more than a cardboard cutout.
So conjure a backstory for your villain. Make him real and believable and credible—even attractive in many ways. The more that apply, the more successful your novel is likely to be. Because the more worthy his opponent, the more heroic your hero will appear.
Before you go, be sure to grab my character arc worksheet. Just tell me where to send it:. What Makes a Great Villain? Share Is the villain acting to impress someone by hurting others? Do they have obligations that require them to engage in evil activities?
Are they needing to remain in the good graces of higher-up villains to protect those they love? Are they seeking acceptance to a top club of villainy? If a villain is fearful for their family or someone they love, they may be led to engage in all sorts of harmful activities while seeing themselves as the hero. For example, trying to exterminate or imprison a certain population to prevent some imagined danger or stealing piles of money so that their family never has to be poor again.
Is their country about to be destroyed by an enemy nation? Desperate situations can motivate plenty of shady and reckless activity.
When characters are desperate they will do anything, which can produce interesting, sympathetic, and unusual villains. Their motives could be very pure saving the world, protecting the weak but if their information or perspective is flawed it could lead to a villain that needs to be stopped.
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