1. Xynith

    Xynith New Member

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    Sugar, spice and everything nic--what the hell?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Xynith, May 24, 2011.

    This is actually about a villain character.

    Recently I've been doing a villain overhaul because I felt that he lacked depth, motif and character. Frankly I'm not so sure that others can relate to him yet, but that is not something I'm worried about at this current place in time.

    What I do want to have considered are the things that compose his character. More so, "How does this sound to you?" for a villain.

    The villain is a man who fosters existential nihilistic views because his life from childhood onward has been filled with misery and constant depression; his view of living in general is that it is insufferable and in order for him to do away with it entirely, he must first bring everyone under the intense degree of agony that he feels, making their unanimous demise far more acceptable.

    He is a leader over a highly esteemed, advanced and technologically superior empire. He views his domain as of little gain, despite its ability to conquer all other kingdoms. The villain also selectively murders his own people to cause intense negative emotion to arise from the remaining patrons; from this he derives his fleeting, twisted pleasure.

    After conquering the entire inhabited world, he sets his extremely influential, malicious power out into the heavens to overrun the stars and ultimately take the universe down with him.

    It is fair to note that he is immortal, and has no specified age... so taking over the universe is quite possible for him, given enough time.
    Soo... your thoughts?
     
  2. Mallory

    Mallory Contributor Contributor

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    Aside from the murder stuff, he kind of reminds me of Gru from "Despicable Me." Yes, that's a kids' movie, but the villain/hero gets his kicks out of being a jerk to everyone (to the point of stealing the moon) because his mom was mean to him when he was a kid. If you're going for a children's story or something more simplistic, it can work, but otherwise it seems to be a little too cookie-cutter.

    With this said, though, I don't agree with the people who say that every single villain needs a sympathetic side and a rational motive. This depends on your story and what it's about.

    It seems that you're leaning toward the sadistic evil slant - in which case, I'd make him hungry for power grabs. Have him do things that affect people's lives, liberties, abilities to keep themselves and their families safe from his intrusive meddling and/or violent abuse, etc. Someone who's drive is to take people's control away from them and manipulate people like playthings is much more disturbing than the overbroad, "I'm the villain to spread my evil because I can" type.

    And it seems like you're doing the powergrab thing pretty well already...just develop it more as an aspect of his psychology, not just one little thing he does because he does evil at any given chance for no reason. If that makes sense.
     
  3. Castle Pokemetroid

    Castle Pokemetroid New Member

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    Immortal? Then he must be magic, or something relating to that? Perhaps he steals energy or the feelings and memories of those under his control to fuel his existence?

    Something that makes the guy seem inhuman could work.
     
  4. Three

    Three New Member

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    Last time I asked for a villian, he turned into a main character. >.> He is evil and uncompromising and I love him. He is the product of asking myself "how evil can a character possibly be", then trying to find out why he's like that.
    I know the whole "he's evil because his mom was mean to him" (or something similar) has been used for almost every believable (and otherwise) villian ever, but I honestly don't see another reason for someone to be bad and still feel real.

    Mine, for example, is also immortal, coincidently. He was raised in ancient Rome to a very abusive father and a frightened (he describes her as cowardly) mother. He almost always had bruises, and much of his early childhood was spent in silence out of fear. He's the fight as opposed to flight type and his father knew it, so the more he pushed him the further he grew, but it was never good enough. He was always too slow, too weak, too stupid. Being a soldier, son of a soldier, killing barbarians is perfectly acceptable. Being a Roman, barbarians, slaves and freemen are less than dirt. Considering these circumstances, is it any wonder he was psychotic?

    AND THEN he died in the battlefield and was brought back to life as a superior species. Unbelievably strong and fast with everlasting youth and bloodthirst, humans are cattle to him. He's either a god or a monster, and I think he sees it as a little of both. When you combine the psychological effects of turning (unbelievable, apparently endless pain, tearing at his own flesh for relief) with his already perilous mental state, the terrible things he does make a lot more sense. He's not mad exactly, but certainly terrible.
    He's no less evil, but he does feel real. (Almost makes him worse.) You might even feel sorry for him if you got to know him better.

    ... So I think where I was trying to go with that was don't get hung up on the technicality of it. Just like any other character, don't invent him because you need him - he'll seem two dimentional and forced. Let him come to you, and always ask why he acts the way he does. Never stop asking for deeper and deeper explainations.

    What do you mean by that? What exactly happened to him that was so terrible?

    I'm finding this a bit of a stretch... unless I'm understanding you wrong. :D

    So he just wants to kill everybody? Why? What will that accomplish? (This isn't me saying that it's rediculous or anything, this is just me needing to know why he wants to do that so badly - keep in mind that no matter how bad you are, 'killing everybody' goes against some of the most basic instincts we have. It's just not evolutionarily practical. Something really really big would have to happen to change that.)

    If he's so evil, how did he get there? Was it by choice? Why would he want to be there? Here's a question - why doesn't he just kill himself and be done with it? Why is it so very important that everyone suffer? (Again, I'm not trying to critisize, I'm trying to go further in depth.)

    It could be control. For real life villians (certainly serial killers and rapists) it's almost always about control. People need control because they feel they don't have it. Or he could have another motive. You tell me. :D

    Why would he want his own people to not like him? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to torture the enemy?

    So basicly, let him come to you, and ask ask ask ask ask! I'd love to know how he turns out. :D
     
  5. WhitWhitEatsZombieeees

    WhitWhitEatsZombieeees New Member

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    I like your idea for your character. It's very unique in a sense.:)
     

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