In a current story I've been dabbling in I've come across a slight problems. I've kept it mostly mysterious but I'm undecided between three villains, I'm looking for both a vote on which to use and advise on any improvements I can make, and a general opinion of them. Kravic-a puppeteer a mastermind thinking of the whole world as a chess game and every person as a peice to play, he is manipulative and dangerous though he prefers to keep his hands clean, rather than doing the 'heavy lifting' so to speak, he is in search of a challenge and is seemingly immortal. He wears a featureless silver mask and dust red cloak hood always drawn, with green eyes staring through. Cortez-He's similar to comic characters like Juggernaught opr Doomsday big strong fast and nearly impossible to kill, but he's smarter than most more animalistic in nature, enjoys battle and never kills unarmed foes, a greek god like physique with a twisted wide mouthed(filled with lots of needle like teeth) noseless face. He usually toys with his foes trying to bring the most monstreous qualities out of his enemies just to make the fight that much more enjoyable to him he'll torture friends families destroy home towns stringing people along a path of destruction until he thinks someone is ready to take him. Elliot Raythea-a madman with a guitar commanding a beast he calls his Torment his mind is twisted and broken and the Torment is the perfect represntation of this, since it is the manifestation of his soul, it looks like This and it dances to the deadly tune of the guitar slashin with it's long claws. Elliot leads the main character as if to show him something a twisted sense of caring forcing him to go to extremes to do just that he believes himself to be the true freind of the maincharacter who he feels is broken and hurt in need of healing. so tell me what you think of these guys and yes the drawings are mine, haven't been able to upload cortez's or Elliots drawings yet though
Nice villians! Let's do a real quick run-down. Kravic: Nuh-uh. A villian who doesn't want to get his hands dirty doesn't scare me. He sounds like the Wizard of Oz--all smoke and no fire. Villians, by their nature, should inspire terror and loathing. If he were a bit scarier, I think he has a lot of potential. Good illustration. = ) Cortez: This goes back to the terror-and-loathing thing. He sounds scarier than Kravic, but. Hm. I don't take him seriously. This is the kind of character that Kravic would send to do that afore-mentioned dirty work. Scary, but not smart. The scariest villians of all are the ones who are smarter than the heroes. Elliot Raythea: Now that's what I'm talking about! Villians who are charming, likable, and totally evil rock. I vote for Elliot. As a disclaimer, though, I think you should go with the villian that scares you the most. If you had to meet one of these guys in a dark alley, who would you least like to see? Whatever you most fear and loathe, that is what you should put into your villian. Because if you believe it as a writer, we're probably going to believe as readers.
I think I'm with daturaonfire on this one. I think Elliot is the scariest mostly because he thinks he's a friend of the MC. Twisted minds and psychotic villians are not only scary but also entertaining - though I also really like Kravic as a villian. I don't mind not getting your hands dirty but he seems very calculated where Elliot is unpredictable yet equally as dangerous. Nice drawings btw!
I also agree that Elliot is a good villian, as well as Kravic. I honestly like Cortez as well, except your description seems a bit hypocritical- he won't kill an unarmed foe, but he's willing to torture innocents? My thoughts on all three: Kravic- There's something to be said for meticulous planning and manipulation. Villains like these are always the mastermind behind it all, and while they may not be 'scary,' they're capable of much more than the average villain. If you were to use him as such, you might try to let him have a charming side that he uses in public to turn people to his cause, and save his mask and cloak for when he's already charmed who he needs to, and now is simply 'moving his pieces.' Cortez- if you drop the last part, it sounds to me like he'd make a great 'tragic' villain; someone that is actually a good person at heart, but circumstance has forced him to side with the bad guys. As an example, he might be a good person that was tricked by a character like Kravic into fighting for the wrong side. [Elliot- I'm not quite sure what you meant in his description... either there's some punctuation missing, or i'm just not reading it correctly... I think i get it though, you're saying he's a madman who views the main character as a friend and is trying to lead the main character through the world, showing him the highs and lows of life itself. I love it. I don't know the details of your story, but if there's room for all three, i'd say it might be fun to try to work all of them in. Not all villains need to be on the same side, so you could have Kravic recruit Cortez (even if you do choose not to make him honorable, it still fits well Kravic's description), and Elliot lead the MC through the story, causing the MC to get entangled in all sorts of dangers involving all three villains.
I see your poin I think I over complicated Cortez, a brute should be more straight forward. The trio could be interesting could pull the main character in all sorts of directions. I was tempted to use my all time favourite monster but he's not really a villain, more like a force of nature Rhistal a soul eater gets stronger with every kill. It's like fire it'll burn until there is nothing left to feed off of, or I could use it as something Kraic could test himself agains and Elliot unleashed an apocalypse monster. or I could use a smart Rhistal to be Kravic's opponent in the big game. You folks just inspire some interesting thoughts. Thanks I'll take it all to heart and anyone else feel free to throw your two cents in the more I know the better.
I would probably have all three of these characters, and have the first two look like the worst villains at the start, but reveal that the last is the real one by the end. Maybe have him easily kill the other two toward the end.
Ooooh I really like the idea of all three villains. If I were you I'd set it up as you have said, Kravic recruits Cortez to do the dirty work and lead his pawns around doing explicit villainy and evil. In the meantime, Elliot attempts to befriend the MC leading him into plots and intrigue and danger with the other two villains only to reveal at the end that he is the true madman villain most dangerous to the MC.... Very cool - let me know what you decide. I'd like to read a bit of it. Good luck!
I'm curious what kind of novels have comic characters like this in them? I would be interested in checking one out. I like Eliot because he's different.
