I have a main villain in my story (ends up giving up his soul to a Dark Spirit and becoming possessed, and then later on possesses one of his two sons by recruiting other Dark Spirits. His main goal is to sacrifice the main protagonist so that the world is forever locked in winter and that he will become immortal) Only problem is... I'm worried that he doesn't seem important enough when it comes to the other more secretive villains lying in wait for my characters. He does get involved at times but otherwise he doesn't seem all that "bad". Any tips on how to make a villain stick in your mind without going into their own POV?
you could a conversation between some people who are terrified of him "I heard he snapped a baby in half" "I heard he ate it alive" "I heard he keeps a tool for spooning out brains"
By what they do/don't do, and their dialogue. An example is in my avatar, is a villain from a game called Blazblue. In the game, he belittles other characters for his enjoyment, repeatedly tortures the MC while teasing him about his little sister, cuts off the MC's right arm, killed the wife of a legendary hero, manipulates people to do what he wants, and after they serve their purpose, he belittles them and laughs at them. What I like about him the most is his dialogue, he really belittles a character to the point where they want to fight him,but because of how strong he is, they can't win. Everything he says, when it's an insult, is something that's personal to the char he's insulting, and it comes off as both original and insulting. An example is whenever he sees the MC, he always asks him "How's your right arm doing?" (The MC got a prosthetic).
When I tried to think of a good bad guy to provide examples, I first thought of Sauron from Lord of the Rings and Keyser Söze from The Usual Suspects. An air of mystery, I think, is crucial. Never demonstrate limits to their abilities or define what all they're capable of so readers (and characters) are left only imagining the horrors they can accomplish. Less is more and the imagination is a great weapon. Show their influence. We got to see the effects of Sauron's power and control through his minions, who were capable and scary. A system is only as powerful as its weakest link. Don't give him worthless flunkies who bumble through situations. Make them dangerous and frightening and you're left wondering how much more frightening the power is that controls and directs these things. Make schemes and plots for the long-term. Make them step-by-step processes that gradually compound and lock the evil scheme into place. Also, if some of these steps appear to be mistakes, or appear to be easily overcome, it's scary as hell when it becomes apparent that all of this was part of the plan. Similarly, if situations are manipulated to where the heroes doing their heroic things actually serves to help the bad guy, it makes them look brilliant and even more scary. The good guys question everything. I highly recommend watching The Usual Suspects. Brilliant movie with brilliant actors. I could explain what happens with Keyser Söze but if you haven't seen the movie I don't want to ruin the experience of finding out.
Hmmm.... oh man I think i already set up something in my book that would be just perfect for that! I happen to do that strangely even though i don't intend to, and in this case i just remembered an instance where the MC gets infected by the Dark Spirit's poison and its slowly spreading through her body... *slow grin* I am so evil I cannot even comprehend what to say. And just saying -he's not the only uber-bad guy around. There's also two others. I haven't read any books with multiple baddies in them so this will add a very neat twist if several bad guys keep trying to kill each other and the MC off.
