So there is this one particular villain in my story that has become rather troubling to write...at least towards the end of it anyway. She develops very dark emotions about herself and even has suicidal thoughts. Not to say she's power hungry necessarily but allow me to put it this way in terms of her feelings...she once had the world in the palm of her hands and towards the end of the story feels like her world comes crashing down into flames. She is very self-critical. The main hero of the story has a connection with this villain...he knows who she is and has sympathy for her. I think I could write a really interesting scene between the two towards the end. I'm a little troubled by my villain though...I'm not sure if the best way to conclude her character arc would be to have her allow this depression to really sink into her or maybe have it happen part of the way towards the end. She is only human and to have her experience her world fall apart would effect her emotionally a lot. I want the reader to sympathize with her situation despite all her wrongdoings and she definitely does some bad stuff. Whether or not she would commit suicide is something I haven't determined based upon when I'm inside of her head...I would imagine she would have enough strength in her to fight the hero even though she's not at full strength. More or less a chink in her armor and she's a brilliant fighter. Whether or not she makes it through the end of the story is yet to be determined but I would like suggestions on how to write this suicidal/depression phase in my villain...it's something she will experience at some point during the story towards the end...I want her to feel real and believable to the reader with what she's dealing with. I just don't want to go too far with the suicide/depression thing...I just haven't read that many characters that have such characters so I'm unsure how to write this part of my villain's arc. Any advice for this would be greatly appreciated!
I think I'd have to know how much she's in the story for me to offer help. Like, does she appear in every chapter? Every other chapter?
That's a really good question. I'm trying to think of suicidal villains. I mean... there's people like Adolf Hitler and Jim Jones. Hitler killed himself once he was surrounded and beaten. Jim Jones -- the leader of the infamous "Jonestown" religious cult that killed themselves in the 1980s -- did the same thing. I think that might be an interesting way to go with it. A paranoid, proud person who hates to lose. Planning to kill themselves as a last resort. That would make a pretty good villain; imagine fighting someone like that. Someone who is completely ready to die. Someone who is dead set on killing you. Someone so obsessed with winning and proving a point that they will either beat you or die trying.
Aside from the main hero, my villainess will be in their quite often. She will appear in most chapters. I would like the story to see the world from her perspective. I would like the readers to get inside of her head, especially when she gets to this depressed state. I want my audience to feel sad for her even though she has killed many by herself and her army. I'm just trying to figure out how to write that type of scene when she's at the end of her rope.
When I put myself inside my villainess' head, she has thoughts about possibly killing herself because more or less she is surrounded and feels very broken and beaten. When growing up, her father instilled no tolerance for failure and that's the person she most looked up to. Even though she experiences this depressed state about herself, I think the main hero will eventually irk her and she will get over it, spark her fires to fight...and yes, she is very proud and she definitely hates to lose. Like you say, she is ready to die to an extent, yet she's dead set on killing. I've never written a character like this before so this will definitely be interesting to write her.
Could you write some chapters in her POV? That would be the ultimate way to get in her head. If you can’t, you could just subtly show her broken-ness by, like, her movements or word choice.
That will be the best route to go I feel, chapters from her POV. There will be a scene or two where she is alone by herself, examining herself inside her head, and that's when she allows these very dark feelings sink into her and almost take her out. I'm confident she'll hold on when I write that part, but thoughts of suicide cross her mind. You know, assuming she gets past that point in the story, she will fight my hero in a final battle and it will be a very emotional battle. I believe my villainess's broken spirit will put a chink in her armor and lead to her undoing. She is an extremely intelligent woman but in a sense she's her own worst enemy and her broken-ness makes her feel a bit tired and weaker. When my hero fights her, I think he'll be a bit scared by her...knowing she was ready to die and she has literally nothing left to lose so she will hold nothing back despite her not being full strength. The ending of this story is going to be very exciting to write.
