Im writing a trilogy that has my antagonist start as a hero along with my protagonist. My Protagonist is a human prince, an heir to the most powerful empire in my world. He wants to change how his people treat non-humans, especially the hostilities between his empire and the Dark Elves. My antagonist is a Dark Elf from a highly militaristic society. They respect deeds more than birthrights even if his father is the King. He's driven to do something worthy enough to be named his father's heir by a council of elders. The two characters have already met before ch.1 and are working together to find a bow that is said to be blessed by the gods. Im having trouble on how to make my Dark Elf antagonist go from at least tolerating the race of men to outright despising them enough to want to eradicate them so other races can prosper. Every idea I have ends up being very cliche. Ideas?
You could try having him fall prey to the manipulation of a cabinet of advisers, or perhaps an uncle who is a trusted adviser. It might help to know a few of the ideas you've already come up with but decided against, that way we don't accidentally suggest those. Welcome to the forums.
Thanks for the Welcome. In my story Dark Elves don't have a hereditary monarchy. Kings are selected by a Council of Elders (retired warriors usually). Dark Elves are taken from their parents around age 7 and begin a harsh and often deadly training regimen that lasts until the child makes their first kill in battle. Only then are they considered warriors. The Elders choose kings based on merit, reputation, and importance of their campaigns. I thought about that uncle idea. Dark Elven children are taken from their families at 7 or so, outside of direct lineage, Dark Elves typically don't even know their extended families. As far as what I've tried: 1.) My villain begins to see how differnt human nations treat non-humans and slowly begins to take it upon himself to avenge the other races that have suffered under human subjugation. The problem ive ran into with this arc is that the arc feels too tropey to me. 2) Villain betrayed by those he called ally and swore revenge. The problem ive had with this arc is that it feels like standard ("Dark Lord") and generic.
Hmm... given the constraints, the only other thing I can currently think of is that he's fooled by another race in conflict with the humans into believing that the humans are the aggressors, and so he mistakenly joins the cause against the humans. Or the Dark Elves are the victim to subterfuge that is framed to be committed by the humans, either from within their own people, or another race. Or more vaguely, you could go the route of some sort of religious crusade after your Dark Elf prince has some sort of mystical experience / initiation. Or a religious prophecy that he's suckered into, like overthrowing the Council of Elders. Or some sort of natural disaster leaves his eyes set on the territories controlled by man.
I like your idea about being manipulated and the Religious thing sounds intersting. Maybe like a inquisition or something similar is conspiring against non- humans and needs a Dark Elf to shift blame onto. Maybe the Church/Temple wants to eradicate the Fortress City of the Dark Elves. Having a Dark Elf on yourside unknowingly carry out a genocide against his own people. Maybe once he finds out, is when he sees genocide as a good option.
I started to incorporate that into what i was writing. It's going to take a while for the transition from hero to Villain, but, hopefully it will be satifying to the reader to join him on that journey. Thanks for the help
