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The Life and Mind of DamnBlackHeart
This is to help me stay actively writing. So expect to see rants, tips on writing, thoughts on subjects, me complaining of boredom, reviews, anime, movies, video games, conventions, tv shows and whatever life throws at me.
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Villains, Heroes and Antiheroes |
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Doing background work before putting pen to paper with fictional and nonfictional writing is of utmost importance – it allows one to lay a firm groundwork down that will not only spur great ideas when it comes to character and plot development, but also ensure consistency with facts as well as last minute details.
That’s why I like to occasionally do some research and save the information I found for later use. Doing that saves me time and it’s very useful to have for my own writing because all I have to do is look back at what I research and what I learned from it.
Now, a lot has been written about how to develop the hero and heroine in a story. So there’s no need for me to research that, because it’s quite easy for me to create and develop a hero. But an often overlooked, but equally important characters, are the villains and the antiheroes.
What is a villain? How should they be?
The villain is the “antagonist”, “bad guy”, an “evil” character in a story. The best villains are rebellious, individually motivated, intelligent, and capable. They should be impressive to the reader – otherwise the outcome becomes not only obvious, but the climactic confrontation between the two opposing forces, protagonist and antagonist, will not only be lackluster but entirely mediocre.
That is why it's just as important to develop your villain as you do with your hero. They need to be believable and realistic. Villains are more than just a person capable of wickedness. They don't just do those bad things because they're bad.
A good example of a memorable and believable villain would be Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs. He's a deeply flawed character and yet on some level, one to which readers were particularly drawn to. It's his complexity that reels us in: evil yet remarkably charismatic and charming. Such an unlikely combination that can't help but fascinate everyone. Also, this a spoiler for some who haven't seen the movie so please don't read the next part I wrote. It's not just his mere presence that sends shivers down reader's backs, but his mind – his words. He's a great psychological mind. He convinced a guy to choke himself to death, he escaped by having a mask using another person's face. Although maybe not not look impressive on the outside, his mind is a most powerful and amazing weapon.
Another example of a well done villain would be The Joker from Batman. He's another interesting andentertaining character. He's bent on creating chaos in a world he believes desperately needs it. He doesn’t want anything else, especially not money. He just wants to watch the world burn and he wants to be the cause of it. It's fun for him. He’s always one step ahead and even if something goes wrong in his plans, he just laughs it off because it just adds to the thrill. There are many times when he has the chance to kill his nemesis Batman, but he doesn’t take them. Why? Because he’s one of the few villains who realized that they need each other. Without Batman there is no Joker and without the Joker, there's just no humor in Gotham City. Even Batman won’t kill him because it’s wrong and he knows it’s exactly what The Joker wants. He wants Batman to break his one rule of no killing (of course depending on what your reading or watching though) because it's what keeps him from one of them.
What makes a character become a villain?
Every character is created/born and starts off normally or may have been born into a difficult life. Either way, something had to have happen to them that changed who they were. It's all about what cause them to change, to become the bad guy they are now? Whatever the cause is, you need a reason as to why it resulted in them being that way. There are many outcomes and a author has to think deeply of which would be realistic and a believable path for their villain.
For example, a robber who kill a child's parents in front of their eyes, wouldn't automatically result the child in becoming a hero. There are many possibilities and the child could have been too young to remember. Maybe they do remember but with the help of doctors they were able to move on? Or maybe it traumatize them so much that it resulted in them becoming a bad guy themselves? Of course whatever happens afterward doesn't occur immediately, it takes time for them to become who they are, depending on whatever started the change.
What is your villain's motive?
Now that they changed, what is their first crime or plans that gain them the title of the “bad guy”?
Whatever it is,every bad guy has a reason behind their madness. The Joker likes being the villain, by causing chaos in Gotham City. It has Batman to bring order and peace but The Joker believes it needs him just as much, to balance it out. To bring in the chaos that it's truly lacking. That is The Joker's motive for doing what he does is. Some motives seem insane but for an insane character like The Joker it's reason enough for him. A villain's motive for doing what they do is what they believe, to them it makes sense even if doesn't for others.
What is the difference between heroes and antiheroes?
When it comes to villains and heroes, there's some obvious differences between them. Some villains are similar to heroes and appear quite normal. The most believable and realistic villains are those that could have been heroes if the circumstances were different.
However, there isa character with some of the qualities of a villain but with the soul or motivations of a hero. That is a antihero.
For example, imagine a hero and antihero with similar motives. The hero wants to save his kidnapped son while the antihero wants to save their dying wife. The motive behind their intent is love, to save the ones that mean the whole world to them. But the different between them is what they are willing to do to accomplish their goals.
The hero wouldn't forsake their principles/morality just to save their son. They would try to find another way to get want they want. With the antihero, they would stop at nothing to get want they want. If saving their wife means that they have to get their hands dirty: murder, kidnapping, mutilation, etc. then they will. They wouldn't care who they hurt as long as they achieve their goal.
Now some of you might ask...
What's the difference between villains and antiheroes? And what keeps antiheroes from becoming villains?
Even though a antihero is willing to get their hands dirty they DO have a line(s) that they will not cross. It's that very line that keeps them from turning into a villain. Using the example above, the antihero would be willing to murder people to save their wife, but the difference between them and a villain is that those people would be “bad guys”. They wouldn't murder innocent people just to save their wife. They would still have those hero qualities among the villain ones inside them.
To me, anti-heroes stop bad guys and save people but they are willing to break the law to do it. They are also known to be the ones that would sacrifice the few to save the many. A hero would try to find a solution to save everyone even when the odds are against them. If a hero can't save everyone and someone has to die, they would willingly give up their life instead. An anti-hero wouldn't wallow in regret or misery over it because they feel justified in doing what they did.
A perfect example of a antihero is a vampire who seeks to rationalize his feeding on humans for sustenance by only allowing those he considers "evil" to die. A hero vampire would get his sustenance from the blood bank or feed on animals. A hero wouldn't have to take a life, even if they are bad because it's not his right to decide to kill them or not.
Some notable antiheroes are:
The Man With No Name from The Dollars Trilogy
Dexter Morgan from Dexter
The MacManus Brothers (Connor & Murphy) from The Boondock Saints
Dr. Gregory House of House
Frank Castle/The Punisher from The Punisher
Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean
 DamnBlackHeart · Thu May 17, 2012 @ 02:54am · 0 Comments |
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