5 Best Villain Tropes in Storytelling (Writing Advice)

get ready because today I'm going to talk about some of the most effective and exciting villain tropes by the way my name is Brandon mcnolty I'm the author of bad parts also the author of Entry wounds and welcome to my riding Channel last week I did a video on my most hated villain cliches so today I thought we'd get positive we'll focus on five of the best villain tropes out there I'll explain what each one is why it works and I'll give you an example of each and also if you're worried about spoilers here's a list of the stories I'll be discussing today first Trope that I love is cornering the hero and this is when the villain traps the hero in a dangerous situation where there is no apparent escape and I love it because it demonstrates the villain's power intelligence and skill it shows that the villain is effective in carrying out their goals and it also works well because it forces the hero to make a difficult choice and this often Spurs character development because when the hero faces a serious dilemma that's when they have to make a choice and that choice reveals true character and it often lead to some of the most memorable moments in storytelling for an example let's look at Empire Strikes Back and I specifically chose this example because in last week's video I said that join me proposals I said that they were one of the worst villain cliches and people were quick to point out that Darth Vader's famous join me moment was a great one and I agree with you and it works mainly for two reasons first of all Vader completely shatters Luke with the big I am your father Revelation and secondly Vader backs Luke into a corner where his only apparent options are either joining Vader or falling to his death Luke has no weapon he has no viable Escape Route and that's what makes the join me dilemma here so compelling Luke eventually chooses to fall to his apparent death and that choice says a lot about Luke and what he believes in and this section of the story also says a lot about Vader he lures Luke into Cloud City then he drives him to the edge of an abyss and then finally he destroys him physically before dropping a bombshell revelation Vader is powerful he's in control and we also learn why he's been so protective of Luke up till this point second trop that I love is the wise villain speech and this is a speech in which villains shed light on their motives thought processes and worldviews these speeches are often stylish intelligent and captivating and they may challenge the hero's beliefs they may criticize society's flaws and often times this creates a thematic Battleground where the villain lays down an argument that the hero must refute and there are a lot of great examples of these speeches The Dark Knight is full of them and one particular standout is when the Joker criticizes Batman's personal code and his loyalty to the police to them you're just a freak like me they need you right now when they don't they'll cast you out they're only as good as the world allows them to be I'll show you when the chips are down these uh these civilized people they'll eat each other another example comes from training day here you have Alonzo Harris he's a corrupt narcotics officer and he ch challenges his rookie trainee by painting a picture of the war that they're fighting out on the streets of Los Angeles what more you want I want the justice is that not Justice that's Street Justice what's wrong with Street Justice Just Let the animals wipe themselves out God willing unfortunately it doesn't work that way the good guys they die first right they don't want to catch the straight bullets in the noodle to protect the Sheep you got to catch the wolf and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf you understand these types of speeches do a great job of revealing character and establishing the stakes and a bonus they're also mesmerizing to listen to because we get the villain's Perspective Third Trope that I love is the fem FAL and this is a romantic interest who uses charm intelligence and seduction to manipulate the hero and often times this leads the hero into disastrous situations and I love this Trope because it creates complex romantic subplots in some cases the audience will initially trust the femal and later become devastated when the hero is betrayed in other cases the audience will suspect that the femal is was bad right from the start and they'll dread the inevitable outcome either way these types of romantic subplots add some spicy tension to the story and they can wound the hero in the short term or in the long term by making the hero unwilling to trust people and one other thing I want to throw out there is that fatals themselves tend to be captivating mysterious and dynamic sometimes they even have the potential for Redemption after committing a betrayal one example is Elsa from Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade she's an Austrian history Professor who teams up with Indy's father and hopes of locating the Holy Grail after his father goes missing Indie meets with Elsa and he takes an immediate liking to her together they travel across Europe searching for his father and then about a third of the way through the movie Elsa is revealed to be a Nazi agent who talks in her sleep her actions lead to Indy's capture and then he and his estranged father have to work together in order to escape and recover the diary then at the end of the story Elsa has a great moment where she manipulates the main villain Walter Donovan into drinking from the wrong chalice and this comes minutes after after Donovan shoots Indy's father and it shows how Elsa is willing to deceive anyone in order to get what she wants fourth Trope that I love is the masked villain and this is a villain whose identity is hidden behind a mask makeup or some other disguise and I love it because it adds mystery suspense and tension to the story and it challenges the audience to pay attention to the villain's actions and motivations because we're constantly trying to figure out who is under that mask and often times this Trope will lead to some shocking plot twist and heavy emotional payoffs for an example let's look at Captain America the Winter Soldier and this of course is a superhero movie that follows cap as he adjusts to life in the 2010s and about Midway through the movie we get introduced to the Winter Soldier he's a mysterious unshakable figure who is a master when it comes to combat and weapons initially we see his face is covered with a mask and we're left to wonder about his identity later during a shootout his goggles are damaged and he removes part of the mask and this is a great moment because it hints at his his buried Humanity then during a hand-to-hand fight with Captain America his mask is fully removed and it's revealed that the Winter Soldier is an old friend of caps named Bucky Barnes who was thought to be killed in the previous movie and this Revelation has a huge impact on cap and it also raises more questions when we see that the Winter Soldier has no memory of his Bucky Persona and then the fifth Trope that I love is when the villain wins and this is very simply when the villain defeats the hero at the end of the story or the villain escapes punishment or capture at the end of the story and when done well this is a great way to surprise the audience we typically expect the hero to win and when the villain prevails we might learn a hard lesson or we might have to take a deeper look at the story to see what the hero gained and this Trope can make an ending memorable thought-provoking or emotionally powerful one example comes from the movie Rocky and I won't go into too much detail here because I already talked about this in my bad versus good endings video but at the end of this movie Rocky Balboa loses the boxing match of a lifetime he loses es despite giving his best effort against the heavyweight champ Apollo Creed and Apollo's Victory helps make the movie a classic because it forces us to acknowledge that Rocky won in other more important areas of his life another example comes from the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life and this follows George Bailey a man who frequently makes sacrifices in order to help his community and throughout the story The greedy Mr Potter tries to take over George's business and Loan Association which provides affordable housing to the town's people George constantly stands up to Potter while looking out for his neighbors and bailing them out during hard times toward the end of the movie things turned Grim for George when his business partner misplaces a large amount of cash that Potter finds and keeps and without this money George faces the threat of going to jail and losing his family business in the end however the town's people rescue George by donating their own money as a thank you for all the good he's done George never actually defeats Potter and Potter himself is never punished for taking George's money but that only makes the ending stronger it's not Victory or Justice that saves George but rather the support of those he's always looked out for so I hope this helps question of the day what is your favorite villain Trope let us know in the comments section below thank you for watching if you want to support the Channel please pick up a copy of either one of my books bad parts is great if you like small town horror it's about people trading away their sick and injured body parts in order to get healthy again and then entry wounds is great if you like Thrillers it's about a guy who picks up a Haunted Gun and he cannot put it down until he kills six people with it also be sure to check out my other videos like share and subscribe and as always remember to keep on writing

Channel: Writer Brandon McNulty

Views: 147,661

Keywords: Writing, Writing advice, Writing Tips, Fiction, Creative Writing, How to write a book, How to write a novel, novel, book, Joker, Batman, Star Wars, Darth Vader, I Am Your Father, Indiana Jones, Last Crusade, Training Day, villain speech, villain monologue, villain, villains, cliches, cliche, trope, tropes, winter soldier, captain america, rocky, apollo creed, it's a wonderful life, ending, villain wins, femme fatale, masked villain, evil, Antagonist, how to write, dark knight, bad guys

Id: RWiZVsFFd58

Length: 8min 36sec (516 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 15 2023