Now That's How you Write a Villain! 5 Essential Traits

my dudes i love villains and not just because they're cool edgy or whatever but because they're usually a catalyst to the story for sure a hero can go around saving people from an occasional monster or help an old lady cross the road however when a big badge shows up things get real very quickly there are many antagonists out there each possessing unique traits and assets however we can still group them up so let's talk about what makes a truly great villain hello comrade my name is mahis come get yourself a beverage and sit down with me we got dark side to explore well exploring is not the right word because i'm getting into something i'm aware of while you might not be so here's a spoiler warning for the following shows i'll be talking about specific very plot related characters and that includes their actions motivations goals as well as the endings of said shows so just like on enemy territory proceed with caution alright we're going to focus on 5 character attributes that i believe are essential to a good antagonist having said that excelling in all 5 is almost impossible and frankly not necessary although they do have levels of importance so let's start with the least crucial most flexible and work our way up appeal general looks and aesthetics you can't deny the fact that if a villain looks lame no matter how it turns out [ __ ] ain't gonna be as fun to watch note that it doesn't have to be the most magnificent aw inspiring creature to do the job the amount of designs is insane some shows going above and beyond the limit is the author's imagination and the general style itself that's very important put black blackbeard into cowboy bebop and my boner is gone as i can't take that [ __ ] seriously anymore style aside there are three very generalized ways of presenting your villain obviously a bad guy neutral and what a twist naturally the distribution of these across the shows will be a bell curve with johan liebert on one end and someone like major on the other which one to pick depends on what you want from your villain duh to immediately antagonize the character give them i beat old ladies at night look oh and don't forget some [ __ ] up voice like this one if you want to toy with your viewers heart do the opposite and wait for the surprise pikachu face when they find out to me though it's the neutral ones that are most interesting take musa his first impression was phenomenal for me when i've seen him along with his attitude and actions i had to adjust the way i sat to accommodate my ass being excited as [ __ ] yes it all came crashing down as we saw later but the looks got me hooked even before the lower moon meeting that's the purpose of the first impression and since we often make our judgment in the first 15 seconds it usually based on the looks this is a great opportunity to deliver a message the second thing is personality often the next thing we notice after the character is introduced and let me tell you being evil sad hurt or horny is not a [ __ ] personality screw that cartoon one-dimensional villain [ __ ] a personality is a combination of behavior thoughts and emotions remember an antagonist is also a character they have their lives experiences and so on there is a reason why they are the way they are and that should be visible i'll give you an example of a very charismatic dude yes he is evil in the eyes of our main character and rightfully so he has done some horrible [ __ ] but it's the way he's going about his goals and confronting dmc that makes him so fascinating i wish i could show you the entire thing but it's like 10 minutes so here's a highlight [Music] maximum foreign [Music] milan this guy has literally broken her by giving her a choice his mission is to expose and destroy the system that regulates everything and removes human decision from the equation he went as far as to give his enemy a loaded shotgun and said kill me for crying out loud all to make her understand the consequences of not having free will because that's how she lived her entire life for how [ __ ] up the situation was he still had a point you need to think for yourself that's another aspect of what makes any character great and it's even more impactful when the villain is spitting facts because once again it makes it easier to relate and put on their shoes would i have done something like that in his position would i have the same emotions and motivations those are the questions a great villain will invoke within us now we're getting into the territory where a lot of antagonists fall off as they lack this stair characteristic end goal once again wanting to become a hokage all of a sudden is not good enough what's next you want to become a hokage to do what you want to conquer the world to do what for what purpose do you want to destroy a world well because this is the only way for this character to seize existing you see she has been around for thousands of years maybe even close to a million depending on how evolution works there she had enough long story short she can either learn the value of life to die or so long as this world turns you shall walk its face destroying the world will literally achieve her ultimate goal now how about acnologia for example destroy all dragons then all humans and are you going to live the rest of your life alone with some animals sprinkled around or you're gonna kill them too eventually this kind of writing is simple because hey this guy is bad we are good let's beat the [ __ ] out of him and make everyone happy but if we add a sad backstory some justification and so on a moral dilemma arises and maybe we're not so good after all people with double-digit iq get confused and start hating on the show how dare a battle shonen make me think of what's right and what's wrong okay dude if you're accused 99 chill i like to exaggerate to make a point however you can make a villain who wants to see the world burn and make him great the [ __ ] mothering major but what's so different about him he is perfectly aware of his actions and consequences his monologue is one of the greatest out there and i want you to listen to it elsewhere it's long and i can't fit in here and it will give you the perfect understanding of his character he loves war all aspects of it including defeat it doesn't matter how it goes as long as the blood is flowing houses are burning and people suffer mike is for [ __ ] sake that's the same exact [ __ ] as with technology no it isn't when flappy wings is done with humans he will continue to exist and there will be another target who knows what the major on the other hand will fight or command until he's dead reaching his ultimate goal which is basically going out with a bang hopefully that made sense more or less as this is the most convoluted thing on the list so unclench your butt cheeks it gets more straightforward a thing number four competent a moment of silence for all those villains who whether to plot armor or other reasons didn't do [ __ ] in the grand scheme of things it's [ __ ] infuriating i tell you that because every time this happens i think of a cartoon villain from some nickelodeon show they show up wreak a bit of havoc get their ass whipped and rinse and repeat i'd go on a tirade about muzan again but i did that already eye of the midnight sun these guys attacked the capital wound the guy lose several members in a surprise attack mind you dip show up get into a brawl dip send one of their best guys to retrieve the artifact rip and so on yes they pushed us past our limits but i was never afraid of the good guys losing because they're all talk and i don't see any results of their attack a flagolian arm and paint job on some buildings aside it's straight up diminishes our heroes think about it this way we have beaten an antagonist who didn't even do anything serious nobody died they didn't get their pretty shinies we got a chance to upgrade our security system and we even found a snitch stakes are way too low remember the woman who wanted to destroy the world to die say what you want about ruby i'd probably agree with most of it but boy did they write the villains well even cinder in her own right but i digress salem is one of the most competent big bads yeah they are big and she is bad she unlike many other very old characters behaves like she has been around for a few trips around the sun she's common collected makes brilliant plans has her crew do the job each assigned according to their strength and is catered to individually surprise surprise that works she brings down one huntsman academy while killing and injuring important characters then there is a bit of a hiccup due to some idiot thinking she knows better and our heroes scoring w for the first time in five seasons also known as volumes to then fail so badly that they've lost an entire kingdom this time along with the relics that they've previously secured it's like if payne went to sand and cloud to take the jinjuriki personally destroying both villages in the process not to say that pain was incompetent it's quite the opposite but the show would have taken a different route for sure the lesson here is if you want your villain to command fear and respect make them win every once in a while that way a viewer is never sure of what to expect as it can go either way thus having them sit on the edge of a seat every time a main antagonist is making moves lastly in my opinion the most overlooked attribute of a villain something that many people don't even realize is possible and also sweet when we see it a character arc i said this before and i'll die on that hill an antagonist is also a character who lives in the world and experiences event when so many main characters go through their hardships trauma victories and losses and subsequently change to reflect those why do so many villains stay the same throughout the show look at tomorrow shigaraki he has started as an evil brat with some henchmen to turn into an absolute menace to society who learned to plan and command yes we have seen his tragic past and the flashbacks are good but they give us information on the character's starting point here's an important distinction what i'm talking about here is from the start of the show to the end what happens before is not character development it's exposition when it comes to character development though especially in villains there is none better than that of mario the guy was literally born and overpowered amma rule everybody to later have a midlife crisis and ultimately wanting to spend his last moments with a loved one totally abandoning his evil side all of that in the span of 40 days just so you know and 45-h episodes the best part is his transformation was gradual with a few key moments there is no magical oh i woke up good today because the plot needed me to do so we could see every stage vividly and it was believable i can't stress this enough you have to make sure the character makes sense within the story and is relatable in some way because otherwise nobody would care for them in general hunter hunter made us hate him the moment he came out of the womb and by the end even i shed a tear for him at that point he was the most relatable character in the show he was more human than any of our entire good guys was he bad no [ __ ] [ __ ] he killed kids on screen but through interaction with people through their sacrifice and after suffering pain for [ __ ] sake he has learned humility why is gaara so universally loved because he went through the same exact thing except he didn't die and continued on the right path man we got to have more complicated villains in this [ __ ] [ __ ] got way too predictable and one-dimensional i love me some hype moments some bombastic action but there are so many more emotions to experience and almost all of them are directed at the hero while for the antagonist it's either leaving a sad cause last minute backstory or hating them for whatever reason remember a villain in one story is a hero in another that's how the best ones are written thus they should send us on a roller coaster too sometimes we love the main character sometimes we hate them for certain things and it should be the same for the antagonist as they are a part of the story heck it's their story most of the time just from a different perspective so i tell you in order to make a great villain you got to include some of the points i mentioned as well as write a captivating character and a story which makes sense through the eyes of said character it was i mahes forcing my ideas on you through the microphone and have a great whatever time of the day you have until next time cheers so let's talk about what makes a truly great villain i can't do this [ __ ] you

Channel: MahisTV

Views: 39,834

Keywords: Acnologia, Aizen, Eye of the midnight sun, Muzan, RWBY, Salem, akatsuki, anime, anime explained, anime villains, anime villains explained, black clover, demon slayer, fairy tail, hellsing major, hellsing ultimate, hunter hunter, hunter x hunter, mahistv, major, makishima shogo, meruem, naruto, pain, the major, top 10 anime villains, top 5 anime villains, top anime villains, villain, zeref

Id: F7gFV78h3Ek

Length: 13min 7sec (787 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 01 2022