Thread:Houki Minami/@comment-26494264-20160705042308/@comment-26087580-20160705111731

Well, again I'm flattered. Okay, here's some tips of "How to make a good villain", by Houki Minami... Someone is playing too much INfamous, btw.

"How to make a good Evil villain"

1- No backstory: Or a very obhscure one at that. Villains don't need to rely on a tragic or epic backstory to be good villains, otherwise people might respectively feel sorry/sympathy and/or even root for him. If you want a complete bastard, no backstory, the least you can give it's the villain's origin, "what" the villain is and not "who" or "why". If anything, you can give it a very common or normal backstory that will make the readers think: "Wow, maybe someone like the villain can pop up in any moment. We'll be never safe enough!"

2- The villain is a genius:And no, and I'm not talking about "he knows a lot of stuff" kind of genius. As in,  The villain either averts or subverts tropes usually associated wityh villains, the "Villain ball" if you ask me. The villain always has a third eye in his nape,  The villain doesn't golat about victory unless the hero is dead and no one is around in a 1000km radius, the villain doesn't explain jack about his powers, if one subordinate has that "Wow, we're assholes. I think it's best to join the heroes" kind of stare,  The villain kills him immediately, etc.

3-  The villain can make anything ominous, give him something that should give a few laughs, but in the end it's either disconcerting or downright nightmarish. Like  The villain using high-heels, so every step  The villain takes is an ominous step, a clown mask to show how strange or unstable  The villain is, etc.

4- A goal that makes sense for the villain and the villain alone. Want to show how degenerate a villain is? Goals and moral compass that only makes sense to her/him. World extiction, genocide, world domination, stuff like that. Don't forget to add something that will make people see how apart from this world  The villain is.

Hero- You can't go around killing people just to reach your goal!

The villain - Why not?

5- Super OP. It has an ability that it's either super vague, super OP or that downright can murder anybody it touches. It'll show how much the villain is indeed the villain. It doesn't need to be too OP as well, just an ability that might stop the heroes, like an ability to infuse their thoughts with only despair or their own nightmare. The only thing which can save the heroes is a miracle.

6- It might sound contradictory with the #2, but it isn't: the villain loves thyself. The villain Gloats about itself more than it should be, talks about how strong and invencible it is, and not the whole "I'm thew villain, boohoo~!" kind of thing, but things only the villain can say to show how arrogant or confident it is.

"MY NAME IS XXXXXX, BE THE ONES WHO HEAR IT CONMENED THE MOMENT IT STANDS IN MY WAY!!'

or

"My name is XXXX, but don't worry, you won't need to memorize it in the afterlife."

7- Corruption. The villain should be smart, so if one of the heroes or an ally of them is in the lowest,  The villain will show up and give he or she a hand, a false pretense of hope and love. This way, not only  The villain will have one more minion, the heroes will have to fight one of them or a distand friend. And before friendship can saves the day, remember to put a mbomb inside of it so no information will leak and maybe push the hero even further into despair.

8- Seriously, the only redeemable thing a villain should have is the things thy doesn't do, and yet, it won't conmemed such monstrocities either. It won't punish a subordinate who rapes, steals, cheats or kills. Nor anoither one who uses it's own subordinates as shields.

9- It's a fan of Sun Tzu, or met him in personal.

10 - Always calm in a fight. If the story is from a first person POV, even better. The villain who doesn't talk anything during a fight grows the primal fear. What is he thinking about? Does the hero really on the higher ground? Does the villain has another plan? Did I leave the stove on?

And at least for me are the items you need to follow to have yourself a good villain. Thank you for your attention and as always stay golden;