Writing a Villain that is Fully Aware that His Actions are Evil
These days there are many different types of villains. A common one is the villain that is misunderstood. They truly believe that what they are doing is in the best interest of the greater good.
Personally, I find this overused. The more refreshing villain is the one that knows one-hundred-percent that their choices are wrong and chooses to do them anyway.
Motivations
Motivations are vastly important when it comes to villains. But what about a villain that just likes doing evil to do evil.
That in itself is a motivation.
I was watching a YouTuber the other day. The guy creates fake packages that explode with glitter and fart spray. (Childish, I know)
But you know how there is a huge amount of people stealing packages off people’s doorsteps?
Well, that’s the gig. He makes these fake packages to catch package thieves in the act.
In one episode we see a mother and son stealing a package and as they are opening it you can hear their dialogue and the kid said something interesting.
He said something like, “mom, it feels good.”
She says, “What does?”
“Stealing.”
“Don’t talk like that!”
You see, sometimes people end up doing evil acts because it feels good to them. They enjoy the act itself.
This can be a motivating factor for your villain that chooses to do wrong knowing very well the difference between right and wrong.
Money is the root of all kinds of evil.
An easy motivator for a villain is money. At its core, it’s selfish gain vs others’ suffering.
But every culture in history has had valuable currency or trade goods and an evil person can be willing to make others suffer in order to make more of it.
They may have other motivating factors that coincide. Maybe they want to be free and they see more money as a way to get to where they want to be.
Maybe they just love luxury. They love blowing money on all sorts of extravagant things.
Money is a great motivating factor for your willing villain.
Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.
They think they have nothing to lose.
Often times a truly evil villain doesn’t see any value in anyone but themselves.
This might mean they have “nothing to lose.”
So what if their family disowns them? Maybe they don’t have a wife and kids.
Maybe they don’t have anyone in their life that they truly care about at all. This type of social detachment makes it very easy to be evil and know you’re being evil.
They aren’t motivated by need.
Be sure that your villain isn’t justifying their actions.
The thief that steals for fun is different than your thief that steals to survive. Not saying that either is morally justified, but one wouldn’t know strictly that their actions aren’t necessary to live another day.
The one that is truly evil doesn’t need the thing at all. They just want it and don’t want to work for it or can’t have it through good means so they just take it. It’s choosing themselves while it costs another person something.
Be aware of social norms.
Different cultures and time periods have different qualifying factors on what is good and what is wrong socially.
Even a young mind compared to an older mature mind that knows better can make a difference.
In Oliver Twist, Oliver finds himself in a gang of young thieves and is taught that is good to steal. He takes this knowledge in fully and steals without knowledge that it is wrong until later. This is not clear enough to push him into a category where he knows what he’s doing is wrong and chooses to do it anyway. He’s more or less naive to his world and its rules. Even though he is carrying out momentary acts of evil, he is not the villain of the story.
In certain time periods, some things were considered normal for what today we consider purely evil.
If you had a villain that was a slave trader in the 1800s this might muddy the waters a bit on whether we know he was a villain in his own mind until you reveal to us in certain ways that he knows what he’s doing is wrong. The social norms of the time period might have had many justifying their terrible acts.
So be aware of your social norms for where the villain is, how old, and when they are.
Power.
Another easy motivator is power. Power-hungry people often lie, cheat, and steal their way to the top.
This is not uncommon and all too real in our world.
Whether they are corrupt politicians or corrupt billionaires, their real motivator is power and they love using it to force others to bend to their will. They get a good feeling watching others grovel at their feet.
Power is a powerful motivator (see what I did there? Power is a powerful motivator? Punny right?)
Good character studies:
The Joker.
Alex from Clockwork Orange.
Voldemort.
Darth Sidious.
“Some people just want to see the world burn.” Thank you, Alfred, for those thoughtful words of wisdom about creating villains that are purely evil.
Writing a Villain that is Fully Aware that His Actions are Evil
Enjoying Writing a Villain that is Fully Aware that His Actions are Evil? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂
Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.
That’s all for now.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
Resources:
How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020
How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book
This post:
Writing a Villain that is Fully Aware that His Actions are Evil
Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.
Make sure your posts are readable. Use this readability score check
Want to check out a writer’s community to test your writing and get feedback?
Check out these FREE trial resources from Amazon for when you work from home (or are stuck at home 🙂 ) As an Amazon associate, if you do sign up or buy anything using Amazon links from our site we make a commission at no extra cost to you.
Free Prime Membership Trial:
Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial
Try Prime Discounted (Free Trial)
Make your Free Amazon Wedding Registry:
Create an Amazon Wedding Registry
Writing a Villain that is Fully Aware that His Actions are Evil
Enjoying Writing a Villain that is Fully Aware that His Actions are Evil? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂
We hope you enjoyed: Writing a Villain that is Fully Aware that His Actions are Evil!
Can You Become a Successful Self Publisher Today Without a Website? I’ve seen this question before and thought it could Read more
5 Tips How to Make Editing More Enjoyable Editing can be a very dull process. At times, it can seem Read more
Can I Make My Story Setting in a Place I Have Not Been? You might be feeling trepidation about where Read more
How to Write for Yourself | Is it Odd to Just Write for Yourself? Some people are out there writing Read more
