If there’s one thing that makes a great story, it’s a great adversary, or villain, if you must. The quintessential villain tests the protagonist, pitting them against forces they must overcome to reach their goal.
But how does one go about constructing the perfect, unforgettable villain? Are they the evil incarnate (Lex Luther, Freddy Krueger, Darth Vader)? Do they possess extraordinary smartness (Sherlock Holme’s Professor Moriarty, Hannibal Lecter, Villanelle from Killing Eve)? What is it about these characters that draws us to them and keeps us fascinated?
In my experience, it is their flaws. When you strip away the malevolence, they are like the rest of us – flawed. Identifying the flaws, failings, shortcomings and general humaness of a character brings you back to the essence of what makes them tick. There are motives (revenge, greed, lust, power) that stem from some past trigger, or event that made them inescapably follow a path to darkness. Darth Vader, as Anakin Skywalker, was lost as a boy, floundering and fragile. He formed connections with people he felt betrayed him, and turned to the dark side out of anger and a need to exact a revenge on a universe he felt stood against him. He was young and impressionable, easily led. He was headstrong and impulsive. All of these traits are his FLAWS – from his fragility to his desire for revenge.
In the case of Hannibal Lecter, his flaws are less apparent, because he presents as an antagonistic ally in Silence of the Lambs. One of the most obvious flaws he possesses is he is imprisoned. It means he was caught. In a previous story, Red Dragon, Lecter is found out. Why was he caught? Because he was careless. The FBI profiler on his case made a stunning connection between a murder and a book on Lecter’s shelves. It is revealed in later stories he was traumatized as a young boy when he witnessed his sister’s murder and cannibalization. As smart as he was, he was deeply flawed. By far, his worst flaw was his ego. He thought he was too smart.
Look hard at any villain and you can begin to discern their flaws, the means to their undoing. To create compelling villains, first seek to understand what it is that your villain is afraid of, what has wounded them, what they are hiding, what they are ashamed of, who hurt them, where they first experienced their deepest pain? These are the places in which true villains are born.
They don’t have to be smart or sassy, or even well-bred. They just need to have the thing that pushes them over the edge.
A story that has captured my attention lately demonstrates that villains are commonplace. What separates them from the rest of society is their actions. A woman in Australia has just been found guilty of three counts of murder, and one count of attempted murder, in a case that has gained global attention. She poisoned her inlaws and family friends with deathcap mushrooms, and would have also poisoned her ex-husband had he not pulled out of the lunch she hosted for the purpose of killing these people. Her actions are premiditated, calculating and obvious in hindsight. Her flaw? She wasn’t smart. She left a trail, a mile wide, of evidence, actions, and lies. The defence counsel argued that she had no motive to kill the four people who attended her luncheon, but perhaps she had the most basic of human motives we know of – hatred. Of course, she denied all of it, but to no avail. She’d simply left too many clues, created too many lies, and showed almost no remorse for what she’d done. A fascinating look at the human condition, and a more villainous person would be hard to come across in real life.
Often, crimes are committed without the thought to what the consequences could be. It’s in the consequences that the flaws are revealed. In reality, there are few criminals/villains who are masterminds. In reality, most people make stupid mistakes, then go to extraordinary lengths to cover up what they’ve done. I know this from personal experience, having been close to a case years ago in which someone committed a heinous crime, then tried to cover it up and did irrational and chaotic things that got her caught in the end. None of what she did made any sense. It still doesn’t. Her flaws? She was a broken woman, desperate and seemingly alone, with a mind unravelling under the strain of strong medication combined with drink.
Where I’m going with this is: write relatable, human villains. Write people who break under strain, do stupid things, have purpose forged in pain and suffering. Be realistic, and in so doing, create characters your audience find mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time.