The world is full of villains, both in real life and in fantasy. They are those characters who destroy our expectations, who awaken our deepest fears. One of the keys to a successful story is the creation of this character who may or may not be the antagonist of the story, because some decide to put the villain as the center of the narrative. The bad guy in the story must generate strong emotions and that’s why it is for me the most difficult characters to create. From its characteristics, the fundamentals that make him or her a villain, and even the way in which a villain is introduced in a story, all these elements must make sense to be able to engage an audience passionately against him or even drive it to encourage him.
Both heroes and villains tell us something about our social identity, which is why the way they are portrayed in fiction is so important, because they influence our collective interpretation of the concepts of good and evil. Our need for a sense of security drives us to the escapism that we experience in fiction, when in a way we feel confident that the good side always succeed. Unfortunately, and more nowadays, we lack that sense of security in real life in my opinion…
Personally I think that one of our greatest fears is to lose our freedom, the feeling of being dominated by something or someone. The perfect villain threatens that freedom. He or she is an individualistic being that depends on power to feel superior (sounds familiar, don’t you think?), and it is that struggle for acquisition of power and having an absolute control of the rules that leads the villain to cause the conflict in the plot.
My book The Lake of Miracles deals with the struggle between good and evil through characters who can however decide their own destiny, being the main villain someone who symbolizes my worst fears, the things I reject for moral conviction. I gave Dante, my villain, the ability to take away the dreams of human race because for me a person who is snatched from his dreams is someone who can be completely dominated. Something that I also want to emphasize, is that in my story even the heroes have to fight against their own internal villain and their own conflicts. In the long run the message I want to give is that dreams are important because they give us the strength to face evil, and to fight those who want to dominate us (I don’t want to give any spoilers to those who have not read my book yet.)
Before telling you about some of my favorite villains, I don’t know if by the level of emotions they generated in me or simply because of the brilliance with which they were created, I want to recommend you a book that I read a long time ago if you guys want to go deeper into the subject: Heroes And Villains by Mike Alsford.
The fastidious villains:
They are immature, in the process of being more evil than they are and their actions have managed to generate in my rages almost on a personal level. (I think there is someone else that I can put into this category, but since he is not a fictional character, and even less, someone I would put into a “my favorites” list, I better keep it to myself.)
Kylo Ren
Joffrey Baratheon
Ramsay Bolton
The charismatic villain
What angers me the most is that he is absolutely charming. It will be a long time for a villain to generate the reactions that Negan’s introduction into The Walking Dead series arouse in the audience, especially for those who do not follow the comic.
The iconic villain
His attire. His voice. The whole symbolism he embodies. Everything. There will never be a villain comparable to Darth Vader. I greatly appreciate that in Rogue One they didn’t abused of his presence but instead, with short and strategic appearances made this villain something bigger than he has always been.
The necessary villain
I’ve been a follower of Once Upon a Time since it started. And I understand why the development of the story led Regina to abandon “the dark side of force.” However, in this process, the series lost a lot of its power. But the Evil Queen has returned and with her the great magic of the plot. I also think that from of all those who have portrayed this character in different occasions, the best is definitely the actress Lana Parrilla.
The epic villain
I could not miss this villain in this list. Sauron is the perfect interpretation of evil’s energy in all its forms.
What are your favorite villains? What do you think of my list? Can’t wait for you to read the story of the villains in The Lake of Miracles. I would love to hear your opinions!
