Great villains!

[SemperJase]

Let me try again. What makes a great villain?

One character that comes to mind is Sauron. The character never even appears 'onstage' yet is an overwhelming presence in the LotR.

I'm trying to figure out what makes that character great. Is it the sense of immediate menace?

Contrast it with a bad villain. I don't want to single out an author, but I'm thinking of one where the villain overlooked obvious threats to himself.

 

[Neo]

If you make the actions a villain takes personally relevant to a PC or that play upon a particular characters fears, sensibilities then the villain will always be memorable.

Also having a villain take something from the PC's be it an item, loved one, memory, or just defeating them and then not even bothering to kill them as if the villain considers them too insignificant to even bother with..... those kinds of things build up the rage, give the PC;s a score to settle something to strive for...and again make them remember the villain all the more for it.

 

[Neo]

Another good ploy for memorable villains are plot twists

What if one of the PC;s knows the villain but doesn;t discover his identity till alter on, or worse yet is related too.... e.g. "Luke I am your Father...". noone is likely to forget a villain after a cliffhanger plot twist of that sort.

 

[Neo]

another ploy is to let the PC;s witness how powerful and seemingly unstoppable a villain is, let them witness some of his victories or how easy he destroys the good army, or powerful arch mage etc.... And then let them discover a weakness in the enemy a flaw which could destroy him...and then see how they suddenly strive for the opportunity to try it out.

again makes for a more memorable villain.

Trick is to make the villain tough...but not impossible as a proposition...ou merely need the illusion of indestructability for a time to get the desired effect.

 

[SHARK]

Greetings!

I think good villains are created best by providing them with well-developed personalities and motivations. This certainly includes making the villain have realistic capabilities, but also possessing a certain sympathy, or a majestic sense of awesomeness. Granted, there are different levels of villains, ranging from the vicious, greedy thief, to the sadistic guard, to the megalomaniacal emperor. They should have clear goals, and suitable ambitions. It is the defining of those ambitions that player characters will seek to thwart. The villain should also have a complex character, so that the villain can react to different situations, grow, and adapt. Villains shouldn't be "static"--but dynamic, changing their plans and tactics to achieve victory and fulfill their ambitions. Along the way, of course, they will seek to crush the player characters in the grip of despair and slavery!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[barsoomcore]

*waves to SemperJase*

The first thing to think about when creating a villain is that they are, first and foremost, a character. So the rules for creating a great character obviously apply to creating a great villain -- they have to have REASONS for doing what they do, they have to demonstrate a consistent identity, they ought to have relationships (even if they're sick and twisted ones) with other characters and so on.

What's special about villains is that their goals conflict with the party's goals. This doesn't have to make them evil, though in a campaign like SHARK's it probably indicates it pretty strongly. But the truth is, as long as the villain's goals and the party's goals are in clear conflict, the villain will largely propel themselves into action against the party. The thing to do is to make sure that the goal is REALLY IMPORTANT to the villain, that they will stop at NOTHING to achieve it. If the party are equally committed to THEIR goal, your work is done -- just sit back and watch the fur fly!

One of the most memorable villains in my fantasy campaign was an accountant. A perfectly ordinary, sort of cute and perky accountant. She happened to work for a family that was in direct rivalry to the family the party were working for, and she was given the assignment of finding out who these clowns were and what they were up to. She proceeded to make total fools of them, get one suckered into a duel (during which he broke the law, got himself arrested, so she was kind enough to get him released -- after getting him to blurt out the big secret about why they were in town) and get the whole group declared persona non grata in that particular town. They truly HATE this woman. And fear her. Whenever they hear Collette's around, total panic sets in and usually they head for the hills. They know they're about to get snookered into a plot beyond their ability to unravel.

All for a 1st-level Commoner with smarts and a high Charisma. She's not even evil -- just opposed to their goals. Heh, heh, heh.

You don't evil. You don't need super-powers. You just need real personality, ruthlessness and brains. That will scare any party and create a truly memorable villain.

 

[SemperJase]

*waves to SemperJase*

they have to have REASONS for doing what they do, they have to demonstrate a consistent identity, they ought to have relationships (even if they're sick and twisted ones) with other characters and so on.

OK but how does that relate to Sauron for example? We never know his reasons. Yet he is a terrifying villain.

(I do realize you are talking about gaming and Sauron is a literary villain, but aren't there parallels?)

I think you are correct though. That is a great way to make a memorable villain.

 

[s/LaSH]

It seems that ruthlessness is a big part of villainy. That's what makes them villainous, it would appear. So all villains should be reasonably ruthless.

But yes, motivation is important. Look at Digimon. No, don't laugh. That show's got some awesome villains. And I can think of precisely once from the last two series that was evil for evil's sake (malomyotismon, who essentially tortured two other villains to death in horrible ways while everyone else watched). The rest were all just looking out for themselves. The Digimon Emperor had an unhappy childhood, wanted to assert his natural genius over lesser beings, didn't realise that digimon were sentient beings, was corrupted by a Dark Spore... need I go on? He didn't realise he was a bad guy; to a certain extent, he thought he was just playing a game. He finished the season as a good guy. Oikawa from the same season spent a lot of time crying as he tried desparately to access the Digital World (he also kidnapped little children, corrupted their minds and attacked the heroes when they got in his way). Did I mention he was the best friend of one of the heroes' father before he died? It lends real emphasis to a villain when they hold up a picture of your dead father and tell it, "I'm doing this for you". (Oikawa was redeemed too, but in a more painful way.)

Ok, on analysis it appears that redemption also makes a villain memorable. "It's too late for me, Luke." It's difficult to plan, but villains who redeem themselves selflessly stick in the memory.

Ruthlessness. Motivation. Redemption. All good components.

 

[s/LaSH]

OK but how does that relate to Sauron for example? We never know his reasons. Yet he is a terrifying villain.

(I do realize you are talking about gaming and Sauron is a literary villain, but aren't there parallels?)

I think you are correct though. That is a great way to make a memorable villain.

I suspect there will be more motivation in The Silmarillion, which covers Middle-Earth history over many thousands of years. Sauron was assistant to the Big Bad Evil Cosmic Force (Melkor? I forget), and BBECF had armies of balrogs and the like, and wanted to conquer everything because he was cosmic evil. Sauron merely had ambition. He wanted to rule everything. I don't think he cared what it looked like afterwards.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Greetings!

I think good villains are created best by providing them with well-developed personalities and motivations. This certainly includes making the villain have realistic capabilities, but also possessing a certain sympathy, or a majestic sense of awesomeness. Granted, there are different levels of villains, ranging from the vicious, greedy thief, to the sadistic guard, to the megalomaniacal emperor. They should have clear goals, and suitable ambitions. It is the defining of those ambitions that player characters will seek to thwart. The villain should also have a complex character, so that the villain can react to different situations, grow, and adapt. Villains shouldn't be "static"--but dynamic, changing their plans and tactics to achieve victory and fulfill their ambitions. Along the way, of course, they will seek to crush the player characters in the grip of despair and slavery!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Psst, SHARK, the idea was to have villains that weren't sadistic or vicious, with no slavery, because if the DM uses those concepts, it will somehow force the DM into committing those acts. No, I don't get it, either.