Building the Bad Guy

[Boromir88]

I'm sure I'm not alone amongst those of us who've played in RPGs on here, when I reckon that dreaming up a bad guy is actually much, much easier than trying to create a credible good guy who is not a Mary-Sue!~Lalwende

Very true, and myself being a Sean Bean fanboy...Bean finds it much more enjoyable and fun to play the bad guy in movies (or the man with questionable 'morals') than the upright model good guy, as that gets a bit 'boring' for him. Where all it takes to make a really good 'bad guy' is have them commit a horrible act of evil and show they have no remorse for what they did, they actually take pleasure from committing evil. Which is interesting as Tolkien remarks this about his Orcs:

"They were indeed so corrupted that they were pitiless, and there was no cruelty or wickedness that they would not commit; but this was the corruption of independent wills, and they took pleasure in their deeds. They were capable of acting on their own, doing evil deeds unbidden for their own sport..."~HoME X: Morgoth's Ring; Myths Transformed

By showing your 'baddies' have no remorse and actually delight in committing evil, I think you really can make an effective bad guy for any story. This kind of ties into Hookbill's point about motives, and what motivates the character to do what he/she does? Money? Pure enjoyment? Fulfillment? Power?

Another thing that hasn't been talked about yet is the actual appearance of the bad guy. In old Hollywood movies, you see a guy dressed in black, and with some sort of physical injury (something simple like a scar or perhaps just an evil-looking hook) and immediately you should think 'there's the villain of the film.' But the thing that Tolkien did, that I personally thought was more effective than Hollywood, is direct statements that are intentionally vague about a person's appearance. Let's take Sauron for example:

Sauron should be thought of as very terrible. The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic. In his earlier incarnation he was able to veil his power (as Gandalf did) and could appear as a commanding figure of great strength of body and supremely royal demeanor and countenance.~Letter 246

I love this quote referring to Sauron's appearance (after he lost the ability to change forms). I mean we have 'terrible,' Tolkien is very direct in telling us that we should think Sauron is very terrible. However, it's also very vague. What is terrible? This is up to the fancy of the reader. Personally I don't like putrid, bloody and veiny demons, I think of 'terrible' as something dark, ominous and imposing. Point is, I think its up the reader to decide exactly how they interpret...'terrible.'

We also know that Sauron's form was that of a man, yet greater, but not gigantic. So someone who is bigger and taller than a Man, but not a hulking giant. As discussed in this great thread started by Thinlomien, the use of 'height,' not only as in someone appearing 'mighty' but also the use of height to create intimidation and fear: Heighty is Mighty.

In fact, I think Sauron does this for most of his villains (at least when talking strictly about LOTR). The Balrog, the Ringwraiths, the Watcher in the Water, the 'nameless creatures gnawing' are all 'villains' where there is a lot of mystery surrounding them. It could be mystery about their actual appearance, perhaps mystery surrounding who they are and what the heck they are doing? The Ringwraiths (especially in FOTR) are presented as villains that we don't know much about. As we follow the Hobbits' journey to Rivendell, and there are several encounters with the Ringwraiths, the Hobbits have no clue who these black riders are, they just know these guys are evil and need to be avoided at all costs. And as a reader I got the same feeling!

So I guess all this talk about 'appearance' and the 'mystery' surrounding villains can be defined nicely by subtelty. Subtetly can also be a great tool in creating a good villain that scares the crap out of you. Just little comments that unnerve the reader like Gandalf saying in The White Rider: 'where the world is gnawed by nameless creatures.' Just this one little passing comment by Gandalf really creates a lot of fear.

I'm reminded of another fascinating author that reminds me of Tolkien, and that is George Orwell. Who's villain in the book 1984, is much like Sauron. Only instead of one evil Dark Lord, it's the government called 'Big Brother.' We never meed Big Brother throughout the entire book, we don't even know who Big Brother is. Is it one person in charge controlling everything? Is is a bunch of politicians, is it an oligarchy? We have no clue, but we know Big Brother is evil because we see their work. And this is something Hookbill talked about. We see the oppression, the complete enslavement of an entire population, all because of Big Brother. But we don't know who Big Brother is. All we know is their symbol is a giant eye...And when people see this eye, they get a strange feeling someone is watching them...hmm sounds familiar.

Finally, another tactic for authors to use, is through their good characters. How do the author's 'good guys?' How do they react to and view the bad guys? Something like J.K. Rowling does in Harry Potter with Voldemort. Talk about a villain, we know that Voldemort was so evil and caused so much fear that Rowling's good characters refer to him as 'He who must not be named.' That must be a villain indeed...someone so evil people can't even say their name.

Or how about what Tolkien does with his Balrog? The fear he creates by using his good characters. Legolas screams like a girl and Gimli starts crying and can't even look. So, by an author using his/her other characters to also create an effective villain.

I guess, in general, I'm saying, I agree with Lal, what a useless article and that author needs to stop whining.