3. 3
A hero can battle faceless foes, the environment, or even
his own inner demons.
But if you want to write about heroic deeds you may find
yourself looking for a villain to pit against your hero.
4. 4
A villain is a complement to a hero, a contrast to the
heroic virtues for hero embodies.
Whether you decide on the hero first and choose a villain
for him to oppose, or start with the villain and build a hero
to defeat him, it can help to have some archetypes in mind.
5. 5
While you’re free to mix, match, and invent your
own, here are a few basic types of villains you
can look to when brainstorming.
7. 7
An over-the-top
villain who is nothing
but a villain
Creates perilous
situations for the hero
to overcome
A flat character with
little or no back story,
and one who seems
to dare the hero to
foil him
Examples:
Snidely
Whiplash, Auric
Goldfinger
A simple villain for a
simple story
THE MUSTACHE TWIRLER
Children’s stories
and campy action
movies
9. 9
Someone has been
up to something
dangerous, and they
should have known
better
Opened an ancient
crypt, read aloud from
the wrong book, or put
a magic ring on their
finger perhaps one
time too many
Something evil and long
dormant has come back,
and great heroism will be
required to save the
city/world/universe from it
Examples:
Sauron, Cthulhu
An evil for evil’s sake,
something beyond
reasoning with,
threatening, or waiting out
THE ANCIENT EVIL
The classic villain of
epic fantasy
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Well down the
spectrum from the
ancient evil is the
bully
The bully is there to
make life miserable for
the hero, if not actually
threaten it
A bully can be a stepping-
stone villain
Examples: Biff
Tannen,
Dudley
Dursley, Mr.
Bumble
Bullies are best used
when looking to show
emotional growth in a
character
THE BULLY
Bullies are not limited
to stories with child
protagonists, but they
are found most
frequently there
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The perfect
counterpart to the
clever hero is the
villain who is always
thinking one step
ahead
A mastermind isn’t a
villain who needs to get
his hands dirty, though
there’s nothing stopping
him from doing so, if the
plan calls for it
A mastermind will often
have a keen interest in a
hero, often wanting to
match wits with a worthy
adversary
Examples:
Megamind,
Professor
James
Moriarty, Loki
Often the only plausible
manner of their undoing
THE MASTERMIND
This type of hero works
when the hero is the sort
who is willing to match wits,
rather than try to doggedly
pursue
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Dark Lord is usually a
contemporary of the hero,
or a generation older
What sets him apart
from other villains is
his official status as the
leader of an organized
group
An arbitrary title for the
archetype, the moniker can
be applied to kings, dukes,
warlords, princes, generals,
or any other similar marker of
status
Examples: Darth Vader,
Voldemort, Mister
Sinister
A Dark Lord will always
have minions, henchmen,
or underlings to carry out
his orders
THE DARK LORD
The Dark Lord villain is best
used in stories with black-and-
white morality
17. 17
Evenly matched in
brains, brawn, and often
even appearance, the
mirror is the hero’s
equal in every way but
one: ideals
There will be some
fundamental difference
in moral and/or
philosophical outlook
that will always end up
playing into the result of
the final confrontation
This match up cancels out all
the mundane traits that might
set a hero apart from normal
people, because the villain
possesses those same traits.
In this case, it is the heroism
itself that matters
Exmaples: Negaduck,
Professor Moriarty (a
versatile guy!), General
Zod
A great villain for a case
study in what being a
hero means
THE MIRROR
Karma, friends, and just
the value of having
something worth fighting
for – these are the things
that set a mirrored pair of
hero and villain apart
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They fight for a
cause that opposed
the hero’s, but for
those who follow that
cause, this villain is
their hero
Turn the tables, and you
could tell the story with the
roles reversed, casting the
villain in the heroic light
and the hero as villain
SOMEONE ELSE’S HERO
Examples: Magneto,
Khan Noonien Singh,
Benjamin Linus
20. 20
There you have it.
Do you have an archetype that needs to
be added to the list?
21. 21
Read the full blog post at
http://www.jsmorin.com/2015/02/7-types-villains/
