How to Create a Truly Frightening Villain
In my first-year English class at university, we dissected John Milton’s Paradise Lost—an epic poem set in heaven, hell, and the Garden of Eden during the creation and fall of man. I didn’t keep many of my English “textbooks,” but I kept that one. It was the start of my love affair with villains.
I knew how Paradise Lost would end before I started reading, but Milton’s Satan still managed to plant that tiny seed of doubt. Here was a truly frightening villain. One with believable motivation, smart, charismatic, deceptive. Was I really sure that he wasn’t going to win?
That’s what you want your reader to ask themselves. Nothing will keep them more riveted to your book.
Today I’m starting my new series on villains with an overview of how to create a truly frightening villain.
Anyone Can Be a Villain
Often the first thing that jumps to mind when we hear “villain” is murderer, kidnapper, terrorist, or crooked cop. Technically, though, a villain can be anyone who has the potential to do serious harm to your hero. That can mean the husband stealer or the slanderer too. How much your reader wants to see them fail and get their comeuppance all depends on you. Just remember that sometimes the best villains are the ones we least expect.
(Unfortunately, even I have to admit that not every story needs a villain. If your story doesn’t need one, don’t add one in. He’ll end up more like Wile E. Coyote or the Prince from Shrek. Your readers will laugh at him, not fear him.)
Make Him Formidable . . .
The stronger your hero, the stronger your villain needs to be. Introduce doubt that your hero is going to win this one by showing how smart, resourceful, charismatic, or sneaky your villain is. Better yet, give him strengths that match your hero’s weaknesses. Your readers should develop a grudging respect for his abilities even if they can’t respect how he uses them.
Let your villain win as few rounds as well, forcing your hero to adapt and grow if she’s going to survive. A stupid villain who’s easily caught isn’t scary. Or memorable.
. . . Yet Also Relatable
No one is pure evil. Maybe she’s kind to animals or maybe he volunteers at a homeless shelter. Figure out your villain’s soft underbelly and you’ve not only added a new dimension to his character but also have something the hero can possibly use to defeat him. My co-writer Lisa Hall-Wilson once wrote a disturbing short story where her villain kept his step-daughter alive while murdering other girls. He felt that doing that proved he wasn’t a bad man. His kindness to her also led to his downfall, allowing her to eventually escape.
Aside from this, a really good villain should act like a darkened mirror, reflecting back the worst in ourselves and forcing us to face it. That selfishness, that jealousy, that desire to hurt…we’re all only a few steps away from it. We should relate to a good villain in the same way that we relate to a good hero. Both should make us want to be better than we are.
Give Him Strong Motivation
Despite what you see on Criminal Minds, most killers aren’t psychopaths, sociopaths, or suffering from a dissociative break. Criminal Minds has one hour in which to scare you, disgust you, and make you feel relief. A random killer who could target you next if he’s not caught works well within those restrictions.
In real life, most people are killed by someone they know. The killer has a good reason (in their minds at least) for why they committed their crime. To them, their actions are logical, perhaps even noble. Even if your villain isn’t going to be murdering or kidnapping, you need to know why she’s standing in the hero’s way. It shouldn’t be random.
Ask yourself some questions: Why is she causing trouble? What has brought him to this point? How does he justify what he’s doing? Why does she keep going even when she faces opposition?
The Anti-Hero: Taking the Villain’s Side
When we pick up a story, most of us have certain expectations about the main character/protagonist/hero. We expect him to be likeable and good. And instead, with the anti-hero, we step into the twisted mind of someone who could be the villain if we weren’t telling his story. For a classic example, think Victor Frankenstein.
You take a risk writing an anti-hero. Your readers might pity them, but they’ll never like them. If they see anything of themselves in him, they’ll be loath to admit it. For novels, it can sometimes be difficult to stay in the head of someone so disagreeable for hundreds of pages. But when they’re done well, they’re fascinating to read.
If there’s anything specific about villains you want me to cover, be sure to let me know in the comments (and sign up below to receive email updates so you won’t miss my answer).
What book or movie villain frightened you the most? Why?
Interested in more ways to improve your writing? Deep Point of View
Image Credit: Svilen Milev (from stock.xchng)
Nov 28, 2012 @ 14:46:28
IMO a good villain is much harder to create than an effective hero. The best villains are the ones we sympathize with, even as we decry the point they’ll go to to achieve their ends. One of the best villains I’ve ever read was in Sheri McGathy’s epic fantasy, Season of Siler/Season of Gold. This creature destroyed his entire race, yet we gradually find out that it all stemmed from a case of sibling rivalry – he was passed over for the throne in favor of his younger brother! Yup, as an older sibling, I can relate.
Nov 28, 2012 @ 17:16:40
I’ll have to check out Sheri McGathy’s book after that recommendation. I have an unhealthy fascination with well-done villains. I think you’re 100% correct that they’re harder to write than an effective hero.
Nov 28, 2012 @ 15:04:15
lol – I think you’re the only one who’s read that story. Your villains are so much scarier than mine 🙂 Your creepiest villain for me was that drug addict who killed those two children. Ugh – that story still haunts me. Great post.
Nov 28, 2012 @ 17:15:20
I think it says something that I remember his “pet name” for Claire after so many years. I can’t look at Care Bears without hearing it in my head. *shudder*
Nov 28, 2012 @ 17:16:11
I love villains that you love to hate. I also love villains that you can’t help but like. Hannibal Lector always intrigued me and even though he’s a sick human being, you don’t necessarily want to see him caught. Isn’t that strange? I feel much the same way about Magneto from X-Men. He’s undoubtedly the villain, but they did a great job (especially in First Class) of making him seem sort of normal. His logic is sound enough that it makes you pause and say, well he does have a point…
Great post as always!
Nov 30, 2012 @ 01:10:16
I agree with you, Karen.
Hannibal was the first villain that popped into my brain.
And Marcy, I’ll read any info you have to offer.
When I told a fellow writer about the bully in my middle grade novel, he said I should write it from his POV. Interesting idea.
Thanks for another great post. 😀
Nov 30, 2012 @ 01:58:23
Writing from the villain’s POV is often done in adult fiction, but before doing it in an MG novel, I’d research books for a similar audience. Or you could forge a new trend 🙂
Nov 30, 2012 @ 02:08:53
Magneto is one of the best villains. What he does is clearly wrong, but you understand why he does it, and you feel bad for what he’s suffered to bring him to that point. And even though you know it’s not going to happen, you keeping hoping he’ll reform. (In my mind, when I either really want the villain to get destroyed or when I really want to see him reform, it’s the mark of a good villain.)
Nov 28, 2012 @ 18:10:45
I, too, love a good villain. It sucks that I’m terrible at writing them. My favorite villains are the urbane, educated, charismatic ones (like Magneto and Hannibal, thanks for the examples, Karen). Unfortunately, those are the hardest ones to build effectively. I also get really excited when the villain and the hero are best friends. I love it when they sit down and play chess. The symbolism might be a little blatant, but it’s effective.
Nov 28, 2012 @ 23:12:14
I would have to say Hanibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs….they way he was written really got in your head. The best villains are the ones you can sympathize/understand with a tiny bit, because that makes them all the more horrifying. His interactions with Clarice were chilling.
Nov 30, 2012 @ 02:10:20
So true. When we can sympathize or understand them just that little bit, we can see how, in a different situation, we could be a villain too. Villains force us to face our own weaknesses, and I think that’s part of what makes them so frightening.
Nov 29, 2012 @ 02:11:34
good villains are so hard to do well. thanks Marcy
Nov 30, 2012 @ 02:10:39
You’re welcome 🙂
Nov 29, 2012 @ 05:02:12
The only villain that comes to my mind right now that freaked me, but I just had to keep watching…was the guy in Seven. It was his mind games and how and why he killed, and then who. yuck.
If I think of any others I’ll come back. Getting late here. 🙂
Nov 30, 2012 @ 02:11:04
Is Seven a movie? I haven’t heard of it before.
Nov 30, 2012 @ 14:09:21
yes, it stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, & Kevin Spacey. The villain went around killing people according to the seven deadly sins reverenced in Proverbs. Sloth, gluttony, greed, wrath, pride, lust, and envy.
Nov 29, 2012 @ 11:55:39
Hannibal Lecter definitely gave me chills. But so did Annie Willkes in Misery. And Norman Bates from Psycho.
They each are a fascinating mix of ‘almost normal’ and really creepy.
Nov 29, 2012 @ 15:58:00
Interesting post. How hard would it be to create a villain who doesn’t have a motive for being evil? Just as some people are driven to do good deeds simply because it’s their nature, can’t the same be said for those who see nothing wrong in being bad?
If the villain has no apparent motivation, and just wants to see the world burn, then how would the reader relate to, or possibly sympathise/respect with them or their cause?
Nov 30, 2012 @ 02:25:38
I think when you run across a villain in a novel that seems one-dimensional, that’s a villain without a motive for being evil. If you look deep enough under people who seems naturally driven to do good deeds simply because it’s their nature, I think you’ll find there’s actually motivation there too. They feel guilty if they don’t do the right thing because they grew up trying to please a demanding parent or trying to prove their worth in a family where they were overlooked. They believe they have to earn their way into heaven by being a good person. The possible motivations are almost limitless.
Nov 29, 2012 @ 23:58:25
I have to go with Hannibal Lecter too because of the mind games and how he makes the audience kind of root for him.
But Annie Wilkes in Misery (who mauls a foot of a writer to keep him from escaping) and the surgeon of Boxing Helena (who amputates all the limbs of a woman to keep her) are personally most chilling because I could imagine it happening to me. Ditto with Norman Bates from Psycho.
An anti-hero done well is Vin Diesel as Riddick in Pitch Black. He is a jaded prisoner who at first has no interest in helping others to survive. Han Solo also abandoned the crew at first before changing his mind.
Nov 30, 2012 @ 02:19:20
Awesome examples and reasons!
I personally find a good psychological thriller more terrifying than a hack-and-slash story, and I think the “mind games” types villains are some of the most challenges to write.
Nov 30, 2012 @ 12:19:53
I think you have hit on why I sometimes prefer the villian. I think those writers did a great job making the villian more likeable and that makes the hero even more cardboard. I’m thinking of Damon on The Vampire Diaries. There are also villians that I just hate, even though I know they won’t win in the end. Those are fun, too. You are making me realize that when I go back and do my second draft of my WIP I am going to focus more on the antagonist. I think she could be stronger. 🙂
Dec 02, 2012 @ 10:11:38
Great tips, Marcy! I’ve saved the page in the folder for my current WIP (and will move it to the next two as I get to them). I have a villain in my series, only it won’t be revealed until the fifth (and final) book who it is. And except for ‘attacks,’ the stalker hasn’t even been introduced yet. So it’s very helpful to have info like this…because it is harder to create a scary villain than a hero. 🙂
Dec 04, 2012 @ 14:47:41
These are awesome tips! Thank you for putting these together.
I recently read “I Am Not A Serial Killer” and wow, talk about an interesting anti-hero and villain combination. I couldn’t put the book down.
Dec 07, 2012 @ 04:03:43
Thanks for the great post. It’s making me think again about how to deal with the villain in the novel I’m working on.This helps.
Dec 19, 2012 @ 04:38:16
Marcy, this is a GREAT post!
I LOVE reading a book with a well written villain. My favorite part of writing a novel has been creating and orchestrating the role of the villain.
Hannibal Lecter, for me, is one of the most amazing villains. Thomas Harris did (at least in my opinion) a fantastic job with the persona.
Hannibal was wicked, psychologically intriguing, believable, and somehow had me cheering for him silently.
Dec 22, 2012 @ 15:23:20
I recently wrote a psychological thriller for adults and, somewhat worryingly, the easiest and funnest parts to write were those from the POV of the (very sick and twisted) villain! I’m hoping there is a benign explanation for this – such as it being novel and fresh to write from the POV of the ‘other’. Because otherwise maybe I’m just a sicko at heart!
As for villains, I loved Prof Umbridge – rectitude and role-following gone mad!!
Dec 22, 2012 @ 15:59:56
I wouldn’t worry. I think sometimes it is easier for us to write characters who aren’t like us.
I thought Umbridge was a great villain too 🙂
Jul 14, 2017 @ 22:58:01
The reason i found this article was because i was inspired to make a villain reminiscent of Tobi from Naruto . I wanted to make a character who was truly frightening and imposing. He was a threat down to his very bones and looked like the incarnation of all evil itself. (Just look up a picture of Tobi from Naruto on Google, you’ll see what I mean). He was an incredible character because underneath his mask he dreamed of a world where true peace can exist and you genuinely hope he can achieve that dream . I believe you should look into Naruto at least once.