I have been finding lately the lots of novels and movies that are of the hero overcoming evil variety are missing something, a fear inspiring villain. Where there have been some great villains, lately, novels and movies have been coming up short on this and I wanted to take a look at it.
Where many of these movies and novels have defined heroes/protagonists most of the villains/antagonists, remain very incomplete. When you think of the biggest villains who comes to mind? I know this much, it ain't Zeus from No Holds Barred. What usually goes into a strong villain is that they can inspire fear from you by the mere mention of there name or their appearance in the book or on the screen.
The best villain of all-time as far as I am concerned is Darth Vader (Episodes 4-6). The first time you see him he shows no mercy for what appears to be an errand boy and choking the guy to death. Shows automatically that this is a man you don't want to be on the wrong side of. Throw in the fact that he is the most powerful Jedi ever found and you have a recipe for the man that defeats him being considered great due to the fact that he took someone down so powerful. It wouldn't have mattered if it was Luke, Yoda, Han Solo, Chewbacca, the list goes on they would automatically have a hero status.
Coming in a close second is Lord Voldemort. This guy is a mere shadow for the first three books and most of book four and yet no one likes to speak his name out of fear of the name, now that is intimidation. The guy is considered to be one of the greatest wizards of all time and even has an ability of control of his skills before he is properly trained at Hogwarts. Once again we have a situation here where the person who destroys a character being elevated to the level of hero. The only reason that he is below Darth Vader is because he was ignorant of certain types of magic.
The third greatest villain as far as I am concerned is Sauron. Once again we have a character who in the novels only appears as a spirit being in the form of a fiery eye. Once again we find people being intimidated by a creature that is neither living nor dead, more of a concentrated spirit. He is so feared that if he was to gain the ring of power again, he would destroy all of Middle Earth for his own purposes. Once again we find the person who defeats him being elevated to hero status.
The guy just off the podium as far as being evil goes is Agent Smith of the Matrix movies. Even though this series went downhill after the first movie, what didn't go down was how bad ass Agent Smith was. Clearly defined as the main villain of the series, he became more evil over time. Even though the end of his life was a complete joke as to how he died, he was clearly the villain and whoever destroyed him would be given hero status.
Here is the problem with most of the novels and movies today.
1. There is no defined primary antagonist. This is clearly defined in the Twilight series. The main bad guy from the first one is knocked off at the end of the first book and they add new characters without defining who we should be afraid of. Makes me lose interest in the movies.
2. The villain is not allowed to show his abilities. Even though you are wanting to show off the protagonist, a hero will look better if we know that the villain the hero is defeating one serious bad ass. Look at Harry Potter, everybody knows of Voldemort's abilities even though he is not seen in the first book until the climax of the book. When he appears, you know one thing, be afraid, be very afraid.
3. Most villains I feel no anticipation of fear from. I commonly see villains that you know are the bad guy but when you see them, you already know the outcome, the bad guy doesn't stand a chance because he is one of many secondary villains. Does any one remember any of Superman's nemesis other than Lex Luthor and Doomsday? Unless you are a Superman addict the answer is no, they are too many and they get deluded. Keep the amount of villains low and don't make them soup cans, they are far more fearsome if you think they can actually beat the protagonist.
4. Don't be afraid to feature the bad guy. This is more commonly done in pro wrestling but it does have it's merits. Think along the lines of The Four Horsemen, you had to go through all of them to get to Ric Flair and the title. And when you got there, you were in for a war, making anyone who beat him look even better.
So if you are writing a book or wanting to make a screen play, remember the list, it will help you in the long run.
No comments:
Post a Comment