This is something I've brought up again and again, but never really clarified.
After reading many entertaining list humor concerning heroes and villains in entertainment (Top 5 of the Best/Worse/Stupidest/Smartest/etc. Heroes/Villains and such), I realized that I would give more leeway to stupid heroes (or heroes that make stupid decisions) than stupid villains--not because of the inherit "rightness" of rooting for the good guys, but because stupid villains does not a good story make.
To be a hero, you don't necessarily need to be a genius, or have a genius on your team, but I would consider a good hero simply someone who steps up to, or even beyond, his/her calling. And has luck. Lots, and lots, of luck. An indecent amount actually. (To which I attribute to God's justice, or cosmic justice to those that don't believe. Or the occasional lazy writing.)
But to be a villain--say, maybe even a
super-villain--you need to be smart.You need to be an evil
genius. Bad guys that aren't smart end up as thugs or the puppet of that shadowy adviser guy who always happens to disappear when smelly things hit the fan. They wouldn't make it up to a dozen satisfactory evil interns, let alone a whole Cabal of Evil complete with Cyborg Armies of Doom.
And as a villain, it's a given you don't need to be constricted by a pesky thing called morality--not like the hero. Your way can
always take the low-ground. As long as you play your politics right among your evil cohorts (no one likes a backstabber or a complete lunatic--it's just bad practice, not evil), who's going to complain if you use a myriad of ruthless, blood-chillingly effective, and maybe occasionally creative, ways to destroy your enemies?
Yes, a lot of evil villains have some sort of personality disorder, making it quite difficult to achieve that pinnacle of world-domination before being defeated by the hero pouncing on some personal weakness. After all, if a person is completely sane, he/she wouldn't be an evil villain in the first place, I guess.
Even so... there's no way I can fully enjoy a serious good vs. evil story if the supposedly ultimate-evil does things that a low-level manager won't do. Worse, if the hero team
still find it difficult to defeat such a paragon of evil-without-competence. It just makes the heroes look dumber. And if the story isn't a comedy of some sort, I'll be feeling even dumber than
both sides because I'm the one sitting there watching a bunch of idiots run around narrowly dodging explosions and spouting empty one-liners.
The great thing about the scarily competent evil villain is that his actions will force the hero team to constantly rethink themselves, their motives, and their actions. It doesn't have to be something stereotypical like forcing the hero to either save the heroine or the super Deus ex Machina Object, but the very basic of what to do when your enemy fights so dirty that keeping strictly to the moral high-ground will result in defeat and innocent lives lost.
In real life, debates about what's "right" or "wrong" in war happens throughout history--especially in recent times where we're supposed to be completely civilized even if the opposition isn't. Well, in entertainment, I find I like it better where most of the conflict is internal for the good guys fighting an evil that might necessitate a greater sacrifice of their heart rather than something physical. Losing a limb for good? Sacrifice. Going against your very morals, willing to bloody your hands so that others don't have to, and then live with the consequences... yes, I would think it's a sacrifice as well.
And if you're the evil villain, I imagine it would just be an added bonus to completely mess with your enemy in ways no weapon can do--simply by being your evil-self.
When a writer tells me a person is the ultimate evil-genius villain (note that this doesn't apply to all antagonists, just the ones in the super evil-genius category), I would be expecting someone who can only be stopped if he's 100% dead with no chance of resurrection. Someone who manages to make the heroes fight themselves as much as they fight him/her. Someone whose defeat can be truly called epic and a triumph for the forces of good.
My super villain moto? Don't become an evil super-villain unless you're determined that the only way to stop is irrevocable death.
Or at least before checking your plans against the
Evil Overlord List.
(Yes, sometimes I do check my evil character's ideas against the list. It gives me a devil of a time figuring out a way for the heroes to triumph, but at least it's good creative writing exercise. Man, I probably need an "evil" tag for how much this topic appears in my blog. I can totally write a whole book on it.)
Comments (2)
Exceptional post! And OH so TRUE! I'm personally fond of villains who can convince you (the audience) that what they're doing is completely rational and good for everyone because they themselves are convinced of that. There's nothing like a villain with conviction. :^)
Interest the Ann in Zombie Haiku??
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/06/tr_contest_zombie_haiku.php