10 WORST Tips for Writing Villains

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With Halloween right around the corner, we’re talking about everyone’s favorite characters: villains! Villains are the baddies of our novels; they’re there to thwart the hero’s plan and basically mess sh*t up. A while back, I broke down the ten best tips for writing villains, and today I’m breaking down the ten WORST tips for writing villains. Get out the notepad, because I’m covering all the issues with giving every villain a tragic backstory, thinking all villains are mentally ill, subscribing to the theory that every villain thinks they’re the good guy, and more. If you want to learn more about how to write compelling villains in fiction, how to make sure your villains are convincing (without being problematic), how to write realistic characters, or how to avoid writing flat characters, this video’s got ya covered! Be sure to stick around, too, ‘cause Number 9 might earn me a scowl or two...or a thousand. 😠 What do you think makes a villain compelling?
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[@thundertaps5752]

Jenna: "what if I told you that female villains can have the same motivations as male villains" Me: "a dead wife!"

[@gamehero6816]

😂😂😂💀

[@Zaya512]

Troupe that's been done a million times: 😠 the same troupe but gay: 🤔

[@rsacchi100]

@@Zaya512 Ir would seem the dead spouse would weaken a villain and likely would probably weaken a villainess even more. I find the dead significant other "to make it personal" for the hero a bit silly. This nasty person has been causing all sorts of havoc and plans to do a lot more but the hero won't budge until someone they care about is killed.

[@or9422]

@@rsacchi100 I mean hey, if your hero is the kind of person not to intervene unless it's personal then that's cool, (although antihero or simply protagonist might be more accurate.) Then again, I see many heroes who are supposed to be the classic, morally upstanding variety do the same shit, so I see where you're coming from.

[@haleylampley1056]

I thought the same thing lmao

[@tariqthomas9090]

“‘But Jenna, villains are just more fun to write than main characters.’ *Then maybe your main character f***ing sucks!* ” YES!

[@poppyto7273]

Could you (or anyone, I need help) tell me some tips for enjoying write my MCs? Please, I have the bored MC syndrome.:'(

[@lelduck6388]

Tell us about your Mc

[@poppyto7273]

@@lelduck6388 He doesn't need to be part of the main trama but the trama needs his existence, is the love interest but don't know why he loves the other MC. Excuse my English, I'm not native speaker.

[@lelduck6388]

@@poppyto7273 Could you elaborate more?

[@neofulcrum5013]

It’s definitely a bad sign when people root more for the villains than the heroes. Unless that’s the writers intent.

[@Alias_Anybody]

It should be less "all villains think they are good" and more "all villains tell themselves they are justified". Bonus points, leave the "justified" part open for interpretation.

[@Pistonrager]

Exactly!

[@Legojet9]

Same things literally

[@Shinigami41395]

Even that isn't necessarily required. My favorite literary villain is fully aware of the fact the he is a terrible person and he never seriously tries to justify his actions. He fully admits his motivations are completely selfish and that his victims have every right to hate him, he just doesn't care.

[@geraldfrost4710]

Dr Horrible's Video Blog Singalong.

[@Alias_Anybody]

@@Shinigami41395 You can think that something is both horrible and necessary/justified. That was kind of the point.

[@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155]

My thoughts on the sympathetic villain if its to excuse their terrible actions are best summoned up by Veronica Sawyer “Blame your childhood. Blame your dad. Blame the life you never had. But hurting people that’s your choice my friend.”

[@willieearles3151]

My own thoughts on the matter were, “you can blame other people in therapy, but that won’t work in court.”

[@benjaminthibieroz4155]

"Doing harm to innocents feeling you have the right is precisely what vilainy is. No matter what horrors you lived gave you this sense of right, transferring your own suffering to others is only wrong, and so justify it is supreme arrogance."

[@ludovico6890]

That's my big issue with it: it banalizes the villainy and gives it a cheap excuse. Sometimes a sympathetic villain works: the Phantom of the Opera, the Monster of Frankenstein. But in these cases they are more tragic figures than proper villains, and the original stories never shy away from the violence they did and the suffering they created. They can be pitied, but not exonerated. When Phantom fans write fanfic with Erik getting away and living happy ever after with Christine Daae, they're comically missing the point of the whole novel.

[@TheREALSimagination]

Or your mom. For inclusivity, diversity and realism purposes :P

[@amylynnsgraphics]

Yes! And there are real life psychopaths and serial killers that had fantastic childhoods, so what happened there? Also, there are tons of people who had their cards stacked against them in life, but they became resilient and overcame their challenges to become amazing people! Lets face it villains became villains because they enjoyed it.

[@megalopath]

For the "tragic backstory" point, I thought that funny as my dual villains are basically "villain A had a fairly decent life but the traumatic backstory for villain B was they knew villain A".

[@tbnrrenagade9507]

I laughed at it too. I have a villain who's backstory is as simple as they felt like it and just ... yeah, tragic.

[@mediatorraptor3349]

That basically the backstories I give to my main villian's henchmens. Some of them were already criminal but still had a moral code until they met the main villian and started doing more henious crimes.

[@tbnrrenagade9507]

@@mediatorraptor3349 nice

[@elfi643]

Ooo

[@chidubememma-ugwuoke9660]

@@mediatorraptor3349 So like Pucci after meeting Dio?

[@issyparker8038]

Not every villian has to be relatable, reedemable or sympathic! One of my favourite villians is Light Yagami because of how unrelatable, unreedemable and unsympathic he is(plus, who would WANT to relate, sympathise with him or reedem him?). I really don't think every villian needs to be an everyman or tragic for me to care or like! They just need to be well written and compelling like Shadowweaver from She-Ra or entertaining and charasimatic like Hades from Disney's Hercules.

[@jascrandom9855]

One of my favorites is Muzan Kibutsuji. The more one learns about him the despicable and disgusting he is.

[@Shinigami41395]

I'll admit that I'm a sucker for villains with tragic backstories, however, even I get really tired of it when nearly every villain is given a tragic past *cough*Naruto*cough*.

[@blazethesteamdragon6202]

"Plus, who would Want to relate, sympathize with him or redeem him?" Be careful you might not like the answer, this guys treated like anime Joker and I'm not talkin about Persona.

[@ssjsmith8879]

I miss my good old fashioned Saturday Morning Gaston's and Rita Repulsa's. Seriously, the mark of a good villain is that you ROOT for their DOWNFALL!

[@ssjsmith8879]

@@Shinigami41395 *cough*Steven Universe*cough*

[@gregjayonnaise8314]

Tip: your villain can be sympathetic and still be a bad person. Just because you understand why a villain does certain things and feel pity for them doesn’t mean that they are A. Redeemable or B. Above criticism. Making a villain sympathetic is merely a means to make them more compelling, not to sweep their bad actions under the rug because they’ve had it rough. If you are going to redeem a villain, you need to make them active in their own redemption. Zuko from ATLA is the most obvious example of a good redemption arc. He does bad things, but once he’s realized how he can choose for himself, he works on being a better person ACTIVELY. No one forced him, and while he got help from his uncle and friends, it was all his own actions and choices that led to it.

[@Avatar_Brandy]

Hard agree, look at the most popular villain in cinematic history, Darth Vader. He's a literal genocider and child murderer, but it doesn't take away from the story or his actions that he was "redeemed" at the end. It ADDS depth to Luke as a character and the story as a whole. Like imagine if Luke had just been like "You're too evil to try to redeem!" It would have been a terrible ending LMAO.

[@Newfiecat]

I think there are unfortunately far too many writers who "sweep their villain's bad actions under the rug just because they had it rough". 🙄😒 ...Especially if the villain is a hot potential love interest. Arghhhhh.

[@DelilahDarling17]

@@Newfiecat You're exactly right, and I agree with everyone in this reply thread. It just all gets under my skin so much, and I wish it didn't.

[@Sipsipsippinonlambtears]

Yeah. I treat my characters like real people. Not everyone is going to be forgiven or redeemed. One of my characters bullies her sister because she doesn't know how else to express her negative emotions. They've grown up in a household where everyone yells to deal with their anger. There wasn't any abuse, but it still had an impact on her. She also has anorexia. Does that justify her actions and make them excusable? No. I'm planning for both her and her sister to move on, but she won't be forgiven. You don't have to forgive someone to move on with them still in your life.

[@deathlight4210]

@@Sipsipsippinonlambtears 👏🤘

[@tododeku8839]

this honestly came just in time, i’m trying to figure out how to build my villain. also love being greeted by the squid game doll💀

[@uu1545]

Wow, what's your book about?

[@tylerharrell9862]

Isn't it funny how Jenna always releases a video just in time haha 😳 but really it's uncanny how I can be working and then she had a perfect video.

[@tododeku8839]

@@uu1545 not quite sure if it’ll be a book yet, or what medium it’ll have, but my story will be about three people, who were cursed to be closer to ghosts than living people, taking up a job as ghost hunters and eventually demon hunters. hopefully that explanation made sense.

[@erikrinard7908]

Tip 9 all the way. It's frustrating how fixated certain fandoms have become on justifying why certain villains are redeemable, why they should have been redeemed, etc. I honestly think it's because people don't want to admit they like morally compromised characters, but whatever the reason I'd like them to just chill out.

[@Rikrobat]

Wholeheartedly agree. Villains can have understandable backstories while still being morally irredeemable. And there is also no shame in enjoying a character who isn't redeemable. Let the villain just be a villain.

[@emma-di5ly]

It's completely normal to like completely evil characters. Scar is my favorite character in _The Lion King,_ and I'm not pretending that he had any sort of justification. I'm not ashamed of liking his character. Enjoying watching/reading/listening to a character doesn't reflect on anything other than what you find interesting.

[@MonAhgasInsomniAroELF]

orrrr maybe it's because it is _healthy_ to want humans to have a chance at redemption?? because all humans, including evil ones, _do_ deserve a chance at it. i agree that not every villain, both irl and in stories, will be redeemed, but it's not wrong to want them to be or make valid points on why they should be.

[@ravenfrancis1476]

I think it's also because they're *attracted* to these villains in some way, so they feel the need to justify their attraction to a very awful person.

[@Lilitha11]

A lot of 'redeemed' bad guys are killed immediately after being redeemed, because they are not really redeemable and them surviving would bring uncomfortable questions. For example, Darth Vader. We see him redeemed but they killed him because honestly, there was no forgiving what he did. You see that all the time, where you kill off the character because it is easier to forgive a dead person than one still living.

[@thecakegarden5324]

#9 "Villains must be redeemable" *Looks at my list of completely irredeemable monsters and then at my morally grey, redeemable ones* I think i'm good on that front :D

[@neofulcrum5013]

Me with only one redeemable villain: *This will be fine*

[@magikforce4069]

Some of my villainshave a god relationship with one of the heroes so they go through some redemption

[@autisticdancer]

I have 5 villains in total and 2 of them are pure evil. 2 are fallen heroes who are beyond redemption but still believe they are doing the right thing. And one who actually is redeemable and has a good relationship with the main character so they get redeemed. So basically only one fifth of my villains are redeemable lol.

[@cookiehatkingdom]

I have 8 villains. One is somewhat redeemable, considering she spent all her life trapped in an empty street with only her twin brother to talk to. And, when she gets the chance to escape, her brother ends up making the cut instead. Another somewhat redeemable one is basically Mirabel Madrigal as a villain, and then one who managed was given perfect bliss by spirits but had to keep killing people to keep it coming, slowly being controlled and possessed by the spirits until she tries to kill her brother (the MC). She then has a moment of realisation and begs her brother to kill her because she despises the monster she's become. Oh, the others? Yeah, they are pure evil and completely irredeemable.

[@milestrombley1466]

Villain: "I'll just leave you alone without making sure you will die inside my death trap."

[@VenomQuill]

OEUHEWF YES. MC: _Breaks out of death trap because plot_ Villain: _Surprised Pikachu face_

[@sxwriter8569]

The Bond villains stopped doing that right?

[@person8834]

Or when they leave the idiot henchmen that have been f**king up for the entire story to either kill them or make sure they don’t escape (*COUGH hyenas *COUGH Fear and Pain *AHEM COUGH)

[@VenomQuill]

@@person8834 I mean, the hyenas from the OG The Lion King weren't that bad. Simba got lost in a field of thorns they literally _couldn't_ traverse. Since the next shot of Simba is him laying in the dessert surrounded by vultures, it's not that bad of an assumption. I can't remember what they did in the live action, though.

[@TotalAnalyst2]

​@@person8834The Hyenas werw fine Scar probably didn't want the lioness to smell the blood on him so they were good way to get rid of evidence while also someone to pin the blame in case people started getting suspicious

[@peyton3364]

This may be way deeper than necessary, but I think that female villains’ common motive for villainy being youth and beauty says a lot about our society. People have been saying it forever, but the fact that it’s so commonly written as a motive for villainous behavior says a lot about how women (who are taught at a young age that beauty adds worth) are viewed. From someone who’s always been told that being beautiful gets you places, it’s important and makes you worthy of love, attention, and loads of other bullshit, they begin to view beauty as something ugly and evil. From another perspective, women are seen as vain and shallow; that the one thing women will do anything for is beauty and youth even if it destroys everything around them. It’s kind of a twisted cycle because it’s impressed upon women frequently but people often view it in a negative light.

[@williamwontiam3166]

To be fair, this is also a villain, and as it such, they tend to embody the worst of whatever demographics they are a part of. Some male villains are like Straud, a simp with extra steps. Some female villains are vain, and ultimately take what they want by force. Frankly, what defines a villain as a villain is there means more often that it is there goals. Thanos could just be a social activist with his movie motivation, and so on and so forth. So ultimately, I don’t particularly care about the beauty and youth thing, because it can be done well, especially when it’s looked into and actually explored rather than a throwaway motivation that makes it feel like it would be better if the motivation was never mentioned.

[@eternallylearning2811]

@@williamwontiam3166 yeah like hating their getting old cause old = weakening body and getting their looks back is an secondary motive or that they can't financially support themselves cause of the society they live in only valuing women if they are young.

[@melancholy_indulgence1171]

@@williamwontiam3166 like in rapunzel

[@powpowouchy5]

A notable male version of this is straizo from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

[@guicaldo7164]

"Sometimes the villain needs to commit genocide, and there's no coming back from that." Half the cast of Fullmetal Alchemist would like to have a word with you.

[@sxwriter8569]

I thought all the Homunculi died? Or are you referring to Scar, I need to watch it.

[@guicaldo7164]

@@sxwriter8569 I'm referring to every single State Alchemist that took part in the Ishvalan war. Scar never comits genocide (at least not in Brotherhood, no idea about the 2003 anime), he's on a revenge quest against very specific people. Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Alex Armstrong and more, they all committed genocide, and spend the entire series trying to atone for it. And as far as I'm concerned, they succeed.

[@MrGrimjaw]

@@guicaldo7164 roy and them are not villians

[@guicaldo7164]

@@MrGrimjaw No, but they committed what Jenna calls irredeemable acts, the things that "there's no coming back from". So I was arguing against that.

[@MrGrimjaw]

@@guicaldo7164 oh ok.

[@goldenapplesaga5446]

I think one of the best writing advice actually comes from Obi-wan "Only a Sith deals in absolutes" There's no such thing as a "have to" in storywriting. It's one of the reasons I love it so much

[@tbnrrenagade9507]

me, who dresses like a sith lord.

[@mc_zittrer8793]

That'd be pretty resonant.....if the prequel trilogy wasn't built on laughably stale and incompetent writing. Obiwan even contradicts said advice in the previous movie.

[@goldenapplesaga5446]

@@mc_zittrer8793 Hey, that's not what Obi-wan was talking about in that moment. So my point still stands as that spesific quote being good writing advice

[@rcj.19]

Thank you, it took me until this comment to fully understand what “dealing in absolutes” meant

[@amirtaj4323]

Isn't that an absolute?

[@WilyGryphon]

7 made me think of Yzma from Emperor's New Groove, who, in the initial draft of the story, wanted eternal youth and beauty and was willing to summon a dark god to destroy the sun to get it. In the movie that was ultimately made, she wants to kill Kuzco and rule the Incan Empire. And also one of the differences between the villains of Tangled the movie and the series: Mother Gothel wants to be young and beautiful forever (although the vanity may actually be secondary to immortality since she goes for stretches of actually aging between Sundrop doses), while Zhan Tiri wants to become a physical god and kill everything because she's a freaking psychopath. If Gothel's primary concern is interpreted as immortality, that does give her a similar motivation to many male villains, such as Voldemort, David Xanatos, and others.

[@allyc1214]

In regards to villains with tragic backstories, I think Dexter handled this so well. Season four follows the trinity killer, who is inadvertently responsible for his sister’s death, which in turn leads him to feeling responsible for his father and mother’s death as well, so he kills people in the same cycle in which his own family died while also hiding under the guise of a deacon at a church. the backstory is tragic, but it doesn’t make what he does redeemable, it just offers an explanation for his behavior rather than trying to make you feel sorry for him.

[@katkot8262]

I deadass thought this was about Dexter's Lab and i was terribly confused reading this-

[@hunterboylestuff]

I completely agree. Dexter handled that well.

[@allyc1214]

@@katkot8262 haha! i hear that all the time but i totally get it. i watched dexter's lab as a kid occasionally so it confused me at first too

[@8Bitnoobgamer]

@@allyc1214 "Dee Dee! What...what have I done?"

[@Greg12839]

@@katkot8262 same😂😂

[@haleylampley1056]

I find the all villains must be redeemable pretty annoying. Sometimes I just don't want to forgive them, especially when they do drastic shit that they shouldn't be forgiven for. Also, sometimes I just want my villains to be totally unrepentant in their actions.

[@magikforce4069]

Same,even with my own villains,I just look at them like “ain’t no way you deserve redemption,you’re irredeemable.”

[@whoareyoutoaccuseme6588]

@@magikforce4069 But I love my villains so much, I sometimes make them karma houdinis or sometimes given a short spin-off about their lives in incarceration/exile. And these of mine villains are VILE in every sense of the word.

[@theminisimmer]

I'd also like to add on to the part about villains having only tragic back stories. Some villains are villains because the behaviour that causes them to be a villain is ingrained in their society. Take a character from the Empire in Star Wars for example, perhaps they were raised that way all their life and believe that peace can only come from an iron fist, and that leads them to do terrible things.

[@otgenesis7410]

Just when I finished Squid Game, I'm still seeing it everywhere. *I'm looking at you Jenna*

[@aurthurpendragon1015]

The reason I feel villains tend to be more inherently interesting than the main character is because of the intrigue that villains inherently bring. Nobody ever questions why the hero does what he does, it's just kind of taken as a given. Of course more interesting stories can definitely give heroes interesting motivations, but that's not something that's on a reader's mind right off the bat. However, villains, by their nature, no matter what kind of villain that they are, go against what we were taught to believe is right and moral, and that instantly makes us more interested in them from the very beginning.

[@willieearles3151]

Exactly. Villains are badass, man. You may watch Silence Of The Lambs for Clarice, but the movie wouldn’t be half as interesting without Hannibal Lecter.

[@aurthurpendragon1015]

@@willieearles3151 Villains are rebels. They rebel against everything that we're taught to value, which is inherently interesting to us psychologically.

[@robinschicha4712]

Not if everybody is a Bad Guy. In this Case you only follow the crowd 😅😂🤣

[@androrobuiques9497]

What about writing a protagonist that also turns those ideas on their heads? My first thought for an example would be any Cormac McCarthy novel. Especially blood meridian. Very compelling stuff. Of course, not every protagonist in every novel needs to upset the conventions that way, or else it might get stale really fast, but it's an interesting idea to play around with.

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

I understand that this is an old comment but it’s just as important, if not more important, for audiences to understand why your hero does the things they do. Marlin wants to rescue his son Nemo from P Sherman because Nemo is all he has left of his mate and eggs after the barracuda attack.

[@florenceb1031]

The two main villains I have in my sci-fi series are both royalty who never developed empathy or learned why they should bother faking empathy beyond what would let them manipulate those around them. The tertiary villain is the only one of the three who has a tragic backstory and is also the only one who has a chance at redemption.

[@courtneybartlett2326]

"Sometimes the villain commits genocide, and there's no coming back from that." Vegeta would like a word with you.

[@klausd.6285]

Yeah no. The fact that anyone thinks he is "redeemed" and that the written "redeemed" him is disgusting. So let me ask you this. Is Hitler redeemable? If your answer is no, then neither is Vegeta. And do not give as stupid lame excuse of "but Hitler was real and Vegeta is fictional". That is not an arguement. What is objectively right and wrong does not change all because one is fiction. The ONLY reason why Vegeta got a second chance was because of Goku, which I should remind you, is an idiot who tries to give literally everyone a second chance.

[@QuillASMR]

@@klausd.6285 I'd argue that Vegeta's arc wasn't redemption but repent. Depending on the story, redemption implies a character is forgiven for all his wrong doings, but repent implies that a character is not forgiven for everything, but still looks to improve. (Something like that imo) In the recent manga, a character says the same thing: Saiyans are irredeemable and Vegeta accepts that. However, he did willingly sacrifice himself to Maijin Buu through a suicide attack thinking he wasn't gonna get the chance to return. Again, back to Goku giving him a chance since no one else would. Nevertheless, he still did it knowing his fate and believing he was also irredeemable. Maybe still does. He also tried to help with defeating Cell, the other Buus and Moro who also threatened to destroy earth and essentially the entire universe or at least the majority of it. Also worth mentioning that he actually snapped when Beerus hurt Bulma, his wife, showing he's also developed some sympathy over his time on earth. And when you compare the current Vegeta to the beginning, personally, it feels like a completely different person, but thats just me lol Point is, I look at Vegeta and don't see a redemption arc. I see him looking to repent by defending his family and becoming stronger in order to take down worse threats.

[@Linklex7]

For the most part, the recent arc in Super does have Vegeta finally attempt to repent for his actions during the Frieza arc by trying to protecting the remaining Namekians, but I agree until that arc ends, he’s not redeemed.

[@anintp-a9401]

Vegeta killed so many, there's not many living to say just how bad he was. But many living to say how good he is.

[@emeryltekutsu4357]

@@klausd.6285 If I recall my DBZ times, I think Vegeta killed because that's how he was raised and how he survived, and even had to eat the natives he killed. Which happens after he himself loses his entire planet and people. I think people are pretty lenient on him because he didn't have much choice and he changes. I don't think he killed so much because he got rejected from art school.

[@Mmmkaramel]

My book doesn’t even have a villain, it’s the characters vs the environment. Of course I’m still going to watch, because it’s made by Jenna

[@jascrandom9855]

Then the environment is the villain or antagonist.

[@peppermint5117]

that sounds interesting

[@happymoslemhs_aq1386]

So an abstract antagonists? Cool!

[@evanflynn4680]

"But Jennaa! Villains are just more fun to write..." Then maybe you should make your MC an anti-hero. A villain with a code of honour can be the good guy when they come up against a villain without a code.

[@andrewj.browncomics7348]

The thing I hate about the “everyone is the hero of their own story” reasoning for villains, is that people will take whatever good point the villain might have, and just ignore all the bad stuff they’ve done. The big one for me was Killmonger in Black Panther, I read a caption once talking about the good ideas he had, and it ended with “so why do people call him evil” and I was like “maybe because he had zero problems with killing innocent people just to hurt the son of the man that killed his father? Maybe that’s why we think he’s not a very nice man?!” It’s like what Jenna said about thinking in absolutes. I’ve had people tell me that “well that character isn’t a villain because they aren’t pure evil” when did villain mean pure heartless rattlesnake mean evil?

[@magikforce4069]

I never liked that quote either.

[@avelongreed3132]

One of my main character’s main motto is, “ Everyone is a villain on the other side. “, Which is the opposite of “ Everyone is a hero of their own story “, I kinda wanted to tangle it up bc i hated that quote

[@supoa9489]

Agree. Plus it's stupid quote even numerous sympathetic/anti villian characters don't see themselves as heroes, but nesscary evil in order achieve want they want.

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

Also Killmonger’s plan itself was horrible. He wanted to give Wakandan weapons to rebel groups around the world in order to incite race wars. He didn’t want to end racial oppression, he just wanted Africans to be the ones on top rather than whites.

[@julietfischer5056]

Your villain can have a chance at redemption and reject it. There can be opportunities to change course that the villain either doesn't see or actively rejects. Why they reject it can be important to the plot or showing their character to worst advantage.

[@samlerf]

Personally, in my experience people who suffered immensly tend to reject people who went through similar stuff as well as situations related to it (simply because it triggers what they want to forget). It simply depends on wheither a person had a way to deal with their trauma or not.

[@willieearles3151]

People deal with their shit in different ways. I personally continue to write about and read about traumatic things because it helps me cope for some reason.

[@77777Spooky]

I heard someone say that to avoid perceptions of writer bias and prejudice in creating characters, it is a good idea to create a larger number of characters in one's story. This is because the writer then has more opportunities to create more characters of different backgrounds.

[@ringinn7880]

This is not necessarily a good answer because more fleshed out characters mean more things to keep track of. Also if you are writing a short story you want to delete unnecessary things that will push you over the page count you're aiming for. Essentially it depends.

[@adde9506]

Too many characters can quickly confuse or overload your reader. And writing a diverse characters badly is usually worse than not writing them at all. Despite what Jenna says, there are plenty of places in the world where people go their whole lives without seeing a person who is a different race in real life. Is is better to write a diverse cast? If you're selling to a moderate or progressive western audience; yes. If you're selling to a Japanese audience? Probably totally unnecessary.

[@Alverant]

Honestly, I had problems writing the villains because they were bad. I had an easier time making the villain either a brainless monster or an antagonist (not evil, just having an agenda that conflicts with the MC).

[@kennyleung9909]

I totally agree. Good old Xenomorph, The Thing, The Blob and The Predator. You don't know why they're doing what they do and writers don't dwelve on it. You just need to focus on the heroes and what they do to overcome this foe.

[@blackhagalaz]

The last tip is a great one! History writes the most gruesome villains, and the great thing is that, when you write fiction it's absolutely not necessary to stick to a timeline. Just mesh the traits a 16th century, witchburning priest together, with a Victorian "baby farmer" for example. I work at a museum for medical history in Germany, and for my book I choose some very obvious inspiration- Na*is. This first sounds like a cliché but hear me out. There was an operation during 2WW that is a bit less known then the holocaust, and its the eugenics movement "Aktion T4" where basically patients with certain illnesses (mental any physical) where murdered systematically, first on official record, and later when T4 ended, in secret. The source material is horrific, and the mindset of some doctors, nurses and other health workers, sending their patients to their deaths during that time, gave me some pretty messed up inspiration behind the psychology of a murderous, villain. History is dark, you just need to know where to look.

[@NadiraJamal]

Re: Jenna’s advice to research real life villains, the podcast Behind the Bastards is fun and informative! They did an episode on the children of dictators early in the show, which might make for some good backstory source material.

[@UN-Seki]

Thank you for the tip!

[@buckle9733]

A great podcast!

[@katelynharrison3779]

I never minded the dead wife trope, but I see it more in movies than I do in books. Where female writers tend to write the “not like other girls” trope for their self inserts, I’ve found that the male version of this is the hard working, rugged male character who will do anything for his family, though this character has typically lost his family (ex: Gibbs from NCIS) and whose tender side is shown through the love he has for the wife (and/or family) he lost. Another example: John Wick. His wife died of cancer so she wasn’t killed by anyone, but the main plot point is that something happens that disrespects her death in his eyes and he snaps and kills everyone involved and that movie is a masterpiece. *chefs kiss* Also, if you want characters to be “realistically diverse” you have to consider where the story is taking place and what kinds of people are typically found there. People like to whine about no diversity in books, and then when authors try to add diversity they whine because the author “didn’t do it right”. People are ALWAYS gonna have something to say about what you write, you can’t please everyone. And I’ll say this, readers can ALSO tell when authors are trying too hard with the inclusion trope. (Yes I’ve seen it so much it’s now a trope)If you want the most perfectly diverse book, write it yourself.🤷🏻‍♀️

[@superraegun2649]

#7 is really bad when it's the case that the antagonist is just jealous that the protagonist is more beautiful. Beauty is subjective and this makes no sense. In "Snow White and the Huntsman", I personally think the villain is more attractive than the hero, but the hero being more attractive is how she's able to magically win. It puts far too much value on a woman's physical appearance, and doesn't reflect reality or make any sense.

[@MonAhgasInsomniAroELF]

if you find villains more fun to write, then make your protagonist a villain! who says your story has to be from a good guy's pov? if you started writing from the hero's pov and found you enjoyed writing the villain more, then scrap it, flip it, and re-write everything as the villain, and make the hero your antagonist. also personally, i _love_ when villains are redeemable. i like it a lot better than when they aren't. i think it says a lot about us as humans that we all tend to want the bad guy to become a better person in the end. but it absolutely has to be done right. and i think a lot of newer/younger writers confuse making a villain redeemable with forgiving them/excusing their past atrocities. in some cases forgiveness may factor in, but i think villains who decide to make changes in the face of everyone continuing to hate them/refusing to forgive them makes the villain even more compelling. personally i'm sick of villains not being redeemable/redeemed, especially when they have a good set up and could be. i feel like that's been the trend more lately, and it's annoying imo. a story has more depth and a better lesson to it when the villain has a chance at redemption.

[@glanni]

I agree! I love redemption arcs. But what I also like is when a villain has a _chance_ at redemption but misses it. It really hurts me, but I like tragedy. Either way, I think every compelling villain should have some humanity, even if it's really rotten. If they don't, it's not a real villain but rather a "force of nature antagonist", which is also interesting, and in those cases they almost always have an evil servant who causes the drama in person.

[@juanmanuelmoramontes3883]

I saw you at another comment, and I get your point, but as long as deserving, there are characters that will never deserve a second chance.

[@notreal6762]

just a note, don´t make a point about not demonizing mental illness and then proceed to demonize narcissistic personality disorder, it´s a personality disorder like bpd is, and bpd is not the only personality disorder. :)

[@Sisuki_]

I would like to add something: love is not an excuse. It's not because your villain did something bad "for love" that they're excused. I'm sick of seeing people excuse villains who have killed, betrayed or torture people juste because "he loved her!"

[@Sisuki_]

That goes with the redemption I guess.

[@benpriest9555]

Morally ambiguous villains who think they're the hero are fine, but honestly I prefer the villains who know they're evil and just own it.

[@britt6184]

I miss those villains. Now it seems like every villain now has to have a sob story. It's fine if done well but I want more villains who want to rule the world because they think it would be fun or something.

[@cloudriilejion4589]

Ah yes. Tip number 8. The reverse should happen with that actually, but actually written with well defined heroes that aren't just "There's a tomboy lesbian and a person of color who's unemployed because they're a person of color." That's Realistic!/s That just adds to the fire. The point in this is that yes representation matters, if done correctly.

[@imperatorromanus8620]

The key word is *realistic.* Realistic for the setting the story takes place. For example, adding a black person in medieval Bohemia is a *very* unlikely sight, so adding him/her there just for the sake of diversity, without will leave a really bad taste in the audience's mouth. Moreover, adding a minority character only for the sake of representation, without giving him or her any personality or role in the story(other than flawless token) is a really bad idea.

[@robertsosna3557]

The villains I hate the most are the ones who are so incompetent and stupid that there is no way they could win. While I love the villain who thinks he's the hero therefore beyond redemption.

[@cybersketcher1130]

What about Geoffrey

[@cybersketcher1130]

@Fachii2011 every writing rule usually has some exception.

[@ravenfrancis1476]

I mean, in a story that expects you to take it seriously, yeah that's fucking stupid. But I don't really mind when the work is supposed to explicitly be a comedy.

[@Lilitha11]

@@cybersketcher1130 I would say he was still really dangerous because he had a lot of backing. If he wanted to kill someone he was capable of getting that person killed.

[@cybersketcher1130]

@@Lilitha11 though I feel Octavian from Heroes of Olympus got away with way more than he had any right to.

[@82dorrin]

"All villains think they're the good guy" Remember the Operative from Serenity? A villain who _knows_ that he's a villain. He knows what he's doing is evil, but does it anyway because he believes it has to be done.

[@Priysmatik]

A series I love has one of the MCs wherein his character arc is to slowly spiral from hero to villain. It was a tragic thing to watch. At first he did think he was in the right-- at first, he arguably was! He stood up against a lot of awful things, of course you'd root for him! But as time went on, and others fought him, he began to go against his own words, his own ideology, in order to win. He began to realize that maybe his actions were hypocritical and unjustifiable. He saw that he was in the wrong, but by then, he felt it was too late. In his own mind, despite the pleas of his companions, he was in too deep. Things could never be the same, he was in the wrong, but *goddamn* he was gonna make his point, it was all he had left, he couldn't fix anything else. It was very compelling in my opinion.

[@user-mw6up5fd4w]

What series is this?

[@turdnugget]

Yeah this sounds lit, what series?

[@Yggdrasilincarnate]

What series?? I love this sort of character arc

[@kristentharappel1441]

Man, the dead wife one got me thinking about how common that trope really is. I could name 10 books off the top of my head.

[@josephpeck8723]

There is actually a song by a band called Sellsword that falls under that trope as well.

[@thelanktheist2626]

Not only dead wife, but spurned wife too.

[@Linklex7]

I’m so glad you tore down the “every villain is a hero” argument. People need to learn that not every villain is Magneto. Really, Magneto is the only villain to ever pull off the “every villain is a hero in their own story” trope.

[@magikforce4069]

Yes,he’s the only one who makes that trope work,every other villain is like,it just doesn’t make sense

[@Forget-Ril-Not]

When it comes to redemption arcs, if you're going to have a redeemable villain... Well, some characters have to be irredeemable too. It's fine to have some people be too far gone- to do things so horrific that they can't really make up for it. Though I suppose that a lot of people like to act like what you write matches up with your beliefs and values(which is completely ridiculous, often characters do things that you wouldn't) that maybe some people could be nervous to make someone do something truly irredeemable. Also on the trauma note. In my opinion you can both feel sorry for someone but not excuse their acts as villains. Something interesting to me is actually how a lot of people react differently to trauma. I have my own trauma and I've reacted completely differently to it then someone else who has had the same trauma. People can both grow and become kinder, learn and take after those negative, traumatic influences, or are still healing. I don't think there's one single way that people respond to trauma and the same should be looked at when it comes to characters. Of course it isn't okay to have it so every villain is mentally ill. Not okay to let it be that you aren't considered a hero purely for your mental health, but it's important to note that there are so many responses to trauma. And that trauma isn't an excuse to be a villain. But it's also fun to write a character that is just a villain for no/petty reasons or just because their awful. Also if people wanna write a villain more then a why not have a villain protagonist lol. All characters should be deep but if you're not having fun with a story it could be time to shift what you're writing-

[@thegrandxbunny2073]

“You and I aren’t so different.” What if there’s a balance of being opposites and similar? For example, let’s say you have a hero who is in a successful business that is currently lucrative. Maybe the villain is trying to sabotage the business because they tried the same thing in the past and were groomed to firmly believe that that business style will never work and is therefore trying to make the hero suffer, not realizing they’re doing the same thing that caused them so much pain all those years ago?

[@tryingartist42]

Nowhere King from centaurworld is high key my favourite villain of all time, they somehow made a huge horrifying abomination sympathetic but they never excused his actions or pushed aside their weight, and gave him a deserved ending! Seriously give centaurworld your time, the show may look really stupid but it’s got a lot more to it underneath, plus I’d honestly argue the whole show is worth watching simply for its finale

[@MysticKenji2]

Broke: kill the man's wife Woke: kill the woman's husband Bespoke: evil happily married couple

[@hugofolpp1753]

9:05 In spiderman into the spider-verse I love the way this trope is subverted. Instead of the death/loss of kingpin's wife pushing him down a villainous path, it was his own hate towards spiderman that drove his wife and kid away, pushing him down the dark path of acsessing parallel universes in a bid to find another version of his wife and kid

[@PhantomFerret]

In terms of #4: Boring (aka villains getting their own POV), I wrote one of my villain's POV only once, and that significantly affected my series as a whole. Like, so significantly that a whole location wasn't just renamed and changed, but it showed a new breed of creature hidden within the depths of a plot point that, a few years ago, wasn't even considered to be possible for me to write. Granted, I'm trying to self-publish my first novel, but I have a KZbin channel, Phantom Ferret, and I was published in Together: 2020 Poetry Collection.

[@willieearles3151]

I think a villain’s POV can be good, but probably needs to be used sparingly. I like Jenna, but sometimes she makes assertions that are simply too broad.

[@jerlinej3516]

Yeah! A lot of times fictional characters are based on real life people, so the same should be said for villains. It would help them be less cartoonish, at least.

[@euthanizemyself6972]

This one makes me so much more comfortable with my story….Your videos help me understand really WHAT my story is trying to get across, and explain that better. I love you & this channel. I just got Milanote, nervous but excited to try it lol

[@lesteryaytrippy7282]

Number 4 is my FAVORITE! Good practical advice on making purposeful writing/narrative! Thanks

[@CobraNemesis09]

Thank you for introducing me to Milanote. Literally cannot understand why I was living w/o Milanote

[@ax5652]

I was in class when I got this notification but now I feel like I’m really in class 😫❤️

[@jaginaiaelectrizs6341]

*_THANK YOU_** FOR THIS VIDEO!!!* I have been objecting to almost all of these tips for writing villains, for pretty much the same reasons that you do, for years now; it's good to know that I am not completely alone! 💜

[@VenomQuill]

The redemption arc villain trend has me so tied up in a knot. Yes, this can be a really good piece of the plot. In fact, it can tie up a villain and clean up loose ends from the cast and be absolutely wonderful _if done well._ However, a bunch of villains I see are redeemed because the MC is _caring_ and _believes in them_ or something and villain goes "Oh, cool, you believe in me? Chill, let me just set these 300 slaves free and forget about the mountains of bodies in my backyard." I'm not saying a murderer can't be made good, but ffs give them a better motivation than "I've never been believed in before. :,(" and make them _earn it._ Make the villain work for it. Never let them and everyone else forget. Maybe don't hammer the point every other page, but make that villain EARN my respect, and the respect of everyone else. Not regaining full trust for a very long time is better than instantly gaining full trust just because MC said so and the author wanted the villain to be part of the team. My favorite examples come from my childhood. I'd say who they were, but that would be some major spoilers for them. ANYWAY, awesome video, Jenna! :D!

[@neofulcrum5013]

I have someone on the villains side I’m gonna redeem just because I think it could be helpful to the heroes in the long run. Still trying to figure out how to get him to that point because he’ll end up being confronted by another villain who he considered his brother in arms.

[@VenomQuill]

@@neofulcrum5013 Sounds interesting. Good luck! And since you're here, I'm going to assume you're trying to do it well. Haha

[@sxwriter8569]

You can say Zuko, we all know it’s Zuko

[@LpsRoseGold]

Hey guys, since we're on the topic of redeeming people here, can I get some advice? (Besides from Mama Jenna of course! 😊) I'm writing a fanfic for a web series I watch. Basically, the main "villains" have bullied the main characters (there all in highschool), and their best friend left them because of it. Time passes, and they're all young adults now. The bullies want to make up to their victims for the way they've treated them, but how would I make it seem logical? (・-・;)ゞ

[@VenomQuill]

​@@LpsRoseGold Well, the bullies were stupid, mean kids. Now that they're adults, they could have just matured and maybe even gotten a harsh slap of reality. Not all people who get older become mature, of course, but often those who get a good dose of reality do. Toxic breeds toxic, so maybe leaving their previous environment (if that was toxic) could help them "see" more clearly. Just because they were kids doesn't mean they were innocent. Remember that apologies can be seen as hollow or meaningless depending on how they're worded. A true apology lays the blame on oneself and doesn't redirect it. For example "I broke the vase. It was my fault for throwing a ball inside. I'm sorry." Maybe (definitely) follow it up with something to mend said wrong, such as "What can I do to fix this?" Saying something like "Sorry I hurt your feelings." is actually backhanded. It means that you're apologizing for a fault that the person who you wronged owns. It's saying the person whom you wronged was at fault for having their feelings hurt. Basically: A true apology, work hard to at least try to make amends, and be sincere about it. But guilt complexes are the _worst_ so maybe stay away from that? Showing the ex-villain struggling to find their footing in a new territory (amongst the people they once bullied) and feeling something as foreign as genuine guilt without "the posse" to back them is an interesting thing to watch. It's even better when they're genuinely trying to help, but the people around them still don't trust them. It takes time, patience, humility, and sincerity to get to a place of true redemption.

[@NuNaKri]

Wow, cool you point that out, that tragic backstorys lead to more empathy. I know some people with messed up childhood and they are the most nicest people I know. And it makes sense to me that if you know how the dark side of life could look like, you can easyly relate to people, who have trouble, because you know how it feels

[@gamehero6816]

Trauma can also result in difficulty with empathy.

[@juanmanuelmoramontes3883]

It depends, is like people who try to break generational trauma, and those who carry on it, endorse it and even justify it

[@NuNaKri]

@@juanmanuelmoramontes3883 yes, for sure

[@paraplegicleopardman]

I actually think villains' importance in stories are overexaggerated in their overall contribution. I'd argue they are not only less important than the heroes, but, in the most radical kind of storytelling, in fact fundamentally unnecessary to a truly good story. That is to say that I find a story without a villain but still possessing a compelling conflict to be a demonstration of true mastery over narrative. I guess if you wanted to be anal about it this is still a story with an antagonist, man vs self or man vs society or something like that, but the presence of an individual character which we brand "the villain" is to me, a novelty at most.

[@Newfiecat]

Someone finally said it! Honestly I never understood why the villain has to be "as important as the hero". You can make an excellent villain without having to give them the same amount of spotlight as the protagonist. To me it just feels like pointless filler if you spend too much time on the villain, I would much rather read about the person the story is actually supposed to be about. Maybe villains are very popular lately, so people want to make them super important? I'm really not sure.

[@thenightranger987]

I can’t believe that this, the first video of yours that I watched was two months ago and now it’s one of my favorite channels AND I have both TSC and TSS.

[@watchinglearner]

This has actually been kind of a relief to hear after years of people basically saying that we're doing it wrong if our villains are villainous. I mean where do people get that idea when we're all lamenting the loss of the mustache twirling evildoer who enjoys every minute he spends being bad? I mean we all like Thanos, sure, but we like the Wicked Witch of the West just as much.

[@peterdbaker]

Number 1 agitates me. One of the appeals of Michael Myers’s appeal in carpenter’s Halloween was appealing because he had no back story. And rob zombie ruined it by making him, essentially, an emo kid

[@sxwriter8569]

I mean to be fair, the movies before that included him kinda included lore about him: Myers having a niece, him being Laurie's sister, the Cult of Thorn, though I'm not defending RZ either.

[@pringlebatch]

@Cool Cat Exactly. Personally, I only found Michael compelling when Loomis was there to monologue about his evil, because he did it so convincingly. Knowing so little about Michael means we don’t feel anything if/when he evolves; heck, I can barely tell. At least Jason Voorhees (another silent slasher killer) changes himself up over the years, *and* has different psychological hang-ups for potential victims to exploit

[@jbcatz5]

Alien is similar in how little we actually know of the slasher killer stalking the characters. Everything we learn is what the characters know, and we learn at the same pace as them.

[@peterdbaker]

@Cool Cat right. Aka he wasn’t an emo listening shit head kid. We got just enough and let it be that he became the shape, a manifestation of evil. And rob zombie screwed it all up along with giving us a movie with some of the most atrocious dialogue I’ve ever read in my life

[@BabyGirlTiny]

@@peterdbaker lmfao, that’s not even the worse Halloween movie and it doesn’t mess up Michael any worse than the cult ones did

[@ravena1441]

For number 8 and your cast being diverse, I have to say that it really depends. There are a lot of people who have said that if you aren't LGBTQ+ or non-white, then you shouldn't write any characters that are like this because you don't understand what it's like to be someone who is like that and so on. So, it's actually a lot more difficult than just making your cast diverse. People wnat diversity, but they also shun it at the same time.

[@willieearles3151]

That’s because people are fucking stupid. I’m gonna write what I want to write, that’s what writing is for. If I’ve overused stereotypes or used a character as a token rather than a three-dimensional character, that’s not because I’m not the same minority, that’s because I’m an idiot. I try very hard not to be an idiot. That’s the best anyone can do.

[@amelh5591]

As an LGBT neurodivergent person, please, please write diverse characters. I think the only thing minority groups generally don't want non-minority authors to do is try to write stories *about* the lived experience of being in a minority group. I'd love to see an autistic character written by a neurotypical person. What I don't want is a book whose central themes include "the challenges of being an autistic person", written by a neurotypical person.

[@amelh5591]

In other words, we want to have the space to tell our own stories about experiences and ways of being that are exclusive to us. But I think some people dish out that old "write what you know" advice and go overboard with it. Nobody writes what they know unless they're writing nonfiction. The process of developing a believable character means connecting with and learning about experiences that aren't your own. Otherwise all your characters end up being self-inserts. Just like it's totally fine to write about people who aren't you, it's totally fine to write about people in minority groups you aren't a part of. Just make sure your writing focuses on the people, not on the minority group, if that makes sense.

[@ravena1441]

@@amelh5591 I get what you're saying. I'd just like to say I've actually seen a discussion online where people in minority groups were saying not to write them into characters if the author wasn't a minority either. I would love to have diverse characters, but I'm even nervous about including African mythological creatures into the book I'm writing because I know people get offended super easily and I don't want to offend anyone. I really love mythological creatures and my current WIP includes mythical creatures from different places around the world- well, I want it to anyway. I hope you find some stories with main characters like you who you can relate to.

[@amelh5591]

@@ravena1441 Understandable. I've seen that kind of writing advice, too; I just think it's a tad extreme, and not very indicative of the attitudes of most people who belong to minority groups. I say go ahead and write what you want, as long as you've done research and put thought into the way the characters (or mythology) you're including are portrayed. And beta readers will be very useful for ensuring that your work isn't offensive.

[@Aquaneos1193]

Love your videos. I drive at least an hour a days and your videos are very entertaining during my commute. And helps me write my novel in my head 😁

[@Zenflower54]

Thank you for this video! Luckily I don’t end up falling into these villain cliches too much but it adds credence to the direction I’m taking my stories!

[@EvRGlade]

I've always had a problem with people who try to write a villain but are unwilling to touch the villain in any way- I've actually read stories where the villain was so hollow, and so nondynamic I could feel the writer literally holding them away from the story like a smelly cat. It makes for a terrible read because instead of feeling some type of way about the actual villain, you have to worry about the author and you're constantly rolling your eyes 🤣 Even if you can't imagine any reason for the worst trait in your vision, NO reason given is far more powerful than 'No one will ever hurt my feelings again.' stretched out over several pages.

[@horse14t]

"Dead wife trope" Joke's on you! My villain is Aro Ace and killed his wife because he only needed her for a heir! :P

[@H.L._DyerisWriting]

Hey Jenna, Could you please do a tips video on how to write about sensitive topics (trauma, mental health, politics, religion, etc)?

[@linabasilisk1955]

Jenna, THANK YOU for pointing out that villains don't need a tragic back story. Some people (real people) choose to be evil for the sake of being evil. Others just enjoy doing evil things. Many people in prison are there because they view other people as things to be exploited. Some have tragic pasts, many do not (though almost all think their self-created problems are the fault of anyone and everyone but themselves). Personally, I have seen this whole trope done to death and then some. At this point it makes me want to puke. Villains are just like everybody else, only evil. Evil knows no zip code, social class, race, gender, sexual preference, country, political party (though some, like the Nazis attracted more villains than some others), age, ability level, or any other category you care to name (except possibly convicted felons, who definitely have more evil represented on average than any other category, though felons can, have, and do change for the better).

[@magikforce4069]

Me and my sister talked about this. There are people in real life who aren’t traumatized,aren’t mentally ill,just borderline evil. Rapists,school shooters,nazis,these people are just monsters who don’t need redemption or don’t deserve sympathy

[@PapaphobiaPictures]

Sometimes, just also let villains be evil. I liked Cruella as a movie but I wish they just let her be evil instead of making her a hero

[@juanmanuelmoramontes3883]

She's not a hero, not a pure one at least.

[@aqilniniey]

When your favourite writer KZbinr wears Squid Game doll; LOL!!

[@thegodsea6003]

Wonderful advice as always!

[@leafy_cynical6732]

The thing about villains is that the MC could be the villain. The protagonist is just the character that the story revolves around, there is nothing stopping the protagonist from being the villain. One good example is Light Yagami, he is the one that the story revolves around. He is a murderer with a god complex. The fact is that protagonist and villain are not mutually exclusive.

[@juanmanuelmoramontes3883]

No body here is taking about protagonists and antagonists.

[@conanedogawa4798]

I model most of my villains after classical gods and goddesses. Especially the female villains. The portrayal of spiteful female goddesses in stories like Hercules are rather basic, but sometimes basic motivations like that are enough. (Plus, the goddess villains had a whole heck of a lot more agency than more modern day examples.) One of my favorite female villains right now though is my dragon queen. She is a very literal dragon, so that lack of human traits would view some to view her as distant. She is definitely still female though. Anyway, she is one of 4 guardians over the world my story takes place in. The world is abandoned by the gods, but they do still communicate with my dragon queen character because they like her somewhat. This gives her a sense of superiority and entitlement that results in her believing whatever she does is right, and she winds up being quite the oppressive ruler as a result. What is likely the most intimidating part about her though is that, aside from her being a bit lacking in empathy, she absolutely excells in just about every other area of intelligence and, as far as physical power goes, she's the strongest dragon in the world. So, she runs a fairly prosperous nation, in a communist China sort of way.

[@dhroober]

Rocking that doll cosplay! 👌☺️

[@wheatknight124]

To a certain extent the emulation part, in my opinion, can be a really good tool. I'm a super amateur author, I've only ever written fanfiction, but the primary villains I've written and used have had a small bit of emulation. Like taking my personal favorite parts from a group of villains I like and throwing them together in a way that, I think, works. Something like giving them an intimidating presence reminiscent of Darth Vader, but then also giving them interactions and personality like Handsome Jack. Probably a bad example but whatevs. Real informative vid! Keep up the good work!

[@MoselleGreen]

THANK YOU for debunking the nonsense about "all" villains believing they're the heroes.

[@lakobause]

“I’m going to say ‘Fuck no’ to saying all villains should be redeemable.” Charlie from Hazbin Hotel: “And I took offense to that.”

[@BEB156]

#1 I never really get into the "automatic tragic backstory's villains" thing for two, even three reasons. ONE, heroes or good people also have a tragic backstory, fucked-up childhood or whatever and that doesn't automatically make them bad people, sometimes it's the contrary that happens. And TWO, some villains are not necessarily poor dears who just needs a helping hand, sometimes they're just heartless, insensitive and egotistic assholes to whom we can't do anything for. As for THREE... well, #5. #3 Actually, I don't have issue with villains thinking they're the good guys. At best, it can bring reassessment about what make us good or bad people. At worst, it can makes the villain really dangerous and toxic 'cause unwilling to call their actions into question. Where I've got the issue with, it's when the villain genuinely thinks he is the good guy, that he did nothing wrong, that he was right and that we should believe his sincerity, while in fact, there's NOTHING to prove it. #7 "Cause Snow White !!!" #9 Villains can have a redemption arc... as long as they do nothing irredeemable. Otherwise, it's an unchangeable NO for me. Actually, I think I'm fed up with redeemed villains, especially when they're just assholes or dickheads who are easily forgiven for irredeemable and unforgivable shits they've accumulated with barely any regrets, just because the writer has decided the said villain to be in good terms with the MC even though the latter is legitimately mad at the villain. To point that's the MC who's vilified for not forgiving the villain even though he has legitimate reasons not to. Seriously, at some point, it becomes filthy and looking more like victim blaming !

[@willieearles3151]

“Villains can have a redemption arc, so long as they don’t do anything irredeemable.” Do you have any idea how subjective that statement is? I get where you’re coming from, but irredeemable is highly relative. Redemption isn’t a firm status, it’s a belief held by some and rejected by others.

[@rsacchi100]

I like the detailed explanation in this video.

[@scarletleader5420]

I think one thing that's important about villains, is that often the ones that make us hate them the most don't necessarily commit genocide, or like burn entire orphanages or whatever, but rather do evil things that are more personal and related to the main character. Like, there is a reason why Umbridge is more hated than Voldemort even though she doesn't actually kill anyone in the novels. It's because she acts all prim, proper and high and mighty all the while torturing, silencing and gaslighting the shit out of Harry, as well as messing with some of our favorite characters (Hagrid, for instance). Unlike Voldemort, who is very openly evil, every evil act of hers is sanctioned by *the ministry*, which in turn only makes our characters feel more powerless against her.

[@eyesfromtheabyss9410]

just as i turned my PC on I see that the queen of the underworld Jenna has blessed us a video, and she has an amazing cosplay, is there anything this woman can´t do. BTW the 1st point is so true, spoiled brats that have had everything are more likely to be a villlan, that also fits so well on the villan I'm writing, thank you oh queen of darkness and writting advise.

[@Shalaena]

Someone broke down the CW Batwoman trailer and pointed out how her sense of entitlement and taking Bruce's alternate identity are not traits of a hero. CW Kate Kane is a confirmed villain.

[@tbnrrenagade9507]

the point about not every villain being the hero of their own story is ignored by so many people and is just as true. (fits a couple of my villains who are evil because "why the f**k not?"

[@adde9506]

I'm going to have to counter the "every villain is the hero of their own story" point. This isn't meant to imply that the character thinks that they are GOOD, but that they are the protagonist from their point of view. Could they also be completely self aware and forthright about the fact that they are a total shit biscuit? Yeah. 99.9% of people AREN'T, but everyone has reasons for what they do, whether the thing is "good" or "bad" or planned at all. You can absolutely write a Skeletor, but don't write 1980's Skeletor, write 2002 Skeletor. To put it simply: No one runs around saying, "Whee! I'm evil!" and believes it or does what they do for no other reason.

[@juanmanuelmoramontes3883]

Your comment falls apart the moment you don't differentiate that protagonists is not the same as hero...

[@tj_sarina8512]

Omg thank you for the motivation part.

[@waffles5238]

I can’t be the only one who watches these videos and gets a few boosts of good feelings cuz she mentioned liking something or saying you should do something in your book.. and it already is in your story

[@ImaginaryMdA]

An actual good tip for writing a villain: read "art of the deal"

[@meganthompson6676]

Can you tell writers that patience when writing their stories is critical? I've read so many stories where the ending is not only rushed but empty and disappointing.

[@sunniqa899]

Thank you for all that you do.

[@etsap1236]

I’m a sucker for villains with tragic backstories. Because of exactly what you said. Hardship psychologically develops empathy and hate pretty evenly. Your jealousy forms a distaste of another person, or makes you more eager to improve. It’s also just pretty noticeable throughout history when you look at the worst people and their backgrounds. Hitler for example was heavily abused by his father and spent many years homeless on the streets. Saddam Hussein’s dad was a deadbeat and his mother was so depressed she purposely beat herself while pregnant, and whenever she remarried her husband would also physically abuse him. None of this makes their behavior acceptable or redeeming but at least we know it came from somewhere,

[@Shalaena]

"Look at real baddies!" So...if I'm writing a female baddie who has a certain type of sob story, obviously twisting things and leaving out key details to portray herself in a positive light, is it okay to look to a certain actress who is a manipulative abuser for inspiration? Not saying I did that, but, I didn't NOT do that... In my defense the tapes are public? :D

[@kunchalagangawane8528]

Am..be.r..?

[@willieearles3151]

I mean, yeah, narcissism and manipulation/gaslighting are more common in real life than serial killers and other more lethal villains. I think they should show up more in fiction, because you almost hate them more sometimes for the more out-of-the-box ways they screw people over. Killed the hero’s friend? Heard it before. Manipulated the hero’s friend into killing themselves? Now that’s its own special brand of fucked up, and probably has a lot more buildup which gets you more invested in hating the person.

[@kunchalagangawane8528]

@@willieearles3151 yes I agree

[@Shalaena]

@@willieearles3151 Exactly. Yes, it's a paranormal and the baddie isn't human, but what makes her a monster is something that makes anyone a monster. I've always been more into psychological thrillers rather than horrors, so to me, mind games are worse than a creature just trying to have a snack.

[@Shalaena]

@@kunchalagangawane8528 All too obvious, ha ha! I mean, it's a good view into real time manipulation and gaslighting for anyone fortunate enough to have never gone through it themselves.

[@purplebushie]

So I’m scripting a comic and my main antagonist is definitely my favourite of the antagonists. The deal with her is that she’s a demon who can only properly exist in the human world by using a human vessel . Unfortunately she is made entirely of black magic which literally melts people who can’t use it so she has to hop around. Eventually she found a girl whose ability allows her to hold endless magic, and so she tricks the girl into a four year contract where she uses her magic to grant the girl’s wishes and at the end of the contract she gets the vessel forever The thing that I love about her though is that she technically has sympathetic motivations (she can’t eat souls like most demons so she gets her energy from strong emotions, she literally made a contract with the girl she’s possessing and now she’s trying to find her friends and family to keep her happy) but she just goes out of her way to be terrible . She finds human emotions really amusing and her favourite to consume is fear which leads to her doing some genuinely terrible things to people She is also afraid of cats and another thing abt her is that in the demon realm there is a saying that the more names a demon has the more powerful they are. The meaning of this is meant to be that the more powerful a demon is, the more titles will accumulate by becoming known by different groups of humans. My antagonists interpretation of this is that when someone gives a demon a name it makes them more powerful rather than a lot of names being a symbol of power. I find that funny on its own but the worst part is she decided to just tell people fake names to accumulate names faster. Her real name is Irzabeth Abbadon but she goes by Ebony and Ebby primarily, Lilith, Eve and Yves because she considers those separate names and wants more biblical references, Raven, Jezebel, and Amy also

[@InBedwithaBL]

so good I love it

[@takeaminute2144]

"Arsenic and Old Lace" is a great example of mentally insane villain AND crazy good guy. One of my favorite Halloween time movies!

[@blitzgirl6522]

7:57 I'm guilty of saying that exact line, but not because my MCs are "boring" or anything - it just is so fun to write about the character who is going to become the opposition to the MC! And a lot of villains can get away with things that the MC would never do, and that's okay. Fun-to-write-villain =/= MC is boring to write. Also in my current story, it's been fun to write a villain who is unsympathetic and has no tragic backstory. He is in a position of power and feels justified with his actions. But also, the story is entirely written from the MC's PoV, so there are tons of things that are never seen or learned about regarding the villain. Finally, just because I may give some of my villains tragic backstories, it doesn't justify any bad shit they do as a result. Ok, cool, you had tragedy, that sucks, but you chose to turn that to evil, so no sympathy.

[@FantasyFighterJEN]

I also see the trend of a female villains being Femme Fatale, lusting after the main character or being a promiscuous person in general

[@reallifeanswers9764]

Thanks!! Honesty, we don't see enough villains who are villians because they can't break with their family. I see this a lot in real life when people fight for the wrong side, simply because they can't go against the crowd they were born again. Would love to see this in a redemption arc.

[@ladyseshiiria]

I have mixed feelings about this channel at times but I this this was by far my favorite video of yours.

[@animalobsessed1]

Point 1 is completely untrue. Where are you getting this information? Stress is not conductive to making better people. Being shown a lack of empathy in childhood, is much more likely to lead to someone growing into an adult who shows equally little empathy to others. Growing up in a loving environment, will encourage children to grow into loving adults. The body starts producing stress hormones when under stress, and the more stress hormones a person has coursing through their body, the more easily they will become more stressed. It's a vicious cycle. Being stressed makes people more likely to react negatively to things that would normally not have bothered them so much. This is called trigger stacking. Example: If you've had a relaxed morning and then drop your keys as you leave your house, you'll likely just pick them up and move on with your life, not really giving it further thought. But if you wake up, stub your toe on the bed frame, trip down the stairs, spill your coffee, and THEN drop your keys as you leave your house, there will likely be some cursing and self-pity while you pick up those keys. The same applies on a much larger scale as well, with big stressful events in life. Why is this important? Stress causes people to make bad decisions. You learn this in drivers' ed. Additionally, if we're talking about childhood trauma: Stress hormones hinder brain development, because the body is trying to prioritize (what it perceives as) survival. If a child experiences unusual amounts of stress, chances are it will haunt them into adulthood, even if the original source of that stress is no longer in their lives. Example: Compare recidivism rates of teens that were sent to prison, with teens who got lucky and had more minor punishments for similar crimes. The ones that experienced the traumatic experience of prison, will be MUCH more likely to reoffend (or even escalate their crimes.) Heck, this applies to adults as well. Ironically, I just had to explain this same thing in the comment section of a completely different video, where someone was trying to justify beating children because "I was beaten, and I turned out fine." To which I always have to say: By definition, a person who thinks it's acceptable to beat children, did NOT turn out fine. Classic real world example of "hurt people hurt people." (People who've been hurt are likely to treat others the same way. In parenting conversations, the people who try to justify hitting children, are almost ALWAYS the ones who were hit themselves. It is extremely rare for someone to be raised by well-adjusted parents, and still come to the conclusion that violence is the answer.) This is why heroes with trauma are so inspiring: They are overcoming the odds, not just doing what comes naturally.

[@Rikrobat]

Having tragic backstories definitely doesn't work for all villains. Honestly, sometimes I just enjoy a character who enjoys killing people because it's fun. Stuffing a "my family abused me and this is why I'm broken" note in there near the end of the story doesn't necessarily make the villain character more relatable or nuanced. It's more likely to leave me unsatisfied. Someone who wants to cause chaos just because can be equally as engaging. And as Jenna said, this isn't an absolute. Having grown out of trauma works with some antagonists. But there are always other options to play with, depending on the story.

[@willieearles3151]

I prefer to put nuance in the middle, that way we have our moment to think about it before going back to ‘yeah, the villain’s pretty bad, they need to be stopped.’ That way I don’t lessen the victory at the end. And then I have characters who’ll fucking kill you because they wanted your shit and didn’t feel like paying for it. I like a tragic villain, but sometimes it’s just fun to write a monster.

[@magikforce4069]

Same,I could love an irredeemable villain,and then I get that tragic flashback moment and then I just quit.

[@aaronhurst4379]

So I actually did plan to have chapters in my novel dedicated to blog posts written by my villain, but I get why that may not be the best idea, thanks Jenna!

[@hgman3920]

One of my favorite ways of dealing with the villains tragic backstory is to give one of the the heroes a similar backstory (e.g. they were both abused orphans), and then have someone point out how differently the characters turned out in spite of their background