Even if you don’t understand why a character does something, sometimes that makes them so much more interesting. Maybe that’s why we find so much interest in some villains. When we can’t read the thoughts of a character, it’s harder to figure out their motives. If the character is interesting enough in their actions, though, we want to find out why they do it, so we keep reading or watching. Even with the more controversial characters, there’s always the people who can see the wonderful writing behind them. If you can hate a character so strongly for what they do in the story, clearly they’re written well for that job.
An example of a villain I personally like is from a slightly niche anime defined by the initials BSD. The villain I’m talking about is Mori (See the featured image), the leader of the underground group known as The Port Mafia. Mori is a character so many people in the community seem to really hate because of his actions, but I think that’s just proof of how well he’s written. He is a character that’s meant to be hated – the author doesn’t want you to side with him, and he does his job. As a morally gray character, it’s expected that he does things that should not be approved of, and I think it makes him interesting.
Now that we know the kind of characters we’re referencing about, I’d like to talk about a few things with villains that change people’s opinions about them.
Some people say that when a character is evil just to be evil, they’re harder to be drawn to, but I disagree. Take Iago from Shakespeare’s play “Othello”; Even though we watch Iago’s actions throughout the play, and he even speaks to the audience, we really don’t know why he does all the things he does, or if he even has a reason. Iago even makes it a point to not disclose his reasonings, saying at the end of the play “What you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word” (Othello, Act V Scene II Line 355). He doesn’t want people to know why he does what he does, and it makes him interesting as a character, despite the terrible actions he does. I find it rather fascinating to uncover things about a character who is simply evil to be evil, because they truly have no moral compass – it’s either that or they do have one and simply don’t adhere to it. Iago also makes a good example for characters who you just can’t figure out. Why does he want to hurt people? Why does he pride himself in being a monster? We will never know.
An issue some people have with liking villains is the fact that the villains (almost) never win in the end, but even if they’ll fall deep into Dante’s Circles of Hell when they die, it doesn’t quite matter about who wins in the end, as long as the characters are intriguing enough to read or watch about. Just because you like to read about a villain does not mean you support their actions, and it doesn’t have to mean that. This is one of the reasons I love discovering interesting characters; I might not support what they do, but I want to know why they do it – they have me hooked into their character. And even if they won’t win, there are some villains that make you really question if the hero will actually come out victorious against them. Some of them have great goals but go about their actions in the wrong way. Some of them actually do well at putting the hero at a disadvantage against them, and it makes you worry for the hero of the story. Only well-written villains can make you think that (or poorly written heroes, but that’s another story.).
I think that my favorite type of characters are actually more villainous – specifically, they’re dishonest. I like to read about liars. Lying characters that are well written are either fantastic liars that fool everyone, or they have little things they do that allow the reader to realize that they’re lying. Why do they have those ticks? Why do they feel the need to lie? My curiosity peaks and I want to know what they’re doing next and why. If they’re good at fooling the reader as well, once you find they’re lying, it makes you want to go back and read it again to find out what they lied about. I can tie this back again to Iago, who tells selective truth with his lies to make things more convincing. How did he find out how to manipulate people? Why does he want to do it? What is true and what is not? How much isn’t he telling us? I love questioning characters.
I like villains. They’re pretty neat, and when they’re written well, you can have a very interesting character that makes you want to dive deeper into the story. As a writer, I appreciate the little details in the characters, and I think villains do those kinds of things best.
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