I am in the throes of writing a rather complicated fantasy/fiction. I formed the basic theme of the story from some images and ideas collected primarily from Pinterest. A bit of a cheap beginning, I know, but the idea has grown and flourished far beyond anything Pinterest could drum up. It began as a very cut&dried Good vs. Evil story; one with quite a predictable climax and resolution.
I'm afraid the story is no longer as simple as it used to be. No longer are the characters black&white, 2-dimensional cardboard cutouts drawn from a simplistic ideal. Suddenly there are these gray areas; suddenly they're doing things because they're selfish or wounded; suddenly the bad characters are people I feel pity towards, along with anger.
I used to wonder what made a complex character complex. I wonder less now, though I'm sure I do not write such complexity as skillfully as I could (still working on that). A complex character is one with layers and nuances. Instead of an angry, obvious bad guy there is a quiet, internally-conflicted creep. Instead of someone who purposelessly destroys people/things, there is one who has very deeply-rooted convictions about the destruction they cause.
There is a usefulness to those villains who maim and hurt and practice evil simply for the fun of it. I find that their primary use is to draw out the nuances of the morally-conflicted antagonist. I also find that, while these characters like to destroy things simply for kicks and giggles, they often have a complex side to them. Maybe they're hardened criminals who no longer process what they do emotionally, but they weren't always like that. And perhaps they have a dissociation in their minds, feeling nothing when they kill/destroy but feeling everything when they read poetry or play music.
What I'm trying to say is: there is always a reason for bad people doing bad things. They always have (wrong) motives and presuppositions, and often a past, for whatever they do. These complexities don't excuse their actions, but they do serve to add depth to the story.
Let me introduce you to a few of the minor villains I've begun to form in my own story:
Álmos: Cold, calculating, outwardly emotionless. Álmos is a man on a mission, and he uses his mission as an excuse to harm and take from others. He will do anything to protect and serve his master, including murder and torture. This deep devotion to duty and service makes him particularly dangerous, as he will excuse any wrong9 action as one done for the good of his master. He is also particularly stubborn and dogged about pursuing his evil path, for he will not disappoint his master. In his mind, a few dead bodies and destroyed property is an easy sacrifice for his mission to his master.
Ash: Careless, cowardly. Ash burns things (and people) simply to burn them. It is not that he hates humanity; he simply does not care if a man lives or dies and sees no value in life. ...Except to burn things. When he was very young, his house caught on fire and burned to the ground, taking his abusive drunk of a father with it. Ash managed to escape. He now sees fire as his way of escape; it is his safety net. And so he uses it to get what he wants out of life now, and he has no compassion for those people who are caught and burned in the process.
Reaper: Manifests no outward emotion, seems like your typical "grunt." The Reaper used to feel things very deeply, but he has learned to hide what he feels and dulled his senses so that his emotions are now only a fleeting thought in the back of his mind. When he was a young man his family was brutally murdered, and he became a murderer in order to avenge their deaths. His life was robbed of joy, he became completely obsessed with revenge. After destroying those who destroyed his family, he wandered around aimlessly. He himself became a murderer because he found meaning solely in the destruction of other human beings.
These are my secondary antagonists. They help move the plot along, but they are the puppets not the masters in the story. I am sharing these profiles so that you might get a taste for some of the characters I've created thus far. I'm also sharing this because I believe the antagonists in a story should be just as well-thought-out as the protagonists. The reader needs to see just how complex, sneaky and ugly Evil really is in order for them to understand the complexity, beauty, and goodness of Good.
You want to write a relatable story? Don't soft-pedal or trivialize your antagonists in your mad dash to develop your protagonists. Be thoughtful in creating them. Make your antagonists real people with relatable back stories and pitiable problems. Make them complex. Make them human. And don't be afraid, in the end, to make them bad.
I'm afraid the story is no longer as simple as it used to be. No longer are the characters black&white, 2-dimensional cardboard cutouts drawn from a simplistic ideal. Suddenly there are these gray areas; suddenly they're doing things because they're selfish or wounded; suddenly the bad characters are people I feel pity towards, along with anger.
I used to wonder what made a complex character complex. I wonder less now, though I'm sure I do not write such complexity as skillfully as I could (still working on that). A complex character is one with layers and nuances. Instead of an angry, obvious bad guy there is a quiet, internally-conflicted creep. Instead of someone who purposelessly destroys people/things, there is one who has very deeply-rooted convictions about the destruction they cause.
There is a usefulness to those villains who maim and hurt and practice evil simply for the fun of it. I find that their primary use is to draw out the nuances of the morally-conflicted antagonist. I also find that, while these characters like to destroy things simply for kicks and giggles, they often have a complex side to them. Maybe they're hardened criminals who no longer process what they do emotionally, but they weren't always like that. And perhaps they have a dissociation in their minds, feeling nothing when they kill/destroy but feeling everything when they read poetry or play music.
What I'm trying to say is: there is always a reason for bad people doing bad things. They always have (wrong) motives and presuppositions, and often a past, for whatever they do. These complexities don't excuse their actions, but they do serve to add depth to the story.
Let me introduce you to a few of the minor villains I've begun to form in my own story:
Álmos: Cold, calculating, outwardly emotionless. Álmos is a man on a mission, and he uses his mission as an excuse to harm and take from others. He will do anything to protect and serve his master, including murder and torture. This deep devotion to duty and service makes him particularly dangerous, as he will excuse any wrong9 action as one done for the good of his master. He is also particularly stubborn and dogged about pursuing his evil path, for he will not disappoint his master. In his mind, a few dead bodies and destroyed property is an easy sacrifice for his mission to his master.
Ash: Careless, cowardly. Ash burns things (and people) simply to burn them. It is not that he hates humanity; he simply does not care if a man lives or dies and sees no value in life. ...Except to burn things. When he was very young, his house caught on fire and burned to the ground, taking his abusive drunk of a father with it. Ash managed to escape. He now sees fire as his way of escape; it is his safety net. And so he uses it to get what he wants out of life now, and he has no compassion for those people who are caught and burned in the process.
Reaper: Manifests no outward emotion, seems like your typical "grunt." The Reaper used to feel things very deeply, but he has learned to hide what he feels and dulled his senses so that his emotions are now only a fleeting thought in the back of his mind. When he was a young man his family was brutally murdered, and he became a murderer in order to avenge their deaths. His life was robbed of joy, he became completely obsessed with revenge. After destroying those who destroyed his family, he wandered around aimlessly. He himself became a murderer because he found meaning solely in the destruction of other human beings.
These are my secondary antagonists. They help move the plot along, but they are the puppets not the masters in the story. I am sharing these profiles so that you might get a taste for some of the characters I've created thus far. I'm also sharing this because I believe the antagonists in a story should be just as well-thought-out as the protagonists. The reader needs to see just how complex, sneaky and ugly Evil really is in order for them to understand the complexity, beauty, and goodness of Good.
You want to write a relatable story? Don't soft-pedal or trivialize your antagonists in your mad dash to develop your protagonists. Be thoughtful in creating them. Make your antagonists real people with relatable back stories and pitiable problems. Make them complex. Make them human. And don't be afraid, in the end, to make them bad.
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