Playing The Villain - thoughts?

[localsleezebag]

Personally, I've always loved playing a good villain or antagonist. Even way back in the kiddie days when we played make belief on the playground I always thought being the monster was wAyyyyyyy more entertaining then being a hero a lot. Being a villain often means playing the role of the fighting against fate, it's fun to construct someone's ideals and thoughts and reasons [however twisted they may be] behind their quest on something bound to fail. What pushes a person to be the scary monster in the closet? The mean lady at the orphanage? The serial killer in the dark alley.

I blame being allowed to watch true crime far to early in my development. But what do ya'll think about being the villain or bad guy in a story? Or do you prefer to be the hero? Do you like an anti-hero more? And why?

 

[Carpe Diem]

Most of my characters tend to be morally gray in some shape or form, whether they are supposed to be the hero, anti-hero or the villain. In a lot of the stories, they are practically synonymous with each other, though there are times when I'm feeling like playing a more (ir)redeemable villain and others when I wish to play a more virtuous hero who is confronted with the reality of the world and their ideals challenged.

It really depends in my mood, and, having multiple stories, I get to kind of flex between all the different permutations and variations of the morality system, so to speak.

But yeah, playing villains is pretty damn fun when the mood doth strike.

 

[localsleezebag]

Most of my characters tend to be morally gray in some shape or form, whether they are supposed to be the hero, anti-hero or the villain. In a lot of the stories, they are practically synonymous with each other, though there are times when I'm feeling like playing a more (ir)redeemable villain and others when I wish to play a more virtuous hero who is confronted with the reality of the world and their ideals challenged.

It really depends in my mood, and, having multiple stories, I get to kind of flex between all the different permutations and variations of the morality system, so to speak.

But yeah, playing villains is pretty damn fun when the mood doth strike.

That's a really good way to put why its so fun to play them. The ability to give them some greyness, when you understand a characters reason that lead them down their path its like winning the lotto. Though my character's tend to end up being barely redeemable. The little shred of hope us always super fun. Plus it leaves open moments for that type reluctant partnership against greater forces sometimes. It leads to good comedy as a tension break before a real big big bad. (though playing the bigger bad is sometimes even more fun.)

 

[SavageBunny]

If I may engage in some armchair-psychology....

I think there's something very tempting about playing the villain in a kind of odd wish-fullfillment sort of way.

For a personal example: I do really like sushi. And there is a pretty good sushi place here. But it's also a bit price-y. So I do find myself occasionally in the situation, that the desire-driven, egoistic part of me says: "I want sushi. Now!" and the reasonable, kind and moral part of me says: "We can't afford sushi right now. And not paying people for their hard, skilled labour is morally wrong and not paying your restaurant-bills is frowned upon in our society." Usually, because contrary to my name, I'm actually a good bunny, the reasonable part wins. Obviously that doesn't cause me some great anguish, but it's annoying. And life is full of these little annoyances, that cause the egocentric part of ourselves to sulk.

Now, if I were a super-villain, I could just kidnap the staff of that sushi-place and have that tasty raw fish served to me on the tied-up, naked body of that crush I'm too shy to talk to, whenever I damn well please. Which is a tempting fantasy.
Obviously I wouldn't actually want to do that, because as stated above, I do have things like "empathy" and "a moral compass". But it's fun and a bit liberating to occasionally pretend, as if that weren't the case.

As weird as it sounds, being evil is mostly just the purest form of self-care. Doing something that is nice for yourself, without any consideration for anyone or anything else. Light some scented candles and take a nice relaxing bath in the blood of your enemies.

Villains do have some generally admirable qualities, turned up to a harmful degree. They're confident. The evil warlord never stops to ponder, if burning down villages and slaughtering peasants is morally justifiable or a sound economic strategy. They're also powerful, because for a story to work and have proper tension, the villain needs to be at least a bit more powerful than the hero. And while the hero has to gain the strength to defeat the villain by virtue of exciting quests, hard training or the power of friendship, the villain just has/takes their power.

In conclusion: I think a small part of us kinda wants to be the bad guy. Stop worrying, kidnap that sushi-chef and not give a damn about anyone else. And I think having that part is both normal and healthy. As long as you also have that other part, that keeps you from burning down your neighbour's house, no matter how annoying they are.
That'ss obviously not the only thing that makes villains interesting to play, but I think it's a not-insignificant part of it.

 

[Carpe Diem]

That's a really good way to put why its so fun to play them. The ability to give them some greyness, when you understand a characters reason that lead them down their path its like winning the lotto. Though my character's tend to end up being barely redeemable. The little shred of hope us always super fun. Plus it leaves open moments for that type reluctant partnership against greater forces sometimes. It leads to good comedy as a tension break before a real big big bad. (though playing the bigger bad is sometimes even more fun.)

To me, it's playing with the morality and what can be considered evil or good. Is killing wrong? Yes, but there are times when killing someone could be considered the lesser evil (speaking on fiction only, of course). I don't know that my villains would necessarily team up with the goodies in a lot of cases, as their ideals may well be incompatible with what theirs are, or MC simply believes they can handle it on their own or already has a plan to deal with whatever it is that's in their path.

Really though, it all depends on the narrative.

 

[localsleezebag]

If I may engage in some armchair-psychology....

I think there's something very tempting about playing the villain in a kind of odd wish-fullfillment sort of way.

For a personal example: I do really like sushi. And there is a pretty good sushi place here. But it's also a bit price-y. So I do find myself occasionally in the situation, that the desire-driven, egoistic part of me says: "I want sushi. Now!" and the reasonable, kind and moral part of me says: "We can't afford sushi right now. And not paying people for their hard, skilled labour is morally wrong and not paying your restaurant-bills is frowned upon in our society." Usually, because contrary to my name, I'm actually a good bunny, the reasonable part wins. Obviously that doesn't cause me some great anguish, but it's annoying. And life is full of these little annoyances, that cause the egocentric part of ourselves to sulk.

Now, if I were a super-villain, I could just kidnap the staff of that sushi-place and have that tasty raw fish served to me on the tied-up, naked body of that crush I'm too shy to talk to, whenever I damn well please. Which is a tempting fantasy.
Obviously I wouldn't actually want to do that, because as stated above, I do have things like "empathy" and "a moral compass". But it's fun and a bit liberating to occasionally pretend, as if that weren't the case.

As weird as it sounds, being evil is mostly just the purest form of self-care. Doing something that is nice for yourself, without any consideration for anyone or anything else. Light some scented candles and take a nice relaxing bath in the blood of your enemies.

Villains do have some generally admirable qualities, turned up to a harmful degree. They're confident. The evil warlord never stops to ponder, if burning down villages and slaughtering peasants is morally justifiable or a sound economic strategy. They're also powerful, because for a story to work and have proper tension, the villain needs to be at least a bit more powerful than the hero. And while the hero has to gain the strength to defeat the villain by virtue of exciting quests, hard training or the power of friendship, the villain just has/takes their power.

In conclusion: I think a small part of us kinda wants to be the bad guy. Stop worrying, kidnap that sushi-chef and not give a damn about anyone else. And I think having that part is both normal and healthy. As long as you also have that other part, that keeps you from burning down your neighbour's house, no matter how annoying they are.
That'ss obviously not the only thing that makes villains interesting to play, but I think it's a not-insignificant part of it.

This is extremely well written and well put. I really never thought about how they exactly are human desires turned up to 11 or at least, I never found the words to put it into. I'm a big fan of armchair-psychology its always a good bit of fun.