I've actually been pretty disappointed with villains recently. Take Gone by Michael Grant. The two villains (Caine and Drake) are very one sided-- the way their "evilness" is described is basic psychosis. They are just inherently evil. That's really boring in my opinion. That said, Diana, the other baddie, is really intriguing to me. She calls herself the "bad girl," but then she makes decisions that "helps" other people. Allegedly, she still does it for her own gain, but I have my suspicions. To me, she is the most interesting character in the book.Even great authors such as Orson Scott Card, whose Ender books still remain on my top favorite books of all time, struggle with this issue. Take Achilles from the Shadow series. He was just born that evil. Again, very two dimensional.
I absolutely LOVE when we can't even figure out who the evil person is because they are so three dimensional. One of my new favorite books is Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. We are led to believe that Anna is an evil ghost that must be killed because she is inherently evil just by being paranormal. But is she? I love how Blake makes it so hard to dislike her, even though she is set up initially to be the Big Bad. To me, that is a huge triumph.
Another couple of recent reads come to mind. Neither of these books are perfect, but one thing they have going for them are their villains. Pale by Chris Wooding is a new novella that centers on an unpleasant boy who really is no more than a bully. To me, he is the evil character. But we see him develop throughout the story, and come to terms with what he has done and who he used to be, and to me, this is the true strength of the novella.
The second book that comes to mind, is Insignia, by SJ Kincaid. While I struggled with how it patterned other books (i.e. Harry Potter and Ender's Game), one of the coolest characters I've seen recently was the "villain," Medusa. Again, it's tough to say, is she really the villain? In some ways, I think the main character ends up being the real villain. But the fact that it's hard to say speaks volumes for how three dimensional these characters are.Who are your favorite villains and why?
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Voldemort! all the way lol he's got the history, the ruthlessness, and he's just cool :P and I read Gone, but I couldn't decide if I liked it or not....it got really strange!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great villain that I didn't even think of! Voldemort has such a really interesting backstory and evolved over time.
DeleteI would have to say that so far my favorite read of the year is Forbidden. It was so incredibly emotional and beautiful! Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to read 'Anna Dressed in Blood', and the snippet you have here made me remember to request it.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the most interesting villains are the most realistic ones. Achilles is a boring villain -- but Peter, on the other hand, is a much more fascinating one. Peter is a straight up d-bag to Ender, does some horrible, malicious things as a child, and is disgustingly power hungry. But Peter, despite everything, still wants world peace. How's that for a 'villain'?
My favorite villain would have to be Ms. Hannigan from 'Annie'. I know that's not actually a book, but I love that her actions and motives are conflicted.
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Nickie: Thanks for the extremely thoughtful post. Loved your mention of Peter, who I didn't even talk about! You are totally right and his presence really saves the Shadow books from being dominated by one boring bully :-)
DeleteHands down, one of my top villains from literature is Hannibal Lecter. He's a cannibalistic murderer, but his charm and intellect really draw you in, to the point where you sometimes have to remind yourself that he's not one of The Good Guys.
ReplyDeleteI also think R.A. Salvatore puts quite a bit of depth into all his characters, including the more villain types. The ruthless assassin, Artemis Entreri, is really a fascinating character.
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Colleen, what a great post. Thanks so much for talking more about great villains!
DeleteI scanning some of the books I've read recently, and I've discovered I seem to avoid stories with standout villians. One book that jumped out at me was The Host. In that book, the 'villian' was an alien life form involved in taking over the earth and inhabiting humans, but the book made you see the story from the alien's point of view. The first character that jumped to mind before thinking about books was The Joker from The Dark Knight. Not literature, I know, but I really loved that villian. I think, after conflicted villians, I love a villian with no clear-cut motivation. A character that does evil randomly and with a lack of defensible purpose. I've written two books without a strong villian but aim to change that trend with my current work. Looking forward to crafting a villain worthy of some of the ones mentioned in this post!
ReplyDeleteShawn: you crack me up :-)
DeleteP.S. When this comment board at the end tells me to 'prove you're not a robot' it makes me want to experience love or give birth to a baby.
ReplyDeleteThank you for a most interesting post, in which i could totally see your points of view. My favourite villain would have to be Sauron from the Lord of the Rings, as even though one never actually sees him in the flesh he has to be the most distinctive and deadly villain ever created. It just goes to show that even if a villain is not portrayed as the steriotype strong, evil looking being that it cannot still be powerful; its his spirit & the many forms that he takes (eye, mouth of sauron and ring) that makes him so deadly. x
ReplyDeleteUncle Scar from the The Lion King. He is just so freaking evil! I love it. That and Jeremy Irons has an awesome voice to help Scar with. :D
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ReplyDeleteThere is only one person that comes to my mind first when I hear the word "Villain". And he is 'Julian' from 'The Forbidden Game' by L.J.Smith. He is got the awesome balance between evil and good. I loved his character more than the protagonist!
ReplyDeleteI always love with the villains are actually three dimensional - not completely evil, not born evil, and it's more the choices they take that made them evil in the end (and of course, a predisposition to cruelty often, too).
ReplyDeleteTake Lex Luthor from the TV series Smallville for example; he was the bad guy, but often he wasn't really bad. It was his obsession that led him to becoming the series villain, but sometimes he was my favorite character, and he often helped Clark, too!
I also like it when authors show us some of the villain's past to make us understand what brought him to it. Take Voldy (Voldermort) for example; Rowling does a great job showing us WHAT he came from. He was also naturally evil, but she didn't just leave it at that, like the movies did. She provided his background, the family he was from.
I find it's really frustrating that a lot of villains are JUST evil. There's nothing more to them, and those kind of villains never satisfy.
Also, I currently believe there is just a lack of good villains in books. I've more than once ranted on one of my reviews about how stupid the villain is. Hard to find good villains nowadays.
Ohmigoodnessgracious. I am absolutely in love with three dimensional villains too. There is nothing better than a good villain (Shadow and Bone?). ANYWAY, I adored Insignia. I don't care that it was aimed males who are how many years younger than me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Anna books are peeping out of the top of my TBR list and I AM SO PUMPED now.
Mary Hightower from the Skinjacker trilogy. Utterly terrifying.
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