Certain types of shackles may be fun in certain occasions, but in writing, nothing beats freedom. With heroes, freedom is limited; heroes must by sympathetic, kind-hearted, and have a sense of justice. Heroes must be likeable, reasonable, and mostly-honest.

Heroes are the powerful people that we writers wish we were.


Villains are pure freedom! Villains can be likeable, detestable, vile, humorous, greedy, dishonest, honorable, megalomanical, or even friendly; Villains have no limits.

Villains are the powerful people that writers would actually be.


In The VIKINGS! Trilogy, there are many Villains. To avoid giving away any spoilers, I will mention just a few as TYPES without naming any names (readers will recognize them!).

TYPES:

Forced Villains:

Manipulated, controlled, and completely blameless for their actions, these victims must do terrible things, totally against their will. Forced Villains are people who have been brainwashed, hypnotized, cursed, driven insane, or controlled by a mental power vastly exceeding their own. Forced Villains can originally be innocent or horrible people, but once they succumb, then they are only mindless puppets committing atrocious acts. It is best to introduce Forced Villains early, as their true controllers are usually far more evil than they, and that true evil must eventually be confronted or it will always come back worse than before.

Unwilling Villains

Trapped, left with no alternative, Unwilling Villains have made a terrible choice to be evil. Their dearest love may have been kidnapped, their family threatened, or their whole world about to be blown-up, or ... the most common impetus: they may be dying ... and have only one chance to live. Whatever the situation, Unwilling Villains make a reluctant choice to do something terrible in order to achieve some small amount of goodness. Unwilling Villains are people who made a bad choice and feel that they can't back out; they must continue with the bad decision that they made even when their choice becomes horrific. But they made a choice; Unwilling Villains can be sympathetic, but they are never blameless.

Casual Villains

Following the flow, Casual Villains are often no more evil than anybody else (except the heroes); Casual Villains are just better at it. Casual Villains can be slave-owners in an age/location/world where slavery is common; they are bad people by our standards, but not by their own (assuming that they have any standards!). What they do is what their peers do ... only moreso. Casual Villains can be the greedy investment banker that goes below-and-beyond the law to rip-off his clients. Casual Villains can be leaders of armies who will do anything to win a battle. They don't have to be truly evil; Casual Villains can simply have unlimited ambitions ... and be willing to sell their own daughters for a chest of gold or control of a large tract of land. The worst part of Casual Villains is that they are the most common type of malefactor in the real world, and Casual Villains never see themselves for the evil monsters that they truly are.

Covetous Villains

Desiring one goal more than life itself, Covetous Villains seek only to gain the treasured object of their desire. Nothing else matters; no immoral act stays a true Covetous Villain from their passion. Perhaps they desire a immortality, a powerful magic, a specific sexual gratification, wealth beyond measure, ownership of an ancient artifact that will grant them immeasurable honor, or even just the favor of a respected deity or superior. The lives that Covetous Villains sacrifice (willingly or not!) add to the value of their goal, since they would not have murdered if their goal were not worth it. Mass-murder, in a twisted way, justifies their choices. In time, Covetous Villains may elect to enhance the value of their treasured object by purposefully committing extremely-heinous acts; anything to make their ultimate success even better.

Ego-maniacal Villains

No goal or prize will ever be more important than they are; Ego-maniacal Villains do what they want simply because they deserve it. They may steal treasured objects, but only because no one deserves those treasures more than they; Ego-maniacal Villains would never sacrifice themselves for anyone or anything. Perhaps they have some justification; they could be inherently superior; the smartest, the strongest, the fastest, the best, ... or the most-evil. They could be superheroes or gods. They could have been born a wealthy prince or princess in a land of penniless peasants. Whatever their justification, Ego-maniacal Villains are out to prove their superiority by crushing any opposition to the total subservience of everyone and everything. Ego-maniacal Villains are challenged by everything, as even the finest, and owning everything, isn't good enough for them. Even in victory, their need for endless security will never let them relax their guard against possible threats; in the end, Ego-maniacal Villains destroy everything around them.


Question: What kind of Villains are the writers that write these types of Villains?

Answer: While writing, we are all of them!


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