Trope Analysis: Villains

“Where there is light, there must be a shadow, where there is a shadow there must be light. There is no shadow without light and no light without shadow...” (Haruki Murakami, 1Q84). Whether it be an evil overlord, an incomprehensible eldritch abomination, or a jealous romantic rival, protagonists in all kinds of fiction face some adversary or opposing force: the villain.

There are three main types of villains that can be further broken down different subtypes: the Disney villain, the force of nature, and the sympathetic villain. Of course, these classifications are not set in stone and there are many edge cases where villains do not solidly fall into one category, but for classification purposes, these are the easiest.

The Disney Villain is a villain who is evil for evil’s sake or who is motivated by negative motivations such as greed or lust for power. These villains do not necessarily need a rhyme or reason for their actions other than the unsaid statement: “I’m evil. Deal with it.” If they see an opportunity to steal candy from a baby, to ruin the protagonist’s life, or ride around in a van and euthanize other peoples’ pets, they will take the opportunity without a second thought. These villains often show up in fables, stories with strong moral messages and children’s media. Examples include the wolf in many of Aesop’s fables, the Ice Witch from Narnia, the stepmother from Cinderella and PETA from Norfolk, Virginia.

The force of nature villain differs from a Disney villain in that they aren’t inherently evil and don’t have a motivation. Rather, force of nature villains embody a primal force such as chaos, anger or greed. A force of nature villain representing chaos simply causes chaos without necessarily having any motivation. Force of nature villains show up mostly in allegorical stories and ancient myths. Examples include Sauron from the Lord of the Rings, the Fates from Greek mythology and Nyarlathotep from the Cthulhu Mythos.

The final type (and my personal favorite) is the sympathetic villain. Often times, sympathetic villains are the most nuanced, and while they oppose the protagonists, their motivations, ideals and line of thought are at least somewhat understandable. Nonetheless, it is the means they use to achieve their goals that makes these characters villainous. A sympathetic villain may be attempting to protect their people against invasion by an alien force, but in order to do so, they place their people under a totalitarian regime. The sympathetic villain is possibly the most widespread type of villain, and thus shows up in a wide variety of genres. Examples include The Boss from the Metal Gear series, Funny Valentine from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Thanos from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Each different type of villain has their own unique effect on the story. Disney villains are very common in children’s media because they allow the audience to establish a clear line between good (the protagonists) and evil (the antagonist). Force of nature villains allow stories to reflect a more explicit message to the audience regarding the dangers of whatever the villain represents. Finally, stories featuring sympathetic villains offer moral complexity and nuance that are usually intended for a more mature audience.

At the end of the day, the type of villain used, as well as how well written the villain’s character is, can either make or break a story. As Stephen King wrote, “A great… novel can’t exist without a great villain…”