How to Create HATEABLE Villains (Writing Advice)
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2023
- Learn how to make villains that audiences will love to hate. Examples from Game of Thrones, Rocky IV, and Titanic.
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I doubt there’s ever going to be a villain more hateable than Joffrey. Such a fantastic performance from the actor.
Yeah, while editing these clips, it really struck me how GREAT Jack Gleeson is in this role. He's an absolute star, but we don't think of him as one because we hate the character so much
I heard he was so hated that some people would randomly yell insults at him when he walks down the street in public.
Remember his appearance in Batman Begins? Boy, did he prove Nolan correct about "die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"😅 poor guy, I hope he is better now that he's away from it all.
@@elementeight8
I double checked and several sources said he didn't find acting to be enjoyable and wanted to pursue academics again. No mention to how he was treated in public causing him to quit.
Give me Umbrdige as the most hateable. I read a thing saying while no one will deny Volde was more evil, Umbridge is more hated because we all know an Umbridge. Someone in our lives who took pleasure in making us miserable for no other reason than they wanted to do it.
I just want to point out: Hate the villain - don't hate the actor or actress portraying the villain. You hate the villain because they acted phenomenally in the role. I've heard stories of Lena Headey (Cersei from Game of Thrones) receiving hate at meet 'n' greets because people don't like the character she played. Learn to separate fantasy from reality. Even the woman who played Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter (Imelda Staunton) I saw her in an interview on The Graham Norton Show and she's quite charming and funny.
Yeah, Jack Gleeson (Joffrey in GoT) also faced public hate. Never understood this. If anything, those actors deserve even more praise for drawing such strong emotions from the audience
People sent hate to Chris Pratt after infinity war because "he killed half the world" .... no? It was a movie? And he didn't write the script?
People are something
@@WriterBrandonMcNultyIt's called kayfabe. There's a UA-cam interview from a few months ago by a grassroots professional wrestler from Israel. He talks about the story arcs, character flips and crowd participation. Quite a fascinating dynamic.
TLOU2 Abby haters: 😬
This isn’t something that should have to be said, but unfortunately…
The danger of trying to make a villain funny is that he often comes off as annoying rather than menacing as a result.
Eg. The bad guy in the new D&D movie. Loved the film but man that duke guy was annoying
Someone recommended Kingsman to me recently. It's like a modernized James Bond, right? I gotta check it out sometime
And thus hateable…… I see no problem with this
@intergalactic92 No every joking villain is a Joker. And as much as I love Batman's nemesis, I generally prefer serious villains.
@@elementeight8 I don't know I think you can make a hateable character charismatic as long as it's used as another reason to hate him
I think that Homelander is an amazing villain, Antony Starr really nails the role.
Only seen the first 2 seasons, but based on that I totally agree
Agree. Homelander is a little bit fun to watch, but he is mostly scary. Starr is a terrific actor, I also remember how very likable he was in Banshee some years back.
Oh yes. He hits smug square on the head. His secret oddity, milk & infantilist fetishes make him that much worse. He rubs in his horror like Geoffrey does when he flies Starlight to the roof. Probably one of my favorite of all times.
@@johngagon I don't think that's called hate when you say it's your "favourite"! U r supposed to feel like u wanna hurt that hate-able character so bad.. yeah Homelander ,But u said there things he does that you like?!
I've hears about people getting nightmares of Homelander. When I was in the middle of the second season or so, that was when I got a single nightmare.
As a hateable villain, Dolores Umbridge of the Harry Potter series immediately comes to mind. I believed that she worked hard and earned her position as Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, but she did NOT earn her appointment at Hogwarts, and she proved herself to be the "anti-teacher" at the school, preventing the students from learning. Although she portrays a paper-thin charming face to some, she reveals herself as vicious, punitive, cruel, power-mad, unfair, and racist. We've all known someone like her in real life. During Voldy's reign, she revels in threatening "Mudbloods" with Dementors and imprisonment, and she falsely uses the locket to tie herself to a pureblood wizarding family--both actions involving lies.
In a cut scene from the film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dolores, in the forest with Harry and Hermione, declares that she hates children, and bemoans that she tried to bring order into their lives, but they refused. This helps us feel a little sympathy for her, but it doesn't excuse her.
On the other hand, I think with Voldemort, we end up feeling sorry for him because we learn so much about him and his Tom Riddle years. We know that he's cruel, power-mad, racist, and, worst by me, horribly disloyal to his cronies while demanding absolute loyalty from them. Yet we also know that he's driven by an exponential fear of death--so much that he murders others to preserve magically his own life. He was born from an unstable family and a forced marriage, and, abandoned and "orphaned", he grew up with his emotional needs neglected, feeling alienated yet special. I think we hate what Voldy is doing more than we hate him.
I also think that Voldemort, through study and experimentation, has earned his power and expertise. I don't know if he assumed anything that he didn't earn, even his leadership of the Death Eaters. Of course, earning it an executing it wisely are two different things. His selfishness, lack of loyalty, dismissal of love, and misuse of some characters (Kreacher, Draco) eventually make some of his followers turn against him.
I think with Voldy, we feel fear, but with Umbridge, we feel disgust.
She gets a two part comeuppance: once with the Weasley brothers bringing chaotic good to her lawful evil. The second time with her slurs getting the best of her wits in mixed company with the Centaurs. Metaphorically useful and satisfying.
Great example, I was about to bring her up until I saw your comment. The actress who plays her in the movie also did such a great job
Well said. It's unfortunate that the world of Harry Potter wasn't as well written as the characters themselves.
@@miguelpereira9859 Other people in the comments have mentioned Dolores Umbridge as well.
Dolores is a lil bit funny villain.
A recent example for me is Jack Horner in the recent Puss In Boots movie. The character was just an asshole for the sake of it with no care for humanity, and he honestly felt refreshing for me with the trend of redeemable/morally grey villains these days.
At the same time, you can't help but like him because every scene he's in is morbidly hilarious in a different way, unlike the villains mentioned in the video who are just straight up unlikable through and through
@@dataexpunged4784"You wouldn't shoot a puppy, would you Jack?"
"Yeah. In the face."
Let us not diminish the skill and talent shown by Jack Gleeson in playing Joffrey... What a spectacular performance and what a hateable character. He was fantastic!!
Great actor. Incredible job of being incredibly awful
But I heard that his career was over because people wouldn't cast someone that can only be seen as Joffrey. But I totally agree, one of the greatest performance in my mind in this kind of role.
I found some of his scenes pretty hilarious at times. I believe the actor has some pretty good comedy chops underneath all that awfulness.
@@johnnymarin5035 But he'll never get to show it because of him being portrayed as the vilain that he is impersonating. It's the best compliment as an actor yet the worst curse :(
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty He was also the little boy in Batman Begins, who tells Batman that the people support him from his balcony.
A few others are Joaquin Phoenix’ character in Gladiator, Edward Longshanks in Braveheart and Ramsey Bolton from later seasons of Game of Thrones.
Always saw Ramsay as Joffrey Mk II - they wanted to give us the satisfaction of Joffrey getting his come-uppance, but didn't really want to lose him from the series
@@komodosp it’s all from the books. Ramsey is a bastard in the books too, not just illegitimate but a completely irredeemable person.
Damn I just watched Braveheart the other day. Great example so well acted.
Jonathan Randall Esq. from Outlander
@@achimdemus-holzhaeuser1233 black Jack is by far the most evil character I’ve ever watched
6:25 The best part about this scene is after he leaves
Tyrion: "Imagine Stannis' terror"
Varys: "I am trying"
I think 'self righteousness' is probably the cornerstone of 'hateability.' Nurse Ratched embodies this IMO, though she does have some complexity. But even 'simplistic' villains such as Joffrey has this to a degree, given that he sees himself as entitled to do anything he wants and that anyone who resists him is in the wrong and need to be punished.
Ahhh I forgot about Nurse Ratched from Cuckoo's Nest. Good call!
Little Bill in "Unforgiven" would fall into this category. What makes the character great is that that story leads the audience to root for him for a while, then turns the emotion.
Also Cersei Lannister is an absolute c**t, and has some of that, IDK if I'd call it self righteousness in her case, but definitely a lot of entitlement.
When she callously attacks Billy's weak point because he defied her rules, she crossed the line into unforgivable. Up to that point, I actually thought Louise Fletcher didn't play her nearly as nasty as she came off in the book.
Commodus from Gladiator is also an example of hateable villain.
I was debating between him and the one I chose for my comment.
The thing that makes Commodus an interesting villain is his motivation: He does all those evil things because he wants to be loved!
Top 5 of any!
Jack Gleason has cited this as his inspiration for portraying Joffrey.
I think a villain never getting their comeuppance is what makes me hate them the most. The real life villains in politics, the justice system or corporations getting away with heinous acts comes to mind.
I think that's why Cal is still so hated. Like he's awful but in the end he gets to choose his own way out, presumably leaving his wife and any children they had destitute.
This reminds me of Tim Robbins character in Arlington Rd.
A real life villain never getting their comeuppance is why we need fiction.
Well, not necessarily. Hitler spent a good amount of time sweating in a bunker before killing himself and Stalin spent about a day lying in his own filth after he had a stroke because the guards outside the door were too afraid of angering him to check if he was okay after they heard him collapse. "As you sow you shall also reap" is often true, just not in ways we can always see or anticipate.
@@patrickleighpresents749 I like to think about what was going through his mind in that bunker knowing everything he worked so hard to achieve was falling apart around him. Not to mention the fact that lots of people close to him reported that he became more mentally unstable and quick to anger in his later years. I'm not sure what the expert consensus is, but I've also heard that theres evidence he may have suffered from Parkinson's later in life as well.
Great examples! Surprised Delores Umbridge didn’t make the cut on this one, Potterheads hate her more than they hate Voldemort 😂
True. Umbridge should be the first on that list 😂
Umbridge is more hated for good reason. Voldemort is given a back story and some level of reason for his evil, and he put in the hard work to earn his skill and powers. He was also pretty consistent in terms of his personaliry. Umbridge does not have a single good quality, unless you count the considerable skill of the actress that portrayed her in the film.
@@JW-cm2er Yeah spot on, Voldemort is the Heir of Slytherin and was conceived under the effects of Love Potion, making him incapable of love, and his obsession with living forever at the expense of the lives of others makes him a classic Big Bad. Umbridge is a more relatable kind of evil, not only does she have unearned power, but she uses that power to essentially torture children and clearly finds joy in it. And yeah, her portrayal in the films was so well done, similar to Jack Gleeson's portrayal of Joffrey
She was done well, but I thought her comeuppance was HORRENDOUSLY unsatisfying, that might be why he didn't include her
She needs a category of her own.... a character that is hated more than the main villain😁
I think part of why she was hated so much, is because every single audience could relate to her type of evil ... everyone went to school and most of us have some experiences with mean/horrible teachers. Not to mention her victims, for the most part, were children under her care.
What I like about these villains, aside from the simplicity, is the relatability of the situation. It reminds us of the unfairness we all face in life. It's the direct or indirect bully. The jerk boss. The economy that lets morally corrupt layabouts become rich by default and lets hard working honest people be poor. We relate to the situation where we see unfairness and feel utterly powerless to fix it. That comeuppance allows us to release some of that same tension in our real lives vicariously.
Great point. Perspective is important here
I'd add a villain who was a friend/leader but then betrays the protaganist & the reader.
Griffith from Berserk is a great example. For awhile he's a charismatic, brilliant leader & friend who really understands the protaganist. He's literally lifting everyone up with his success, etc.
But then he betrays everyone who ever believed in him. You learn it was all a sham & his followers were just cattle to feed his acension to godhood. (P.S. you should read Berserk & watch the good 1997 anime)
it wasn't a sham, he really cares about all his follower, otherwise it wouldn't had been a sacrifice worth of the power he received
I really like the tack that "John Wick" took where the villan (the son) is extremely hateable, but he is backstopped by a relatable villan (the father).
Judge Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Maybe my favourite Disney villain in terms of credibilty. Not as iconic as a Scar or a Hades, but you see him and you know he exists in the real world in one way or another. And that's the disgusting thing. His fall was very satisfying.
Frollo and Clayton (from Tarzan) are two of the most hatable Disney villains in my opinion.
David from “The Last of Us” is a perfect example for this video. They never explained how he earned his power, he manipulated his people into eating each other, he tried to rape Ellie, and he implies that he’s done it multiple times. The moment Ellie kills him brutally was so satisfying to watch.
A hateable villain doesn't necessarily have to be the most evil, he mainly just has to be purely antithetical to the protagonist's goals. For example Lord Cutler Beckett in the pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is technically the good guy because he's upholding the law and he's trying to defeat the pirates who are criminals, but it's the pirates we are made to empathize with through the story. This makes Beckett, the lawful character, the villain of the tale. And due to his deviousness, is very hateable indeed.
What comes to my mind is the character of Firelord Ozai from Avatar the Last Airbender. Even Azula, Ozai’s sadistic, psychopathic daughter, is at least made a pitiable character by the end of the series, after her friends’ betrayal basically causes her to have a psychotic break. But for Ozai, there is absolutely no redemption, and his defeat - especially through nonviolent means - is incredibly satisfying. And I remember reading somewhere a fascinating analysis of the deeper symbolism of Ozai’s villainy. For as large as he looms over the whole series, his face isn’t even actually shown until the final season. Instead, he is functionally the personification of imperialism and colonialism and violence - and for this reason, even in a show known for complex and compassionate portrayals of its heroic and villainous characters, Ozai is the one character who *cannot* be presented in an empathetic way. And in fact, part of what makes Azula a little less hateable is that we see how this imperial/colonial power she was molded to wield and desire has actually stripped away her humanity and left her miserable and hollow - a tragic figure and not just a villain.
Avatar is a masterpiece. I even named my dog Zuko hehe.
it's like how the crew felt when Aang said that he can't kill Ozai and when they see Ozai baby's picture. It's cute but we all know he had to go down no matter what. Also his defeat is satisfying because it also related to aang heroism journey, the kind of hero he wants to be
Fire lord Ozai is one of my favorite villains of all time. He’s brutal, he’s unlikable, he’s beyond redemption. It was all ingenious. Ozai is the reason we have a good villain turned hero as well as a sympathetic villain. Zuko is one of the best reformed heroes of all time and Azula, despite how despicable she is, is one of the best sympathy villains. Why? Because we saw the effect her enabling father had on her. We also see a desire to be loved in her even though it goes against everything she’s ever known. We see the result of Ozai’s hold on the world and his punishment is satisfying because he’s living a fate worse than death. His bending, the primary tool he used, was taken from him and now he’s powerless, the son he considered a waste of space now leads his army, and the world will heal and move on without him.
One hateable villain for me is Lady Tremaine. Every time Cinderella receives a glimmer of hope, it immediately disappears because of her stepmother. For example, she told Cinderella she can go to the ball "IF" she gets her work done and has a nice dress. When Cinderella comes down in her pink dress happy, Lady Tremaine immediately fuels her daughters' anger to rip Cinderella's dress into rags. I call these villains "Plan X Villains" because they always can find a way to get what they want until the end.
I never saw Ivan Drago as a real villain. Never hated him. I didn't see the Creed movies, so I'm going only off of Rocky 4. He did kill Apollo, but not deliberately. He was just that hardcore as a boxer. And he was cold about it afterward, but it felt like the movie was telling me "this is how hard life is over there" while reinforcing tough-guy Russian stereotypes, not saying "this specific man is a sociopath". Having his wife appear in the movie and say they had received death threats further made him look like just a really good boxer, not a super villain. And then at the end, when Rocky beats him, there's a message of unity.
Now, Joffrey...perfect choice. He's had maybe ten minutes, if that much, screen time and I'm cheering for a child getting slapped in the face.
That's an issue with sports dramas: the villain is often designated. You have to make him rude, arrogant, overly aggressive or make him cheat somehow to make him truly villainous. Otherwise he's just a competitor.
Agreed. Drago (and really all of Rocky IV) was an indictment of the Soviet Union. He came alive as a person when he started to lose and went on his brief rant against the leadership. The movie's comeuppance moment was when the audience cheered for Rocky in front of faux-Gorbachev and the rest of the higher-ups.
Yeah, I've not see it, but if Drago was sitting there beating Apollo after the bell is rung and he was suppose to stop hitting him, then I could see him as more of a villain, but "If he dies, he dies." its just a short sportsism. "It ain't over till its over." Drago at that point can't do anything to help Apollo, but he isn't going to do anything to harm Apollo either
Agreed. He was patriotic, competitive, and dutiful. You could see that his Soviet-supplied wife even controlled him, giving us a glimpse of what his life must be like. To me, he was presented as the sharp point of the Soviet machine, then the story reveals he is human like the rest of us.
Even his iconic line, "I must break you," shows he's doing his duty and has no choice in the matter.
His most hatable line "If he dies, he dies" is understandable, too. A competitor is going to react outside the norm in the heat of the moment. He just spent 6 months convincing himself he had to physically destroy a person, so is not going to be able to turn it off immediately. The comment sounds more like Russian fatalism than evil, to me.
U kidding the analysis on drago perfectly showed how he embodied every villain trait
Two characters spring to mind: Raymond Cocteau in Demolition Man, and the warden in Shawshank Redemption. Wesley Snipes's Simon Phoenix was a great example of a loveable bad guy in that one, which was a nice counterpoint to the hateable Cocteau.
Phoenix is a good example of someone that didn't earn their skills, since he got super soldiered in his cryo sleep. Could suddenly hack and had all sorts of logistical skills.
I need to rewatch Demolition Man. It's been a while, but I remember thinking Snipes' character was a menace. Crazy how he went from Phoenix to Blade in about 5 years
Good call on the warden btw.
The clever thing about the warden was that he was not hateable from the beginning. Sanctimonious and self-righteous, maybe. But he didn't erupt into full-on villainy until Andy went to him with evidence that could get him a new trial, and the warden decided he couldn't lose the guy who was cooking his books.
The nurse in one flew over the cuckoos nest
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Here's a sixth rule: Their evil must be realistic. If they are comically, over the top, bad guys then we can't take them seriously. We hate villains who remind us of people we have met in our real lives.
That's why villains can be total monsters but still be somewhat likable. A great example is Simon Phoenix. He laughs maniacally and cracks jokes while shooting at people. At one point he actually says, "I must have done something right in a previous life. Can't imagine what it could have been." It is so obvious that Wesley Snipes is just having fun acting like a goofball.
Paul Reiser as Burke in Aliens fits the bill. He does some despicable things and I always enjoy his end.
I remember the cheers from the audience on that one!
The villain from the Patriot is a perfect example. He comes from a rich family in England, murders a boy early in the movie, his actions are so bad that his higher ups despise him, and most important, he continues to do worse things as the movie progresses
Oh, yeah. That's a good example.
Jason Isaacs is up there with Imelda Staunton on the list of people with the unique gift of perfectly portraying *vile* characters.
I'm fascinated by the way that Better Call Saul flips this formula on its head. (Spoilers coming) Chuck in so many ways fits the bill for the hateable villain -- he's needless cruel to Jimmy, he's a jerk to characters we like, he's hard to like or sympathize with, and he gets what feels like a deserved comeuppance. But he's also the moral voice of the show and the one warning us that Jimmy/Saul is a bad guy. It's really clever writing that plays around with established formula to do something interesting and different.
the really good character always bring a twist to the script, the really bad too though
The problem is, plenty of it was Chuck’s fault. He is a commentary on what happens when you treat your family so poorly.
One of my favourite villains that I found hateable as a kid was Saruman from LOTR. Aside from Christopher Lee's epic performance, he's so hateable and so great is because of how he's essentially a traitor who throws his friends and everyone else under the bus for power, despite being a Wizard who is supposed to be a force for good.
We also see the both the horrible acts he does and the way everyone responds to it. We see the destruction he causes to the villages of Rohan and we see the fleeing peoples perspective. We also see the fear and desperation of the people of Rohan at Helm's Deep as Saruman sends his hordes to kill them all, creating much tension and making the ones he attacks seem like hopeless underdogs, making us root against Saruman while seeing him as a legit threat. We also see Treebeard's horror at the trees he burned for war, which gives us more reason to root against him and it makes it all the more satisfying when the Ents destroy Isengard.
I'd say my favorite vile villain is Emperor Palpatine. He sees everybody as beneath him and something to use, even Darth Vader. To me, the most thrilling moment in "Return of the Jedi" is when Vader seizes Palpatine and hurls him into the abyss!
Yep, love seeing Palpatine get his comeuppance. Also love how his actor is so into the role
Emperor Palpatine has a giant fanbase, actually.
By many he is seen as a hero - mostly semi-ironically, but quite often completely unironically.
In case you didn't know, Palpatine was based on Ayn Rand. And lots of people love Ayn Rand.
Palpatine achieves everything and rises to power using his wit, and to make Galaxy great again, he fights corruption, cultists and Communists!
In case you didn't know, Ewoks were based on Vietcong...
He’s also a politician so that helps
@@Conserpovreally?? Wow
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Yes! Ian McDiarmid has SO much fun being Palpatine. And the way he manipulated everything and everyone to come into power is actually a very good story.
I'm not a writer and have no interest in ever writing a screenplay or novel, but I really enjoy watching your videos! You do a great job with these. Thanks!
I felt like Drago had a sort of redemption arc during the fight. By the end he no longer wanted to be a puppet of the Soviet system, and he felt real respect for Rocky just like the live audience did. He showed an ability to learn and change, so I could no longer hate him.
That was two minutes before he collapsed and we never saw him again, too little too late in this context but it is true
Eustice from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C. S. Lewis) is a very interesting hateable villain, because, while he does get his comeuppance, he then goes on to also get a redemption arc, and even goes on to be a primary point-of-view character for the rest of the series.
Arguably, a lot of that is purely due to POV. I think a lot of these hateable villains would be similar to Eustace in terms of how they think, so if you saw the story from their POV it would read a lot like Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We just know that Eustace is the villain from page 1, because we know Edmund and Lucy and their intentions. We know that he's misrepresenting them, and therefore we're not supposed to like him. However, if you hadn't read the other books you'd be liable to think Eustace was the hero.
Additionally, I think the redemption arc thing only works in the case of Eustace because he is A CHILD. He has the excuse of behaving like this because no one has ever taught him differently. If he were an adult, that redemption would not feel earned.
You know what's especially genius about Caledon's death in Titanic? Is how flippantly Rose says "He put a pistol in his mouth. Or so I read". She cared so little about him she didn't even bother to look into it, or confirm it, or anything. She just read it and thought "Huh. Neat." He's not even worth the energy it would take for her to hate him. She doesn't get any pleasure from it, or relief, or satisfaction, or anything: he's worth so little to her that she just didn't care what happened to him.
Griffith from berserk is one of the most hate able villains you’ll ever come across. The things he does makes the viewer deeply sympathize with Guts and makes you live for the day that Guts gets his revenge.
The Band of the Hawk... my heart....
Griffith got crippled by the king
@@mareklame8589Sure but it was his intent to betray everyone since the beginning. They were always meant to be cattle to feed his transformation.
@@mareklame8589 and then sacrificed the people who saved him. He undoes any sympathy you have for him during the eclipse. Abusing Casca in front of Guts makes sure you hate him no matter what good he does later.
Griffith did nothing wrong.
6:10 For Number 3, I instantly thought of Zorg from the Fifth Element. He was immoral and cruel, reneging on deals, committing murder, plotting to betray all of humanity. But he was so cool you couldn't hate him.
Impossible to hate any of Gary Oldman's villians. They're all so colorful
A good follow up video could be on contrasting villains we love to hate vs villains we just hate. The former bring out the best in the heros and make the story better, while the latter makes the story worse. Sometimes they are just a bad villain for the genre, are too annoying, are only effective because the heroes are acting uncharacteristically incompetent, or are a bad twist/sympathetic villain. Just an idea. Keep up the great work 👍
One example of a hateable villain is Nurse Ratched from ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. She cold, cruel, heartless and uses inhuman techniques to dominate the inmates of the asylum under the guise of helping them improve themselves.
How to create a despised villain:
1. Give them overwhelming negative and dishonorable traits such as cowardice. Make them a spoiled brat.
2. No sad or relatable backstory.
3. Make them physically unattractive.
4. Have them kill off our favorite characters.
That's basically Joffrey. :D Jack Gleeson is lowkey handsome tho
@@Sheamuscz not really, the negative trait are either not overwhelmingly negative or not dishonorable, his backstory is kinda sad, though it's not related to his evil behavior, he's physically atractive, and he certainly didn't kill off our favorite character
If someone is or isn't attractive doesn't matter when making a despicable villain. Some of the most evil people in history have been attractive and charming which is how they got away with the things they did. Someone can be good looking and be evil incarnate while others can be as unattractive as they get yet do heroic things.
Mahito ticks off all these boxes
Not really a fan of the “make them physically unattractive” one. I feel like that pushes some harmful stereotypes there.
I think Ramsay Bolton even one-upped Geoffrey esp in the come-uppance. If the come-uppance has irony in it, like being fed to the dogs that he had carry out his dirty work, it's that much better. But good in finding those stories that carried all the elements. While Ramsay didn't kick the dog per se, that was a metaphorically good substitute I thought. In anime, Full Metal Alchemist when Mustang, a kind of heroic mentor character, burns Lust and Envy...to their "cores". in revenge for the death of his friend. It's truly drama that stays with you for weeks. It's hard not to replay those comeuppance scenes.
Ramsay indeed has the better comeuppance. Unbelievably satisfying
When Ramsay came on screen I suddenly felt like I had taken Joffrey for granted lmao
YES! I loved that scene! Pure genius!
If there's one villain I love to hate, it's Gaston from 1991's Beauty and the Beast, and I'm not sure why because he breaks a lot of those rules. He's charismatic to an extent, he earnt his position by being a good hunter and training from a young age to be 'the size of a barge' (although he probably caused a shortage of eggs!) and he's a subversion in that in a Grimms' fairy tale, he would be the unquestionable hero. Plus who can forget the "Gaston" song! I suppose he's not a hateable villain really, but you love to hate him! Granted, he starts off as a relatively harmless doofus, and when he actually becomes dangerous (which starts at the very end of the "Gaston" song), the comedy stops and he's nothing but menacing.
I think it is because he is so entitled.
I think that the reason is a subconscious jealousy to him. Gaston is loved and respected by society thanks to his skills, the audience of mostly mediocrities was glad to see that successful people have their own failures.
Lots-O is a hateable villain I happen to love, he is one of my favorite villains of all time. A fantastic performance from his voice actor Ned Beatty (may he rest in peace)
I think a few other hateable villains that come to mind for me would be The High Evolutionary, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Professor Umbridge.
One of the best examples is Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Voldemort isn't as hateable because, like the Joker, he's cool, calm, collected, interesting and charismatic. Umbridge by contrast just causes needless suffering for her students because she enjoys it and has no good qualities.
Biff in Back to the Future fits the bill, I think! In the first movie he has his power only by the virtue of being taller and stronger, in the second movie he is literally handed the results of all sports games so it’s even _less_ fair than luck. That makes it so satisfying when he drives into manure or when George McFly punches him in the face!
That's a good one
@@randomlyfactual1943 Yeah. He's also not charming at all, but he thinks all the ladies want him which makes him arrogant, and just like Joffrey he can't tell a joke ("why don't you make like a tree ... and get out of here!") so we're definitely laughing _at_ him and not _with_ him like we do when the Joker cracks jokes.
@@paulallen579 that's true and all but...
Now let's see your business card 🧐
Biff is a bit too poorly drawn; when bad bad he is just so stupid it's like dealing with a purely material obstacle; and when reduced in power, he is just a whimpering mess. I think the writers are the villains in this one. Which is creepy .
This goes double for the redheads in A Christmas Story: my sweet mother never wanted to watch that movie.
One thing I really love when it comes to comeuppance is when there is ironic circumstances involved.
EG: With Joffrey, he ended up dying on what was meant to be the happiest day of his life where he married his queen.
There’s just something so undeniably satisfying when villain punishments spawn irony with them.
i think the most brillant one is when you deeply wish for a character to die for a long time and when it finally happen, it doesn't matter anymore.
Todd from Breaking Bad, despite being around for such a short period of time, is undoubtedly the villain I hate the most. Seeing his neck get snapped is one the highlights of the finale.
Good choice!
It's hard to hate him, he, unlike others like Jack, Walter or Lydia, can't understand what's the difference betwen good and evil.
If a villain of BrBa is hateable that's Walter, he understands how wrong is what he does, but he doesn't care, he likes it, so he does it. One part of him always feels remorse, but the other part it's always the winner.
I hated Jack more than Todd tbh. Todd comes off as a guy who was raised in an extremely traumatic environment and got desensitized to it all. Jack on the other hand is just a straight up self-centered asshole.
@@Braint-lr6uf I find it pretty easy to hate Todd, with his complete lack of care for human life. Especially when he tortured and enslaved Jesse for money. Yes, he obviously doesn’t know between right or wrong, but in my opinion, that doesn’t redeem him in any way
@@beanmann000Agreed. Todd was despicable *because* he had no conscience.
I loved Walter, though. I knew he was awful, but he was so fun to watch. Then again, I'm also the guy who rooted for Light Yagami.
What a great video. I love these tips. A hateable villain that comes to mind is corrections officer Percy Wetmore, from The Green Mile. He shows many of the characteristics mentioned in the video: he got his job on account of being the nephew of the governor's wife, he liked to abuse his power, and he intentionally failed to soak a sponge thereby causing a horrific execution of an inmate in the electric chair. It was ever so satisfying when the other corrections officers locked him into a padded cell.
"The sponge is dry"
That scene damn-near traumatized me on first viewing.
Was thinking the same. Percy was very hateable in that movie.
The High Evolutionary is a great example for this. His de-appreciation of himself and other things around him, and high ambition to reach his goal by putting it ahead of all priorities, such as committing genocide of his created species to create a “better” species, caused his followers to turn on him, knowing that they would be a means to an end, even if a win was headed in his way.
I was looking for a comment mentioning High Evolutionary from Guardians of the Galaxy volume 3.
How he treated Rocket Raccoon and others, and how he never showed any redeeming qualities... I couldn't wait to see him lose.
Yeah james Gunn did a great job
I find it a lot easier to write a completely hateable villain than a more realistic one with redeeming qualities that people still dislike so much they cheer when he/she goes down. I've done both.
William Hamleigh from The Pillars of the Earth (the book, haven't seen the miniseries). He spends the whole friggin book "kicking dogs" and his comeuppance is one of the most satisfying pages of fiction I've ever read.
You picked three brilliant villians. I enjoyed your explanations almost as much as I enjoyed their individual comeuppances.
Thank you!
Hantengu is a pretty good example of a hatable villain to come out recently. His personality splitting gives him the biggest cheat code against the Demon Slayers. Plus his backstory showed that he was a thieving, murdering con-artist even in life, and a merciless eater of humans. All the while, he is the only demon who straight-up demands sympathy and plays the victim to his victims.
Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds. Hides behind an air of civility yet you just know he's going to do something incalculably heartless at any second.
As for a hatable villain who didn’t get their comeuppance, unfortunately, I think the one that most sticks in my brain is Mr Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life.
Good call. He's a menace. Thankfully, George's ending is so euphoric that it's easy to forget that Potter gets no comeuppance
That was not that sort of a movie. BUT sometimes living a good life and making your enemies so inconsequential that they don't matter is the best revenge.
I guess you missed the lost ending then. ua-cam.com/video/vw89o0afb2A/v-deo.html
Ramsey Bolton’s face when Littlefinger’s army defeats his is priceless. That episode was peak GoT
i thougt that was the start of the downfall, i didn't really care that much about ramsay, his death wasn't the probleme in my opinion, it was just a bad timing, john Snow was just resurected, and while resurection is really dangerous writting tool, having him die again 3 days later would had been the best way possible to use it, it would have push ramsay as a relevent vilain and well that was the first of a long series of bad writting decision
Uhh no, that was when things started to get bad. Peak GoT was when Tyrion killed Tywin, or the red wedding when Robb dies.
@@TheRealZeke2003 nah
If I had to name a character who I love to hate, it would have to be Lady Tremaine from Cinderella, specifically the 1950 animated film.
Jar Jar Binks:
1. Kick the dog - his actions leads to huge catastrophe, that why he was banished from gungan society, he almost killed Qui-Gon when they just met.
2. Unforgivable behavior - he is an avatar of that
3. Not charismatic, charming, or funny - yes
4. Give them Power they didn't earn - he became a general of the entire gungan army and a senator of Naboo
5. Comeuppance - killed by Darth Vader in robot chicken.
Hahaha you're not wrong at all
💀
Totally disagreed. Jar Jar is one of the most beloved disliked characters in all cinema. Haha.
I guess I like stories with a hate-able villain as much as the next person. I find though that the stories with a villain that has relatable (maybe even noble) motivations and who just goes completely overboard when pursuing those goals stay with me the longest. I'm not sure if those two are actually mutually exclusive or not, but they seem to be.
Perhaps because in those stories the morality is more complex and might challenge the reader to evaluate their own.
For sure relatable villains are usually more interesting. It's much more morally complex and intriguing.
I think this video was more focusing on the villains that are designed to be hated before anything else.
I think it depends on the overall tone of the story
One of the biggest things i find makes a villain hateable is when they not only have this power and status, but the story will also show them using that as a shield that allows them to commit atrocities that people cannot or will not retaliate to. In a straight up fight these people would likely lose but people cant raise a hand to them and they know it. It's the fact that they are both bullies and cowards that makes them hateable.
Those are my favorite types of villains, the ones the hero could totally beat up if they were alone in a room for five minutes, but there's always some circumstance forcing the hero to restrain themselves (henchmen, a kidnapped loved one, favorable public opinion, etc.).
I like how you mention giving the villain a “kick the dog” moment. It’s the opposite of “save the cat”, which is when you have the hero do something good in order to give the audience a reason to like them.
I am working on a feature film script, and I wanted to ensure my villain is hated right from the moment we meet him and that the audience positively loathes him more and more as the story unfolds. This video really helped me know that the way I designed my villain is on the right track. Thank you so much!
The Creed movies made Drago more sympathetic than he was in the original movie.
Yeah, and oddly enough, I actually loved how they portrayed him in Creed 2
I actually felt bad for Drago having to train using Soviet computers from the 1980s. That must have been brutal.
Joffrey was such a great villain that he had an explanatory backstory but we were all still relieved when he was taken out. One of my favourite villains is Roboocop's Clarence Boddiker. Dick Jones was great too but Clarence and his gang really chewed up the screen. It was also great to see evil henchmen actually have personalities. Glenn Close has some good villains - Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction and Cruella de Ville (before the retcon).
I read somewhere that Glenn Close was so good at playing Cruella they had problems rallying the dogs around her...
I answer to Dick Jones! Dick jones!
I agree with what you said at the beginning. I get why people consider hateable villains to be a clich nowadays, but I feel like there are a lot of situations where it works better than having a sympathizing backstory. Also, I'm going to be honest, some of my favorite movies are ones with hateable villains (Shawshank Redemption, Titanic, Gladiator). And yes, I absolutely love seeing them get what's coming to them.
I think part of it is also that we have to see the villain has every oportunity and resource to be a good, if not great, person, and instead they use all that ooportunity to be horrible. Joffre could have brought peace to the kingdoms, instead he decides to start war. The dude in Titanic was suave, charming, rich and could have been a good man, instead he decided to be a jerk about it. Ivan Drago had every chance to display good sportsmanship and instead used the mic to be callous for no reason.
One of the things I find most helpful in your videos is how you always define what we're talking about. Here it would have been easy to assume we were all on the same page as far as what a "hateable villain" is (I know I did), but you took the time to be very clear and precise with what we're talking about. You take this approach in nearly all your videos and it works really well. BTW I just started Entry Wounds and the opening is great. You mentioned how that opening came to be in a previous video and I have to say, you nailed it. My wife came into the bedroom while I was reading and I actually shushed her -- that's funny if you know my wife. Anyway, if any of you viewers are on the fence about giving Entry Wounds a try, you absolutely should.
Nice advice. Thanks for the insight.
In my opinion, villains in storytelling can be assigned to 8 broad categories:
1. The “force of nature”; De-personification is the main trait of this villain. The strong point of such a “character” is that the readers/ audience can’t approach it in ethical terms. Whether it is a wild animal (creature feature movies), a robot (terminator 2), a force of nature (volcano eruption in Dante’s Peak) or a fictional being (Allien series) the primary reaction that it induces is primordial fear (a man vs nature feeling) not a process of understanding. These types of villains “are what they are” and the key goal of the hero is to survive and then understand (if the storytelling allows it).
2. The “mastermind/ evil genius”; The key theme that shrouds this villain is “all according to plan”. These are usually characters with above average IQ and a charming personality. They also express some level of sociopathy but their intellect acts as a counterbalance to their callousness hence the readers/ audience detests some aspects of them and admires others. These villains act behind the scenes, weave master-plans that have many branches, are usually way ahead of the protagonist during most of the plot, have means (weapons, followers, wealth) that amplify their skills and their end-goals are most of the time concealed. These villains justify a many vs one storytelling where a group of characters cooperates to take them down without creating the feeling of injustice. Many James Bond villains, dr. Hannibal Lecter, the Master from DR.Who and James Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes are good examples of this type of villain. The unique part about the latter is that the protagonist (Holmes) exhibits roughly equal intellect as him, therefore the story feels more like a chess game and less like a cat and mouse game.
3. The “monster”; In contrast with the “force of nature”, this character is an actual person. Their key trait is full fledged sociopathy/ mental deviation. Most of the time these villains can understand the mainstream concepts of good and evil they just lack the empathy necessary to internalize them. This trait can come up as justified or unjustified, depending on the writers choice. They can have an abusive background or may have experienced a trauma at some point in their lives. If the writer chooses to write them as a corrupt/ inhumane being then these are the most overused villains we love to hate. Usually their motives are pedestrian (money, power) or plain unjustifiable sadism. This division is what creates two subcategories in their narratives, the “corrupt” (usually more thoroughly profiled as cluster B personalities with more pronounced motives and goals) and the “serial killer” (who is written more in terms of actions and less in terms of psychography). The “corrupt” is a usual villain in soap operas whereas the “serial killer” is a Jack the reaper kind of character (dr.Hannibal Lecter, Kevin Spacey from seven).
4. The “trickster”; This villain is a more freestyle version of the “mastermind” with some key differences. First of all, their actions are more opportunistic. They have a general modus operandi but not a master-plan therefore they are more frequent as side-antagonists and not as the main one. Secondly, their goals are more vague; their defining feature is that they establish the illusion that their actions are driven by boredom or because they just love inducing chaos.
5. The “villain by fate”; One of the rarest types in storytelling, they are recognizable by the fact that at some rate they didn’t chose what they are. They where either brought up in a way that broke them, they were “programmed” to wreck havoc or their inherent instability (this term can be translated as many thing in a story) “forces” their hand. If their actions aren’t morally reprehensible, they can receive sympathy from the audience/ reader. Dr Octapus from the second Spiderman movie is a good example. While his actions are fueled by the mad-scientist mentality it is the tentacles the push him to cross the line. His last line (“I will not dies a monster”) sums up one of the most frequent endings these characters have, “redemption by death”.
6. The “collaborator”; If I had to name a villain type that the audience/ readers will most probably hate (even more than the “monster/ currupt sub-type”), it would be the collaborator. This character is, in terms of mentality, a “good guy”, being able to maintain a sense of mainstream black and white morality. What grays the character are their choices; they understand “good” but they are not willing to make the sacrifices required to deliver it. These are the characters that will usually present with excuses like “… but they have my children”, “… but I will starve to death”, “… but the villain is too strong”. This contradiction is what causes the audience to disrespect them because it feels like they put a price on their morals. And their corruption usually becomes apparent at these fleeting moments when they don’t just do what is necessary to survive but seize the opportunity as an “excuse” to succumb into their inner immorality.
7 The “agent”; A loyal soldier to a greater cause. This character adopts the worldview of a greater power, whether this role if fulfilled by an actual person or a secular/moral system (ex. a political extremist). Agent Smith in the first matrix is (obviously) a textbook agent. This characters give of the sense of a puppet being handled by a puppeteer and they usual don’t grasp the full length of the cause they are serving. Many secret agents in spy films are this type of villain (ex. Luke Bracey in November-man if he is not assigned as a villain and not as an anti-hero). Moreover, the agent is in many cases a transitional role for the character. Once they gain deeper insight into the ploy they serve, they might switch sides or evolve into a different type of villain like the “userper”, a villain that starts of as a small fry and ends up being the main antagonist of the story.
8 The “parasite” or “negative force”; A villain that is not characterized by any hyberbole. They exist in the same in-universe realm/ class as the protagonist. They don’t exhibit any skill or knowledge that puts them on a different league than the protagonist and they are “earthly entities” carrying traits (good or bad) that we expect to come across in everyday life. They identifying feature is that they act in a way opposite to that of the hero. If a hero is a sum of predominantly good choices the “negative force” is a sum of mostly bad choices. It’s not that they are inherently bad it’s just that in the critical moment they will usually choose vice over virtue. Common patterns of behavior are being truant, emotional sapping to their social environment, egocentric and shortsighted. This too is a character that can be expected to evolve into something else during the progress of the story. The two students from Scent of a Woman (movie) form a nice pair of “hero”-“negative force”.
9. The “rising star” (*edit): A prodigy by every means, this character may bear virtues and skills (initially?) even superior to that of the protagonist. Unfortunately, they fall victim to the one vice they have (whatever that is) and cross to the dark side. This villain has heavy undertones of tragedy since they essentially could have been the hero but never thrived. Darth Vader from star wars and Harry Osborn from the original spiderman trilogy are good examples of this kind of villain.
Finally, since the villains tend to evolve towards chaos the same way that protagonists tend to evolve towards order or closure, I feel that the villains are usually written as a hybrid of 2, more rarely 3 types, more than a clear cut single type. A common trait of a villain is breaking the rules and being unpredictable so their demeanor might not be that straightforward. Not that a hero can’t be a complex character as well.
Thanks for typing all this up! And it's funny you mentioned Scent of a Woman. I just watched it last month, and your "parasite" description fits Hoffman's character well.
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Yeah, it's a classic and a quality movie. I always feel that O'Donell's true antagonist is Hoffman (and the system to some extent) not the director. The director is paired better with Pacino because he represents fixation to the "wrong" which comes in contrast with Al Pacino's character who represents understanding of the "wrong" and manages (in the end) to gain greater wisdom.
Quick suggestion: It would be very interesting to hear your views up on the chapter of worldbuilding. I think you haven't touched upon the matter but I could be wrong since I haven't gone through all of your videos.
As always thanks for the great advice and the feedback.
I started GM-ing a TTRPG that takes place in the Fallout universe. My villain is a cold-hearted bastard named Slick. He doesn't really take any smug satisfaction out of harming people because he simply doesn't care what happens to other people. In order to fulfill his goals, he'll step on whoever he feels he has to step on and not think twice about it. He's very self-centered, a true sociopath.
I wanted my party to hate him as a person but I felt it had to be something more than "he's an evil dickhead" full stop. I wanted to give them a personal reason beyond the continuous injustice of his mere existence. His "kick the dog" moment is at the very beginning of the campaign where my party had just finished a relatively uneventful caravan security job. They stop at some unimportant town in the middle of nowhere (that I designed to be their main hub area) where Slick says he can handle the rest of the job from there and that they should go see the boss about getting paid. But *he* was their boss. *He* was supposed to pay them. And by the time they realized this, he had already abandoned them, his pockets a little heavier than he had originally planned so he's happy. And while tricking someone out of money isn't as unnecessarily evil as kicking a dog, it's about as personal. This was my way of getting my party to hate my villain personally. I figured it'd be a smart move to start them off on a quest for petty revenge, so I can then have them stumble upon this whole conspiracy he's got going on that threatens the entire wasteland and everybody in it.
My villain has big plans but stiffing the party out of their pay at the beginning had nothing to do with it. It was just a spur of the moment decision on the character's part to save a bit of money. Pennies to him but he's just that damn greedy and he assumes he'll get away with it so I want that short-sighted greed and ego to ultimately lead to his downfall. He is a truly heartless bastard who doesn't care about anyone but himself and I want that selfishness to get a lotta people killed if he isn't stopped.
So I began his story by pissing off the wrong people and I can't wait to see what my friends do to him.
A niche example: Angus Bumby from Alice: Madness Returns.
Your entire life, you believed your family died in an accidental house fire. Now, imagine finding out your therapist - the one who was supposed to help you - not only was responsible for the fire, but he stalked, raped, and then murdered your sister.
Then, he started the fire with the intent of killing everyone in order to hide his crime.
And that he ALSO has been grooming and selling orphaned children into sex trafficking, and has been trying to do the same to you.
I read somewhere that American McGee, the creator of American McGee’s Alice, deliberately did not give Bumby a backstory because his crimes were so heinous, he didn’t want people sympathizing with Bumby.
I think this was a good call.
Annie Wilkes, Anton Chighur are two of my faves for different reasons. One is a complete sadist and the other is a seemingly unstoppable psychopath. Both of them capture the screen.
Annie is great because she is so unpredictable. You just never know what will set her off and what the result of her being upset could be. Misery is one of my favorite horror stories because of that. It was scary because she was so real yet so wrong in the head. She felt like someone you can have for a neighbor and never know she has someone tied up in the basement.
Seriously, I can’t believe Anton didn’t get overwhelming mentions.
An important aspect of the comeuppance is that it matches the character in some manner. It shouldn't e something random or unrelated to the character. It has to be something that fits.
the general from Rambo IV, the bullies from Klass, the guys from I spit on your grave, the mafia from Equalizer 3, and Umbridge from Harry Potter come in mind.
This is good. It didn't occur to me to create a hateable villain. This is something definitely to consider
Tim Roth's portrayal of the despicable Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy elicited a visceral response from me. The acting was so good that it legitimately broke my "this is just a story and that is just an actor" barrier. It's the absolute best hateful villain portrayal I've seen in a film, and just happens to match your list quite well.
The Titanic guy taking the child is a pretty respectable move.
He's resourceful.
Cheers
It shows just how low Cal is willing to go to save his pathetic hide, and how little he cares about a human life since he immediately hands her to someone else when she’s no longer useful and forgets about her. It’s such a disgusting move, just writing about it makes my blood boil.
In _Titanic_ I found Cal's footnote of an ending fitting since it shows his loss of status and prominence.
I was about to consider Azula a hateable villain, but then I realized that she's far too fascinating, clever, and weirdly charismatic in a scary way to fully hate lol. She has my absolute favorite character intro scene of any villain, hands down. And she legitimately made me worry for the heroes on numerous occasions.
I would say Umbridge is the best hateable villain of all time, but I think someone else already beat me to to punch in this comment section lol. She was just too excellently done. The first villain that ever actually made me angry enough to legitimately consider stabbing my Harry Potter 5 book with a pair of scissors lol. She really is the definition of someone I love to hate.
I hesitate to add Jack Horner to the hateable villains list, since he's so funny. But. I think he meets every other criteria to the letter. :)
I would say she's too sympathetic to be hateable. It's made clear that she's something of a victim, too. She's clearly hurt when her two friends (forget their names) turn against her to help the Gaang, she becomes paranoid, she does everything for her Dad's approval, and she has a psychotic breakdown when she first loses the Agni Kai to Zuko, then gets beaten by Katarra.
Now Ozai on the other hand, *there's* a hateable villain.
@@DoctorPorkenfries
I agree, but being a victim doesn't remove people from the villain category. Plenty of villains are also victims. However, they later made the choice to victimize others and become villains in their own right. Azula is the same way.
Whether a character's victimhood makes them sympathetic kinda depends. For example, if someone becomes a villain in order to save themselves and their family from being enslaved, then that's a very sympathetic motivation. But if someone becomes a villain simply because they had bad parents, that's not very sympathetic. Plenty of people have bad parents and don't grow up to become horrible people who hurt others.
I also agree that Ozai's definitely hateable, but he's so distant from the action for the majority of the story that many people don't end up feeling very strong emotion towards him. Plus he's not especially unique compared to other "evil king" characters, making him far less memorable. And if there's one thing you don't want your villain to be, it's forgettable. I'll bet most casual watchers don't even remember Ozai's name, and only remember him as "The Firelord" lol.
@@Lady_de_Lis Yeah, but part of creating a hateable villain is to not give them excuses for their behavior or redeeming qualities. Azula has a few of each. Ozai does not.
@@DoctorPorkenfries
I already acknowledged in the OG post that Azula is not a hateable villain. Not sure why you feel the need to come up with additional reasons why my conclusion was correct.
But also, you could argue that Ozai had a similar backstory to Azula. He's also the second child of a Firelord, and he was raised by objectively bad parents and grandparents. So, just saying. Even though it's not directly stated, we can easily conclude Ozai was similarly shaped by his own messed up childhood. They even kinda hint at it when they show off Ozai's baby portraits.
@@Lady_de_Lis Sorry, I get confused easily. I probably thought you were another person arguing Azula was a hateable villain.
As for the difference between Ozai and Azula that prevents Ozai from being at all sympathetic, I'd say it's the little displays Azula shows of being more than a monster. She's hurt when her friends betray her. She tries to have a relationship with her brother while he was temporarily in Ozai's good graces. She wanted to love and be loved. Ozai never shows any signs of this. He never shows any signs of caring for anyone beyond how they are useful to himself. Even Azula is simply manipulated and used by him. When he's finally defeated, he doesn't despair that his vision for a better future has been thwarted (as the Korra villains did). He is only mad that he was defeated.
Another thing about undeserved power and no charisma is sometimes an entourage of followers who appreciate everything the villain does and says, making you questions your sanity. Like in Titantic, when Rose's snarky remarks about Freud get barely noticed but everybody applauds Cal for saying that a real mean makes his own luck. Same with Geoffrey and his mother/ the court, or Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic. They hold power because they are believed and applauded beyond all rationale.
One thing that also works to make us hate the villain is when they keep being irritating to our protagonist but they seem seemingly invincible. A perfect example would be Umbridge from the Harry Potter franchise. She acts with a brutal authority to the children but they can’t do anything about it since she’s a teacher (and later even the headmaster) of the school, plus she works for the government.
a misconceptioon some people have is that they think a vilain become hateable after killing a character we love, but that's not true, or at least that's not optimal, because once it's done, we can move on, a hateable character need to be constantly messing with the beloved character. i would say that's also why i think Joffrey was a fail in term of hateable character, because i start to care about him before i care about any of the character he was messing with.
Love these videos. Jumps right in, easy to follow, informative, tightly edited, pleasant speaking voice and pace that keeps you engaged. Not surprised that you teach with so many natural gifts.
Thanks for the kind words!
Lots of very good examples here. I would also like to mention Jason Isaac's portrayal of Col. William Tavington in The Patriot. Executing wounded prisoners and personally shooting Benjamin Martin"s son immediately establishes him as hateable, but then he tops that by burning a church full of people and killing yet another of his sons, all while arrogantly spouting about "the rules of war" and who's "the better man". The way I and other audience members reacted to his comeuppance is a testament to how Isaacs absolutely nailed that role.
The legendary OG wrestling villain, Gorgeous George, once advised to a young Muhammad Ali, "People will pay good money to see someone shut your mouth."
Seeing hateable villains get defeated, particularly if it's in a humiliating way, can be extremely cathartic and satisfying for audiences.
Great video. Umbridge will always be my #1 go to for this, as you listed all of the traits, I said Umbridge after each one : D. Thanks for the great content!
A mini-Masterclass in villainy. Good insights and examples!
Thanks!
I cannot remember villain more hateable than Amy Dunne from "Gone Girl". The very fact that she got away with her crimes and also remained a victim in the eyes of general public makes me nauseous.
Yep, I love how the book initially frames her as this unfortunate victim... THEN we see her true colors later
I loved that movie. I think I was only guy in the theater hahah
Since he cheated on her she was just having a girl boss moment
Good one. Yeah I hated her character lol
I hated her too
Honestly I’m surprised no one ever talks about Ramsey Bolton in regards to hate able GOT villains. It’s one of those fascinating moments where a writer can make you hate a character for doing bad things to a “bad person.” Theon ain’t exactly likable, he’s pathetic, he murders innocent people, he’s power-hungry, he’s shitty to women and he’s selfish. And yet, watching him get broken down by this needlessly cruel monster is somehow infuriating. I think part of it is that we know this isn’t happening to him cuz of “karma.” It’s happening because one sick freak wanted to take advantage of their power over someone.
Great topic and great outline of how to make hatable characters. To come up with my most hatable I had to think of what characters generated the most negative emotional response from me. I have two I’d like to share:
1.) Tom Berenger’s character Staft Sgt. Bob Barnes in Platoon. Yes, his reputation for keeping his men alive is solid but it often comes at the risk of those he doesn’t like in his platoon and at the expense of innocent lives.
2.) Doug Hutchison’s character Percy Wetmore in The Green Mile. I hate that character so much I could swear I can smell his greasy hair every time he’s in a scene.
Great topic and thanks for putting it out.
Cheers from Boston ☘️
Ramsay Bolton. His comeuppance was double-satisfying. First the punching from Jon Snow, then being eaten by his own dogs. Two separate punishment scenes were required.
If you do want to craft hateable villains who are also round characters, I recommend looking at the Lotso from Toy Story 3, Dr. Emilia from Kipo, and Belos from Owl House. Their backstories give context to their actions and beliefs, but don’t present them as justified. They also often serve to show the extent of their villainy.
Kai Wynn from DS9 is deserving of all the hate she gets when she's on screen. Fits pretty much all your criteria, and was played by the extremely talented Estelle Fletcher.
Especially since she is only in 14 episodes; she is rarely seen, but she casts a looming shadow over so much of the series.
Also, the actress was Louise Fletcher.
@@TheZetaKai Estelle was her first name, I couldn't remember which she went by when I made the comment :)
Who also played Nurse Ratched, another very hateable villain!
Yes! I couldn't stand her. Even though he's evil, I was pumped when Dukat gave her that push.
Professor Umbridge. Thats how.
Great job at the subtle differences from a villain you love and A villain you hate!
Hello there! Love your videos. Please make one about dumb unbelievable deaths of powerful characters. Like "taking a bullet" moments when there was absolutely no need for that, the character is perfectly able to avoid the danger and save the other character, but bad writing chooses not to. Take the Mulan live action, where the Witch can do almost anything, and dies with a simple arros which I'm sure she can just turn into chocolate like freaking Majin Buu.
Dio Brando from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. He fits every category except the third one, in my opinion. He even has a literal "kick the dog" moment as soon as he's introduced and has no care for human life, merely using his minions as a means to an end. However, if you ask me, because he's so over-the-top and yells everything, I find him to be funny even though he's meant to be pure evil, but maybe that's just me.
Admit it though, when Jotaro defeated him, you were PUMPED.
Cutler Beckett for Pirates of the Caribbean comes to mind. A really well written character with an ending that he totally deserves. The actor did a great job
Joffrey and Cersei are perfect templates on how to write villains who are absolutely *insufferable*
I’d like to mention Micah Bell from Red Dead Redemption 2, the way the game makes you slowly dislike him in such a subtle way that doesn’t feel like the game is forcing you to hate him is amazing, he’s also not even an antagonist for the first half of the game and you still hate him.
Funny thing about Micah. I hated him in the first playthrough, but with each subsequent playthrough, I find him funnier and funnier and I appreciate his performance that much more. There's no subtlety to his villainy, so there's no surprise with his arc, but his innate "jerk store" quality makes him fun to hate.
Thank you so much for your great videos. Ive never published a book, but have been working on one for a bit under a year. For the last few years ive just been scrapping my work and starting over many times over, because i would reread what i had written and just didnt like it. It was something i wouldnt read. Ever since ive found you a few month ago, I can finally reread my work and see progress; you have elevated my writing to a whole new level. Thank you.
Thrilled to hear it! Glad you're making strides. Keep it up
While the hateable villain is great and i love to hate them i actually prefer the glorious bastard. The ability for an audience to both hate and cheer for a villain is something special to me. But when you combine that with a hateable villain second in command or something like that, that's when things get really special. A glorious bastard with a hateable villain as their go-to henchman can create a really good villain dynamic that audiences get emotionally invested in.
Furudo Erika from Umineko is my favorite hateable villain for not only how she goes completely against the themes of the story she's in but more so because you learn what those themes are in the first place from how hard she goes against.
Great video, Brandon! It's like you were reading my mind! I definitely needed this reminder as I am introducing a particularly horrendous villain into my current WIP. Thanks for the insights!