What does a villain means to you?

[arkyum]

There have been too many stories on the internet having same cliche of being 'transmigrated in or as a villain' and lately this thought has been bugging me that 'what does being a villain actually means?'

We have seen villains who have this wish of dominance over the entire world, we have also seen villains who just wanted to watch the world burn, we have also seen villains who are doing it for the fun of it and lastly there are villains who were good guys but due to some shitty things turned bad.

So what really is a villain and how would you portray his/her character?

 

[SailusGebel]

Being a villain means being a bad guy.

Villain is a bad guy. I would portray a villain as a bad guy because girls can't be villains. A girl can only be a villainess.

 

[LilRora]

A very important thing to note is that villain is entirely different from antagonist. For me, a villain is someone whose actions are considered immoral, wrong, vile, or similar, by the general populace. Depending on the details, instead of villain you can often use antihero. What both of these have in common is that they mostly have some grand goal.

In many stories the definition of "villain" is a bit stretched, or stretched a lot. Often they would better be called antagonists instead, because they oppose the main character, but their actions aren't really evil or anything.

 

[georgelee5786]

A villain is someone who performs acts that are immoral and evil according to human society.

 

[Pyrrhic]

I would define a villian as someone who acts in a malicious, immoral or excessively callous manner, usually a combination of the 3. Additionally in a story they must have sufficient significance and agency. Basically no nameless mooks who only executes the orders of others. Finally a well written villian has goal with understandable, if not necessarily agreeable, motivations, motivations for which they commit villainous acts in accordance with described character traits

 

[CupcakeNinja]

A villain is someone who performs acts that are immoral and evil according to human society.

Like eating the box of chicken wings you were gonna fry up later after a can or twelve of beer?

 

[judojimmy]

The problem is the definition of villain and the ideal of villainy are not close to the same. Often one person's villain is another's hero. That being said for a literary villain I think selfishness is the most common ingredient. While audacity determines the level of villainy as the further they are willing to go for that selfishness the bigger villain they are usually.

 

[Sayu]

A villain is someone who stands in against or opposite to what is considered the standard good. A villain doesn't have to be immoral, but if their actions, intentionally, and sometimes unintentionally, brings upon bad or is against what is good, they are a villain.

They don't necessarily have to be callous or cold, it's just that their actions bring the bad.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Everyone is a hero in their own story. A villain is someone who acts contrary to what I think is right.

 

[udin-san]

I like the most basic definition of villains best. Villains are those who oppose the protagonist. A villain doesn't have to be evil. Just like the protagonist, villains' alignment could range between good and evil.

 

[TotallyHuman]

A villain is a person who does things that oppose common morality on a regular or semi-regular basis. A protagonist van be a villian too

 

[Gryphon]

Most basic answer: A villain is someone that does bad shit to others with no regard for their actions.

More complex answer: Don't confuse the words of antagonist and villain. A villain is merely someone who does bad shit for their own gain. Antagonist is a character that opposes the protagonist, the main character. Although the villain of the story is usually the antagonist, they aren't mutually interchangeable. For instance, and I know the memes, but Eren from Attack on Titan. He does heinous acts, killing people left and right for his own selfish actions which makes him a villain. But he is the protagonist of the story, at least until Armin picked up that mantle. Then there's someone like Meruem from Hunter X Hunter. They start out the villain, but by the end they shed their villain identity, but still wear the cloak of the antagonist. Their goals and ideals still contrast with the protagonists while losing their overwhelming malice for humanity.

 

[Borogrim]

There have been too many stories on the internet having same cliche of being 'transmigrated in or as a villain' and lately this thought has been bugging me that 'what does being a villain actually means?'

We have seen villains who have this wish of dominance over the entire world, we have also seen villains who just wanted to watch the world burn, we have also seen villains who are doing it for the fun of it and lastly there are villains who were good guys but due to some shitty things turned bad.

So what really is a villain and how would you portray his/her character?

A villain is a good tool for presenting a moral dillema to the reader. A traitor or the tyrant, a loyal follower of false ideals, or simply a character with a morally valid goal and questionable methods.

Making a villain generically evil for the sake of being evil is a missed opportunity if you ask me. It's plain and boring.

"My great evil plan will bring the misery to the world unless the choosen hero stops me *evil laugh*"
Too generic...

They have to be relatable, yet still unjustifiable. Some may redeem themselves in the end, others don't. You decide.

A bad villain is a punching bag for the protagonist to save the day. A good villain is a character you can empathise with that is sometimes capable of making you question your own morality.

 

[udin-san]

Making a villain generically evil for the sake of being evil is a missed opportunity if you ask me.

Totally agree with this
I hate it when this happen

Antagonist is a character that opposes the protagonist, the main character.

That makes sense

 

[DonHon]

A threat to the mc

 

[BearlyAlive]

For stories villains are just a fancy way of saying "(sentinent) objects and/or persons that act against the protagonists goals and deeds". Normally a villain would be someone that disturbes human society and/or common sense for their own benefit, but literature has a tendency to not take things literally.

So a villain in story context is anything that actively hinders the protagonist.

 

[Ai-chan]

A villain is the feudal household serving the lord of the land.

 

[SkippyForfex]

To me, a villain is many different types. They might be just straight-up evil and wants everyone to suffer for no reason at all. They might have believable reasons and/or stories as to why they're evil and want to take revenge for something bad that has happened to them. They might be just a character to build a plot and/or give a reason or motivation for the MC etc... etc...