Okay, this certainly doesn’t apply to every villain, but for those trying to tell a dynamic story complicated by the will of a tragically human antagonist, I’d recommend this quick read. As much of a sucker as I am for an irreverent protagonist in need of redemption, I am equally as enamored with a character I’ve come to know as the “empathetic antagonist”. A being defined good will gone awry, or a difficult situation that ultimately (and understandably) poisoned their humanity. Let’s explore that quickly.
Recently, the internet has fallen in love with the “villain origin story” meme. You’ll watch a video of a person being comically wronged in a way that seems unprovoked or undeserved and the video’s caption is usually something to the effect of the meme’s namesake, i.e. “watch this dude’s villain origin story”. I’ll admit, they’re typically pretty funny — but, even though we laugh, we can easily empathize with the subject of the video. We’d hate to be in their shoes and could see ourselves reacting similarly in their situation, if not worse. Hypothetically, let’s say the subject of one of these videos was shoved into a pit of mud by somebody that they thought was a friend. And perhaps another backstabbing friend recorded the whole fiasco and put the video online where it then went viral, destroying the subject’s confidence and sense of trust.
Now let’s say that this subject, who we’ll call Ned, isolated himself from his all of his friends; and perhaps Ned even isolates himself from the concept of friends given that, in his experience, friends are merely ticking time-bombs of treachery and distrust. Fast forward 12 years later and Ned is known as “the Diabolical Destabilizer”, a spandex-wearing supervillain that jet-packs around Gotham to sabotage and destabilize various network infrastructures that allow for social media interaction. He wants to destroy the internet. As ridiculous as this image is, it’s understandable if you think about it. Sure, I came at this with my subtle sledgehammer again, but fundamentally he’s a sound villain. A better writer, or one with time, could take this concept and truly rationalize it. They could turn Ned into a serious villain, a respectable one. In the script, if the authorities ever caught Ned they’d question him on his motives and plans and the general audience might find themselves agreeing with Ned. Social media is toxic. The internet is dangerous. We, as human beings, are devolving at the hands of several corporations that oversee every possible online interaction that could ever take place. But Ned kills people. A lot of people. Even if we agree with his ultimate goal, we’d have to stomp our moral compass to bits to approve of his mission.
To expand on this point, let’s look at some of the most iconic villains of all time! Ironically, the more we get to know these bad guys, the more we come to understand their intentions.
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Anakin Skywalker: chose the dark side in an anxious attempt to save the life of his love, Padme, and reconcile his confused disposition to reality.
Thanos: annihilated half the life in the universe to fix resource competition and minimize sentient suffering.
Nurse Ratched: dominates her ward through frigid and excessive force in an effort to keep order and grant peace to her mentally fragile patients.
Giving your antagonist intentions that are understandable, if not fully empathetic, allows them to have dimensions through which you can push them to be better and worse at the same time. You don’t want your villain to be a two-dimensional cartoon character bulldozing elementary schools for evil’s sake. In good writing, there is no such thing as any action done simply for the sake of evil. It’s not realistic. Even in real life, most distasteful actions are the byproduct of regrettable personal development and unconfronted trauma. Very, very few people practice evil for evil’s sake. Even with sociopathic and unknowable villains such as the Joker and Anton Chirgurh, there is something else at play in the narrative other than just violence the sake of evil. These types of characters might not have a fully agreeable point, but that’s because they themselves are the point. They are the living, seething embodiments of their respective story’s theme. I’ll write more on that another time!
Anyway, if you’re gearing up to write a new story or if you’re laying down edits on an old one, always keep in mind ways to make your antagonist more empathetic. Even if you don’t outwardly describe these ways, the audience will always be able to sense something human in them through their actions and motivations. If it helps you can sort of remember these “empathetic antagonists” as simply heroes-gone-wrong, and if you ever try to see things from these villains’ perspective you’ll realize they are the heroes in their own story.