Almost every villain can be placed on a graph based on two sets of opposing identifiers.
Your villain can either be human or abstract. Human (or human-like) villains are characters that the hero must defeat in order to gain their happy ending. On the other hand, abstract villains are something, rather than someone, that your hero must overcome to achieve their success.
Your villain can either be emotionless or emotional. Some villains are cold-hearted; they feel no guilt over their crimes. They simply want to win. Alternatively, emotional villains are motivated to hurt others because of emotions they experienced in their past.
One identifier from each of these sets can be used to classify story villains into 4 main categories.
The Pure Evil. The Pure Evil are emotionless human villains. They show a complete lack of mercy and remorse, making them the perfect antagonist in a classic good vs. evil story.
The Grey. The Grey are human villains who are motivated by emotion. Their stories are neither black nor white, meaning readers will be able to find justifiable motivations for their actions.
The Self. The Self is an abstract and emotional villain that manifests itself in many different forms. In essence, your character is their own worst enemy and must overcome their Self to find true happiness.
Corruption. Corruption is an emotionless, abstract villain that poses a threat to the main character's safety. No matter where Corruption is found, the hero must take down the entire organization in order to rid the world of its taint.
I've plotted a few popular villains on the graph to give you a better idea of who is who. Click the external link.
- Kristen A. Kieffer
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My Writing Guide
RandomWriting guidelines I found on different sites compiled by me.
