While I largely agree that the character dhouldn't see himself as a villain (that's one of the things that can make him seem cartoony"), he doesn't necessarely have to be working for what he believe is good.
I agree that motivation is the key, but there can be many kind of motivations for ultimately do bad things.
Believing it is for a greater good is one. Power or money could be another. Revenge is a third, if something bad happen to the people we love, sometimes something can snap, turning even a good person into a bad one. Just look at the many hollywood vigilante movides about a man going after his kidnapped daughter/avenging his murdered wife/etc. They might be the protagonist of the movie, but are they really good guys?
It can also be things as a misguided sense of loyalty for instance. I once played a character who was more or less the henchman of a NPC I made up for storyline purposes. She wasn't evil as such, but she did pretty bad things, and could easily be seen as an antagonist in many ways.
I think the important thing is to not only think in "good/evil". Not one person is purely good or evil, as we talked about when we were discussing your character, it's important to make the character 3 dimensional. Not everyone is good, and not everyone strive to be (Seraj for instance is not good as such. She is however not evil either). Try building a character with both good and bad side and be careful not to make him just evil, give him both sides. The internal struggle between doing what is right and for instance getting revenge can be super interesting, and very villain worthy.
The most effective villains I've seen, in novels, movies, etc., has always been the ones I sort of liked, or at least understood a bit.
And, as we talked about earlier, be careful with the story. When finding reasons for your character to become a villain, you can easily end up with a very "dark" story. While there is nothing wrong with that, be prepared for the fact that most people have seen the really dark stories many times before and they can easily cmoe off as "cliché" or overly tragic. Also here, you have to find the balance between good and bad. If his entire family dies, gives him a small light atthe end of the tunnel. That makes it all the more efficient when he doesn't actually reach that light but turn to darkness instead.
Edit: Now I feel like making a villain myself sometime <.<
I agree that motivation is the key, but there can be many kind of motivations for ultimately do bad things.
Believing it is for a greater good is one. Power or money could be another. Revenge is a third, if something bad happen to the people we love, sometimes something can snap, turning even a good person into a bad one. Just look at the many hollywood vigilante movides about a man going after his kidnapped daughter/avenging his murdered wife/etc. They might be the protagonist of the movie, but are they really good guys?
It can also be things as a misguided sense of loyalty for instance. I once played a character who was more or less the henchman of a NPC I made up for storyline purposes. She wasn't evil as such, but she did pretty bad things, and could easily be seen as an antagonist in many ways.
I think the important thing is to not only think in "good/evil". Not one person is purely good or evil, as we talked about when we were discussing your character, it's important to make the character 3 dimensional. Not everyone is good, and not everyone strive to be (Seraj for instance is not good as such. She is however not evil either). Try building a character with both good and bad side and be careful not to make him just evil, give him both sides. The internal struggle between doing what is right and for instance getting revenge can be super interesting, and very villain worthy.
The most effective villains I've seen, in novels, movies, etc., has always been the ones I sort of liked, or at least understood a bit.
And, as we talked about earlier, be careful with the story. When finding reasons for your character to become a villain, you can easily end up with a very "dark" story. While there is nothing wrong with that, be prepared for the fact that most people have seen the really dark stories many times before and they can easily cmoe off as "cliché" or overly tragic. Also here, you have to find the balance between good and bad. If his entire family dies, gives him a small light atthe end of the tunnel. That makes it all the more efficient when he doesn't actually reach that light but turn to darkness instead.
Edit: Now I feel like making a villain myself sometime <.<
![[Image: Serajbannernew3.png]](http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/Nevermoria/Serajbannernew3.png)
I came for the ERP, I stayed for the free booze.
