Story Club — Baddies
From The Big Bad Wolf to Voldemort, baddies (villians, antagonists) get in the way of our heroine’s (hero’s, protagonist’s) quest.
How can we create a spine-tingling baddie that makes us send prayers, love and crossed-fingers to the hero/heroine who has to face them?
Eerie features are those of ‘living death’. Voldemort is described as having a ‘skull-like face’ and as ‘skeletally thin’. The White Witch of Narnia is indeed deathly white.
We can also give them power and a taste for destruction. The White Witch casts a spell on Narnia, causing it to be permanently winter. Te Kā, in Moana, is surrounded by fire and lightning, and only wants to destroy.
Straight-forward baddies are scary and add a lot to our story. Creating empathy for the baddie allows them to come alive as a more well-rounded character. Voldemort had an unhappy childhood as Tom Riddle. Te Kā’s heart was stolen (no wonder she’s angry!) Once her heart is restored, she becomes the benevolent Te Fiti, a goddess of growth and nurture.
And some baddies think they are doing the right thing. Elsa in Frozen runs away into the mountains, creating an ice palace for herself. That may have been what she most needed, to embrace her own power. But it causes the protagonist, Anna, a lot of pain to lose her sister. Anna goes on a quest to bring her home, and ends up battling an ice monster Elsa accidentally unleashes. In these scenes, Elsa is the antagonist, and certainly a sympathetic one in the role of ‘baddie’.
Story Club was filled with awesome baddies! Ideas were, a popular girl with orange skin, a feral, powerful woman covered in scratches and mud who lives in a wasteland, a girl stripped of magic by her friend and blinded by a dragon, a mysterious black rose offered by a shadowy figure with yellow eyes, and a man who’s heart was broken and returned the favour by breaking lots of other hearts.
If you have a baddie idea, let me know in the comments! I would love to hear it.
