McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Can't come up with a decent villain

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Nickeris86:
a couple of ideas come to mind when i hear of this since i have looked into the key of Solomon as a plot point for my own story. if his power comes from the key of Solomon, which is a object, then a good recurring villein could be thieves, hired or otherwise, just because you control demons does not mean you can keep an eye on your stuff twenty for seven and there is always those that know more than you do in the are of taking your stuff.

the Templar idea is also founded, since they would view any one that went against their own belief system as being evil and thus needs to be destroyed if you made them big enough zealots.

more powerful demons that he can't control.

something that i like to toy around with as good villeins are creatures that come from outside our reality. what i mean is things like the H.P. Lovecraft type creatures that make demons piss themselves with fear. not because they are evil but simply because they are so beyond the anything in our realities understanding that they don't even view us as more than bugs or toys.

though i have to admit the ability's to control demons with absolutely no worries makes the character over powered in my opinion. i have the same problem with my characters where i end up making them into gods so early on in the book that there is no challenge for them in facing off against a villein because they would always win. you always want to add some kind of limiter on your characters so that they don't just end up bichslapping your villain around all the time.

one way i limit my characters is that they are really powerful in one are, but completely incompetent in another. say you have a character that can cause massive destruction and mayhem with little effort but delicate work is beyond them like Harry, yeah he can blow down an entire wall but he can't pic the lock on the handcuffs.

for your demon summoner you could make it so that while he can summon horrible demons and control them, it takes time to summon them, but that's all he can do is summon and control demons making him vulnerable to attacks directed at his person.

kingaling:

--- Quote from: neurovore on April 21, 2010, 08:20:31 PM ---You assume the character is heterosexual why ?

--- End quote ---

*snickers* good catch neurovore, cuz my character is actually bisexual.


--- Quote from: Nickeris86 on April 21, 2010, 09:11:06 PM ---a couple of ideas come to mind when i hear of this since i have looked into the key of Solomon as a plot point for my own story. if his power comes from the key of Solomon, which is a object, then a good recurring villein could be thieves, hired or otherwise, just because you control demons does not mean you can keep an eye on your stuff twenty for seven and there is always those that know more than you do in the are of taking your stuff.

the Templar idea is also founded, since they would view any one that went against their own belief system as being evil and thus needs to be destroyed if you made them big enough zealots.

more powerful demons that he can't control.

something that i like to toy around with as good villeins are creatures that come from outside our reality. what i mean is things like the H.P. Lovecraft type creatures that make demons piss themselves with fear. not because they are evil but simply because they are so beyond the anything in our realities understanding that they don't even view us as more than bugs or toys.

though i have to admit the ability's to control demons with absolutely no worries makes the character over powered in my opinion. i have the same problem with my characters where i end up making them into gods so early on in the book that there is no challenge for them in facing off against a villein because they would always win. you always want to add some kind of limiter on your characters so that they don't just end up bichslapping your villain around all the time.

one way i limit my characters is that they are really powerful in one are, but completely incompetent in another. say you have a character that can cause massive destruction and mayhem with little effort but delicate work is beyond them like Harry, yeah he can blow down an entire wall but he can't pic the lock on the handcuffs.

for your demon summoner you could make it so that while he can summon horrible demons and control them, it takes time to summon them, but that's all he can do is summon and control demons making him vulnerable to attacks directed at his person.

--- End quote ---

I know it seems too good to be true, but according to legend King Solomon could control the demons, no strings attached. I'm not making it so he can't be tempted, it's just hard to do as my character is complacent. Which is a major flaw. And this is shown in both his personal life as well as his life as The Solomon that he depends too much on other people/things than himself.

You gave me some good ideas about ineptitude.

belial.1980:
Maybe the character could lose the ring (s), just like Solomon did at one point. Or, IIRC, one part of the ring is brass and the other is iron in some legends. Maybe the ring is somehow sundered and a bad guy gets one portion while the main character gets the other. Hmmm, might feel a bit like Green Lantern Corps, but having a nemesis with equal/opposite powers can be fun.

Didn't Simon get tricked by Asmodeus? Something similar could happen. Or maybe a bunch of demon hunters get thrown into the mix, or another horde of demons that're even more uncouth than the ones that your character controls.

Then again, never underestimate a person or group of people who are smart, driven, and ruthless. I imagine there would be a lot of people who'd want to take the character's power for themselves. Just food for thought. I like your idea so far. Good luck with whatever direction you take it.

LizW65:
Keep in mind, the most effective villains are often those who are convinced they are heroes--that is, they do what they do for what they believe to be the best of intentions.  One possibility along those lines would be a devoutly religious person convinced that anyone who trafficks with demons is Evil TMand must be destroyed at any cost.

someguynamedjoe:
Could your villain be one of the demons under your character's control who's not happy about being the bitchboy of some mortal pissant?

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