Ah, another in-depth answer from me. Be prepared for way too much text.
What is a villain?
I see villains as a more diverse subject--a broader term--to be simplified in a few meager sentences. But I shall try my best.
Villains are not the hero's main adversary, or rather, they are not to be specified specifically as one. Villains can be ilkings of characters--minor people in a plot, with little influence on the plot as a whole (only the best are reserved those rights). Villains are beings with little regard for morals and principles. Their goal is their very life, their drive, their purpose to survive, thus they will balk at nothing to see it through. As Sotek said, humanity and morality are weaknesses to be exploited. They care little of such trivials.
What makes a good villain?
Aye, what makes a good cake? Such could be the same question, both with the same answers. Both require a combination of ingredients that appeal our taste buds, something blessedly old-fashioned or inexplicably new.
Old-fashioned villains can often be regarded as cliche--a word to balk at and curse. But there are benefits to cliche notions; some attitudes and actions are reasonably recognizable to the reader, offering a balance to a possibly too-new plot. Let's face it; sometimes I'd rather take a bite into a simple white-batter cake topped with chocolate frosting, rather than taste the twang of buttercream icing dabbled with chunks of oranges and flakes of white chocolate, all coating a triple-chocolate batter. The latter cake is good, aye, but sometimes there is so much in it, I become overwhelmed with the flavors and can only handle a bite or two. Whereas with the former cake, I can take bite after bite and still yearn for more. Such is the same for an old-fashioned villain, who would be a near-relief to see in a world of overly-complicated villains. You can sometimes yearn for that simple, cliche horror that a villain brings, such as the heartless destruction of the hero's village or torture of his friends. It's even more fun when the villain is not associated with the hero, and still brings an impact to the reader.
Then there is the new villain. There are a lot of complex, sometimes over-complicated bad guys out in the world of literature, and writers are always striving to bring up new ideas--which is not a bad thing at all! I embrace different ideas. But what I yearn for is a villain that is just... new. Simple, but different. Like a cookie cake. It's new, it's different, and it's incoherently delicious! The villain has to be something that the reader does not expect, would never expect, and these are the villains that are sometimes the most remarkable. The writer has to place themselves in the shoes of their readers and ask themselves: "Who would the readers never suspect would be the villain?" or "What would be something the readers would never expect the villain to do or say?" These are the tokens every reader longs to find in a book--to find that one writer who really punched them in the face and said, "YOU NEVER SAW THAT COMING, DID YA'???"
What kinds of villains are there?
Too many to name, really. There are the compassionate, the insane, the dark, the horrific, the old, the new, the romantic, the comedic. Sometimes the villains don't even follow their own descriptions, allowing that one moral action to touch him and the readers. They change, they remain, or they completely rebirth. There are new ones coming out each day, and as long as there are writers to be had, I don't think there will ever be a shortage on villains--be it well-written or not.
What is an antihero?
In all honestly, I completely forgot there were such things until you mentioned it. I was forced to look up the definition, as well as steal a little bit of information from Sotek (sorry!). An anti-hero could be considered the opposite of a hero, though not coherently good or bad. They are, perhaps, the physical manifestations of all human struggle or worries. Their purpose is to gather sympathy, and perhaps to act the most human out of all of the characters in a story. Examples could be Gollum from Lord of the Rings, Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender, and so on. They are the ones shown first as villains (usually), but you can't be sure what they are once you encounter their personality. The are villains will morals and humanity; they are the opposites of both heroes and villains, perhaps the most easily-made dynamic characters in a story. And sometimes, anti-heroes can be the main character themselves.
Ah, another in-depth answer from me. Be prepared for way too much text.
What is a villain?
I see villains as a more diverse subject--a broader term--to be simplified in a few meager sentences. But I shall try my best.
Villains are not the hero's main adversary, or rather, they are not to be specified specifically as one. Villains can be ilkings of characters--minor people in a plot, with little influence on the plot as a whole (only the best are reserved those rights). Villains are beings with little regard for morals and principles. Their goal is their very life, their drive, their purpose to survive, thus they will balk at nothing to see it through. As Sotek said, humanity and morality are weaknesses to be exploited. They care little of such trivials.
What makes a good villain?
Aye, what makes a good cake? Such could be the same question, both with the same answers. Both require a combination of ingredients that appeal our taste buds, something blessedly old-fashioned or inexplicably new.
Old-fashioned villains can often be regarded as cliche--a word to balk at and curse. But there are benefits to cliche notions; some attitudes and actions are reasonably recognizable to the reader, offering a balance to a possibly too-new plot. Let's face it; sometimes I'd rather take a bite into a simple white-batter cake topped with chocolate frosting, rather than taste the twang of buttercream icing dabbled with chunks of oranges and flakes of white chocolate, all coating a triple-chocolate batter. The latter cake is good, aye, but sometimes there is so much in it, I become overwhelmed with the flavors and can only handle a bite or two. Whereas with the former cake, I can take bite after bite and still yearn for more. Such is the same for an old-fashioned villain, who would be a near-relief to see in a world of overly-complicated villains. You can sometimes yearn for that simple, cliche horror that a villain brings, such as the heartless destruction of the hero's village or torture of his friends. It's even more fun when the villain is not associated with the hero, and still brings an impact to the reader.
Then there is the new villain. There are a lot of complex, sometimes over-complicated bad guys out in the world of literature, and writers are always striving to bring up new ideas--which is not a bad thing at all! I embrace different ideas. But what I yearn for is a villain that is just... new. Simple, but different. Like a cookie cake. It's new, it's different, and it's incoherently delicious! The villain has to be something that the reader does not expect, would never expect, and these are the villains that are sometimes the most remarkable. The writer has to place themselves in the shoes of their readers and ask themselves: "Who would the readers never suspect would be the villain?" or "What would be something the readers would never expect the villain to do or say?" These are the tokens every reader longs to find in a book--to find that one writer who really punched them in the face and said, "YOU NEVER SAW THAT COMING, DID YA'???"
What kinds of villains are there?
Too many to name, really. There are the compassionate, the insane, the dark, the horrific, the old, the new, the romantic, the comedic. Sometimes the villains don't even follow their own descriptions, allowing that one moral action to touch him and the readers. They change, they remain, or they completely rebirth. There are new ones coming out each day, and as long as there are writers to be had, I don't think there will ever be a shortage on villains--be it well-written or not.
What is an antihero?
In all honestly, I completely forgot there were such things until you mentioned it. I was forced to look up the definition, as well as steal a little bit of information from Sotek (sorry!). An anti-hero could be considered the opposite of a hero, though not coherently good or bad. They are, perhaps, the physical manifestations of all human struggle or worries. Their purpose is to gather sympathy, and perhaps to act the most human out of all of the characters in a story. Examples could be Gollum from Lord of the Rings, Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender, and so on. They are the ones shown first as villains (usually), but you can't be sure what they are once you encounter their personality. The are villains will morals and humanity; they are the opposites of both heroes and villains, perhaps the most easily-made dynamic characters in a story. And sometimes, anti-heroes can be the main character themselves.
