5 Best Villain Tropes in Storytelling (Writing Advice)

Learn about the best villain tropes in storytelling. Examples from The Dark Knight, Star Wars, Training Day, Indiana Jones, and more!

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Writing Villains #1 - Start with Your Hero

Writing Villains #2 - Goals

Writing Villains #3 - Motivation

Writing Villains #4 - When to Introduce Your Villain

Writing Villains #5 - Plot Points for Villains

Writing Villains #6 - Impacting the Hero

The Anatomy of Story REVIEW:

Save the Cat Writes a Novel REVIEW:
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[robbiej]

Villains who actually care about their own teammates adds a level of respect. It's a nice contrast to the tired cliche of villains who treat their minions as disposable. What henchman would want to work for a boss like that!?

[cozzmic]

A favorite Villain trope of mine is the Fallen Hero. A character that used to be good but gave in to their demons and ultimately turned to the side of evil. These villains tend to be even scarier than those who are inherently evil because it shows how even those with the most pure hearts can be corrupted

[notoriouswhitemoth]

There's another element to why Vader's offer works: following his father's legacy was what Luke wanted from the start, so it wasn't a new decision, but reframing a decision he'd already made to show what it would cost.

[JohnGPK]

Surprised you didn't talk about a villain's twisted honour code - Joker saying Gotham deserves a higher class of criminal who doesn't care about money is on point - the most charismatic villains often have lines they won't cross which can even seem perversely idealistic, but they are radically different to social acceptability so they are still unabashed villains (no crying about bad childhoods etc)

[chevalierlarouille]

I like the "unseen villain" even more than the masked one. Red John from the Mentalist is a good example. We know he exists, we dread his deeds, we sometimes see his hands or hear his voice, but nothing else. He can be anyone, any face the hero crosses in the street could be his. It gives the villain an ominous presence, almost supernatural. The hero and the audience can never rest, as he could be hiding in any scene behind the most benign character

[stuartforbes]

I like the villain with something really mundane about them, something everyday that they do while being evil. Calmly threatening someone while doing something as ordinary as just eating a sandwich can be chilling - it humanises them and makes them relatable.

[Zekrel]

I love ‘Pure Evil’ Villains. Specifically, villains that don’t believe they’re actions are just and know they are evil but are having fun committing heinous acts of evil.

[isaacmoore]

“Nobody panics when things go according to plan even if the plan is horrifying” is such a great line from Joker in the Dark Knight that also sheds light on his character and his motives.

[ArtyDeez]

One of my favorite villain tropes is when the main villain is treated like some sort of boogeyman, as if even saying their name is bad luck. However, if youre going to use this trope, be damn sure that the villain delivers on the hype. There's nothing more irritating than a weak villain showing up after people treat them like they're literally Satan

[joelmole]

A great villain trope is joke villains or comic relief who gradually become more and more of a threat as the movie goes along. See Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Wheatly from Portal 2 and the Spot from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

[cosmicspacething]

The villain cornering the hero can be messed up heavily if the hero doesn’t have any struggle, and gets out of it easily. That’s usually a big letdown…

[lucasthebigl]

I think an underrated type of vilain is the pure evil vilain.
Nowadays way too many vilains have depths, which is away from a bad thing but it would be cool to see a ruthless, murderous, cold vilain.

[Don-olze]

Don't know if it's a villain trope per se, but I'm a sucker for when a hero or heroes are forced to team up with a villainous character (usually a magnificent bastard of some sort) either for the sake of survival or out of a need to face a far worse threat.

[GalaxxE_Gaming]

I would like to see Brandon talk about good vs bad internal conflicts if he made any

[elvenaubade]

My favorite villain trope is “the conflicted villain”. We often see heroes being heroic despite their fears because they think it’s for the greater good but what about villains with the exact same motivation but backing the wrong cause? I think it’s super intriguing to see how fear can move people to change but not everyone changes for the better.

[bignapolean]

I don't know if this is a trope but I like when the villains are shown being influential and charismatic with thier followers and partners, even if it's fake, rehearsed, etc. It adds realism. So often, I see villains acting out and I wonder, who would work for this person?

[MegaTankv]

I'm rather fond of villain protagonists done well, and _especially_ when the story covers their descent into villainy. It creates an interesting dynamic that challenges the audience on whether they agree with the actions, and different people can easily come up with different answers.

[mastermichael]

i like villains that 1. care about their team/group 2. are not arrogant and 3. are not super overpowered but are still extremely dangerous. An example of a villain who is like this is Grand Admiral Thrawn.

[_KaiTheGamer_]

One of my more recently discovered favorite tropes is when the villain still influences the world even after they're actually killed. JoJo's Bizarre Adventures does this fantastically: each subsequent part of the main continuity (Parts 1 - 6) is directly affected by Dio (he basically causes Parts 1 and 3), or is in some way closely related to him (Part 2 and the Stone Mask, Parts 4 and 5 and the Stand Arrows, and Part 6 with Enrico Pucci, DIO's journal, and Jotaro's memory of said journal).

[TheDukeofMadness]

I've often thought that an accidental femme fatale would be an interesting twist. Where the love interest in a story breaks the main character by accident rather than design.