7 Antagonist Mistakes New Fantasy Writers Make

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Avoid these mistakes to write better antagonists.

⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction
00:40 - Mistake 1
07:17 - Mistake 2
09:16 - Mistake 3
11:16 - Mistake 4
13:57 - Mistake 5
15:30 - Mistake 6
17:16 - Mistake 7

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Lord of the Rings is actually really weird in many ways if you think about it. The main antagonist isn't even in the book as a character (Sauron). He just "sits" there on top of the tower and order things about and look. While the Ring, an object, is a much more active force around the main characters. It's pretty unusual and weird. But good though. :)

SysterYster
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I actually have a saying that goes along with that outline point: "writing is kind of like parkour. If you know where you want to land, it's a lot easier to plan your route."

TheTraveler
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Boromir isn't really a false ally, his character arc just led him from protagonist to pseudo antagonist, because while he attacked Frodo he died for his allies

tacochaos
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My main issue with mistake 6 is that sometimes you just want a simple villain with simple goals, like big jack horner or dr eggman. These guys have the simple goals of get power and in the case of eggman make a wonderland of his own vision. These characters are well loved despite their simple goals, and its because of these simple goals that they work as characters, ones that are comedic yet still a force to be respected. My issue with 7 is that an antagonist can't always be opposite to their protagonist, particularly when you have multiple characters in a traveling party, because the smart guy going against someone who outdoes them with their tech is not gonna bother the big smash guy too much, so that's often hard to balance (you can also do unique things with unbalanced rivals, like big smash guy against a similarly stong guy with much higher intelligence, an outbalanced situation which requires smart thinking from big smash guy to outdo the smart guy with tech and muscles

mrhalfsaid
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Magneto actually fits into both Anti-Villain and Shapeshifter categories. The movies constantly had him become a friend to the heroes then turn on them.

jinxie
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This made me realize most mooks are basically forces of nature, they're more of a light drizzle than a storm though

maldonr
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The Evil Overlord List is extremely helpful and hilarious. It's fun to see how many clichés and oblivious villains we have in a lot of movies and books, and how easily are they fixed lol

yendrian
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If Voldemort counts as a force of nature, then my primary antagonist also counts as a force of nature. And an ally being replaced by an imposter would be a "false ally" archetype

s.q.-e
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I love the idea of an antagonist that basically has a copy of the Evil Overlord List, or a fictional equivalent, that they constantly consult.

MinariCapore
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Your antagonist making a mistake because they are angry, or simply shortsighted, is a perfectly acceptable reason to have them make a mistake that's obvious to the audience because the audience is more omniscient than the antagonist.

Maeve_Rose
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"Without a strong antagonist your story is going to be boring"-- this is only true if your story is about a character overcome a particular opponent. Stories where the protagonist's struggles are either against themselves (disease, curse, etc.) or against environmental threats don't actually need a strong antagonist to tell a compelling story. In fact, some character journeys are not really conducive to having one big bad that they have some deep-seeded personal animosity against and they are the underdog against because the character might be constantly traveling and there is no time to build up such a relationship so it would feel awfully shoe-horned in. You are limiting the kinds of stories you can write by insisting that the struggles of the main character have to be embodied in a particular antagonist.

TheHobgoblyn
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Referring back to David and Goliath; the sling was once the most devastating ranged weapon on the planet, being able to hurl a stone at speed would be a KO even with helmets in some cases, so who really is the underdog, the young boy with the deadly weapon, or his massive target.
The story works well as a way to demonstrate a hidden underdog, or a perception of an underdog, as in reality, it's Goliath who was actually disproportionately armed in that fight

scarecrowsurprise
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Voldermort, Snape are also dark reflection of Harry, they were all kids who found home at Hogwart but their stories turned out completely different from each other due to the love and suppport from other people arround them along their journey

ucnguyen
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i was planning to do a mix of dark mirror, the antivillain, and the shapeshifter
This character will be very close to the mc, and have a similar goal. And instead of introducing this character as the main antagonist upfront, instead i planned to make it so this person has tried every mean and method to bring his goal humanely before he falls.
The reason for his fall is the death of multiple of his comrades which drive him to the bring and desperate realization: there is only true equality in death.
Eventually driving the story and becoming the main antagonist. This character tries his new immoral ways to bring about equality: Death to all or, make them band together despite their differences to face a common enemy.

He then flip flops from being an ally to enemy. from spectator to actor.
I know its a lot but its way more simple when explained like this

hyotum
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Hey Typhoon! I've come to bargain!

angelhurtado
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You can make an antagonist and a protagonist fight each other without conflicting goals,
if you make the real antagonist be misunderstanding itself.
They each fight to achieve their own goals while they misinterpret the actions of the other, making them see each other as a threat to their own goal.

If this misunderstanding is realized, the antagonist and the protagonist suddenly have a common enemy, that they defeat by making peace with each other.

But if the misunderstanding is never acknowledged: You've got yourself a tragedy.
The audience knows the solution to the conflict, but they must watch as that solution is never achieved by the characters.
A story like this can have the purpose of teaching the audience a moral lesson (for example).

tyronorxy
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When I heard False Ally I immediately thought of Luke Castallen from percy jackson

eclipsemoon
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another example of "the shapeshifter" is Hondo Onaka from Star Wars the clone wars.

yetimasterstudios
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The banana part had me dying 😂😂😂😂😂😂 This guy never fails to make great thumbnails

BolognaBuck
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The T-1000 from Terminator 2 is a classic Force of Nature. This also highlights a compelling way of using the Force of Nature: have it be initially unstoppable. The protagonist cannot "win" against it at all, and must escape or "play around" it until they discover a way to decisively defeat it. This averts the staleness of the Force because it puts the emphasis back on how the protagonist reacts and grows in response.

Another fun thing to do with the Force of Nature is to present it initially as mindless or robotic, and later reveal that it is in fact intelligent and presumably malevolent. Readers/audiences naturally see a Force of Nature as animalistic or elemental, so this can be a very effective twist or shock. This can also be used to shift the balance back in favour of the antagonist after allowing the protagonist a brief victory, by showing that it has learned how to counter the protagonist's method of defeating it.

notatallheng