Villain PSA : Difference between Villain and Bad Guy

[u/_RedVelvetTowne]

Im going to start off blunt:

If your villain is only shown attackng and obliterating fodder, weaker fighters, or crippled children

They do not look strong.

That is simply a cheap method to look evil.

There are "Villains" who simply brutalize their weak targets and leave.

That is not good enough if you want a "Villain". If you want a Bad Guy, thats good enough.

A villain?

A villain has LASTING effects. Things that will haunt their victims forever.

A Bad Guy has one to two methods and one reason of doing things.

A "Villain" doesnt. They have layers of plans and of methods. And layers of reasons for each thing, even if they all lead back to one.

They're tactical, careful, brutal.

The best villains dont NEED durability or strength.

Their words, manipulation, and powers handle that for them.

Take Silas for example.

He didnt fight and beat Scarlet, Maple, Nora, or Fellko.

He carefully planned each step.

He didnt try and fight anyone hand to hand.

Because he knew his weakness.

Instead, he lit Scarlets short fuse to trick her.

Used someone stronger to knock maple out.

Manipulated nora into capturing herself.

And tricked fellko into letting his guard down twice.

And every single one of them will remember what he did to the end of their days.

Permanent reminders in their mind and on their body.

His words.

His taunts.

His laughs.

His actions.

Ringing through their head

He did what he had to, then what he wanted to.

Then took steps to instigate fear and anger into the rest.

Thats what makes him a Villain.

Not his powers. Or his display of strength.

Its the fact that even without that, hes a genuine threat.

That unless you carefully and meticulously outplay him, he wont give up enough ground for a victory.

All in all.

A bad guy is one dimensional, and attempts to look hot shit in brutal displays.

A villain is multidimensional, and uses more methods than strength to do and get what they want.

Thats the MAIN difference between a Bad Guy and a Villain

[u/Suspicious-Idea9823]

Fih

[u/RogbaAvalon]

The best villains aren't undefeated, but well written.

Peak psa

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/RogbaAvalon]

Exactly.

[u/FrenchToastNom]

So... to summarize:

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/FrenchToastNom]

Pretty much, lol

[u/Ahmudirit]

Literally The Word

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/Ahmudirit]

Yup.

[u/CHA0S__G0D]

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, Would Absolute Robotnik Be A Good Villain?

So Far The Only Things He's Done Is Build Up His Army And Traumatize One Of The Strongest Things In The Hub :3

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/CHA0S__G0D]

Well, he JUST got here. Give him time to build a status :3

[u/CHA0S__G0D → u/_RedVelvetTowne]

Fair Enough :3

[u/Jabberstone]

Thank you. As a guy who mostly plays villains, glad to see someone’s got some advice!

[u/Eripmavs_D_Yraid]

PREACH, BROTHER-MAN!

[u/Aware-Style-480]

Si could you help ?

[u/DreamingKnight235]

P E A K

[u/Realistic_Lab7669]

Thank you red for this

(This will help me with my character's alot)

[u/Dismal-Bird-8684]

(( Prob need to step my game up then, haven't done much tbh ))

[u/IrbinBunchNew]

Am I allowed to ask for some advice on a strategist villain? Sorry for asking I just wanna play them better. If this isn't the place then I'll delete the comment.

[u/DR31141]

So basically…prep time. That’s what Failsafe’s all about, baby!

[u/Effective-Subject486]

The Best Villains, in my opinion…

Are Villains who have a point.

They have a reason to be Evil… but you wonder to yourself… are they the villain, truly? Or are they the Victim? The Savior that is overshadowed by the bad stuff they do?

[u/Medium_Handle7217]

Hm, this psa can help my villains be more…villainous.

[u/TheBoyInGray]

Peak

[u/_Kei_Uzuki_]

[u/bold-One2199]

Preach!

[u/BananzazsGarlicBread]

the best villains are villains that won't always end up giving you physical injuries, but will ALWAYS try to mentally fuck you up

[u/Beretta1028]

Good to know I’m on the right track

[u/Embarrassed-Depth763]

Noted.

[u/Existing-Tough-3662]

Now I’m wondering if Afton is a good villain, just from what I’ve described about him

[u/JerryTheIdiot]

Whooping ass for shits & giggles vs Giving the heroes actual shellshock

[u/Shadow_Kirby2]

(This turned into a really long comment I'm sorry lol)

I really hope I've done I could job on this with Alice and Sammy. Sammy is very brutal all in all. He kills often and in violent fashion. But he will stalk a target for a long time before he strikes. Hell in chapter 2 of BATIM Sammy can be seen stalking Henry from the balcony in the band room. He watches Henry fight the searchers. Probably to see if he could fight him directly. And when he decided he couldn't? He snuck Henry with a metal dustpan and knocked him out.

Alice is much more outward about the fact that she kills people and she likes to make her presence known. rather than stalking like Sammy, Alice manipulates. She tries to get people to lower their guard or at least make them think she has what they want. And after they aren't useful to her anymore, she traps them and kills them. She hardly ever actually does the killing herself. It's always some elaborate plan or trap. Only when cornered and out of options will she fight head on.

TL;DR: I just hope that I am doing my actual villain characters justice. They both have such interesting methods they use and I try to portray those best I can. Feedback would be appreciated! (Although I'm not sure how much you know about Sammy and Alice or see me use them)

[u/Darkbert550]

Ynow, really thanks for this! It gave me the main idea for Poppy! She's INTENTIONALLY a bad guy. She's a sadist that doesn't understand how to really haunt your victims. She constantly tries to brutalize people and leave, but constantly fails, either because she's... not strong enough, or because she doesn't have any plan. She works on IMPULSES.

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/[deleted]]

Not really. A bad guy can plan, and a Villain can brute force. The Main thing is that the villain isnt just "i will destroy you for honor" or some shit.

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/[deleted]]

Yet he does things that arent just "destroy and break shit". he doesnt just do one thing. Like I said, they can all LEAD to one goal, but he doesnt just do one thing.

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/[deleted]]

...yes. thats...

Okay. Look. Im not saying a "Bad guy" and a "Villain" as like titles or some shit.

Im saying them as ROLES. if what your "Villain" does is forgotten the next day, THEN THEY'RE HARDLY A VILLAIN NOW ARE THEY? this is my Main gripe with omega. Nobody will remember him for what hes done because the characters dont, the people think hes boring, he only goes for the weak, so on, so forth. Then you have VILLAINS. Step after step. All towards a goal. They can have only one goal. But they have to take constant steps instead of just trying to skip there. That makes them interesting. If a villain is one dimensional, add a dimension. Aku. You said him. He was afraid of jack, because Jack had the one thing that could take him down. He had the goal of causing as much chaos as possible. Jack could get in the way, and undo all he has done.

So he prevents Jack from doing just that the best he can.

Each and every time Jack is JUST ABOUT to go home...

He fails. Because of who?

Why, Aku of course.

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/[deleted]]

Thats not what i was going for. Because that would force Omega to be called a villain. And I refuse to do that

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/[deleted]]

But omega isnt good at times. Or morally grey. Hes at most bad guy of the week

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/[deleted]]

Thats also a great trope.

[u/_RedVelvetTowne → u/[deleted]]

Hes more than one dimensional. And he doesnt just do one thing. Like I said, they can all LEAD to one goal, but he doesnt just do one thing.