Fallen Heroes: Sixteen Master Villain Archetypes By Tami D. Cowden Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2011 by Tami D. Cowden Cover Design by Winterheart Design A Note from the Author The book you have purchased contains the lectures and exercises used during the online classes I gave several years ago. My current schedule does not allow me to continue to give those classes, but I receive frequent inquiry about them. Accordingly, I decided to make the content from the class available in this form. The lectures here are as they were in the classes, with some cleanup here and there, a few changes due to the different medium, and a bit of updating of the examples. Because most of my students were familiar with the book about hero and heroine archetypes written by Caro LaFever, Sue Viders and me, The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes (Lone Eagle 2000), I often referred to it or to those archetypes. While you do not need to have that book to understand the Villain Archetypes, you might find it useful. It is available in both print and digital form. You can also find a description of the hero and heroine archetypes at my website, www.heroarchetypes.com Please feel free to write to me with any questions or comments you have: [email protected]. Write your characters with passion! Tami INTRODUCTION What are Archetypes? The word was coined by Carl Jung, who theorized that humans have a collective unconscious, "deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity.... a kind of readiness to reproduce over and over again the same or similar mythical ideas...." This shared memory of experiences has resulted in a resonance of the concepts of hero and heroine that transcends time, place and culture. Jung called these recurring personalities archetypes, from the Greek word archetypos, meaning “first of its kind.” The observations my coauthors and I made for The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes (Lone Eagle, 2000) were that there are recurring character types who have starred in story after story, entertaining and informing the human experience for millennia. Review of myths, legends, fairy tales, epic poems, novels, and film reveals that the protagonist types who recur in these stories fall into sixteen distinctive categories, eight each for the heroes and heroines. Shortly after that, I took a look at villains – and discovered there are also sixteen – eight male, eight female, archetypes for those. Let me stop there for a second. “Villain.” That is the term I use, but I use it with some hesitancy. That word connotes evil, wickedness – real bad stuff. And if you are writing suspense or thrillers, that may well be the kind of villain you want to create. But not every story has a truly evil villain. Sometimes, the “villain” – or antagonist – is really more annoying than evil. Not a serial killer, just a thorn in the side of the hero and/or heroine. So if you’re writing a lighter story that needs someone for your hero and/or heroine to overcome, without that someone being evil, that’s just fine. Each of the villain archetypes we’ll discuss can be the really bad, horrible, scary type of villain. But each can also be more of the pain in the neck kind of villain. And every kind of villain in between. So keep this mind as you develop villains. This “class” will focuses on the sixteen villain archetypes. These archetypes are: Male: The TYRANT The BASTARD The DEVIL The TRAITOR The EVIL GENIUS The OUTCAST The SADIST The TERRORIST Female: The BITCH The BLACK WIDOW The BACKSTABBER The LUNATIC The PARASITE The SCHEMER The FANATIC The MATRIARCH These archetypes are not my invention – they have existed for millennia. What I have done is name and describe them, and provide examples of the characters individually. The names, by the way, are chosen with a view to conveying something of the character in a word or two. Please do not be offended at the choices. At his or her core, every well-defined villain is one of these sixteen archetypes – and this is so because each of these archetypes is based on a corresponding heroic archetype. If you take nothing else from this class – let it be this: The Villain is the hero of his or her own story. Because of these heroic underpinnings, the villain’s personality can find its roots in the heroic archetypes. The archetype tells the writer about the most basic instincts of the villain: how he thinks, how he feels, what drives him and why he chooses both his goals and his methods. The skillful writer, in turn, conveys these instincts to the readers or audience, who, knowing at a glance the character of this hero, settles down to watch the tale retold anew. Please note something very important here – AN ARCHETYPE IS NOT DETERMINED BY THE CHARACTER’S ACTIONS!!!! I am serious – what the character does is not the defining element. The defining element is WHY the character does what he does. “Any archetype can do anything – the question will always be why.”” Repeat that a thousand times. Tape it to your computer screen. If you have the hero/heroinebook, deface the cover by writing those words across it! What that means is that I don’t want you thinking you have to have four different archetypes because your villain does four things that are what those four archetypes does. Uh-uh. Not the way it works. WHY, WHY, WHY – always look for the answer to that question to determine an archetype. The existence of these archetypes, by the way, does not mean that in all of literature, there are only sixteen villains. Members of the same archetypal family are not photocopies of each other. Villains within a single archetypes share a similar psyche, but they are not and should not be clones of each other. Archetypes are not stereotypes; they are not cookie cutters. They can be considered a framework, or even better, a lump of clay of a particular color and consistency. Use the archetype as raw material to create a full bodied character. Now –the class itself. First a “handout” lists the sixteen villain archetypes. This is for easy reference – a single page lists the eight male, and another, the eight female villains, each with a short description. Then each villain archetype is presented in a separate “lecture.” I describe their general demeanors, common tendencies, likely childhood experiences and behaviors, and likely flaws and virtues. Then I give examples of characters who are members of the featured archetypes. I include both modern and classic examples, from literature, film, and television. My goal in giving all these various examples is try to hit at least two or three examples that each students recognizes. Books are the least likely media to be common among you – I am more likely to find a movie or TV show that a majority of you have read, than I am to find a particular book that is as well known. That is why I give movie and TV examples (I always get asked that questions!). And there are also exercises – never more than writing a few paragraphs - which will give you an opportunity to put what you have learned about the archetypes into practice. These exercises also have another purpose – exploring the four ways to show, not tell, characterization in your writing. And finally, just for fun, I have included the list that the American Film Institute recently compiled of the Top 50 Villains. A couple of those villains aren’t human, so the archetypes don’t apply, but otherwise, I also list the archetype. You can see for yourselves which are most popular. The eight VILLAIN archetypes The Tyrant: the bullying despot, he wants power at any price. He ruthlessly conquers all he surveys, crushing his enemies beneath his feet. People are but pawns to him, and he holds all the power pieces. Hesitate before getting in this man’s way – he’ll think nothing of destroying you. The BASTARD: the dispossessed son, he burns with resentment. He can’t have what he wants, so he lashes out to hurt those around him. His deeds are often for effect – he wants to provoke action in others. He proudly announces his rebellious dealings. Don’t be fooled by his boyish demeanor – he’s a bundle of hate. The DEVIL: the charming fiend, he gives people what he thinks they deserve. Charisma allows him to lure his victims to their own destruction. His ability to discover the moral weaknesses in others serves him well. Close your ears to his cajolery – he’ll tempt you to disaster. The TRAITOR: the double agent, he betrays those who trust him most. No one suspects the evil that lurks in his heart. Despite supportive smiles and sympathetic ears, he plots the destruction of his friends. Never turn your back on him -- he means you harm. The OUTCAST: the lonely outsider, he wants desperately to belong. Tortured and unforgiving, he has been set off from others, and usually for good cause. He craves redemption, but is willing to gain it by sacrificing others. Waste no sympathy on him - he’ll have none for you. The EVIL GENIUS: the malevolent mastermind, he loves to show off his superior intelligence. Intellectual inferiors are contemptible to him and that