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Villains, Villains, Villains. Everyone loves villains. But how do you make a good one, you ask? Well, don't just slap in Herobrine (Note that Herobrine is completely fake) or the Ender Dragon because you can't come up with a villain. A villain does take some time to come up with. Here's a guide on how to do it:

Step 1: What's Your Villain?

Your villain can't be some indescribable deformity. It has to be SOMETHING. But, obviously, making it just a gremlin or something from another game isn't a good idea unless you're doing a crossover. An anthropomorphic creeper or the Ender Dragon would be played out unless you can use them in an original way (The Wooden House's Creeper King, for example). Our example villain will be a... zombie. But, how do we make it better than just a zombie?

Step 2: The Main Details

This step is the most important. If your villain isn't something unique, it'll probably be bland. So, let's think of some details for our example villain. Let's make him infected by mushrooms. But why would he be infected? Let's say he spawned in a mushroom biome (as most hostiles don't naturally spawn in mushroom biomes), and so therefore spawned like he is now. Now, let's give him some powers...

Step 3: Additional Details

Now's the time to give your villain some abilities. This mushroom-zombie hybrid should obviously have some mushroom-related powers. How about this:

1. All grass/dirt he steps on turns into mycelium
2. He can turn planted mushrooms into zombies similar to him (let's call them fungal zombies)
3. Any villagers he or his zombies infect turn into fungal zombies.
4. He can turn zombies into fungal zombies.
5. He can turn giants into fungal giants.
6. He can turn large mushrooms into fungal giants.
7. Whenever he uses any of his abilities (except the first one), a mushroom on his hand glows blue.

Now, let's also give him a steed. How about... a skeleton horse? Of course, you're villain doesn't have to have a steed, but this is an example of an additional detail.

Step 4: Name that Villain!

[sarcasm]As cool of a name as Bob is,[/sarcasm] your villain needs to have a really good name. A lot of villain names can come from Latin or Arabic. Let's use Latin for our villain's name. You want the name to be something related to the villain in English. Here are some words (and their latin forms) for the villain:

Mushroom: Boletum
Infect: Inficiunt
Lord: Dominus

This is kind of hard to pick. All of these aren't very good. Let's try a combination name: Dometum, perhaps? No. Inficetum? Well, that's pretty good. There are definitely better names for villains, but not really for our fungal zombie villain.

Step 5: Why?

So, you've got a name, a lot of details about your villain. But let's get to another extremely important point that I somehow forgot and recently added. What is your villain's goal? Let's go over the "bases" for any motive of any villain:

• Power
• Wealth
• Revenge
• Insanity

That really covers all the "base" motives. Let's go over the motives in detail now:

Power: Power is the most commonly used "go-to" motive. I'm not saying anything bad about it, or that you shouldn't use it. I'm just saying don't use it just because you can't come up with anything yourself. But why does your villain want power? Well, who doesn't? To be honest, you can't go very far with explaining power. So long as you don't exhaust it and make sure you're not just slapping in this motive then you're good.

Wealth: MONEY! Who doesn't love it? But why does your villain up and decide "Hey, I want money so I'm gonna come up with a super evil plan to get it." ? Well, they must have patience. A villain might have always wanted the money, but waited for the opportunity to come. This is probably the best way to incorporate it.

Revenge: You like revenge, right? EVERYBODY likes revenge? Well, let's go get some! Mind my portal 2 quotes Anyways, if your villain is really an evil guy, whatever happened to him must've been pretty bad. Make sure it's something original, too. Don't make it "you killed (insert family member here) so I'm going to kill you!".

Insanity: I know this sounds, well, insane, but hear me out here. A psychotic villain actually isn't too much of a bad idea. To use an insane villain correctly, he must've had something that made him go insane. A lab accident really doesn't apply here. This one is hard, but some sort of trauma is probably what you want to use here. For example, your villain might have been trapped in the End for several days because the portal had been blocked off and he had no tools to remove the barricade and so by the time he was rescued, he was totally insane. However, a psychotic villain still has to have one of the other 3 motives at least, partially. Insanity, while considered a motive, isn't something to be used on its own.

While this guide is mainly just examples, it still is probably of usefulness. Perhaps later I'll be doing a guide for creating your hero.

Nice! looks pretty good.

Pretty cool sc1020; glad to find other writers on the forums. Although you missed something out, the motives of the villain. While just having some all powerful troll ­ running around your story screwing stuff up for no apparent reason can be truly hilarious; if you want a villain who is truly memorable he needs an end goal. It can be as simple as total destruction. In fact, I've used that myself. Other basic goals can be; power; wealth; revenge; discrediting/exposing someone; the death of someone specific or a specific group of people; personal enjoyment, and of course the vilification/destruction/harming of the main characters. Hope I added something.

Quote from Kmandy

Pretty cool sc1020; glad to find other writers on the forums. Although you missed something out, the motives of the villain. While just having some all powerful troll ­ running around your story screwing stuff up for no apparent reason can be truly hilarious; if you want a villain who is truly memorable he needs an end goal. It can be as simple as total destruction. In fact, I've used that myself. Other basic goals can be; power; wealth; revenge; discrediting/exposing someone; the death of someone specific or a specific group of people; personal enjoyment, and of course the vilification/destruction/harming of the main characters. Hope I added something.

Added a section for motives! Thanks for the idea!

I'll post my story's villain so you guys can give me feedback on my villain, as well as see how well I utilized the villain creation guide...

Step 1: What's Your Villain?

". . . You see... he was a part of a laboratory experiment, testing a serum that was supposed to make a man invincible. However, when the serum was injected into his body, it had backfired. . . ."

Step 2: The Main Details

". . . His entire body turned into a green, gel-like substance, he grew three times his normal size, and he became somewhat stronger, despite the fact he's basically a person make out of green Jell-O. . . ."

Step 3: Additional Details

How about this:

• Any land he touches becomes swamp-like.
• The world's slimes were actually created by drips of slime off of his finger.
• He can absorb living beings that he steps on into his body, where they are suffocated, killed, and then digested.
• He has close ties with 2 other annoying/hostile mobs.
• He hates people.
• He hates me (i was in that laboratory... i wore these green gloves in that laboratory...)
• He wears a crown on his slimy head.

Step 4: Name that Villain!

Slime: Lutum
Lord: Dominus

So, it's not really an option. Lutinus it is!

Step 5: Why?

• Revenge

". . . He went stampeding out of the room towards a swamp. After that day, he wanted revenge on the world for what had happened to him. He created armies of slimy creatures like him to one day take over the world."

And the unwritten Step 6: How your Villain fits into the Story

10 years after the laboratory accident, Lutinus has created a large army consisting of 5 million slimy creatures. He plans to start by taking out the big guys...

BUT WHO ARE THE BIG GUYS? i'll let ya guess untill I make the story

Pretty cool Snapp. Looking forward to seeing how he turns out. Here's one of my many villains.

Step 1: What's Your Villain?

An old friend of the protagonist, possessed by an Endling (enderman) who was driven by his possessor to drive out the protagonist from his home. Initially a servant of the Ender King and the Court of Whispers, he was betrayed by them for his destructive nature during Herobrine's Great Onslaught. Since then, he has abandoned the Court of Whispers and joined with the Inquisition; and elite branch of the True Court of Mojang. Using his newfound position of authority he plays a key part in multiple criminal networks across the True Court's domain.

Step 2: The Main Details

The right side of his face has lost its human façade, the twisted black skin and glassy purple eye poking out limply. His right arm has also been unmasked, the talon-like fingers channelling some basic Endling magic. Has a thick black beard. Generally dressed in his scarlet inquisition uniform, a black suit or just a cobbled together suit similar to this I suppose:

http://blog.commarts...doctor-who.jpeg

Step 3: Additional Details

Endling hand can burn living matter.
Has an undying hatred for both Jeb's True Court and the Court of Whispers.
Scottish (I know, terrifying right?)
Skilled assassin.
Prefers blackmail and hiring people to do his dirty work for him.
Enjoys psychological and physical torture.
Has a twisted sense of humour.
Great ambitions.
One of the best informed bastards in the land. Sources are completely unconnected to him and by connection untraceable.

Step 4: Name that Villain!

He's Scottish so... HAMISH

Step 5: Why?

Insanity due to his possession and a shattering of the demon's view of reality. It is unclear just who is in charge at the moment, demon or man. The change in tact since the protagonist (Kay) has last seen him suggests that there has been a struggle, but not who came out on top.

And the unwritten Step 6: How your Villain fits into the Story

Is hired by Emperor Dominus and a mysterious figure known only as The Falcon to help organise a massive coup. Is used as bait for Kay in order to discredit and or kill him. The intent is unclear. Also seems to be serving an enigmatic man known as the Silhouette in order to join his criminal network.

Will update when I think of anything else. Please tell me what you think!

Story can be found through minefic list if you're interested. *ticks shameless self-publication off of pre-posting checklist*

Nice work, Kmandy.