This lady has a really good article on it.
… there are some villains who simply enjoy being evil. Not only does this author stand by that point, she wishes to emphasize it once again.
A great many creative writing classes and far too much writing advice insist that authors should make their villains interesting. They repeat platitudes such as, “Every villain is a hero in his own mind,” and/or advise future authors to delve into the traumas experienced by the antagonists in order to “explain” why they want what they want. Or they are told to give their antagonists certain personality disorders to make the villains sympathetic.
I concur with author Declan Finn and consider many of these claims to be little more than methods to excuse human evil. There are plenty of evil people in the real world who not only know that they are doing wrong, they enjoy it. As the saying goes, some people just want to see the world burn.
If that interests you, please go read “Further Reflections on Evil.”
I dislike the “he’s only insane not evil” excuse.
Oh, Julian May (in her Exile Saga) had an interesting villain who was insane.
The Problem was that after she was cured of her insanity, she was still evil but “better at being evil”. 😆
Villains need to be as unique and suited to the story as the heroes.
Sometimes that means a backstory, sometimes that means they are just a pure evil force.
What I always caution for anyone is to make your evil characters RATIONAL. Too many will have villains take completely nonsensical actions because “they are evil” or “don’t like the hero.” If you need to invent a complex backstory to explain why your bad guy doesn’t stop to take every candy from every baby, then do so. As long as you make them consistent!
Likewise; I’ve seen a lot of crazy people who are neither evil nor dangerous– they don’t have any malice.
Evil takes malice. You can be a danger if you’re crazy and not malicious, but it’s like weather…. it’s just a thing that is.
Dr. Dozous: Evidently, she’d been asked to convey a message, because shortly after she turned to the crowd and said,
“Pray for all sinners.”
Jacomet: Anyone who talks to something that isn’t there is feebleminded.
Dr. Dozous: Another medical possibility which I took into consideration. Wanting to test her mental abilities, I put this question to her:
“Do you know what a sinner is?”
Without hesitation, she answered,
“Certainly, monsieur. A sinner is one who loves evil.”
That’s quite a good answer. What pleased me was that she said “loves” and not “does.” Well, after this, any diagnosis of feeblemindedness was out of the question.
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Jacomet: Anyone who talks to something that isn’t there is feebleminded.
:::considers in terms of story with Space UN dealing with smaller, not allied groups that actually still allow religious views:::
shudder
After Batman has met the Joker he asks Alfred, “What does he want?”. Alfred says, “He doesn’t want anything. Some people just want to watch the world burn”.
In 2013 a horrific act of violence was made known through the news outlets. An evil, that even to this day, has shuddered my core. I guess that there is no shortage of material for any aspiring writers of horror stories;
NEW YORK (AP) — A father threw his young child off the roof of a 52-story Manhattan apartment building in a murder-suicide on the first day he was allowed to be alone with the boy amid an ugly custody battle with the mother, police officials said Monday.
“There was a history of domestic turmoil,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters.
Dmitriy Kanarikov picked up his 3-year-old son at 10 a.m. Sunday at a Manhattan police precinct — a neutral site negotiated in advance by the parents — to spend time with him for the first time “outside of some sort of institutional setting,” Kelly said.
Three years old.
Unconscionable.
Evil characters abound.
There are a lot of cases like that.
It’s why “kidnapped by non-custodial parent” gets so much attention/police support– because a lot of the time…. the only reason they want the kid is to hurt the other one.
I simply can’t even imagine.
Horrific.
Evil incarnate.
As the saying goes, some people just want to see the world burn.
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2021/05/24/st-louis-murder-rate-soaring-mayor-announces-plan-to-defund-police-shut-down-a-city-jail-1078454/