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Villains and Various Rants (updates, nanowrimo, and a tag)

by Sarah Baran

Whazzup, folks?

(Oh, that was bad. Let’s try this again.)

Pleasant morning, my wild herd of minions! (Except it’s technically afternoon.)

I hope you’ve noticed the snazzy new graphics around here. The beautiful logo and newsletter button are courtesy of Kendra Lynne, who deserves a massive huzzah for her efforts. Can we take a moment and give her that?

HUZZAH!!

Kendra, you’re a dear.

Also, shout-out to all the NaNoWriMo loonies embarking on their month-long journey of stress-induced baldness! Coincidentally, I’m actually joining that rank this year. I know, I know–

“But SCHOOL!”

“But TIME!”

“But PERFECTIONISM!”

“But INSANITY!”

I recognize all of those (entirely credible) negative points, and given the massive logic behind each of them, I’m not deluded enough to think I’ll actually complete this thing. But hey, I’ve always wanted to at least try, and I’d rather try and fail than not try at all.

#Inspiration #NailedIt

Also, for the poor uneducated souls who don’t know what Nanowrimo is: November, being National Novel Writing Month, is when a bunch of mentally ill people ATTEMPT to write 50,000 words (a full length novel) in thirty days. No, I’m not starting a new book, but I thought I might try it on my already-in-progress story and see if I can’t get this thing done by the end of the year.

Yes, I’m an overachiever. What of it?

That being said, it seemed only fitting that we start the month off with a nerdy and bookish blog post. (The inspiration for which I happened to steal, but shhh, let’s not talk about that.) Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to present–

The Villains Award Book Tag, by Paper Fury.

Let’s do this.

 

Villain You Absolutely DESPISE And HATE.

Have I ever hated a villain?

Uh…

I’ll admit, I had to think about this one for an uncomfortably long period of time before I came to an even more uncomfortable conclusion:

I’ve never hated a villain.

 

Villain Who Is Entrancing

You know who I’m going to say. Come on. Deep down inside, you know it.

loki

Yep. That guy. He’s horrible, but for some strange reason, I like him. Maybe it’s the tragedy of his past that captured my fascination. Maybe it’s his charisma. Maybe it’s the sheer unpredictability of his moral alignment — is he good? Is he bad? Is he misunderstood?

Is he going to stab Thor within the next thirty-five seconds?

loki1

Who knows?

 

Book You’d Like To Read From Villain’s Perspective

Picture this:

Eragon.

Except this time, it’s called Murtagh.

And instead of suffering through 500+ pages of whiny hero stereotypes, we get to read about someone who’s actually interesting.

What a novelty.

 

Worst Antagonistic YA Parents

All the YA parents I’ve read about are dead, so…

I mean, hey, I consider death antagonistic.

 

Antihero Who Is a Little Bad, Little Good

Dustfinger from Inkheart. I’m not entirely proud of myself for liking a faithless coward, but there’s something incredibly heartbreaking about this guy, even if his moral standards aren’t completely… admirable. He got locked out of his world for ten years. He takes care of hapless little orphan boys. He speaks to fire.

Yep, I’m sold.

 

Villain Made From Tragic Circumstances

Logically speaking, 90% of villains actually consider themselves victims, so…

(Yes, I know what you’re thinking — Why do I even bother with tags when all I do is make fun of the questions? Sorry. I’ll attempt to be more serious.)

*tries to be serious*

*fails*

Anybody who says Smeagol isn’t a tragic villain clearly has never been kicked out of their village and possessed by a maniac piece of metal. I mean, the poor guy! All he did was sort-of accidentally throttle someone to death. The other hobbits were totally over-reacting.

(Yes, I’m joking. I don’t condone sort-of accidental throttlings.)

 

Antagonist Who Gets In Hero’s Way But Isn’t Necessarily “Pure Evil”

thranduil

Imma gonna steal this one from Kendra Lynne (who, coincidentally, I stole the tag from) and say Thranduil. Sure, he can be annoying, but he’s not necessarily trying to be horrible. All he wants is to incinerate the entirety of Dwarf kind.

No biggy.

Plus, the guy’s got great eyebrows. Believe it or not, a character’s depth of evil is considerably reduced depending on how cool their eyebrows are. Observe:

villain

Villains, all of ’em. Eyebrowless, all of ’em.

 

A Non-Human Villain

a

“She’d like us to believe it,” said Mr. Beaver, “and it’s on that that she bases her claim to be Queen. But she’s no Daughter of Eve. She comes of your father Adam’s—” (here Mr. Beaver bowed) “your father Adam’s first wife, her they called Lilith. And she was one of the Jinn. That’s what she comes from on one side. And on the other she comes of the giants. No, no, there isn’t a drop of real Human blood in the Witch.”

 

I’ll admit, there was a… *cough* phase of my life where I was convinced I was the White Witch. I’m… not proud. I obviously didn’t get the memo that you are NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES supposed to emulate the baddies.

 

Villain Who You Think Is Wicked But They’re Intriguing

Honestly? Mairon. From Middle Earth. Otherwise known as Sauron before he got obsessed with jewelry. The way he managed to deceive an entire civilization of humans who were, by all rights, considered the “smarter” ones of Middle Earth is impressive, to say the least.

Though let’s be honest, every character in the Silmarillion is essentially a villain.

 

Antagonist Who Gets A Redemption Arc

kylo

Kylo Ren. Why are you staring at me like that? IT’S GONNA HAPPEN, OKAY???

Even if he did kind of… you know… blow up planets.

 

 

If you’re in the tag stealing mood, like I was, here are the questions:

1.) Villain you absolutely DESPISE and HATE

2.) Villain who is entrancing

3.) Book you’d like to read from a villain’s perspective

4.) Worst antagonistic YA parents

5.) Antihero who is a little bad, little good

6.) Villain made from tragic circumstances

7.) Antagonist who gets in hero’s way but isn’t necessarily “pure evil”

8.) A non-human villain

9.) Villain you think is wicked but find intriguing

10.) Antagonist who gets a redemption arc

 

Have at it! And good luck to my nanowrimo buddies. You lot are insane.

(Yeah, yeah, look what that says about me. Get over yourself.)

~Sarah

 

38 thoughts on “Villains and Various Rants (updates, nanowrimo, and a tag)”

  2. I want to attempt NaNoWriMo… eventually…

    I love all of your choices. And if it makes you feel any better, I’ve never hated any villains either. Maybe that is an INTJ trait… because we’re so philosophical and don’t share any traits/have any sympathy for the villains… *cough*

    See, the eyebrow thing makes sense. It makes them insecure… Most villains are bald too… (Studio C: Supervillain Interrogation, anyone?)

    And it is really true. When are there ever any YA parents?

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    1. Oh yes, we have NOTHING in common with villains. Nothing. *cough*

      HA, yes, I can imagine I’d feel rather insecure if I didn’t have any eyebrows, too. Like Levana from the Lunar Chronicles. And THAT STUDIO C IS GOLD.

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      1. Nope… nothing at all… *casually shoves map of the world and maps of fandom worlds into a bag* No plans for world domination from any INTJs I know…

        YESSSS!!!! I forgot that Levana doesn’t have eyebrows! *gasps in horror* how could I forget that?! Yes, Studio C is amazing. 😀 Their first 6-7 seasons were gold.

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  3. *stares* Smeagol… is a villain?! *blinks slowly*
    I think the world as I knew it just ended.
    (also, I’ve never hated any villains either? something made them the way they are, and I’d rather spend my energy trying to figure out what that is than in useless hatred of them)
    *cheers on Kylo Ren* YES PLEASE

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    1. Well, okay, rephrase: GOLLUM is a villain. At least in MY opinion. *puts your world back together*

      Yes, exactly! I definitely don’t like what they DO, but they themselves actually offer interesting insight on humanity. Particularly when you meet grumpy/mean/rude people in real life and instead of being annoyed by them, you wonder what sort of backstory led to this moment.

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  4. THAT WAS A COOL TAG. O.o

    Extreme best wishes for the real NaNo not the fake camp thing. *wry grin* I’ll write your epitaph when you’re ready. But yeah seriously, better to try and fail than not try at all. Keep lots of chocolate on hand. 😀

    (And YES, Eragon from Murtagh’s perspective. How many times have we wished such. And yet there’s not even a single SCENE from his POV in the whole series. *fumes*)

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    1. I THOUGHT SO TOO.

      Yeah, thanks… I might need that epitaph within the next week. Ooooh boy.

      (Christopher Paolini made many mistakes in those books, but I will always count that one as the highest. Sheeeesh.)

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  5. I have never been more thankful to have eyebrows. #teameyebrow

    By the way,I’m never going to forgive you for not including Mr. Skimpole as the most despised character/villian in book history. Eyebrows or not, I’ve never hated a character more. Bleck. 🙂

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    2. I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT CREATURE IN THE HALLOWED AND RESPECTABLE RANKS OF VILLAINY.

      His name is a blot upon character-kind and I would thank thee NOT to mention it again. Despite his possession of eyebrows.

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  7. #Team Eyebrows. Note that Loki has some exceptional ones too.
    Thranduil’s always been my favorite. 🙂 And I agree that the Eragon story would be SO MUCH BETTER told from Murtagh’s POV. (Also from Saphira’s POV! The few scenes like that in the book were gold. But she isn’t a villain.)

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    1. #TeamEyebrows must become a thing.

      And heeeeey, you’re right! The presence of eyebrows is a stunning reminder that Loki is, perhaps, not quite as villainous as he would have us believe. You, my friend, are a genius. 😂

      I’m 90% positive that everyone who read those books wished for the same thing. Sheesh.

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      1. I have a serious thing for characters with eyebrows…..it’s sad.

        HOW COULD YOU NOT NOTICE THEM AT FIRST?? Loki’s eyebrows are beautiful. Like mournful caterpillars.

        *accepts genius award* thank you friend.

        Yeah, Eragon was a sadly evident author’s self-insert. Yet the other characters were so developed and great!

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  9. HOW DID I NEVER NOTICE THAT SO FEW VILLAINS HAVE EYEBROWS??? This is a life-changing piece of information to have. *considers shaving off her villains’ eyebrows*

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  11. Eyebrows. Interesting. I like to watch people who have interesting eyebrows, because you can convey so much with movements of those bits of hair, and it can be refreshing to say “His eyebrows were vertical” instead of “he looked surprised and sceptical”. But I never noticed that villains tend not to have them.

    I never finished the Ink- books, but Dustfinger won my heart more than any of the other characters did, despite his flaws.

    Murtagh, oh yes. Except for the wearing-black-leather thing I rather liked him. Which is definitely more than I can say for Eragon. But those books were so poorly written and plagiarized from everywhere it would be hard not to ruin them. . . . “Born in the province of Inzilbeth” sticks with me to this day. You can’t just STEAL the name of a NUMENOREAN QUEEN, young man. Gahh.

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    1. I agree with you! And Hrothgar’s name BOTHERED ME NO END. HROTHGAR IS A KING SUFFERING FROM GRENDEL’S ATTACKS IN BEOWULF NOT A KING UNDER THE MOUNTAIN!

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      1. And there’s no linguistic consistency, no discernible pattern behind names. anywhere. in the series. This is not intelligent design.

        But the thing that bothers me most isn’t that the books are out in all their shabbiness, it’s that people rave over how good they are. Because there’s so many many books out there which are so much more worth spending your time on, and they don’t know, and they might not have the taste to tell which are good and which aren’t if they were confronted with them.

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        1. …you two were a lot more educated when you read those books than I was. XD Now I almost want to read them again, just to see how many things my improved literary diet will make me pick up on. Like Inzilbeth. That’s just… wrong.

          And YES, it annoys me to no end how much people seem to love them. Sadly, I think that’s happened with almost every single work of popular fiction. (Such as Twilight or Divergent.) Our society has been spoon-fed such a weak sampling of writing that they’ve lost all ability to discern what good, quality literature looks like, and to appreciate it when they find it. It’s tragic, really.

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  12. *nods* Loki. Great person- Lots of stabbing, lots of magic, lots of faking his own death. How could we NOT love him?

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  13. This is slightly worrying for those of us who have eyebrows like Thranduil…… I guess it means I’m good at getting in the way and being sort of villain-ish… 😮

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  14. Have you ever really, really spent some time thinking about why it is that the villains are always the most interesting?

    I haven’t, so I’ll leave y’all to do it yourselves, and put it on my list of things of useless questions to mull over. But right off the bat, I have at least one theory: villains tend to be strong mixtures of good and bad, whereas heroes usually aren’t.

    Yeah, okay, so there’s counterexamples. And a hero with a strong mixture isn’t really a hero in most people’s minds. But I think it has something to do with it.

    Also, I generally avoid writing more than one completely positive character in a story. Shades of grey are far more interesting, yes? Someone back me up here?

    Oh, and I loved your blog post. As always. 🙂

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