You know your story is a little off when the villain makes more sense than the heroes.
Now, when crafting a story you want a villain to have understandable motives. If your antagonist's desires and wants aren't somewhat relatable, you can't process their evil actions as real. However, a writer might go too far in another direction and make them too relatable, bordering on becoming the more sympathetic character.
Reddit user, u/Arsh0911, wanted to know which villain was more relatable than the hero when they asked:
In what movie did you relate more with the antagonist?
Sometimes, the villain has easily understandable actions. You watch them film, taking in every horrific action they take, and think to yourself, "Well, yeah, of course they would act that way."
Like Tears In The Rain
"Roy Batty in Blade Runner. Though you're supposed to, that's kind of the point; by the end of the movie, the robot antagonist has shown far more humanity and empathy than the human protagonist."
Peace Was Never An Option
"Magneto, he's just a man who lost everything each time he wanted to live in peace."
"That backstory of him and his childhood in X-Men First Class made me have sympathy for him. Magneto is for sure one of my favorite comic book villains."
Michael Keaton Is NEVER The Antagonist
"Spider-man: Homecoming"
"Average working Joe, scraping a living, investing in his team, then some random government agency rock up and tell him "Tough, it's ours now," without the slightest bit of compensation for all the money he's spent to get things set up."
Looked At The Internet Lately? Yeah. Makes Sense.
"Avengers: Age of Ultron."
"All it took Ultron 5 minutes to analyse internet and come to a conclusion that humans aren't worthy to live"
You Killed The Man's Wife. What Did You Think Was Going To Happen?
"Dracula from Castlevania."
"He had a good point when he said the common people were also responsible for his wife's death, not the bishop alone. The church had the power to burn her at the stake because the common people gave them that power. In fact, the majority of the population of Targoviste were there cheering as his she burned."
"Don't get me wrong, straight genocide is too much, but every adult there cheering as a "witch" died deserved death what they got."
Why do we hate the rules? It seems that movies do their best to show the person who follows the regulations of the organization they work for as nothing more than big dorks who we should boo and jeer. In reality, we're probably more like these people than the rebellious antagonist because we like keeping our jobs.
*teeth clicking noise
"Top Gun."
"Maverick never should have been there in the first place. Top Gun is an instructor course. Graduates return to their squadron as training officers. A hotshot who doesn't follow the rules and flies dangerously is not going to be a good instructor. Iceman gets just as good results while obeying regulations and flying safely. He was a better topgun candidate and will make a better Instructor."
Mess With The Bull...
"The principal in The Breakfast Club. When I was 13, he seemed like a bully and a jerk; after teaching for awhile, I watched it again and realized he's spending his Saturday there because the kids were doing dumba-- stuff like shooting flare guns into their lockers and assaulting kids in the locker room, and they don't have the decency to just sit there during detention and not be pains in the a--."
It can take a lot to make you root for the "villain" of a story. It's not always intentional, though, as your views of a character's actions and motivations can shift as you get older. You've learned, you've seen more of the world, and you understand that sometimes a villain is just doing their job.
Parents Everywhere Understand
"Hands down The Lego Movie."
"The Dad just wanted to enjoy his hobby in the basement to relax and get away from his stressful job and life. But his kid would not let things be and kept messing with his stuff."
"I get it, I have two small children. All I want is an hour to myself to do something, like garden or crochet, and they're in my face, breaking plant stems because they want to "help" re-pot or tangling my yarn as they "help" hold the ball."
"I felt for that man so much."
Just A Cat Doing His Job
"Not a movie, but Tom. Jerry is a d-ck and bully for the most part."
"You know you are grown up when you start rooting for Tom. He was just doing his job as a cat and keeping his house free of rodent and the owners stuff not stolen."
They're Absolutely NOT Just For Kids
"Trix Rabbit. I know he's not from a movie, but if they had just given him some stupid cereal, he would have realized how gawd awful that stuff was and stopped wasting his life."
It's uncomfortable when you associate with the villain. Deep down you might think something is wrong with you, when in reality the filmmakers have made a film's antagonist too human, too real.
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