Your villain character would not have always been a villain. They would have had a moment in their past where they were human, too. That makes it far scarier when they become a truly terrifying villain because they weren’t always this way. Heroes were turned into this by their events, the people around them, and their situations.
If you’re struggling to create your villainous characters, consider who your protagonist is and make your villain someone opposite in personality to your protagonist. To learn more about villain characters, stay with them till last.
How to write a hero turned villain?
Change is central to this idea of becoming a villain. It can add a lot of tension and interest to your story. So it’s one you want to have in your writing arsenal. You need ingredients that make that change possible whenever you have changed. There are some key ingredients for making a character who can become a villain later in the story.
I want to talk about how you can descend your hero characters into madness and slowly turn them into a villain throughout your story.
So let’s descend into the writing process together and talk about how you can create this exciting character dynamic and your manga creation. Follow these 10 tips for writing a hero turned villain story. Let’s begin!
1. Foreshadow the hero’s potential villainous side
If you want this dynamic to be realistic, you first need to foreshadow it subtly. Before this hero becomes a villain, you need to show their potentially villainous side when they are still considered a good character in your book. They should do things that the other hero characters in your book do not. They might see things differently and treat others differently than your hero does.
That is an excellent way to foreshadow a villain before you turn them into that character. Even they don’t know that they will become a villain by this point. These are some little aspects of their personality and the things they do in their day-to-day lives. That is a part of who they are, which they don’t realize yet, making them more villainous.
- When changing a hero to a villain, consider what type of villain you eventually want them to become.
- Consider how you can show subtle aspects of that personality in your hero character to foreshadow it to your audience.
2. Give your hero a seven deadly sin
The seven deadly sins are typically ordered as pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. I’m talking about the seven deadly sins regarding turning a hero into a villain because what causes them to descend into madness is the result of one of these seven deadly sins. For example, if you have a hero you want to turn into a villain, they might become a villain due to greed for money or fame.
If you were creating a character with wrath, then their rough would turn them into a villain. They might want to get revenge that is not morally good. So that causes them to shift into your villainous character eventually.
- When you are developing a hero, and you want to turn them into a villain, consider what helps you shift them into a much more natural way.
By choosing seven deadly sins, you can ensure that their criminal shift is far more natural and realistic in your story.
3. Have a vision
Give your characters a strong goal that they would do anything to achieve. Heroes usually become villains because of their goals. If there is something they wish to achieve, no matter what, that goal might shift them into a villainous character. It will be a result of their determination to achieve their goals.
For example, if they want to save a loved one, they must save the other hero if they have someone important. Characters might not have any solution, but they may find that by becoming a villain, also they find a solution to this. They do it in an unorthodox way, which is how they shift into a villainous characters. They find ways to do it in villainous ways to achieve their goals.
4. Give an internal conflict
Hero to villain should not be an easy process, and there should be a lot of internal conflicts along the way. They are essentially leaving behind who they were before and becoming a new characters now. That’s a complex process where they regret their choices and think about the bad decisions. So there are a lot of conflicts when you have a character going from being a hero into someone who is more villainous.
The villain realizes that they are changing and should not be easily accepted because they will adhere throughout the whole story. So they’re now becoming someone who is not a hero should be something they struggle with. All the internal conflicts should be displayed as your hero character is slowly becoming a villain.
5. Give a valid reason
The hero should have a turning point that turns them into a villain, and there should be some aspects that help them make this shift. For example, the one that convinced them to become a hero in the first place might be gone. So they find they have no more reason. To be a hero, they decide what’s the point of being a hero anymore. That is what tips them over the edge.
In another example, someone close to the monarch betrayed them. So they become villainous characters because they want to take revenge. They might have lost a lot of important things to them, which causes them to become a villain. So there are many reasons why you’ll hear a character might be tipped over the edge. Also, it’s essential to consider these reasons while developing them from a hero to a villain character.
6. Show the external conflict
Our character is slowly becoming a villain. There might be external conflicts where characters try to stop your villain from becoming this way. They are trying to convince them to come back to the good side and do good things. Your villain character might protest against these changes. It should be natural to hear characters want to stop your villainous character from becoming that way.
When your villain comes back as a bad character, they pull them back over to the good side. So this should be a tug of war between the hero characters and the hero that is now turned into a villain. That creates an exciting dynamic that you could show in your creative projects.
7. Highlight your character’s goal
Turning your hero into a villain does not mean that the action should be senseless. Consider the reasoning behind your character’s actions, even if it’s not a morally good reason. Maybe you’ll hear a character wants to save someone close to them. To do that, they become a villain and make these bad choices because they want to help this person who is close to them here.
A character might have always been controlled by someone terrible, and when they finally defeat that controlling character, that technically makes them a villain. So you need to give your hero character a reason for becoming a villain. When they are a villain, they need to have a purpose.
A character should not make such a drastic shift for no reason. There should always be a reason behind your character’s actions. Also, you should display that not only to the other characters in your story but also to your audience.
8. Show the result of their bad choices
For every choice, there always has to be a result. These consequences make your story realistic and memorable. So consider what happens to your villain as a result of their actions. They might get in trouble for what they’ve done.
Other hero characters might not talk to them anymore, but the villain’s actions should not be taken lightly. So there should always be a result throughout the world of his story, depending on what your villain has done.
9. Make them opposite to the hero in your story
A full character draws attention to the underlying aspects of another character. It should be someone who is the opposite. You’ll hear a character consider. Also, you’ll hear a character’s most prominent traits and make those traits opposite in your villain character’s personality.
- Essentially, your villain character needs to reflect your hero’s underlying personality.
For example, if your protagonist is kind, your villain should naturally be cruel. If your protagonist is someone giving your villain character as someone who should take or steal, your protagonist is hesitant. Your villain should take action. A villain should show the opposite traits of your protagonist, and then you should fill in those gaps.
The protagonist is the good side, and your villain is the bad side. That will make them into entertaining and memorable characters throughout your story.
10. Define your character flaw
When it comes to character flaws in various stories, you will have characters who repeatedly give in to their flaws. Often we have characters who overcome those flaws. Those are usually great moments in the story where we have a hero who finally overcomes that flaw. So they do something great as a result. But there are also scenarios where a character gives in to that flaw again until it worsens. But, it’s not the flaw itself.
Circumstances can be many different things. It could be a character being manipulated by another character. There are a lot of other circumstances that you can impose on your characters. The important thing that you need to remember is that there needs to be some external pressure that pushes them along toward that status of villain.
When you create a character who does become a villain, you need these key ingredients upfront. Who is your favorite character? Who ends up becoming a villain? Let us know in the comments section below, and also be sure to mark for spoilers. I wish you a successful writer.
Read books to learn more:
5 Possessive Mafia Romance Novels
7 True Crime Books Like Criminal Minds
7 Crime Thriller Books Like American Psycho
More writing tips:
15 Tips To Write A Scary Villain Character
Table of Contents
