Thread: Darth Vader vs Harvey Dent

This is a thread about evil people.

When introducing bad guys, which route do you prefer: Evil Guy Who Gets Backstory Later or the Slow-Build Good-Guy-Gone-Bad?

Give us your bad guys, how you introduced them, or just answer the question above. Whatever.



I think it depends on the villain. Really amazing loss of humanity often works pretty well as a "slap-in-the-face evil scene with ominous music" followed by a lot of story as to how said person lost the connection to other people. The Harvey Dents are often real heart-wrenchers but sometimes lose momentum, having come so close to banishing evil only to succumb to it. Jack Merridews, meanwhile, are very human characters that start out more human and lose their humanity due to tragic flaws and circumstances seen in real-time without all the flashbacks.

For those not in-the-know, here's some links:


Darth Vader - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lord of the Flies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Two-Face - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I loathe "pure evil" characters. I like the ones who are so far from conventional definitions that they don't even apply, like, say, Galactus, or Azathoth. Harvey Dents are kinda ok...there have been a number of those (Curt Connors also comes to mind). If you gotta go bad, Doctor Doom and Darkseid (the "fathers" of Darth) are about as close as you can get to ideal villains. They don't have the schmaltzy elements that Lucas introduced unto the archetype. Both have such personal power and ambition that they are close to "godhood" (actually Darkseid is a god, come to think of it).
Jack Merridews are much more complex and interesting because they hew closer to reality. They aren't motivated to "do evil" necessarily, they just fall into the habit through other agencies. Sometimes it can depend on your perspective as to how "bad" or "good" they are, in the sense that a "freedom fighter" can be a "terrorist" from another pov.

It depends on how I want the rivalry between the villain and the antagonist to proceed...

If my villain is TheChessmaster or a NietzscheWannabe, then I go the quick entry then back story later route. If my villain is the ArchEnemy or pull off a TheBadGuysAreCops angle, then I go the slow route.

For a list of villain tropes, click here.