What Makes a Character Loathable? My Favorite Villain Traits

Before I jump into the post, I just want to share my exciting news. Today my guest post on the Go Teen Writers blog is coming out! It is about what I do with characters I create, but can’t fit in any of my stories at the time. If you want to see that post, go to this link.
Last week I talked about the good guys—the guys you really love in a book. If you missed it, you can read that post here. Now, it only seems fair to give the bad guys their turn. After all, it is almost as fun to loathe a villain as it is to love a hero.

Every story needs opposition, and although it can be found in nature, situations, or a number of other things, it is often found in an antagonist, and usually these antagonists are anything but lovable. There are a few you kind of get a soft spot for, but on the whole, they are fairly despicable. However, just as I have often considered what makes people really love a character, I have also thought about what makes a villain worthy of loathing. Here is my personal list.

1-Selfishness. Some antagonists do what they do because they believe it is the right thing in the end. They actually believe in a cause, and though they are still not the good guys, they don’t have the same loathability as the villain that does what he does out of pure selfishness. My favorite example is from Les Miserables. Javert is relentless in his hunt for Jean Valjean, but he isn’t doing it for himself. He is doing it for justice sake. The real villain, in my opinion, is Thenardier. Every single thing he does throughout the entire story is purely to benefit himself. He is purely despicable. Seriously, my blood starts to simmer just thinking about him. He is one of the most loathable bad guys I can think of.

2-Cruelty. Whether it is kicking puppies or presenting people with impossible choices between two horrendous alternatives, a cruel villain is sure to be hated. In The Scarlet Pimpernel, Chauvelin tries to force Marguerite to choose between the life of her husband, Sir Percy, and her brother. If she stays silent, Sir Percy would be caught and killed. If she cries out to warn him, her brother would be killed. That is a cruel ultimatum. It causes poor Marguerite plenty of anguish. I won’t tell you what she chooses in the end, just in case you haven’t read the book. (If you haven’t, read it. It is one of the best books ever written. Seriously. Ever.) Chauvelin is definitely high on the loathability chart.

3-Blatant Disregard for Human Life. When a villain sees other people only as tools to serve him and to use as a means to an end, they become truly a monster. The Emperor in Star Wars is a perfect example of this. He doesn’t care about any of those who serve him. If he found somebody who was more powerful than Darth Vader, the Emperor wouldn’t lose any sleep over getting rid of him. He doesn’t care about any of his troops. If it would get him what he wanted, he wouldn’t really care how many of them had to die. He doesn’t care about the people of the Empire. He had the Death Star built, for heaven’s sake! Many of his underlings follow his example in this regard (Darth Vader’s force-choking anybody who displeases him, Grand Moff Tarkin blowing up Alderaan, etc.). Needless to say, I have a hard time feeling much warmth toward these characters.

4-Robing People of Agency. Being able to force people to do things without any choice in the matter can quickly lead to the dark side. Losing the ability to make their own choices is a fate some people fear worse than death. In Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, the guy behind most of the bad stuff that happens is the king, Galbatorix. He’s really powerful, with a huge dragon, and he could easily kill anybody he wanted, but perhaps the most terrifying thing about him is his uncanny ability to guess people’s “true names” therefore giving him the means of controlling them. In Gerald Lund’s The Alliance, the villain is actually the government. In this scenario, every person is implanted with a device that makes it pretty much impossible to make a bad choice. In fact, even thinking about making a wrong move is conditioned out of them. A person’s agency is one of their most valuable possessions, and taking it away is one of the lowest things a character can do.

5-Betrayal. When a person is trusted, and then turns on those who were counting on them, it leaves a deep wound and instantly turns me against them. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry trusts Mad-Eye Moody. He has helped Harry. He seems to have Harry’s back, but it turns out he was only setting Harry up to turn over to Lord Voldemort. True, it isn’t the real Moody, but Harry doesn’t know that. The betrayal shocks us and cuts deeply. Moody had made us like him previously. He even turned Malfoy into a Ferret, for goodness sake.  He not only betrayed Harry’s trust, but he betrayed ours. Nobody likes that, and we can never quite forgive him for it.

These are the things I find in the best (or rather worst) villains. Are these anything close to your most hated traits? What others can you think of?