Yes yes yes for complicated antagonists. I love hearing different perspectives on character interpretations, and agree that setting up someone to be evil just to be evil is boring.
IMO The Regent is actually the most villainous of Guardian's major antagonists because his only motivation is the protection of himself and his own power. The others mostly have some sort of external reason, and it's usually vengeance for lost love. It's usually misplaced/misdirected, but love is at the root of nearly all of them. Even Zhu Jiu's motivation is the betrayal of hero Hei Pao Shi which is further twisted by Ye Zun's mind manipulation (the exact same trick Rebel Chief used on Ye Zun). Off the top of my head, I can only recall a few who are purely selfishly motivated. The Regent, Zhang Danni, the guys who take Butler Wu's kid, and the sonic mind manipulation girl's dad.
I think the crux of creating an interesting antagonist is making their point of view understandable, even if you don't agree with it. I always think about this scene from the original Star Trek show when I'm confronted with this issue--in life and fiction.
As far as showing the reader why your protagonists are lovable, that's something I'm grappling with in my own fiction, but I'm coming at it from the opposite side. I only have experience writing fanfic, so I'm having difficult developing the necessary affection for my creations. I need to figure out how to bond with them so I want to write about them.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2023-04-09 02:55 pm (UTC)IMO The Regent is actually the most villainous of Guardian's major antagonists because his only motivation is the protection of himself and his own power. The others mostly have some sort of external reason, and it's usually vengeance for lost love. It's usually misplaced/misdirected, but love is at the root of nearly all of them. Even Zhu Jiu's motivation is the betrayal of hero Hei Pao Shi which is further twisted by Ye Zun's mind manipulation (the exact same trick Rebel Chief used on Ye Zun). Off the top of my head, I can only recall a few who are purely selfishly motivated. The Regent, Zhang Danni, the guys who take Butler Wu's kid, and the sonic mind manipulation girl's dad.
I think the crux of creating an interesting antagonist is making their point of view understandable, even if you don't agree with it. I always think about this scene from the original Star Trek show when I'm confronted with this issue--in life and fiction.
As far as showing the reader why your protagonists are lovable, that's something I'm grappling with in my own fiction, but I'm coming at it from the opposite side. I only have experience writing fanfic, so I'm having difficult developing the necessary affection for my creations. I need to figure out how to bond with them so I want to write about them.