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Chatterbox: Crowd Sorcery
Villain
Villain
Note: You have until Monday, July 7, to create a villain in time for voting. Go here to see the schedule.
One of the most effective ways to be sure a story will have conflict that keeps readers breathlessly turning pages is to introduce a villain—someone whose goals collide head-on with the main character’s goals. We fantasy readers can all think of unforgettable villains from our favorite stories, those scary or relentless opponents that make life so difficult for the hero or heroine.
Villains need more than special magical powers to become so memorable that they haunt our imaginations; they also need as much personality and feeling as the hero. In actual life, almost no one ever sets out to become a villain. Perhaps your villain is desperate to protect her homeland, or family, or dragon. Perhaps the villain’s very life is at stake. There must always be a why, a solid reason behind the evil the villain does so that it makes sense—at least to him or her.
Usually the plot will unfold if you can figure out the relationship of the villain to the main character and what the villain wants. For instance, in thinking about Quill, my heroine who comes out only in moonlight, I might wonder who cast the original spell on her grandmother and why. I’ll imagine it was a monstrous spirit-witch, Gershardt, who lives in a cavern beneath a pool in the forest. Gershardt’s spells can steal someone’s daytime essence, enabling her to take on a human form, leave the pool, and walk about in the world of mortals. But her spell fades over time so she is trying to steal Quill’s nighttime essence, too—although that would make Quill vanish forever.
In my example the stakes are high: the villain wants to continue living in the physical world, and so does the main character—whichever of them loses will disappear!
I might write for my Crowd Sorcery Sentences: “Gnarled hands rose from the water and gripped a tree root, followed by bony arms and a streaming tangle of white hair. Old Gershardt crept from the pool and stood dripping and frosty in the moonlight, blinking into the shadows with her pale blue eyes, chuckling through her toothless mouth.”
When I write, I try to keep in mind that, from the villain’s point of view, he or she is the true main character of the story, and it is the hero or heroine that is in the way.
- 1. Name
- 2. Physical appearance
- 3. Background
- 4. Lair (Hut? Castle? Cave? Ship?)
- 5. What is the villain’s goal?
- 6. Attitude toward hero
- 7. How is the villain stronger than the hero?
- 8. How is the villain weak or vulnerable?
- 9. Why are the main character and the villain in conflict with each other?
- 10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence(s)
submitted by Fred Durbin
(April 23, 2014 - 11:54 am)
(April 23, 2014 - 11:54 am)
1. Lycan
2. He is a werewolf. In human form he has deep black hair and
explosively green eyes. He is shockingly handsome. In wolf form he is a
huge black timberwolf.
3. Born a werewolf, he must murder and consume people to keep himself
immortal. He has no conscience because of this and lusts for the blood
of the hero, due to the fact that the hero's father put out his eye.
4. He's a wanderer. He leaves after killing a few people and satisfying his hunger.
5. To feast upon the blood of the hero, witch has magical properties that will restore his eye.
6. See numbers 5 and 3
7. He's a cunning, charming man who could easily tear you limb from limb if he wanted.
8. He is madly obsessed with killing the hero.
9. See numbers 8, 5 and 3.
10.
The milkmaid clutched the bucket of milk as she walked along the path
home. It was the night of the full moon, and it was making her nervous.
She shuddered and quickened her pace. What was that? She sloshed some
milk in terror, not caring about her soaked boots.
"Hello?"
What was that? WHAT WAS THAT? She started to breathe rapidly. Calm down. Don't scream. Don't--
A hand grabbed her shoulder.
"AAAAAH!"
She whirled around to see the smiling face of a young man.
"Lycan!" she yelp-laughed, "what are you doing out here? I'm glad you're here. I thought it was a bear! I picked the right night to be outside--"
"No. You didn't."
"What do--"
Far away in the farmhouse that she had been traveling to, no one heard
the milk bucket hit the ground. No one heard the tiny, terrified scream
that stopped in exactly three seconds. And no one, absolutely no one,
heard Lycan's high, cruel laugh.
(July 2, 2014 - 9:52 am)
1. Name:
Talia
2. Physical apearance:
Long, black hair, crystal blue eyes, and plale skin.
3.background:
When she was younger, she and her family lived in a small village. Everyone rejected her because she lied all time. No one could trust her. There was somthing kind of eerie about her. She was entrancing and was unaffected by the events of everyday life like she had no heart or emotion. Her family disappeared under mysterious circumstances. She blamed the villagers who rejected her. The villagers blamed her.
4. Lair:
A castle on a nearby mountian.
5. What is the villain's goal?:
To be the ruler she was always meant to be (in her opinon)
6: Attitude toward the hero:
Wants to use the hero for her own advantage.
7: How is the villain stronger than the hero?:
Talia has the power of manipulation. She has a way of getting what she wants. Everything bad sounds good when it is coming from her. She takes the truth, and twists it.
8: How is the villian weak or vulnerable?:
She is vulnerable to the truth. Her powers weaken when the truth is told.
9: Why are the main character and the villian in conflict with each other?: Talia craves power and domination. She recognizes the threat that Fable poses to her, even if Fable does not.
10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentance(s):
The sun was just about to set. Everyone in the village scrambled to their homes. A man heard a familiar voice. He turned in the direction of that sweet sound. Grinning with evil intent, there stood Talia. Everyone gasped in horror. She was here!
(July 2, 2014 - 10:17 am)
I am just doing this for fun, because I think that this might be a silly idea.
1. Name: Millbank Wittenburgh
2. Physical appearance: Tall, light skin, gray-green eyes. Black hair(not much), with the same colored mustache. Usually wears a white long sleeve shirt with black buttons and a black cape. Black long pants.
3. Background: He was born on the bank of a river (hence his name). His father was the greatest villain ever, and Millbank always wanted to take his place when his father died. His father always went searching for the Ring. The Ring is a very powerful thing, the most powerful thing in the world. It will do whatever the person who is wearing it commands. The father almost found it, but he took a wrong step and fell of a cliff.
4. Lair (Hut? Castle? Cave? Ship?): He lives in a hidden underground dugout.
5. What is the villain’s goal?: To find the ring and defeat the hero.
6. Attitude toward hero: Hates he/she.
7. How is the villain stronger than the hero?: He inherited his father's powers to find the Ring, and his mother's powers to defend himself easily.
8. How is the villain weak or vulnerable?: Since he was born on the bank of a river, he loves nature and will do anything for it.
9. Why are the main character and the villain in conflict with each other?:
The hero's father was friends with Millbank in the early times. He happened to be there when Millbank's wife was killed by an unknown person. Millbank thought that the hero's father killed her. Now he hates all of the relatives of the father, and said he will do whatever he can to kill the father's first child (the hero).
10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence(s):
"The Ring is here, Master,"Millbank's servant said.
"Good, very good. NOW GIVE IT HERE!"
"But why do you want the Ring anyway, Master?" the servant asked. "It is a very dangerous object, after all."
"Because," Millbank said in a sad voice, "the people of this world are being so gloomy, and I want them to feel much better."
"Yes master, " the servant said, handing the Ring to him.
Millbank grabbed the Ring. "Mwa, ha, ha, ha, ha!" he cackled evilly. "Now I will defeat the hero!"
(July 2, 2014 - 1:01 pm)
1. Name: Will Darkflame
2. Physical appearance: dark and brooding, with silvery eyes
that seem to tell of love and hope.
3. Background: A corrupted angel. He began as a pure blooded
angel, but began to cause chaos in the worlds below, so the angels cut off his
wings and banished him to the planet he caused chaos on.
4. Lair: He takes his side next to Fable, but soon begins to
corrupt her.
5. What is the villain’s goal: Overthrow the angels with his
secret weapon: Fable
6. Attitude toward hero: He pretends to love her, but just
wants to use her for her powers.
7. How is the villain stronger than the hero: He is very persuasive,
and get’s on Fable’s good side with his good looks, only to betray her.
8. How is the villain weak or vulnerable: He tries to keep
all feelings locked away. He doesn’t want to get TOO attached to his weapon….
9. Why are the main character and the villain in conflict
with each other: Fable (Hopefully) Finds out Will tried to use her for her
powers.
10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence: The tavern door opened, as
a black cloaked figure slipped in. Rain poured outside. The man’s cloak stuck
to him, the dark cloth stuck to his muscular figure, as he sat down at the bar.
“Beer.” Was all he said. His voice was like liquid chocolate. Not even looking up, he took a swig of his
beer, and his cloak hood fell back to reveled a handsome face. His eyes were
covered by his thick, black hair. His olive complexion glistened in the faint
light of the bar. His lowered his head, and put the cloak back on. He glanced
around the bar, and stopped when he saw me. He seemed to stare into my eyes.
Then, he turned back to the bar, took out a small brown pouch and poured out 10
gold coins. “Room for one.” His voice had an almost laughing tone to it, as the
bartender handed him the key. He got up, and walked up the stairs to the rooms
on the second floor. But just before he put his foot on the first step, he
stared into my eyes again, and winked.
(July 2, 2014 - 1:05 pm)
1. Xan Tarro
2. Looks young not strong but thin, He has startling grey eyes that peirce your very soul.
He has straight medium blonnde hair that reaches just beyond his shoulders, he is around 6 feet tall.
3. People think he is very old using magic to stay young. He has lived for many years in his lair. (See below.)
4. He lives in a house that is considered a castle by locals, it is stone with Ivy crawling all over it, sometimes his lair will change to misselanious places if needed.
5. The villans goal is to steal the Heroes powers for his own doing.
6.Thinks she is weak and doesnt really care about her, all that matters to him is her power.
7. He is confident that he will suceed, and has the ability to make others feel worthless.
8. He is too confident it will get him in the end.
9.He wants to steal her powers.
10. Xan wathced Fable make her way around the village, there was no doubt about it, she knew he was there, an unnamed horror in thew corner of her mind.
(July 2, 2014 - 3:09 pm)
I forgot to add the rest of my sentences! (and sorry about the grammer I'll try to do better.)
Walking back to the home of his ancestors Xan had only one thought on his mind, how would he steal her powers? His own magic was powerful, but at this point not strong enough. How he loathed working with other people, they demanded payment, they were rude, and you had to try and keep control over them. Yet he had no choice, he realized, scowling, he must call his superiors.
(July 2, 2014 - 3:30 pm)
(July 2, 2014 - 5:48 pm)
Name- Deamanor
Physical appearance- Black oily hair, with green skin and light red lips. She has tiny black eyes, that always seem to flash with anger.
Background- Once worked for the side of the angels and was sent to help protect a princess get to safety from being pursued by firedemons. The princess had known Deamanor for a long time, and they grew up together as children in the royal palace, when Deamanor was left alone on the streets. The princess had begged her parents to let Deamanor to be part of the family. The princess had helped her fit in with others when she was born with pale green skin. When the princess was killed by the fire demons, she was filled of despair and felt like the princess had betrayed her by leaving her alone, without any one to help her in any way. So, she became bad, and helped evil become feared in the world.
Lair- A dark purple colored castle surrounded by mist, in the part of the kingdom called The Wilds.
What is the villians goal- To hurt those who have known the princess because the princess left her alone.
Attitude towards hero- The hero tries to protect those people who knew the princess and causes trouble for her, so Deamanor wants to flick away the hero and get him/her out of the way to reaching her goal.
How is the villian stronger than the hero- Deamanor has magical powers that she can inflict pain on others, while the hero does not have those powers.
How is the villian weak or vulnerable- Fire. Even though the evil often deals with fire, she stays away from that part of evil, because evil killed the princess.
Why are the main character and the villian in conflict with each other- Deamanor wants to kill everyone involved with the princess, yet the hero wants to save them.
Sentence- Deamanor sank to the ground withering in agony. No, she thought, get away from me. But the memories kept coming back to her. Princess Maybel and her lovely smiles. Her sister reaching out her hand, to invite her to go play in the garden. Then that night. The fire and the smell of the carriage burning. Deamanor shrieked in anger. She failed to protect her sister.
Thanks for reading.
(July 2, 2014 - 6:02 pm)
1 Name: Kimberly (which means ruler)
2 Appearance: She is beautiful, with curly blond hai,r stunning blue eyes, and she wears lots of fantastic gowns and outfits. She basically looks like a princess, which she is.
3 Background: Fable and Kimberly were once best friends, until Fable showed Kimberly her powers... Later on they got in a fight and in her anger Fable made a terrible mistake when her anger took over her writingand cast a horrible spell on Kimberly! (Kimberly can't fufill her dream of being a queen untill she breaks Fable's spell, which even Fable can't break!)
4 Castle: Kimberly lives in a massive castle because she is the princess, soon to be queen.
5 Goal: Kimberly wants to gain revenge on Fable and destroy her powers so she can live happily ever after as queen.
6 Attitude toward hero: Kimberly's hatred of Fable continues to grow and she is becoming more evil from her hatred.
7 Strength: Kimberly is way stronger than Fable because she is a princess and is adored by almost everyone.
8 Vulnerability: Kimberly is not queen yet and she can't stop Fable's hard-to-beat writing powers.
9 Why are they in conflict: Their fight. (Go to question 3)
10 My Sentences: "That girl ruined my life!" Kimberly yelled out her window, though no one was listening. "What did I ever do to her! It was a small children's fight... Oh but she had to take it to the next level and ruin my life and one true dream! I have had too many years in misery, it's time for revenge!"
(July 2, 2014 - 7:40 pm)
(July 2, 2014 - 8:10 pm)
.
.
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. 2. Physical appearance -- Lilith Montgomery was a beautiful, intelligent little girl. She was often complimented on her long curls of crow-colored hair flowing down her back. She had rosy cheeks spotted with dark freckles, and a short nose with an upturned tip. Now she has matured, and as a young woman, looks just about the same. She now has higher cheekbones, and no longer wears the beautiful, flowing dresses of old, but now wears tight suits complimenting her thin physique.
. 3. Background --
. Lilith lived with her mother, Sierra, in a motley group of entertainers that performed in village squares for the spare coin, moving widdershins around the rolling countryside. Lilith both danced energetically to her mother's tambourine music, and played her own, more somber tunes on the violin. She composed her own music, and was often praised for her precociousness.
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. Lilith was thirteen when she lost her mother. Now she was maturing, both physically and mentally, and was an object of fascination for the other boys her age. She no longer danced with the ever-merry seven year olds in the square, but was hired by richer men all over the countryside to play her music at funerals. Sometimes Lilith felt she saw more dead bodies then live ones. Soon this would be ever more true.
.
. One late winter night, a group of men snuck out of their town and entered the entertainers’ camp. To make a long story short, some entertainers tried to get these men to leave, calling them impolite things. One of the men in turn pulled out a knife, and that’s where things got nasty. A half-hour later, Lilith was awoken by another entertainer, who wordlessly brought her out to the campfire. What Lilith saw scarred her for the rest of her life. Her mother was dead. Lilith had so many emotions to express. Anger. Fear. Hatred. Pain. Sorrow. For the next two years she grappled with her lachrymose feelings and her depression. She had never needed a friend beside her mother. There was nobody left to love her except the dead bodies. Exactly two years later, on what the entertainers called “Toll Day,” the holiday respecting her mother’s demise, Lilith snuck out of their camp with a knife usually used for skinning rabbits. Since the entertainers were nowhere near where they were when her mother was killed, Lilith walked a few dozen miles (no big deal for Lilith) to the city. There she broke into the city’s jail using a hairpin. There she found one of the men. In this city, one man had to take responsibility for his comrades’ crimes. Lilith murdered the man and walked back to the entertainer’s camp before the sun rose. But the fifteen-year-old had forgotten to clean her blade! When an entertainer found her napping with a bloodstained knife gripped in her hand, he awoke her. She immediately confessed, telling him everything, then laughing bitterly. “I avenged her death.” She hissed, large brown eyes glittering. “She is soon to rest in peace…” they could not talk the idea of murdering the others out of her and, to afraid to turn one of their own in, set the teen loose. Once a year for the next six years, Lilith traveled to find the others and killed them and their families. Now, as Fable steps in, she is yet to kill one more.
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. 4. Lair -- Lilith now resides in a small portion of a valley. She has stolen multiple times from a village armory to stock up her collection of blades. She always kept her violin, and has whittled a collection out of tree stumps. Her favorite bow has hairs from the heads of her victims.
. 5. What is the villain’s goal? -- To avenge her mother's death.
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.
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. 6. Attitude toward hero -- Lilith never meant to harm Fable, or direct malice her way. “Step aside, silly girl,” she would hiss at her whenever she got in the way. All Lilith ever wanted to do was avenge her mother’s death, not hurt anybody that wasn’t involved! It’s Fable’s fault for meddling in her affairs….
. 7. How is the villain stronger than the hero? -- Lilith is extremely emotionally strong. After what the poor 21-year-old has been through, nothing anybody can say will hurt her. Her physique is also something to be proud of. Lilith is extremely muscular, and can withstand summer heat and winter cold. For some odd reason, (Lilith calls it her mother’s blessing) Lilith can only be affected by strong magic. Weak charms have no effect on her. Lilith is resourceful and one to be reckoned with.
. 8. How is the villain weak or vulnerable? -- On the other hand, Lilith is often very reckless, and rushes in without thinking. She suffers from emotional outburst at inconvenient times, i.e. bursting into tears and falling to her knees in the middle of a sword fight. However, these spells rarely last long. Lilith is deathly afraid of large quantities of water.
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. 9. Why are the main character and the villain in conflict with each other? -- Lilith and Fable are in conflict because Fable wants to stop Lilith from killing the last family for revenge. Both Lilith and Fable will do anything in their power to stop the opponent from succeeding.
. 10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence(s)
. -- “I avenged her death.” She hissed, large brown eyes glittering. “She is soon to rest in peace…”
. -- "Hello there!" said Lilith cheerily, sticking out a stubby little finger towards the toad.
. -- Lilith heard wailing in the back row as she held her final note. With a flourish, she ripped the white horsehair bow off the strings of the violin.
. -- “Step aside, silly girl,” hissed Lilith. A trail of perspiration ran down her cheek. "I mean you no harm. Step aside, let me kill them all, and then I will go with you."
. -- "Children are silly and obnoxious," Lilith said calmly. "Which is why I chose not to have a husband or children. They would only meddle in.... ah, certain affairs that are not to be meddled in."
. -- "They are pigs, girl, and they deserve to be slaughtered. She was my only family. Is there anything, girl, anything whatsoever, that you wouldn't do to protect your family?"
.
-- "Every Toll Day, I see the look in their eyes.... they fear for their wife's life, they fear for their own life, and they fear for their children's lives... because they know I show no mercy."
-- "They try to run and hide. But it doesn't make a difference. Wherever they go, I follow.
-- Lilith stood over his body, watching the blood rose blossom onto his white straitjacket. She spat into his face and kicked him hard in the stomach. She turned and walked out the door as easily as she had came in, slamming the door behind her.
(July 3, 2014 - 6:09 am)
1.Name:
Aba
(meaning father) Long
2.
Physical Appearance:
Dark circles under her navy eyes (because she
constantly has to make up ways to defeat her father) and moon shaped pupils,
raven black hair always in a beehive encased by a shining crown made of
snowflake obsidian, pale (almost translucent) skin that has many veins (all
veins are ebony colored), black sheath dress, snakeskin cape (makes Aba
invisible when she hides in night time shadows), black high heel boots.
3.
Background:
Aba
was once a normal girl named Abeni (meaning "girl prayed for"). After
mother divorced father, Gyrtis Frisk, when Abeni was only three months old,
Mrs. Long decided to make the best of her child by sending her to villain
school, hoping that Abeni could someday avenge her father. At villainy school,
nobody talked to Abeni because of her kind, hero name. Abeni decided to find a
new name because she knew that everybody would pick on her if she had a name
that meant "girl prayed for". At first, Abeni chose Aba because it
was a shortened version of her name, but she soon realized that it meant
father, the person whom she was supposed to grow up to avenge for her mother.
When Abeni became Aba, she was more respected in her villainy classes, and
graduated at the top of her class.
4.
Lair:
Aba
created a portal under a large boulder of Wisconsin Granite. When she rolls the
rock towards the left, she can enter her secret lair (complete with all of her spell
books), and if she rolls the boulder to the right, she can enter her plotting
room/ dungeon. Aba plans to kidnap her father and keep him in the dungeon until
her mother says to make him perish.
5.
Goal:
Aba’s
goal is to destroy her father by sending him to a place with a spell she was
taught at villainy school. Astro Caliences!
6.
Attitude towards hero:
Aba
had never met her dad, so she had never really known him. She had only seen
pictures of his kind smile, warm eyes, and flowing blonde hair. She planned to
destroy him only if he had a wicked soul. From the looks of Gyrtis, Aba thinks
that he should be a nice man that her mother wants her to avenge probably for a
small fight they had. If Gyrtis really turned out to be a nice man, Aba would
still have him perish for not watching his daughter grow into a young woman.
7.
How is the villain stronger than the hero?
Aba
had learned many spells at her school, so she would know how to block any
attack. She also has good acting skills, which she learned in Deceit, with Mr. Ferule.
In that class, she learned how to play the “daddy’s little girl” card.
8.
How is the villain weak or vulnerable?
Aba
has never been good with real weapons (sword, axe, etc.). She can only do one
things when in combat with them: die.
At the school for villainy, Aba never payed any attention in the certain parts
of Combat where the students learned how to fight in combat with actual
weapons. The only thing Aba could fight is arrows. She learned how to turn fast
moving things into daisies in Defense, with Ms. Rochoni.
9. Why are
the main character and the villain in conflict with each other?
Because
Aba’s mom told Aba to kill her x-husband (Aba’s father).
10. Crowd
Sorcery Sentences:
The common
waves in the lake were not present. Aba leaned forward. “He’s here,” she
whispered into the dark of the night.
(July 3, 2014 - 6:13 am)
(July 3, 2014 - 6:51 am)
NAME:
Morthallius
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:
He can change his appearance to be a distorded shadow, or a blotch of darkness. He can even become hatred itself, entering someones mind and controlling them, but in his (almost) human form he appears as a man with jet black hair, eyes that seem to be pits into darkness, and a cloak that seems to fade into nothingness.
BACKGROUND:
He was once a great wizard who enslaved the galaxy under his dark rule, but several people stood up to his power and fought him. Though they thought him to be dead he was not. He spent millinea hiding, taking the form of shadows and hatred, enslaving one mind after another until he could regain his former strength.
LAIR:
Shadows and people's minds.
GOAL:
To enslave one half of the universe and destroy the other half.
ATTITUDE TOWARD HERO:
He thinks of the heroine, at first as a simple meddler, but when he discovers anything she writes becomes true, he sees her as a tool to get what he wants.
HOW IS THE VILLAIN STRONGER THAN THE HERO?:
Since anything the heroine writes becomes true, if Morthalius can become pure hatred and enter her mind, he can control what she writes and through her have ultimate power.
HOW IS THE VILLAIN WEAK OR VULNERABLE?:
He constantly underestimates others.
WHY ARE THE MAIN CHARACTER AND THE VILLAIN IN CONFLICT WITH EACH OTHER?:
The villain wants to control the mind of the main character to use her powers to become the ultimate ruler of the universe. She obviously does not want him to do this so she tries to stop him.
CROWD SORCERY SENTENCE:
The spawn of shadows, hatred, and death itself, he has lurked in shadows, whispering lies and deceit to lead heroes astray for hundreds of years, but now, he has regained his former strength to become pure hatred and use the heroine's magical powers to enslave one half of the universe, and destroy the other half.
(July 3, 2014 - 8:57 am)
(July 3, 2014 - 2:30 pm)