photo by geir
Men who believe themselves to be good, who do not search their own souls, most often commit the worst atrocities. A man who sees himself as evil will restrain himself. It is only when we do evil in the belief that we do good that we pursue it wholeheartedly.
-Gaborn’s Days from David Farland‘s The Runelords
Reading this quote brought many things to place in my mind, both in writing and role-playing. What makes the most compelling, dynamic evil?
In reading Brandon Sanderson‘s The Hero of Ages I have been considering this as well. The most compelling of all “villains” have appeared in this trilogy capper, even more compelling (I think) than the all-powerful tyrannical Lord Ruler. Lord Yomen is a great and powerful foe who stands in the way of one of our protagonists (Elend). Though his motivations for opposing the protagonist, once brought up, make perfect sense to both the reader and Elend. Yomen sees Elend as a tyrant, a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And his reasoning is completely flawless. Yomen is not evil, but then again neither is Elend. They even have many of the same ideals. Under different circumstances, they certainly would be friends.
On the other edge of the final empire the other “villain” (the Citizen) rules. His leadership began as an inspired, faithful call to a newly formed religion’s “teachings”. But as time passed, his interpretation and implementation of those teachings began to change in ways that any outsider would see as cruel and unfair. But because he believes wholeheartedly that what he is doing is for the greater good, then he is driven to worse and worse atrocities. It has been very interesting to see these two very different, but very dynamic, effective evils unfold. Perhaps it was a new maturity that Sanderson found in coming from book one to book three in this series; moving onto these more compelling villains.
I know I’m not one to talk about a proven author’s maturity, but anyone can see the difference between Nabokov’s first book King, Queen, Knave and a later one like Lolita. We learn and grow every damn minute of our lives.
When we think of a character in gaming or writing as evil (or lawful evil, or chaotic evil) do we ever consider whether, on the inside that character thinks and feels what he does is truly the work of evil? Yes, there are mechanical labels in roleplaying (you are evil, and thus affected by good spells) but in a more realistic world spells like protection from evil would probably have a harder time functioning. I mean, he maliciously beat that man to death when he was in his twenties, but since then has been a pretty decent guy, is he really warded by that protection from evil spell? Evil is a fine line, and I think something that could be difficult to admit to. A mechanically lawful evil character who is a tyrant for the sake of stability in his kingdom may not see what he does as truly evil, but more of a necessary evil, or just a necessity. Perhaps his subjects are, in his mind, sub-human. Thus making his atrocities, well, not so atrocious in his mind. What is there holding him back? Verses the man who knows he willing commits evil, but for a set goal or purpose. Much is holding him back.
So lets think about this delicious speck of wisdom from Mr. Farland. I know I could definitely use the advice; the thought put into my evil has certainly been neglected at times. It is too easy to have that man with a long black mustache and greased back hair foil all our plans…
Let’s all strive with zealotry to build some dynamic evil characters this coming week, shall we?
Two points:
You’re very right that we learn and grow all the time. A writer’s progression is just one of the most visible forms of this. I offer as popular examples Jim Butcher and Terry Pratchett, both authors whose early works, though not bad, are noticeably lacking in qualities their later works have achieved.
When it comes to villainy, I find the most compelling villains are those that follow a simple rule: “No one sees himself as the villain of his own story.” I can’t say whether that makes them dynamic, but it seems to fit the descriptions of the villains you mention.
But there is always a portion of the author in his villains. Or at least I like to think so. What dark things could you know more fully than those hidden in your own soul?