Sympathetic Villain Overview: How to Write a Sympathetic Villain

A sympathetic villain is an antagonist in a story who has redeemable qualities. Even when performing terrible acts or standing in the way of a beloved main character’s mission, the audience sympathizes with their motivations, often due to their redeemable qualities or tragic backstory.

This type of complex character may be a tragic villain or an anti-villain. A tragic villain is a character who becomes evil in the face of uncontrollable traumatic circumstances; this type of villain often despises their wicked nature. On the other hand, anti-villains believe themselves to be a story’s hero, seeing their evil actions as noble. These villainous characters are the opposite of anti-heroes, who perform good deeds despite having questionable motives or a cloudy moral compass.

These classic bad guys are prime examples of sympathetic villains.

1. 1. Killmonger: Killmonger, the villain in Marvel’s Black Panther, dedicates his life to dethroning his cousin T’Challa, the king of Wakanda. In the process, Killmonger wants to stop the oppression of people of African descent by arming them with Wakandan weapons. However, he is willing to do terrible things to innocent people in the process.
2. 2. The Joker: The Joker in Batman is fairly straightforward in his villainy, but his tragic backstory of being mentally pushed to the brink makes him compelling to watch. The audience suspects that if someone tested their sanity, they might act in the same way—and that’s all it takes to create a villain worthy of the caped crusader.
3. 3. The Lizard: First appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 comic book, the Lizard (also known as Dr. Curt Connors) is a classic example of a tragic villain. When an experiment to regrow his missing right arm goes awry, Dr. Connors transforms himself into the feral anthropomorphic villain, the Lizard. Dr. Connors detests his lizard alter-ego and constantly attempts to develop a cure that will kill the villain inside him.
4. 4. Loki: Loki, the Norse god of mischief and Thor’s main antagonist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has a traumatic backstory that makes his transition to the dark side understandable. His adoptive father, Odin, failed to show him the same love as his favorite son, Thor. His pain led him to become the sworn foe of Thor, the hero.
5. 5. Thanos: Thanos—the main foe of The Avengers and the big bad guy in The Infinity Saga of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe)—has a goal of erasing half the universe’s population. His motivation stems from his own species’ extinction in the face of overpopulation, which exhausted his planet’s natural resources. Despite his nefarious mission, the audience feels sympathy for Thanos’ trauma and loneliness.

Despite their immoral actions, sympathetic villains must have relatable motivations. Here are five tips for writing a great sympathetic villain for your story.

1. 1. Make them believe they’re the hero. A sympathetic villain is willing to do bad things because their evil actions will bring about a positive change, from their point of view. Consider how your villain could see themselves as the true hero. Flesh out their perspective by imagining how they see your story’s protagonist as their personal villain.
2. 2. Craft a tragic backstory. A tragic backstory gives your villain a sympathetic reason to justify their evil deeds. Slowly reveal your villain’s tragic backstory as the narrative unfurls. A slow reveal will add an aura of mystery to their motivations while also avoiding a colossal exposition dump early in your story. Learn how to use character backstories in your writing.
3. 3. Give them an internal conflict. Before you begin writing, sit down and flesh out the character. What event is the source of the internal struggle that informs their behavior in the story? For example, in Harry Potter, Severus Snape’s affection for Harry’s mother persists long after her death and impacts his treatment of Harry.
4. 4. Employ supporting characters. Creating a supporting character who illuminates your villain’s sympathetic qualities is a simple way to help readers understand your villain’s point of view. In the X-Men saga, Professor X—the leader of the heroes—believes he can redeem Magneto, the villain, expressing that he is a virtuous person underneath his darkness.
5. 5. Show them doing a good deed. Like good people can do bad things, bad people can do good things. Imagine a plausible good deed that your villain would perform in the context of their backstory. For example, if your villain’s sibling was a civilian casualty during a wartime attack, they may refrain from attacking your protagonist when an innocent civilian enters the line of fire.

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