I love villains. Sometimes I love to watch them attempt to succeed, despite their very nefarious intentions. And sometimes I love to hate them. I want to see them fail. But regardless of my feelings for a specific villain, what I want to see most is complexity.
It’s something that we talk about a lot in the writing community – writing antagonists (and protagonists for that matter) who aren’t one-sided. The 100% good guy versus the 100% bad guy just doesn’t fly in the modern era. Our generation knows that no one is that cut and dry. There are skeletons in closets and ill intentions to one degree or another in just about any human character.
But one of the best ways to add complexity to the villain is to give him or her a sidekick.
I learned this while writing my most recent novel and the things that I incorporated made the story so much richer. The protagonist is a young Bavarian girl. The antagonist is her grandmother. As my protagonist delves into the history of her family, she uncovers a dark web of conspiracy with her grandmother at the center of it.
But her grandmother has her own reasons.
I wanted to show that, to portray her as someone who is doing what she can to support the ends that she believes are best. To do that most efficiently and effectively, I gave her a manservant, Berend. The son of her father’s manservant, the two of them grew up together as playmates and close confidantes.
There are several things that this villain-sidekick accomplishes.
Backstory/ Motives
In the case of my story, because of their deeply intertwined history, this villain-sidekick has a unique view of the antagonist. One that none of the other characters has. He has known the antagonist for the longest period of time – since childhood. He’s known her at different life stages. He knows what she used to be like before she became the person she is today. He knows parts of her story that she hasn’t told anyone else in the family, especially her daughter-in-law and granddaughter.
This made it easier to introduce the antagonist’s backstory. Whether you do this through subtext or through multiple points of view (I used both), readers still gain a new and complex viewpoint into the villain’s world. He is able to speak to the antagonist’s motives, the very things that she’s not willing to admit even to herself.
It also gives the antagonist a chance to voice some of that herself. The things that she wouldn’t say to the protagonist – because, of course, she would oppose the antagonist’s actions – she’ll say to her sidekick. They’re in it together.
Increased Tension
This increases the tension as well. When the villain has a sidekick, the villain himself is more fearsome. Now it’s not just the single antagonist who’s opposed to the protagonist. My protagonist has to overcome her grandmother, her grandmother’s sidekick, and her grandmother’s sidekick’s sidekick. The stakes are higher. The victory harder to win.
In addition, the villain-sidekick often adds a different facet to the opposing force.
Consider Game of Thrones. In Martin’s books he uses the two Clegane brothers – Gregor and Sandor – to support Tywin Lannister. Though Tywin is wholly evil and ruthless, these two fearsome characters add two additional dimensions to his antagonism. While Tywin plots the demise of others from his throne, Gregor and Sandor are free to go out on the rampage. Tywin is the brain while they are the brawn.
Because of the added dimensions of evil, the antagonist force as a whole feels that much more insurmountable.
Relatability
A villain-sidekick also demonstrates sympathy for the villain that readers are unlikely to witness from any other character. In my novel, Berend sympathizes with the antagonist. He knows why she’s doing what she’s doing. He even disapproves of some of it and tells her so. But he also sees her as a person in a way that those who oppose her do not.
I can explain this best with a quick illustration.
In the past, I worked in public accounting. At one firm we had a client who intimidated all of my colleagues, including the owner of the accounting firm. This client was one of several owners of a trading company. Traders tend to be taller than average, especially back in the day when trading was almost exclusively conducted on the exchange floor. Height was an extreme advantage since a tall person could get the attention of other traders faster than a shorter person could.
This guy was very tall and fairly broad. So, he was a physically intimidating person. But what made him most intimidating was that he made no attempt at pleasantries. Ever. No smiling at people. No small chat. Rather, his mannerisms were very brusque.
At the time, I was the newest member of the team, so they turned him over to me. Fortunately I don’t intimidate very easily. But what really opened my eyes to him was when I met with him one day and, during our meeting, he took a personal call from his wife. During the conversation, his two year old jumped on the phone.
My client’s tone of voice shifted instantly. To hear this very formidable man suddenly talking gently, calling the child, sweetie, was such a radically different view into who he is. I almost laughed. From then on, my tone warmed towards him. And his tone warmed towards me.
That’s what your villain-sidekick can accomplish. Through this character, readers see another side to the antagonist. They see a person who sympathizes with and maybe even loves this character.
If you’ve done a great job of setting up the villain, readers will still believe that the antagonist should fail and the protagonist should succeed. But the antagonist will appear that much more nuanced and realistic. Ironically, this often this makes her that much more despicable. Well-rounded characters are easier to love and easier to hate.
I’ve found that adding a villain-sidekick makes a story that much more interesting.
If you enjoyed this post, share it with your friends!