The Morals of Creating a Villain

As you may know, I work at Vindicated Entertainment and here, I'm a wearer of many hats. My second favorite hat is that of a character designer. I take great pleasure in designing characters that will represent the games here.

But I'm not here to dive into the general aspects of character design, that's for another time.

Today I'm getting a bit more philosophical and discussing some moral questions that I personally face as a character designer and a writer.

Looking At Our Pasts

You see, it should come to no ones surprise that a lot of inspirations come from who we are and what we have been through. Those two things are what defines us after all!

It's here I'm having the issue though. In my personal life, I've been robbed from, attacked, harassed, bullied, and betrayed multiple times by multiple people.

Horrible things committed by people I could call “villains.” At least in a metaphorical sense of the word.

Now, as a writer, would it be just for me to draw inspirations from these stories? One could argue that it'd be of low character of me to represent another person in such a way. It could seem as if I was doing it out of spite and come off as immature. 

After all, we all have our own perspectives and nobody believes that they themselves are evil.

Or perhaps you believe that's okay?

Alright, then issue number two, is...

Do I really want to immortalize these people?

I know that Vindicated Entertainment will live on for many years to come. The art and stories, will be etched into the fabric of our reality. That's a big deal to me. If I'm going to share that with someone, shouldn't it be from those I care the most about?

But there's another problem...

Arguably writers or artists of any kind, write their best works after heartbreak, betrayal or otherwise pivotal moments in their live. Why as I as a character designer and writer feel at conflict with this?

I can't say for certain. Perhaps it's the issues I brought above, or something so deep seated, I have yet to find the answers too.

So Where Do I Draw Inspiration From?

For villains, I've been drawing inspiration from well, other villains. The Joker and Darth Vader are incredible examples of popular villains that aren't realistic within our world, but realistic for the world that they are in.

Perhaps then, this is the answer.

What do you think? Should writers and artists draw inspiration from other villains created in media? Should there be any expectation of those villains having a basis in reality? Does that have in bearing on them being a better villain for the story? Is there a point of going too far with this? Should the people who have hurt you, even get the time of day? What if it makes for a good story?

These are the questions I ask myself.

I hope you enjoyed the article. If you liked what you read, be sure to let me know in the comments below. If nothing else, I hope this sparked a thought for you. I have plenty to share.

Stay Awesome!
Vincent Baker