How to build a powerful Nemesis?
Some keys for crafting a worthy Nemesis.
Some keys for crafting a worthy Nemesis.
A reader question via email from Ray Ballinger:
Thank you for this site, you are so generous.
I was wondering if you have anything on building a powerful villain.
That’s a huge question, not only because of the importance of a good Nemesis character, but also because it’s a complex issue. Let me hit on just two ideas.
First, answer this question: How does your villain function as a Nemesis character in relation to the Protagonist? Because if you take a psychological approach to stories, I would argue that most mainstream movies are, at their core, transformation journeys — where the Protagonist goes through a series of events which result in them changing from one emotion state (Disunity) as evidenced in Act One into eventually another and different emotion state (Unity) by the end of Act Three. And quite often, one of the keys in that process is their engagement with the Nemesis who in effect is the physicalization of the Protagonist’s shadow self, the repressed and suppressed aspects of their psyche that the Protagonist has — in their life up to FADE IN — been fearful of acknowledging, let alone interact with.
The classic cinematic example of this is in the movie Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when Luke Skywalker ventures deep into the swamps of Degobah to encounter his Nemesis Darth Vader — only to sever Vader’s head off Vader’s body, his helmet explodes, revealing that the face within is Luke’s.
In other words, Luke has within him the dark side of the Force as well as light side — just as all humans have ‘good’ and ‘bad’ instincts. As Carl Jung would argue, we can not move toward any approximation of wholeness or unity unless we engage all of the aspects of our psyche and that includes those parts of who we are that we fear most, which he called the shadow.
So as a writer, you can dig into your Protagonist and ask these questions: What are you most afraid of? What are you hiding? What fears and anxieties are you repressing? Those psychological elements can instruct you in the way you craft your Nemesis. Build a character where those very bad / weak / frightful elements are a core part of their essence, and you’ve got the makings of a powerful villain, well-armed to stand in opposition to the Protagonist, not only in terms of what they can do in the Plotline, but also what they represent emotionally and psychologically in relation to the Protagonist in the Themeline.
The second point is something from one of my earliest lectures in my Introduction I screenwriting course. Here is an excerpt:
THE PROTAGONIST (HERO)
This character is simply the most important figure in your story world. They are your Hero, the one through whose experience you tell your story. Therefore, it is imperative to make the audience/reader identify with your Protagonist. How do you do this? Following these five guidelines is a good start.
1. MAKE THE PROTAGONIST REAL
If the reader shares some common experience with the Protagonist, then it helps because you now have the reader using their memory/experience to solidify a bond.
2. MAKE THE PROTAGONIST VULNERABLE
If your Protagonist is perfect, you not only give them no room to grow, you distance yourself from the audience because people aren’t perfect. Your Protagonist has to have flaws to make them identifiable.
3. MAKE THE PROTAGONIST SYMPATHETIC
There is possibly no better way to establish a connection with your Protagonist than dumping a load of problems on them right from the start, almost forcing the audience to feel sorry.
4. MAKE THE PROTAGONIST LIKEABLE
Make sure to look for personal qualities in your Protagonist which lure the reader warm up to them.
5. MAKE THE PROTAGONIST FUNNY
People love others who are funny; use that to your advantage with your Protagonist. The funnier the Protagonist is the more distasteful a character you can begin your story with.
THE NEMESIS (SHADOW)
Your Nemesis exists because they are in direct opposition with your Protagonist. Their goal is almost always the same — whatever the Protagonist wants to achieve or possess, the Nemesis struggles to prevent the Protagonist from succeeding.
Without a worthy adversary, there is no conflict. And with no conflict, you have no story.
Where you want to create audience/reader identification with the Protagonist, you want to create fascination with the Nemesis. How to do this. Again, the five guidelines:
1. MAKE THE NEMESIS REAL
All too often, I read scripts where I can not relate to the Nemesis. That is not a good thing because it keeps this character at arm’s length, making them more of a concept than a real “person.” As a writer, you must tap into something human in the Nemesis to provide a point of connection.
2. MAKE THE NEMESIS VULNERABLE
In trying to create a “formidable foe,” too many writers go too far, making the Bad Guy invulnerable. This makes the Nemesis inhuman and distances them from your audience.
3. MAKE THE NEMESIS SYMPATHETIC
By humanizing the Nemesis, you make the reader squirm, forcing them to pay attention to the story which has laid out a negative character to whom they can relate. This also makes for a much more fascinating character
4. MAKE THE NEMESIS LIKEABLE
Many Bad Guys out there in the world rely on their charm in creating situations to their benefit — gaining the trust of a victim, winning them over… then striking.
5. MAKE THE NEMESIS FUNNY
To make your Nemesis distinct and interesting, give them a sense of humor.
In the best of all story worlds, you want your Protagonist and Nemesis to have an equal chance to succeed in achieving the goal they share. This does not mean they have to have the same power, resources, or skill-sets; indeed, you will almost invariably want to begin your story with the Protagonist in an inferior position to the Nemesis. What it does mean is that the Nemesis is not simply a straw man — they must be genuine and worthy foes, equal to the task of pushing your Protagonist to the absolute limit of their capabilities.
If I had to give you one big takeaway from all that, it would be to make sure your Nemesis has a world view that is both logical (in its own way) and even understandable to any potential reader. We may not end up supporting why they do what they do, but if they have a plausible philosophy upon which they base their views and actions, that makes them much more identifiable and perhaps even sympathetic — and therefore psychologically more compelling because the more we can identify with a Nemesis character, the more uncomfortable (in a good way) it makes us feel.