Characters and Arcs - Video Game: Storytelling - page 51

▪ The Godfather : Don Emilio Barzini wants his family to prosper.
▪ Watchmen : Ozymandias wants to save humanity from self-destruc-
tion.
▪ Monsters, Inc .: Henry Waternoose wants to save his company from
bankruptcy and prevent an energy crisis.
▪ Star Trek: First Contact : The Borg want to integrate other cultures
and strive for perfection.
▪ Superman (1978): Lex Luthor wants to be rich and own beachfront
property.
And in games:
▪ Injustice: Gods Among Us : Alternate-reality Superman wants to keep
everyone safe.
▪ Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time : General Azimuth wants to
retroactively prevent the near-extinction of a sentient race.
▪ Infamous 2 : The Beast wants to save superhumanly powered Con-
duits from a deadly plague.
None of these desires, isolated like this, are inherently evil. What makes a
Villain “bad” is what she is willing to do on the way to achieving her de-
sires—whom she is willing to hurt or even destroy in order to get what she
wants.
Once you've decided what your Villain desires, you can then focus on
how she intends to get it.
Man with a Plan
A well-conceived Villain is no dummy, and should have concrete plans for
getting what he wants. These schemes need to hold up under at least a
decent amount of scrutiny. The Villain's plan must have an internal lo-
gic—it shouldn't be just a random jumble of obstacle-generating actions.
That's lazy and incoherent storytelling.
Let's look at Grand Moff Tarkin, the Villain from Star Wars . We'll start by
identifying his desires. As an arrogant, power-hungry, authoritarian military
leader, Tarkin is motivated to continue to increase both his own power and
that of the Empire he serves. The Death Star is a means to that end, a