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Villains are not necessary in real life, but they seem necessary for fantasy and science fiction plot development.
Yes, it is all good to have literary antagonists who are not true villains because they all have a tragic backstory and they are simply standing between the protagonist and her/his goal, possibly even by accident or because they both want the same thing or completely opposite things.
Villains, though, they are generally darker than antagonists. Villains may have a tragic backstory, they may be standing between the protagonist and her/his goal, but they also have some deep need/desire to do something most people would consider evil. This is the difference between an antagonist and a villain.
One might argue that these poor villains in fiction are simply misunderstood. Maybe they are misunderstood, but at some point, a villain makes a purposeful choice to act in a way that is harmful to others on a personal, impersonal, small or grand scale. Maybe the villain has a reason for her/his actions, maybe the villain truly has a mad belief that she/he is in the “right", but in a truly fictional world, especially in a fantasy setting, the villain is going to make bad choice followed by more bad choices, and eventually make choices which are evil.
This does not mean the villain is irredeemable. But sometimes, it does mean that, in the instance of books like The Lord of the Rings or The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. In those books, the villain is irredeemable. I know this seems to go against everything in the view of the world, but yet, it is possible for real life criminals to continue to choose evil actions over and over again, so it is possible for fictional villains to do the same.
But are villains necessary to fantasy and science fiction?
I am going to go out on a branch and say, yes, most of the time. In the traditional fantasy and science fiction stories, a villain is a kind of trope-ish necessity. Even in fantasy retellings in which the traditional villain is held up as misunderstood, there is a villain behind the misunderstood villain. How would Star Wars hold up without Palpatine? How would Star Trek’s Wrath of Khan work without Khan? How would Avengers’ Infinity War work without Thanos?
Can these villains be redeemed? Or is the only due process a type of justice? See the above movie examples for food for thought. Maybe they can be redeemed by someone or something, or by the supernatural power who designed the entire universe and set everything in motion, by God. But that is a discussion for another day or another place.
For most fictional storytelling purposes in fantasy and science fiction, villains often play an uncomfortable and necessary role to showcase the heroes. But one must wonder, could those heroes shine brightly without them? Are villains truly necessary?
What do you think? And can you share some examples of heroes who haven’t needed villains in fantasy and science fiction stories? As I wrapped up this post, I started remembering more and more fantasy and science fiction tales which did not have villains in the strictest sense of the word. I might share some next week.