By
Robin Weaver
Without
a doubt, Voldemort is my favorite villain (at least this week). While he’s in good company – Mr. Hyde, the
Jaws Shark, Becky Sharpe, Alexis Carrington, Jeanine from Divergence—the Dark
Lord easily edges the competition into trivial backstory. I mean, come on, the
man (critter, snake, demon) has it all. He possesses every single characteristic
of a good villain:
A. First and foremost, The
Dark Lord has a great backstory. Who can’t
sympathize with a poor little orphan whose mommy croaked and Muggle dad,
despising all things magic, ran for the hills? Even with the humblest of
beginnings, Voldey (aka Tom Riddle back then) excels at Hogwarts Academy, becoming,
Head Boy and receiving a Medal for Magical Merit. One could successfully argue if
Dumbledore had given Tom the same support he heaped on Harry Potter, Voldemort
might have been the hero of the story—of course there’d been no story, but that’s
another…em, tale.
B. He’s both handsome… And
butt ugly. As Tom Riddle, he’s a real
cutie, but as He Who Stays Alive Via Horcruxes, he’s more terrifying than
anything on Alien, the Body Snatchers, or even the Exorcist. And don’t we secretly love to be terrified?
C. He Who Shall Not Be
Named is a worthy opponent. Seriously, it took eight books to defeat him.
D. He’s clever, or more
specifically, a downright genius. If we’re honest, Voldemort is much smarter
than our boy, Harry—although Hermione might give him a run for his money.
E. He has many of the
same characteristics of the hero, but they’re misdirected. Harry and Voldemort are literally joined at
the…brain. You don’t get more similar
than that.
F. He’ll stop at nothing
to get what he wants. Let’s be real. This
dark wizard keeps going, even when he’s just a parasite on the back of Quirrell’s
head. Don’t know about you, but if I had
to live as covered by a turban, I’d probably pack it in.
When all is written and “the end” is
embellished, Voldemort’s true evil was being me-centric (yes, I made up that
word). Harry P. had friends, a group of
witches and wizards who cared about others, even Muggles. Friends who cared enough to die for the
greater good. The Dark Lord had only had
followers—a band of evil-doers who put self-interest above all else. And isn’t “me-first” at the core of all the
world’s evil?
8 comments:
Well said, Robin.
Yes, indeedy. An excellent point about me-centricity and evil. I totally agree. Didn't read all of the Harry Potter books but do agree with your favorite villain choice.
Interesting post, Robin. Now I wonder what would have happened if Tom had gotten some sympathetic help early on....
Great as always!
Boy, you did a through job of disecting the villain. I never read the Harry Potter Books and only saw the first two movies. So it is interesting to see how the villain evolved. Great post!
Another enjoyed read from you! Looking forward to the next one. :)
I would definitely put Voldemort in the top three, Robin. Great analysis!
Any mystery, suspense, or even romance with a villain needs some of the things you mentioned. The most important is good backstory. And Voldemort had that in spades. The more a reader can identify with the villain in some way the more horrific the encounters. As my mother always said: "love the person not the action." That is what good backstory does.
The ultimate villain identification for me is Dr. Jeckyl who is also Mr. Hyde. Definitely centers the onus on the same person. Of course Moriarty is in many ways the dark side of Holmes--though not literally you can see that ego of being the best criminologist.
When the villain can be seen in the hero--having many of the same characteristics as the hero--I find that villain to be most interesting and the most difficult to defeat. In fact, I would argue that in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that Dr. Frankenstein, who decided he play God and build a creature in his own image, was as much the villain as Frankenstein the monster.
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