User blog:Queen Misery/Jerk Versus Villain

people. we need to talk - this wiki is suffering from a large number of trolls, IPs and seemingly confused (or, to put it nicely, foolish) contributors who seem to lack a basic understanding of what a villain is:

A character who is a villain MUST be hostile, antagonistic and threatening in some fashion (those who say "oh but was not a threatening villain" need to grow up, all villains have threat - even incompetent ones: yes, even Dr. Evil level absurdities are threats, not very big ones.. but still a threat).

Villains seek to do evil to others and they do it in a manner that is noticably criminal and/or immoral.. simply calling someone names or having a (non-violent) rivalry is not enough - that's just being what is known as a "Jerk".

Villains In Fiction
Villains in fiction often seek world-domination, the death of themselves or others, to ruin the lives of one of more individuals and generally live criminal lifestyles - now of course exceptions exist but a villain is ALWAYS a threat.. if they pose no threat whatsoever they are not a villain.. almost all villains will be a danger to his or her setting in some fashion, whether they are homicidal or bullying - a villain exists to be defeated, their must be a valid excuse for why this character or person can not (normally) exist in harmony with others in his or her setting.. there must be a reason why a hero (or entire groups of heroes) fight against them in the first place - often risking their lives or at the very least personal safety in the process.. men and women do not normally fight so strongly against something unless they feel threatened or the thing they are fighting against is especially aborehent to his or her beliefs..

Now villains are not all cackling madmen who do nothing but scheme evil deeds (unless your Robbie Rotten) in fac most villains think they are doing good or just don't care about morality at all - yet all of them ultimately come up with some kind of plan that will negatively effect those around them, often these plans are borderline illegal and they are always immoral in some sense of the word.

Whether its a cruel baron forcing his peasants to pay unfair taxes, cackling all the while or a rogue soldier gunning down innocents out of a warped sense of "duty" a villain has a purpose, has threat and must be stopped in order to have what we like to call a "happy ending" (though some genres do not have "happy endings", such as tragedies or horror.. but that's another topic altogether)

Jerks In Fiction
A jerk on the other hand does not need to be defeated and doesn't really pose a threat to anyone, except maybe those who are emotionally fragile - a jerk may try and act mean but in the end they do not have what it takes to be a true villain: they tend to attack people on a very "schoolyard" level, via insults and (at worst) cruel pranks.. they would never dream of committing the acts a real villains does, whether its out of fear of reprecussions (many jerks are cowards) or the fact that jerks, while stupid, are not actually "evil".

Many jerks also co-exist with other characters in their setting and although disliked they are not actively fought against, in fact many jerks have moments of aiding the hero - whether by choice or out of necessity.

Jerks are like the high school jock who stuffs you in a locker or calls you "gay" at every possible chance, when put against a true villain most Jerks are either destroyed or simply fail..

Although arguably antagonistic a Jerk is not a Villain, the jerk doesn't pose much threat - the jerk is not often terribly memorable (except maybe for comedy value) and the jerk is disliked by many in their setting but rarely (if ever) becomes feared to the point someone says "the story can not possibly have an enjoyable outcome until this character is either dead, imprisoned or otherwise out of action".