Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4851935-20161220152123/@comment-1969141-20170217142553

If a writer create a character with ONE single trope in mind (Complete Monster, Magnificent Bastard, whatever), chances are that they will fail before starting. A villain is always more than one trope, and as all character, it is always polarizing, not anyone will agree. Never forget that my Magnificent Bastard is your Smug Snake, that my enjoyable Final Boss is your pointless villain out of nowhere. And reverse.

Hammering the expected result like "look how cool/powerful/smart/evil/badass/something this character is! Have you seen it? Can you believe it? Look! Look! Look goddamn it!!!" will only alienate the fanbase or part of it. Subtlety and tri-dimensional characters are the key of success. Show, don't tell.

Palpatine for instance is an interesting mix between Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard. He is more than a comtemptible tyrant, he is a corrupter and a schemer.

Judge Claude Frollo is a Complete Monster, but the point of the character is to highlight the evilness of religious fanaticism and the hypocisy of those who consider themselves perfect. Just one look at what is happening right now all over the world shows that more warnings like this are needed.

Chaos from The Power of Five is a God of Evil who does not show evil as an exterior force that destroys us, but a corruption from within, and the nightmarish world he rules at the end is full of the catastrophes we might face soon or are already facing.