ME's Blogospherical Device: Part the Third · 12:58am Apr 16th, 2012
Villains
Villains are, without a doubt, one of my favourite aspects of any story. If a story has a credible, interesting villain, it automatically goes up in my eyes. Villains are the bread-and-butter of most stories; without a villain to act as antagonist to the hero, then there would be no conflict.
Villains can come in all sorts of flavours. Some will be simply very powerful and capable of smashing the heroes into a fine red paste should the latter encounter them unprepared. In these cases, the story will often revolve around, or have a segment of, the protagonist trying to make themselves more powerful, or find an item of sigificant power, in order to be able to go toe-to-toe with the villain. This will be the Ultimate Battle climax, or perhaps a confrontation that will leave the hero retreating to lick their wounds and try to think of another way of defeating their foe, prolonging the story.
Another type of villain is my personal favourite; the Machiavellian, intelligent chessmaster, who forms complex plans and manipulates people. They will generally be a threat to the protagonist because of their intellect, and would have gathered enough power (not strength, however) and assets to hound the hero. The hero may oppose them with their own intellect or they may just decide to go all Kool-Aid Man on the villain's designs. Of course, there are also the main villain's underlings who can be prime examples of villainhood; sometimes even being more of a threat to the hero than the main villain themselves.
In the context of MLP, I often find that the villains are mostly unique, in a sense. There are usually a variety of them, from mighty dragons to strange monsters. I find that the most commonly used villains are, however, the ones that are present in the show; Discord and Nightmare Moon. There are many, many stories that use these characters, to varying degrees of success. Sometimes, they are presented as credible villains, other times they can be cartoonishly evil. Discord is usually handled better than Nightmare Moon is, and there are several cases of very well-written versions of him coming to mind (though I can't recall the stories' names). On the other hand, I've seen Nightmare Moon have a maliciously gothic feel about her. These sometimes can be done well, but I can recall one story where she needlessly kicks around an enslaved Twilight - breaking her ribs - and forcing the poor gal to do whatever she wanted, whilst shouting in all-caps and being a demanding bitch. I think it was some romance tripe that ended up with Twilight saving her abuser from assassins, despite apparently hating her and Nightmare's death being the best thing for Equestria at that point. Suffice to say, I didn't finish the story after that.
As I mentioned before, villains that act like magnificent bastards with plans and gambits and manipulation are my favourites. They are just so fun to watch operate. This goes doubly when they have a cool personality. Sometimes villains may even have ulterior purposes behind their schemes; they may be trying to do some good in a twisted way, only with their methods being evil. On a rare occasion, they may even be the protagonists - which can be very entertaining when well done.
The key to a good villain is their motivation and their underlying personality and reasons for doing things. Take Nightmare Moon, for example. She wanted to bring about an eternal night, but why? She wished for her work and effort to be noticed and appreciated. She wanted to be recognised. The night, being an extension of herself, was not being appreciated or acknowledged for its beauty and wonder, which made her feel like she wasn't being appreciated for the things she had to offer; whether as a ruler or as the bringer of the night. This can be further explored, in that she may have been intensely lonely; her sister would be getting all the attention while she is left alone. This loneliness and jealousy built up until, finally, she lashed out.
There are lots of different interpretations for what Nightmare Moon is and how she came to be. Sometimes she's an alien entity, or some kind of split-personality thing. Other times, she's actually Luna who's undergone a little bit of a makeover and personality change. What we do know is that she evidently thought bringing eternal night by refusing to lower the moon would give her the respect she felt she deserved. It probably did, and she was taken seriously. So seriously, in fact, that her sister smashed her with the Elements of Harmony and gave her a one-way ticket to the moon.
When writing her as a villain, it would be best to present why she did those things in a clearer light. Rather than make her doing it 'cos she's evil and she wanted it, make her do it because of something like her feeling that she had no other option; that Luna succumbing to her dark side and to the drastic plan of eternal night was the only way and her last chance of having what she desperately wanted: a feeling of worth and being appreciated for her contributions. It would also be good to portray, if one is writing a story where she's managed to rule since her first fight with Celestia, how she is affected by having her desires come true. And if one is writing a story about her coming back as per the pilot but actually succeeding, the effects of her being on the moon and doing whatever to her sister and succeeding in bringing about eternal night should be explored. Does she feel that her actions were necessary evils? Is she regretful? Does normal, good Luna start to shine through now she's accomplished her goals? A good villain should be one your readers can empathise with and understand, rather than being just a character that serves to be something that your protagonist needs to beat up.
Romance
Romance! Probably one of the most popular genres in MLP:FIM fanfiction. Usually coming under the incredibly irritating label of "shipping".
I have to admit that I often indulged in romance stories. It's the warm, fuzzy feeling inside that people go for, I think. And I also do have preferred pairings. But there has come a point where romance has become so numerous that everything is almost exactly the same now:
One of the pair is either confused about her feelings for the other, or knows them, and tries to work up the courage to spill the beans. They finally do tell their crush, and the crush reveals they feel the same way. Sometimes they get angry or confused by the reveal at first, but eventually admit their feelings. These stories usually have Rainbow Dash in.
Of course, something's only a cliche because it's a proven thing. People like that, and the general structure laid out above can be filled in and detailed in a variety of different ways. I'm sure you people can think of lots of different stories that fit this description. Another thing that annoys me is that often a character will try to put the moves on another character of the same sex, or admit their feelings to them or decide they'll try and seduce them, without even finding out whether or not they're gay. They usually are.
There's also the trope of their love interest being "confused" by their own feelings/the feelings of the revealer. I remember one story I read quite a while back that looked promising; it had Rainbow Dash admitting to Twilight she loved her, and then Twilight's response basically boiled down to "I'm straight, but since you're my friend, yeah I'll go on a lesbian date with you". Which annoyed me; it's a poor handling of it. Romance is something that needs to be handled well to be effective, with believable and entertaining reactions from both parties (and third parties).
I prefer romance in healthy doses, however. In stories that focus on other things besides their feelings for each other, like the more platonic aspects of their relationship or even a larger plot altogether; like some quest or another. This probably goes a bit with my belief that a good story should have everything: sad parts, cute parts, action-packed parts, funny parts and even romantic parts. A good dollop of everything can make a good story, and romance subplots are often very engaging.
One particularly good story is "At Home on the Range", a story featuring perhaps one of the most uncommon pairings that exist in fanfiction; Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh. This is the story that actually made me a fan of the pairing. It starts out as just them reluctantly going on a journey together, and they act like they want nothing to do with one another. It's a hilarious dynamic, and they play off each other really well. They find that they have little in common, yet they bond over their perils. It also dips a little into both their characters, and explores how such a romance between them would work. When they do start to recognise the sexual tension that builds between them, they do their bestest to ignore it or outright denying it. Though their relationship - not just the romantic bits, but also the general aspect of their dynamic - is the primary focus of the story, it's explored while the focus is on other things, such as the dangers they face on their journey and the hilariousness that happens when they try to talk to each other. All in all, it's a genuinely entertaining read.
I have a romance story on the backburner actually. It's between Pipsqueak and Luna. No, not like that! It's set in the future, and it features sea/sky captain Pip and Luna travelling across the ocean in order to establish proper dialogue with a hostile nation, amidst perils on the journey and at said nation, like assassins, pirates and skywhales. Yeah, you heard me, skywhales. Also, Luna goes with him on the journey after he's rejected her advances, and her attempts at seducing him or just talking to him are guaranteed to be hilarious and awkward.
Parting Words
Very quick and rushed version, so please forgive me if it seems I could have elaborated on things. I probably could have. Also, the usual pictures will be added later, perhaps. It would be if anyone recalls what the stories I've mentioned by description were to leave their names in the comments. Next time, we'll have a look at the different interpretations of alicorns and a highly opinionated guide on How to Make Your Very Own Likeable Original Character!
Remember to Comment!
PS: Suggestions for future topics of discussion would be nice! I'm plumb out of ideas.
Not a big fan of ATFN, then, eh? ah well, can't please everyone.
The best example of the chess-master type of villan I can think of is Artemis from the Artemis Fowl series. He seems to fit your chess-master villan description to a T. He is always facing insurmountable odds and obstacles to achieve his goals with only his intellect and his world class bodyguard. His character changes as the series progresses but in the beginning he is definitely the "villan". I think you would love to read it.
Chessmaster is the best personality by far -- for anyone -- and a story with a chessmaster can usually put out so many twists that readers give up guessing what will happen. Since I'm easy to confuse as it is, and slightly masochistic, I love chessmaster stories.
Also, I kinda liked that story with Moon shouting in all caps and being a demanding bitch... In fact, I think I'm following it...
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Well, it is entertaining when it's done right, but not when it's too hammy and just cringe-worthy.
Skywhales. ಠ_ಠ That Sky-Captain Pipsqueek fic sounds amazing and I want to read it.
I love chessmasters. I can't think of any fanfics that have properly utilized a proper chessmaster without it coming across as cheesy and pointless. Usually the writer will have them do ridiculous things and try to play them off as necessary for some grand complicated plan, when something far simpler, easier, and more reliable would have had the same result. I like to think of canon Celestia as a chessmaster, one of the reasons I love her so much. She got together all the pieces to necessitate Nightmare Moon's defeat, then set the ball in motion by simply telling Twilight to make some friends. She rescued Twilight and her fellow spirits of harmony from Discord by just sending back all Twilight's friendship reports - that's it. Nothing grand or overly complicated, just the simplest move required to get the desired result.
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But of course. Story implies I enjoyed it, which implies i thought it was good, which is why stories with chessmasters are good. Writing, on the other hand, is where I must specify. Writing is to stories as rectangles are to squares.
Good points in regards to romantic stories. While I personally enjoy same-sex pairings more than the alternative, the tropes you noted do get tiresome. It feels very cheap when an author goes to great lengths to build tension upon a character revealing her love, only to give her a happy ending with no conflict whatsoever. Then again, I see the same thing in many heterosexual romances I read on this site too, though it may seems less plausible in homosexual stories, because there is less established basis in our culture for that sort of relationship, and greater responsibility falls upon the author to make the romance convincing.