Are You Writing Serious Fantasy?

[Anna Licumo]

I think the most interesting type of villian is one you can agree with. For instance, Magneto in X-Men. He saw how some humans could not deal with other "races" and this shaped how he thought the Mutants should deal with things. You can understand his motives, even in some dark corner of your mind agree with them. Another example might be Karl Marx. If you've had the chance to read some of his writings, you start to almost agree with the guy....

That's why I can get sick and tired of the "Dark Lord" stchik. Granted, Tolkien did it, but he did a very nice job and at the time it was rather new. Or at least the phrase was. Now a Dark Lord, rising or falling, is popping up like dandelions in summer. Sometimes the aspect can even ruin a story for me. It really depends on how they write it.
For instance, telling a time when they are *under* an evil warlord is interesting, just because it's not that common. Or when the author starts off with describing the evil things he has done, rather than just mention he is an Evil Dark Lord of Doom.
To me it makes him (or her) more *real* and interesting.

Just my two cents. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]