How to Develop my Villain

[Trailofstardust]

One of the main antagonists In my middle-grade/YA urban fantasy story "Fairy Knight" is heavily based on Walter Strickler from Trollhunters in terms of backstory and personality, his name is Theodore Carter.

There are a lot of traits I enjoy about Strickler that I want to have in Theodore.

Theodore's true monster form:

Theodore's human form;

Backstory:
Theodore's mother is an evil nature goddess who was sealed away in another dimension a millennia ago. She has sent her children including Theodore and his three sisters who function as main antagonists into the human world to gather magical artifacts that will free her and allow her to invade the human world.

Traits in common with Strickler:
Theodore and Strickler have a lot of traits in common: both are history teachers at the protagonist's high school, both are monsters that can shape-shift into human form to serve as spies. they are both classy and elegant older gentlemen with a love for history and mythology, both are two-faced both literally and figuratively: switching between a kindly, gentle demeanor to a ruthless and threatening one depending on what the situation calls for.

I really love the concept of a villain and kid hero having a teacher-student relationship in their civilian lives, and the villain does genuinely care about the hero as a mentor figure and they both kinda lead double lives where they accept the dual nature of their relationship.

Strickler from Trollhunters gives Jim, the protagonist the nickname "Young Atlas" to reference his responsible and caring nature, "holding the world on his shoulders". Theo gives Jane, the protagonist in my story the nickname "Young Artemis" in reference to her wild, rebellious and protective personality.

Differences from Strickler:

He is a man of color, described as having "dark skin" and "thick, curly hair".

Unlike Strickler who is looked down upon by trolls for being a changeling and deals with fantasy racism, Theo suffers from no prejudice, instead he is privileged in fey society as the son of a goddess.

Before his redemption arc Strickler is power-hungry and self-serving, being willing to backstab anyone except for a few people due to having to be cruel and ruthless to survive and having few people to trust. In contrast, Theo does love his siblings and feels protective of them. He has conflicting feelings about loyalty towards his family of birth and the humans he has grown fond of.

I want to hear some opinions on Theodore Carter and how to develop him into a unique character and set him apart from his inspiration while keeping the aspects that I find interesting. I would love to hear input from someone familiar with Trollhunters.

 

[pmmg]

I am not familiar with Troll hunters, or the inspiration character, but I suspect you could not get too far into writing a story before this one takes a direction all their own, and you can run with it.

I've tried to base characters on people I knew before and I never quite works out. Those pesky character dont like to be set in anyone's model.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Conflict = Story

The more conflict you have with this character, between this character and his family, and between the people trying to stop his thievery (and there is such a thing as positive conflict), the more your characters will shine the better for it.

 

[Queshire]

Hmm... I would say that you should look at his motives, his relationships and how the two aspects intermingle.

For example you'll get a different result if he thinks about his teaching job like someone basically taking care of a bunch of baby animals vs viewing it as a way to kill time and toy with a bunch of humans vs something he hates but sees as necessary for achieving his goals.

 

[Trailofstardust]

Hmm... I would say that you should look at his motives, his relationships and how the two aspects intermingle.

For example you'll get a different result if he thinks about his teaching job like someone basically taking care of a bunch of baby animals vs viewing it as a way to kill time and toy with a bunch of humans vs something he hates but sees as necessary for achieving his goals.

Theo truly does care for his students and wants the best for them, but he is also loyal to his mother and sisters. Because of this, its likely that he has developed cognitive dissonance that allows him to genuinely act caring and compassionate towards his students yet work towards a goal that would result in the death of countless people dead and the end of human civilization.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I come at things from a different direction. I used to do this sort of thing and it flustered me. Then, I started writing stories where the story needs determined character traits, and the characters became much more real to me. Characters still end up determining a lot of story detail, but it doesn't start that way.

Of course, everybody has their own path.

 

[FifthView]

I'm not familiar with Trollhunters, so my observations have this limit.

At first blush, your description—or way of describing—makes the one character seem too derivative of the other.

I'll agree with the others in this thread. Write it and see how your character takes paths Strickler wouldn't. See how these different paths change the character via the consequences of the choices he makes and as a result of whatever frictions he experiences. In his own mind, he is the hero of his story; as such, he'll have his own set of antagonists doing their own peculiar things, and this will affect him. His arc will be dependent on this friction.

If you've already pictured how the story will end and Theodore's final form at the end of it, you might take a step back and put that Theodore side-by-side with Strickler. Use a thought experiment. Pit them together in an imaginary battle of wits—or else, see what happens if they are forced to work together to get out of a maze prison. This might help you to spot where they are too alike and where you've succeeded in differentiating them. As a second step, imagine another fan of Trollhunters reading your thought experiment. What's that fan going to think of the two, seeing them side-by-side like this?

 

[Trailofstardust]

I come at things from a different direction. I used to do this sort of thing and it flustered me. Then, I started writing stories where the story needs determined character traits, and the characters became much more real to me. Characters still end up determining a lot of story detail, but it doesn't start that way.

Of course, everybody has their own path.

I do things the opposite way. I come up with characters first, the story comes later. Both start out vague beyond a few ideas so there's space to craft them for each other. Interesting characters is what I'm drawn to when consuming any media which is why they're the first to develop.

 

[Trailofstardust]

I'm not familiar with Trollhunters, so my observations have this limit.

At first blush, your description—or way of describing—makes the one character seem too derivative of the other.

I'll agree with the others in this thread. Write it and see how your character takes paths Strickler wouldn't. See how these different paths change the character via the consequences of the choices he makes and as a result of whatever frictions he experiences. In his own mind, he is the hero of his story; as such, he'll have his own set of antagonists doing their own peculiar things, and this will affect him. His arc will be dependent on this friction.

If you've already pictured how the story will end and Theodore's final form at the end of it, you might take a step back and put that Theodore side-by-side with Strickler. Use a thought experiment. Pit them together in an imaginary battle of wits—or else, see what happens if they are forced to work together to get out of a maze prison. This might help you to spot where they are too alike and where you've succeeded in differentiating them. As a second step, imagine another fan of Trollhunters reading your thought experiment. What's that fan going to think of the two, seeing them side-by-side like this?

Thanks for the advice!
Not sure what another fan would think of Theodore. Ive actually talked about my characters including Theodore with a few Trollhunters fans and they liked him, though maybe that doesn't say much.
Your imaginary battle-of-wits idea is very cool though, It's interesting to think about what would happen.

That isn't Theodore's final form though. Throughout the story he freely shapeshifts between the two forms.

 

[FifthView]

That isn't Theodore's final form though. Throughout the story he freely shapeshifts between the two forms.

Sorry I was unclear. I meant Theodore's final state after he goes through his character arc. What's he like at the end of the tale? This is the picture of him I'd use when imagining the two side-by-side. (Strickler's final state also.)

That's because characters often start out somewhat generic or simple and grow more complex as a story unfolds. More is revealed about them every time they are put in a new situation. They may change as a result of various events. Theodore and Strickler might seem quite alike in the first few pages of your tale but be quite different by the end.

 

[Trailofstardust]

I'm not familiar with Trollhunters, so my observations have this limit.

At first blush, your description—or way of describing—makes the one character seem too derivative of the other.

I'll agree with the others in this thread. Write it and see how your character takes paths Strickler wouldn't. See how these different paths change the character via the consequences of the choices he makes and as a result of whatever frictions he experiences. In his own mind, he is the hero of his story; as such, he'll have his own set of antagonists doing their own peculiar things, and this will affect him. His arc will be dependent on this friction.

If you've already pictured how the story will end and Theodore's final form at the end of it, you might take a step back and put that Theodore side-by-side with Strickler. Use a thought experiment. Pit them together in an imaginary battle of wits—or else, see what happens if they are forced to work together to get out of a maze prison. This might help you to spot where they are too alike and where you've succeeded in differentiating them. As a second step, imagine another fan of Trollhunters reading your thought experiment. What's that fan going to think of the two, seeing them side-by-side like this?

I think I've found some important differences between Strickler and Theodore.
I think that Strickler is much more ambitious and power-hungry. When Strickler got hold of a ring that gave him control over the undead assassin Angor Rot he told him "this is your leash and you are a dog". My interpretation is that after a lifetime of being treated as inferior and disposable he wants to prove himself worthy of authority and relishes gaining power for once, and also because of misplaced revenge for the way he has been treated-the "cycle of abuse". Theo doesn't have that, while proving himself useful and competent to his mother and sisters is very important to him I don't see him desiring power and control over other people the same way.

Though currently Im not sure if this is significant enough.

Another quite significant difference is that Theo is much closer to the main villain's inner circle, even though he is abused he is still her son, her creation which she loves (although in a twisted way). He never experienced the risk of being thrown under the bus like Strickler and the other changelings did. This could mean a lot of difference in how he acts.

 

[FifthView]

Sounds good enough to begin writing it. See what happens.

BTW, you also have options that don't involve deep-seated mental and emotional aspects. A striking physical difference might be good. An odd obsession or hobby. (So for example when we see Theo, he's often watering plants, or collecting bugs, or whatever.) This sort of thing.

Good luck!

 

[Trailofstardust]

Sounds good enough to begin writing it. See what happens.

BTW, you also have options that don't involve deep-seated mental and emotional aspects. A striking physical difference might be good. An odd obsession or hobby. (So for example when we see Theo, he's often watering plants, or collecting bugs, or whatever.) This sort of thing.

Good luck!

Well, as far as appearance Theo has dark skin and curly hair which he keeps in a ponytail. I think he could have lots of weird hobbies being centuries old and extremely well-read and travelled, but I haven't decided one yet desides liking history which he shares with Strickler.