Crafting The Perfect Asian Drama Villain

by Mokona, March 31, 2018

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What would the drama world be without the villains? Imagine Love Me If You Dare without the evil psychopath, Missing You without Harry, Boys over Flowers without Goo Jin Pyo's malicious mother. Bad characters are needed for most genres to create a story. The cause of hardships for the hero give him or her the chance to grow. This article will explain exactly what is needed in order to create an outstanding villain that viewers will never forget.

-beware minor spoilers-

Skill and Power

First of all, no one fears a clumsy idiot. People all over the world admire skills and moreover admire power. The function of a bad or evil character is to cause problems for the hero of the story. He makes the lead character suffer and struggle. To do so, a villain has to be intelligent, cunning and sly. He is always one step ahead, (e.g. Kim Boong Do in King2Hearts.) He uses psychological torture and emotional manipulation besides physical violence and murder. He is an incredibly contemptible, yet capable, evil monster masquerading as a human being.

More Dimensions

In the modern world, people are not satisfied with a purely evil character. A good hero needs an antagonist who can also point out some character flaws and cause the hero to improve. Hello Monster’s evil mind Lee Jun Ho not only a psychopath who randomly kills people. He actually has feelings. He honestly likes Lee Hyun, rose a child on his own and has a reason why he targets certain victims. Moreover, he is meant to show how Lee Hyun, who also has clearly some symptoms of psychopathy, could have developed.

Sad History

All people love sad background stories. It shows that the villain was not born evil. Once he was a nice person. Because of circumstances, he suffered too much to bear and finally, his soul broke into pieces. A person with a history is always more interesting and human than a plain functional creation. Furthermore all human beings have an ethical ideology. So, if the viewer can imagine that he would have done the same, he feels interested and closer to this character. Most viewers will not forget how Lee Jin Pyo in City Hunter, surrounded by his dead comrades and abandoned by the state he was wholeheartedly serving, cried. Most fans thought it is natural for him to seek revenge.

Moral and Attitude

No one is totally unpredictable. So the perfect villain has his own point of view and way of thinking. Yes, he is doing wrong and awful things, but due to his actions, the viewer will recognize that this bad person actually has some morals. Of course, this attitude is different than usual. Even if the bad character of Faith-The Great Doctor abducts Yoo Eun Soo, plots against the king and kills people, Ki Cheol never lies. Not even once he breaks his word. He is a villain of honor. This makes him special and even more dangerous because he is so powerful that he can be this way.

Minions and Accomplices

A powerful person always has two things: money and minions. It is less dangerous if the bad person just acts by himself than a perfidious person who figures out a plan to harm someone without even moving a finger. Imagine how powerful "Busan" Chairman Jo would have been in Heartless City if he didn't have his insane son and a whole mafia squad to fulfill his orders.

Beloved Enemy

If you put all these attributes together who would be the best antagonist to the hero? Of course, his best friend! The best example is Lee Kang To and Kimura Shunja in Bridal Mask. They share a past and a misfortune together, have some similar skills but use it differently. Since they know each other well, the battle is full of twists. They seem evenly matched and both bittersweetly never forget that they once were friends.

The Monster

Totally different is the concept of the monster, often a mythical creature with a superpower. This type is cruel, unpredictable and acts for a reason viewers don’t question. For this villains, the appearance is very important. Usually, they are very ugly or unnaturally beautiful with less mimic like the vampire Gwe from Scholar Who Walks The Night.