A satisfying villain death

So, I've had a big one planned for many years now, and indeed have it already written out in a book that will hopefully appear some time around the turn of the decade (because there are two more to come before it), but I'm not convinced it's satisfying enough.

Yes, it's in first draft form, but that's not what I mean. Firstly, the fellow is willing to die. He's lived his life as he wanted to, and now he's happy to die after a really rather extended lifespan. I've seen that a lot of people like the emotion of a villain as they're dying, as well as just the fact. A villain who fears their death, regrets what his happening to them, is far more satisfying to witness passing than someone who happily accepts it. So I think I want my fellow to die unwillingly.

Problem with that is, he's practically a god in terms of sheer power. The Earthfault takes place in a fantasy world where magic allows anything imaginable, but takes incredible willpower and discipline. For the sake of enjoyable writing, some characters find this much easier as they use it more.

So yeah, I dunno. I did have the idea to trap him in a dead body, but then his 'immortal spirit' or what have you could just will itself free, independent of the corpse. Maybe I could put him in so much pain that he's unable to concentrate enough to magic himself free.


Have I written myself into a corner? D:

Is there nothing you've written into the series so far suitable for godkilling?

Maybe the characters talk him into realising he's been an absolute arse and he is willing to die as a result of his mental anguish?

Spitballing a little here. Yes, it does sound like your in a bit of a corner, but no reason you can't go out. And honestly? While villains suffering is more fun, a villain who goes out on top singing "I did it my way" is very different, which makes it interesting. Might be a hard one to sell, but I'd like to see someone try it.

James118 said:

but takes incredible willpower and discipline

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Maybe his boredom and ennui sap his willpower?
Maybe his discipline begins to flag as he feels he's just repeating the same tired patterns again and again (oh look, I've destroyed another hero but somehow it's just not satisfying).
An act of kindness that somehow pierces his evil exterior and strikes deep?
Someone even more evil? A tragedy that makes him re-evaulate things?

If it's not the end of the book/series, does someone else step to fill the villain role? Could there be some conflict between the pair?

I've found with sticky plot points like this that it sometimes helps just to mull it over for a few days, let it percolate in the back of my mind.

I also like the idea of a secondary villain. Maybe an apprentice that managed to find his one weakness and abuses that, who then has his own weakness that your heroes can use to defeat him in turn.

You could also make the magic backfire. Maybe the magic has been slowly killing him from the inside, without him noticing, and he wilts away like an old flower. That, or have a major showdown between the heroes, where the heroes are beaten, but the villian mucks up and ends up destroying himself through some minor miscalculation. Though that one sounds like it would be frustrating for the reader, as there would be no appropriate pay-off for the hard work that the heroes put in.

I do like a few of these ideas. And some were going to be in the story originally, like the villain being usurped. Problem with that was, he was just going to retread his predecessor's steps. Raise an army to conquer the world, etc. During his death scene, the villain - essentially a bored god - teases the hero with the pointlessness of existence. The villain still deserves death in this scene, however, for the murder of another character, and after killing the villain, the hero descends into nihilistic madness. He was going to take up the mantle, but it felt too repetitious: the villain's story, goals, motives, etc. will have already been explored at this point in the series.

I do have the mechanics of the magic understood, but not yet published. There's like a simple one or two line explanation so far, that I suppose I could wiggle with to make something that meets some of these criteria.

Think I've got it: magic is a mental ability in Erdra. So I'll just choreograph the climactic tussle to give the villain a bad enough bash on the head to make him unable to use magic. Suddenly, he's much more human: the magic was an aesthetic, and now he can feel the pain the hero is dishing out, and instinctively wants to live.

Which he'll be denied. >: D

That works for me James... However, I would suggest, certainly as you have a couple of books still before this event, that you foreshadow it enough in those installments so it has the impact you want and actually means something to the villain and the world at large even.

That, for me, is the best benefit of planning rather than pantsing, that you know where to start dropping hints, and still have time to make the payoff that much more fulfilling for the reader.

The Big Peat said:

Is there nothing you've written into the series so far suitable for godkilling?

Maybe the characters talk him into realising he's been an absolute arse and he is willing to die as a result of his mental anguish?

Spitballing a little here. Yes, it does sound like your in a bit of a corner, but no reason you can't go out. And honestly? While villains suffering is more fun, a villain who goes out on top singing "I did it my way" is very different, which makes it interesting. Might be a hard one to sell, but I'd like to see someone try it.

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Shuffles. Some villains are just bad to their core and it's delicious having them die gloating. I'm sure there are quite a few (I don't remember Travis in Blakes 7 showing much remorse before death.)

Anyhow, reader expectations are that the villain should die - even though in real life they often don't. I had the endings of one of my books not universally loved because the villain didn't die.

As for being in a corner - corners can be overcome. You say the villain is ready to die - can he play a part in his own downfall, perhaps by not wieldingv his power?

LittleStar said:

That, for me, is the best benefit of planning rather than pantsing, that you know where to start dropping hints, and still have time to make the payoff that much more fulfilling for the reader.

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You know, most pantsters do go back and solidify these sort of things in the second draft. Pantstering Isn't about chucking the rough draft out there - it's about using the first draft as your plan and building on it. It probably takes me as long to bang out the first draft as it does for a planner to plan. So I'd argue that this Isn't an eg of when planning is any better.

How about banishing magic altogether somehow? People able to use it would lose it, and magical beings would cease to exist. The heroes themselves would lose their hard-earned abilities and magical items as well. The world would have to get by without the aid of magic moving forward, which would suck but the baddie would be vanquished at least. Weighing pros and cons of such huge decision would be its own little interesting conflict for the heroes, and would bring a nigh-cataclysmic ending to the world of your book. Closure and climax. I can already see a satisfying epilogue as a minor surviving character from the story gets used to daily life without magic, or reminisces in old age about the times of magic in his youth...

Ihe said:

How about banishing magic altogether somehow? People able to use it would lose it, and magical beings would cease to exist. The heroes themselves would lose their hard-earned abilities and magical items as well. The world would have to get by without the aid of magic moving forward, which would suck but the baddie would be vanquished at least. Weighing pros and cons of such huge decision would be its own little interesting conflict for the heroes, and would bring a nigh-cataclysmic ending to the world of your book. Closure and climax. I can already see a satisfying epilogue as a minor surviving character from the story gets used to daily life without magic, or reminisces in old age about the times of magic in his youth...

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That's actually a cool idea, but I already know what I'm going to do regarding the redundancy of magic in future. See, only a small number of people can wield magic effectively (even then, just to make daily life easier, nothing threatening the peace), so not much would be threatened by the disappearance of magic.

Like I said, however, it's a cool idea. I think someone should run with it and make it its own story.

That's a difficult one, James. It sounds like the story is deeply complex, and it needs a satisfying death scene. However, from the sound of your experience as a writer, I have little doubt you will come up with a fantastic end for this particular character.

But isn't this kind of decision-making part of the excitement of writing? There are no limits to the possibilities.

I've written good characters who have lived for such an extended time that they long for death. I've written evil characters who are so egotistical that, at the moment of their death, they are shocked and filled with disbelief that they can actually die. And I've written innocent characters who die by accident or chance, the deaths that tear my heart out as I write them.

Death is part of life, and it comes in all forms.

But nothing makes me happier then when an evil character gets his comeuppance. When a good character defeats and kills an evil one -- especially when the protagonist does so to protect someone who can't protect themselves -- it lifts my spirit and fills my heart with joy.

"Good guy defeats the bully" is the type of story I never grow tired of.

Good luck with this, James.