When plot and villain grow too big for the climax

[Ihe]

Hey, I've been recently re-watching Sherlock, with all its season ending cop outs, and I can't help but think in terms of novel plot. What happens when you've grown too many clever threads and have made the baddie too powerful? The overly scary, overly powerful, overly smart villain is a sure way to raise the stakes through the roof (and is used to great effect in the Sherlock series--till the last 2 minutes of every season, that is). But what happens when you don't really know how to conclude the story because, well, you've written yourself into a corner and there's nothing the MC can actually do with the resources at his/her disposal to beat the villain in a satisfying way? How can you avoid a deus ex machina/cop out? Are these plot devices ever used in a positive way in books?
This problem, of course, applies to a "gardener" style writer, not an "architect" style one. I consider myself more of a gardener type, and might eventually find myself in a pickle concerning this problem, as my WiP (in very early stages for now) has a practically invincible villain.

 

[allmywires]

Make the villain win? now that would be a truly novel way of concluding a book...

To be honest, I tend to feel most fiction where it's Good vs Bad is a bit of a deus ex machina - to varying degrees - on the good guy's part (invariably they are less prepared and outnumbered and wow, isn't it lucky most Bad Guy Honchos learned how to fire guns just to the left of their intended target?).

 

[HareBrain]

Most villains in fiction who seem all-powerful have a weakness, and it's up to the good guys to identify and exploit that. Sauron's belief that no one would destroy his ring is a classic example. That makes for a satisfying story in many ways, and (as long as the weakness is credible) avoids the problems with deus ex machina and bad-guy incompetence.

 

[Ihe]

Things do get complicated when the bad guy is a transdimensional god. Yeah, don't ask .

 

[Toby Frost]

Bring a lot of friends! The standard thing is that you exploit the villain's one weakness, but that seems a bit obvious to me. I suppose a lot of it depends on the tone of the story. Is it the kind of novel where hero and villain have to have an epic fight, or could something more subtle happen? In one book by John le Carre, the hero writes a letter to the villain, explaining what he will do now he has the power to do so. The villain thinks it over and surrenders. Likewise, in Neuromancer, the two deadly assassin characters do meet, but one is incapacitated and the other has more pressing concerns.

 

[Ihe]

I did wonder about the obligatory "epic fight", and it would be no contest. The MC will have to be clever about it, and exploit something other than a "weakness", as the antagonist doesn't really have one. Not one the MC could exploit, at any rate. A bit of lovecraftian dread never hurt anyone, right? Oh, wait, except all the people that died.

 

[James118]

The weakness is a good point, but how about if the villain wants to be defeated? Maybe they've grown tired of near-omnipotence and want to restart from square one. Maybe having the hero defeating them is proving some ideological or philosophical point in their favour, like were Batman to kill the Joker.

On a potentially cliche note, how about the hero seems to defeat a less overpowered villain, but the audience is given hints that the villain is alive and well and more powerful than previously imagined? Guess that's not so easy with an obscenely overpowered fellow, though.

 

[Ihe]

It's a tough cookie, this villain. When the antagonist can manipulate the very fabric of reality, you're in for a whooping. I'll definitely have to lower the power level some. It will need restrictions. I was hoping that, being practically a god and all, the antagonist would lose interest in the mundane and in the going-ons of humanity (much like Dr Manhattan), keeping to a neutral position--maybe a bit selfish--and have the MC battle those who would want to take advantage of this god's power (somehow. then again, if the other villains can control/manipulate this god in their favor, then so could the MC, right? And then it'd mean this god is less powerful than thought, so I'm reticent about this twist).

 

[reiver33]

I have a story in which the villain is expending all of his infernal power in an attempt to save the Earth from a natural disaster (he'll perish as well), and the hero (who doesn't know what's going on) exploits this temporary weakness and kills him. The point being you could create a sub-plot which distracts the seemingly over-powerful bad guy at the critical moment.

 

[Ihe]

A distracting subplot could be a way around it. But it needs to be airtight and very closely related to the main plot. Otherwise it might all feel too convenient for the MC's benefit.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

You could make your villain an equivalent of the Fisher King.

 

[Ihe]

But then they wouldn't be that powerful or scary. But maybe given it some sort of permanent wound could keep it grounded despite its power. I'll see.

 

[Phyrebrat]

It's a tough cookie, this villain. When the antagonist can manipulate the very fabric of reality, you're in for a whooping.

Your Villain sounds very similar in that regard to Maldis from Farscape. Maybe you could have some fun checking out the two episodes he featured heavily in and see how Crichton (just a human) and the gang dealt with him:

(1.08 "That Old Black Magic")
(2.06 "Picture If You Will")

pH

 

[Gawian]

If your bad guy has the power to manipulate EVERYTHING... how about some sort of device that inhibits the section of his brain that allows that?

For example, in Stargate SG1, there were some bad guys called PRIORS. They had special abilities. So the writers had SG1 develop a device that released a sort of radiation that inhibited that section of the brain and in essence, neutralised those powers.

 

[Ihe]

If your bad guy has the power to manipulate EVERYTHING... how about some sort of device that inhibits the section of his brain that allows that?

For example, in Stargate SG1, there were some bad guys called PRIORS. They had special abilities. So the writers had SG1 develop a device that released a sort of radiation that inhibited that section of the brain and in essence, neutralised those powers.

It's not a bad idea, but it feels very deus ex machina, even if the good guys are the ones to come up with it. A device that conveniently cancels the antagonist's power is a bit of a cop out IMO.

 

[Gawian]

Well, when you drag it down to bare basics like that, then yeah. But no matter what you do, if you drag it down to that level, it'll always be a cop out.

I think the only way to properly avoid it is to explain how it works.

If you just say, "This device cancels them out." then yeah, that's weak and deserves to be ridiculed.
Whereas if you have, "This device emits [special name] radiation which interrupts the signals between the [part of brain] and the rest of the brain which renders the powers inert."

I'll admit, that wasn't a great description, but I'm only half paying attention to what I'm writing because James Bond is on. Plus, it's not my story. Don't want to give you the answers

But the base of it was that, if you describe how it works, it's not a cop out. Just saying that it works, is.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Like others have said. The hero can lose. That's how Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie with Poirot handle it.

 

[crystal haven]

The most powerful can be brought down if someone they care about is used as bait - maybe just long enough to change the outcome to what you want. Emotional weakness.

 

[Mirannan]

A bit like the "cancellation" scenario, but you might be able to work it into earlier chapters with some small tweaks:

Many fantasy milieux include the idea that gods derive their power from their worshippers' faith. Would it be possible for the hero to somehow make a serious dent in such belief, or in the worshippers? Maybe starting much earlier on? Bear in mind that most fantasy gods are not omniscient, so it might be possible to conceal such machinations. One possible heroic (i.e. not involving genocide) way of doing this might be to seal off the worshippers in some sort of extradimensional vortex - maybe for just long enough that the hero gets the job done while the god is cut off from his source of power.

 

[reiver33]

The villain could be superior because he has a device which cancels out the power he utilises in everyone else. The hero could tweak/hack/sabotage this device so that it affects Big Bad as well - levelling the playing field.