Stop Making Readers Root for Your Villain

Описание: Mistake #3 when writing fantasy villains: making them TOO sympathetic. There's a crucial difference between a complex villain and one who stops being a villain altogether.

Here's the line you don't want to cross: readers should have complicated feelings about your villain, but they shouldn't start rooting for them OVER the hero. Your villain should remain the enemy, even if they're understandable.
The perfect balance? Readers understand WHY your villain became who they are and what drives their actions—but they still don't want to see them succeed. That's when you know you've nailed it.

Think about it: if your readers finish your book wishing the villain had won instead of the hero, something went wrong in the character development process. You've accidentally written an anti-hero or a morally gray protagonist, not a true villain.

Give your villains depth, give them motivations, give them tragic backstories—but make sure they're still crossing moral lines that make readers uncomfortable. They should be doing things that are genuinely wrong, not just "questionable but understandable."

A truly great villain makes you think "I get why you're doing this, but I still need you to lose."
Want to learn the other 7 mistakes fantasy authors make when writing villains? Check out the full video linked in my bio!
Are you struggling with making your villain too sympathetic or not sympathetic enough? Drop a comment and let's workshop it together.