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For some writers and readers, the villain is not only essential to the story but sometimes more important to develop than the Hero. The villain is the hero's reflection, the opposite that creates conflict in the story. The villain can also be a lot of fun to create.

The villain must be the equal antithesis to your hero. Villains are instigators of the distress that the "damsel," "dude" or "domain" find themselves in. Without a clear villain, your readers have no focus for the struggle your heroes will face.

The most important characteristic of any villain is their charisma. Charisma will make your villain unforgettable. Charisma gives the villain the possibility of charming and winning the reader's trust (as well as characters in your story). Charming villains will use this as an ally or instrument that will lead them to the completion of their personal agendas. A great example would be Dr. Hannibal Lechter; readers enjoy this evil villain even though he breaks one the most fundamental rules of nature by eating human flesh. My personal favorite is Anne Rice's Lestat who uses finesse to win friends.

The 4 main archetypes of villains:

The Classic Villain

This type of villain embodies all of our fears and insecurities - the Supreme Evil. These villains are the sociopaths or psychopaths of fiction. They act with a purpose (their own purpose), and care little about who or what is in the way of their goals. They are different from the scoundrel and swashbucklers who disregard the rules of society for fun. The classic villains break the rules because they believe the rules are a hindrance - this is something that makes the line between the Dark Hero and the Classic Villain a very thin one indeed. The only difference is that in the end the Dark Hero ultimately still works for the good side as viewed from the general perspective. The Classic Villain works for himself and his/her definition of good (usually what's good for them). Here, I am discussing villains in the singular but this concept can also apply to an entire group of villains, an army, an entire race, or culture even as long as they are well define as the opposing team.

Examples:
Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham from the tales of Robin Hood
Morlocks from H.G Wells' The Time Machine
Lucien Blank in Danielle Ackley-McPhail's Yesterday's Dreams
Maleficent the wicked fairy from Disney's Sleeping Beauty
* Darth Vader from Star Wars (yes, the force, I know and for that reason he can also be classified in the following category)

* There are trends with some writers to make the classic villain redeemable. When you do this to a villain of any type you take the chance of cheating your readers. You spent page after page creating this evil entity only to reduce it to a warm and fuzzy feeling at the climax of your story. It can work but not always. You stand forewarned!

The Supernatural Villain

The supernatural villain is the embodiment of evil rooted in some form of dark sorcery or paranormal power. Their intimidation and evil comes from breaking the laws of nature. When creating such a villain, you need to know the limitations of what gives your character his/her power. These possible limitations are their Achilles' heals and their vulnerabilities. Magic or telekinesis and the likes are fun to play with but if you create an "ultimate power of evil" how can your hero stop it if you establish it as unstoppable? Your hero's nemesis needs flaws in order for your hero to undermine the great evil and vanquish it. So many stories with this type of villain often end with the all-powerful villain tripping over his own feet and dying by a mere coincidence. It's cheap and it doesn't work. Your readers will hate you for ending the suspense in such a fashion. What you need to do is establish laws or rules in your magic or paranormal powers. Such as what can block his telekinesis or prevent him from casting. You also need to define clearly what is possible and what is not possible in your supernatural realm. Magic is not divine or godly it cannot do everything and what it can do costs a lot. Wizards become weak from cast spells!

Examples:

Ray Bradbury's Mr. Dark from Something Wicked This Way Comes
Anne Rice's Lasher from her Witching Hour Trilogy
Voldemort from the Harry Potter series

The Bond Villain

The bond villain can be fun to play with simply because of their rich lifestyles and their massive egos (which ultimately becomes their weakness and downfall). These villains are passionate and do nothing in the small scale. They always have an entourage that follows them around and uphold the proper etiquette like calling him/her by their title or last names. Money is never an issue. In contrast to the Classic Villain and the Supernatural Villain, the bond villain knows what he/she is doing wrong and loves it. The bond villain is not driven by his nature or ambitions and desires (unlike the Classic Villain and the Supernatural Villain) but by the joy of watching the hero suffer. There is a hint of the Swashbuckler in a Bond Villain but it's tinged with a sinister overtone. Their main motivation is always world domination and this is due to their overwhelming egos. They refuse to believe that anyone is or can be their equal. They are full-fledged egomaniacs that love to hear the sound of their own voices pontificating right till the bitter end.
One saying sums up the bond villain pretty well is "it is so good to be a bad guy."

I don't think I need to state any examples just watch some Bond movies and you'll see plenty of these villains.

The Rival

The rival villain is not outwardly evil; he/she is simply the rival opponent, party or even nation. The struggle can be either openly confrontational or passive-aggressive like politics. This type of villain can be either the focal point of the story of a secondary foil against the hero. The most striking example of this sort would be the Klingons, Cardassians or the Borg in the Star Trek TV series or movies.

When rivals are individuals, they can be family members or competitors in the same trade. Their villainy takes form in their tactics to thwart the heroes. Rival usually have a personal score to settle with the hero and will break any rule to save their hurt pride. René Belloq was competing against Indiana Jones in the Raiders of the Lost Ark. The female pirate Morgan Adams faced off with her uncle, Dawg Adams in the swashbuckler film, Cutthroat Island.

These main archetypes can merged and fused together to create different types of villain. Writers are not restricted to these four. Wikipedia has listed a fair amount of the usual template villains. Here's a few examples:

- The Evil Twin (a. k. a. the Doppelgänger): evil twin of the Hero, who almost always ends up losing. Examples: Negaduck vs Darkwing Duck; J.D. Hogg vs. A.L. Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard; also on Gilligan's Island "Evil Twins" of Gilligan, Mr. Howe, and Ginger.

- The femme fatale, the vamp, La belle dame sans merci, the Black Widow: the beautiful, seductive, but evil woman who leads the hero to his doom. Poison Ivy from Batman and Robin is an example.

- The School Bully: loud, aggressive, mean and highly skilled at wedgies, but sometimes has an effeminate streak which he covers up with his bullying. Examples include Nelson Muntz, Kearney, and Dolph from The Simpsons and Eric Cartman from South Park.

For some more good advice on creating effective villians read Ruth D. Kerce's article Writing the Effective Villian

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