[UA] How to make a Villain and still be a Hero 101

[Matthew Rowan Norwood]

> In the long run, there is still a problem.  Sure, you could
> save 20 people in 10 different instances just to hurt this
> one guy.  But that one guy might become bitter enough to
> kill 3000 people, outweighing the acts of goodness.
> Depends on whether the cosmos pays attention to things that
> far in advance or not.

Maybe the easiest way to do it would be to just act incredibly
self-righteous around someone who is imperfect, driving him to hate you
and plot against you.

Remember that archetypes are supposed to be two-sided: positive and
negative aspects. The Hero should be something more like the
"Do-Gooder", and the Villain can take any of several forms: the
Trickster is probably the most common, but the Demagogue, Pilgrim, Dark
Stalker, and Masterless Man are all good choices.

Many "Hero/Villain" conflicts can be re-envisioned as "Uptight
Prig/Trickster" conflicts. If the Hero finds himself a fairly unethical
person and follows him around, reporting his every misdemeanor to the
police and making speeches about moral purity, he'll turn that guy into
his arch-nemesis.

Personally, with my avatar-reduction attitude, I'd cast the Hero as the
Pilgrim or the Mysterious Stranger (aka Dark Stalker) or the Masterless
Man or the Flying Woman or the True King or the Trickster or the Fool or
... well, basically, most archetypes have Heroic aspects to them,
depending on the flavor of the hero (Spiderman=Trickster,
Shadow=Mysterious Stranger, Tarzan=Savage, Wonder Woman=Flying Woman,
Batman=Pilgrim, etc.)

-Matt Norwood

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