Writing an Intimidating Antagonist

Antagonists: Without them, there is nothing to contest or challenge the stories protagonist, and in most cases no plot. A great antagonist is intimidating, they appear to be a greater character than the protagonist, and even the readers will be scared to see the face off between the two. As for writing that antagonist… That is a whole different story, ironically.

Crafting such a character that is intimidating in a realistic way, that can scare even the reader can be very difficult. So here I’ll talk about a few tricks for making the antagonist intimidating for your story.

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The Intimidating Antagonist

A Reputation to Uphold:

This is the simplest way to craft a scary antagonist. By giving them a reputation, they are already known to be intimidating. They aren’t just some big scary bad guy acting tough, they are known across groups and areas as this. Very few are willing to mess with them.

What did they do to gain this reputation? A great way to build upon this, is remember that a lot of stories tend to be exaggerated. Especially by those who heard the story second hand. Much of the reputation the protagonist hears of might now be true, but they can still see the effect the antagonist has on surrounding areas.

Give Reasoning to their Reputation:

When the protagonist finally meets the antagonist, it needs to be made apparent why they have such a reputation.

Why do the people fear them? Is it because of the protagonist’s own abilities? Or do they rule over many people who have power?

This can be shown by allowing them to defeat or send away the protagonist during the first meeting. By showing a striking feature such as a scar from a certain story told before, that gives evidence to the story being real.

There are many ways to put reasoning behind it, but it all really depends on what type of antagonist your writing.

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Broken Armor — Don’t Give the Protagonist Plot Armor:

When you give the hero plot armor, it softens the blow the antagonist can give. The hero isn’t hurt, and their friends end up alive in the end as well. This doesn’t lead to a well written story overall, and makes the reputation of the antagonist pointless.

Allow your Antagonist to harm the hero, and their friends. Inflicting damages and causing losses keeps the story going, makes it realistic, and gives a sense of danger. What else can be lost? Can the hero die? Can this antagonist be defeated? Always remember to follow through from reputation to what the antagonist can do- Nobody gains a reputation for nothing.

Always Ahead:

Allow your antagonist to remain a step ahead of the protagonist for a good chunk of the story.

This makes them appear difficult to get ahead of, but don’t make it impossible! Allow there to be a way to trip up, or get around this constantly ahead character.

Let’s say it’s a race to get to an important weapon before the antagonist does. While the antagonist might have better mobility by being in such power, the protagonist could find a way to get ahead by helping someone along the way who knows a shortcut. Now that is a very simple example, but it is a way to get around the antagonist but still make him difficult to face.

Mystery:

Remember not to info dump on the antagonist! Keeping them a mystery and slowly revealing things about them across the span of the story gives them a sense of mystery.

Also, by slowly revealing things throughout, it makes it realistic to defeat them by revealing something that can be used against them, or perhaps a weakness of theirs.

In the end, remember, making the antagonist intimidating is one thing but do not make them overpowered. You still want it to be realistic to defeat them. The best way to defeat someone intimidating, is to get over fear of them- their one advantage. Keep this in mind as you go forth and craft the most spine chilling and scary antagonists for your story!