There is a note on my screen that reads “Don’t trivialize the villain.” What does it mean, and why do I have it posted there? It’s a reminder to myself that the best foes, are those that are actual, honest threats.

I, personally, get very annoyed when I read a story and the main foes are idiots. It hurts, and leaves me feeling insulted. How am I to believe that such stupid, moronic characters actually became threats in the first place? It attacks my intelligence, and often leaves me wondering, what’s the point of a heroic character if the main threat could be defeated by anyone with enough intelligence to tie their own shoes?

Villain, foes, could not exist by being morons. They would never have achieved power in the first place if they weren’t cunning, dangerous, etc. (On a caveat, I am not including a foe or enemy or threat that is based on ignorance.) By being menacing, actual looming threats, they in turn enhance the story and give the heroic characters an honest, real threat that must be defeated through challenge and adversity.

A good, well-structured foe makes for real stakes and honest tension. Cartoonish villains cheapen the story and mock the seriousness of the hero, and their need to perform heroic actions and deeds.

Let me take a study of one of my own works, if I may. Let’s look at NOBILIS: Seedling, and examine the villains – Note the use of the plural form of the word — and foes to the main characters.

• The Pirates. These are menacing, mysterious brutes responsible for most of the destruction in the story. They are lurking, ominous, nigh indestructible, responsible for most of the casualties in the story, and only thwarted by the titular NOBILIS entity, who, in this case, is essentially the heroes hand-of-God.

• The Slavers. They are acute and direct threats in the second half of the adventure. They are observant, tactical, and almost succeed. The only reason they fall is because they become too greedy, and try to capture registered freebies.

• The Corporations. They are the companies who lord over the heroes and almost everyone else in the universe. While not outright evil, more an evil byproduct of their times, they are still a threat, granted a cunning one that does not threaten the characters directly, but who pose a sinister air about themselves, marking them as future dangers.

• The Environment. Space is hostile, and surviving its many dangers is only circumventing the eventual defeat of death. To a point this has only been briefly touched on in Seedling, but the environment is an ever-present threat that will not go away and disappear. Yes, some characters are less threatened by it, but the danger itself will never stop.

All of this should hopefully add up to a universe where the characters mere survival and continued freedom is in itself a victory.

Simply surviving is an achievement, and anything extra beyond that is only icing on the cake. By recognizing the layers of threats as actual dangers, the reader should be drawn into the story, and their experience should be enhanced.