The Villain's Journey

the anti-monomyth?

Since I’ve been putting up several of my pieces on the Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth, and the art-slash-formulae of story making, I thought you all might get a kick out of this old piece. This one riffs off of an idea that a grad student of mine had in my “Villains, Monsters, and Foes” course at DU, way back in the day. On me ol’ blog (in late 2017, to be exact), I went through my own 8-stage version of the Hero’s Journey that I had often used in writing and literature classes through the years. Then in a Part II, I laid out this fascinating concept: that of the Villain’s Journey. I remember that student asking, “Hey, the villain has a journey in stories too, right? What would that be?” I told him I hadn’t thought of it before, and that he should come up with one. His Villain’s Journey, I think, is pretty spot on.

I won’t bother you with yet another piece of writing about Campbell’s monomyth, but it might behoove you to go check out my 8-stage version of it, and the terms that I use for each of those stages, in order to give you a more in-depth idea of what this Villain’s version is all about. And let me know what you think!

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Hero's Journey/Villain's Journey:

Part II

(Read Part I for a discussion of the concept of the Monomyth and the Hero's Journey.)

A DU grad student of mine several years back came up with a system for a Villain’s Journey. His idea came about from the many readings I had given the class, and he mused that villains also must go through a Journey, but that the steps must be different than the path a hero takes. Here’s the Villain’s Journey this student concocted, in its 8 stages parallel to the 8-stage Hero’s Journey, with descriptions and gloss by me:

8-Step Villain’s Journey (original concept by Jon Thumim)

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1. Moral Conflict

Nobody ever sets out to become a villain. Even villains like Iago, who seem to enjoy their role of Bad Guy, still make choices, moral choices, based on an Objective (for more on objective, tactics, and obstacles, revisit my 3 Rules for Protagonists). The villain is faced with a moral conflict, and must act on it to embark on their journey.

2. Precipice

Much like the hero’s Threshold, the Precipice is the boundary between the mundane everyday regular life, and the Realm within which the villain will become a villain. Once they fall over that precipice, there’s no turning back.

3. Sith Trials

These are the tests and challenges the villain must move through in order to achieve their objective. These trials are often more torturous and self-destructive than the Jedi trials, and the villain, unlike the hero, usually has no help in their endeavors.

4. The Void

This is where the villain faces total annihilation. Sometimes the Conflict with the Hero stage happens before this one, causing the obliteration; but sometimes it can be as simple as our villain getting a glimpse into the nothingness, which is (like the hero’s Abyss) the biggest challenge for the villain, the most difficult trial and one it’s not certain they’ll survive. In fact, as we’ll see in stage 7, they probably won’t.

5. Conflict w/Hero

The villain’s comeuppance and time to shine as the villain they are comes in this stage, when they must face off against their own Boss Monster, the hero. Very rarely does the villain win this contest.

I first started wrestling with this Villain’s Journey concept when Phantom Menace was a pretty new movie. This was one of the posters for it, and I thought it epitomized one of the aspects of villainy I covered in that Villains class. Whatever you think of Episode I, this image from its poster is sure striking, innit. It's actually much more compelling than the story the movie itself ended up giving us. And I will absolutely fight you on that, prequel-lovers.

6. Forswear Mentor

The life of the villain is a solitary one, and where the hero will Atone with the Father, the villain will do no such thing, rejecting and forswearing any teachings, gifts, or help their magical guide or mentor may have supplied till now (or they'll take the money and run, thank you very much). They’ve grown villainously beyond the fairy godperson and will face their world alone.

7. Dismemberment

Where the hero underwent a Transformation, becoming more themselves than ever before as they became the hero, the villain’s transformation is much more destructive. The villain isn’t transformed into themselves, but is instead annihilated, ripped apart, until there are only pieces left. In contemporary stories, this tends to be a metaphorical dismemberment, but in ancient folk and fairy tales, it’s literal.

8. Resurrection

The villain is obliterated, annihilated, by their journey, and when resurrected, they’re never the same. Often in old stories and in fantasy tales, the villain is now no longer a healthy human being, but an unnatural abomination, often actually undead. Voldemort and his horcruxes are a vivid example of this.

What do you think of this dark, Mirror-Universe version of the Monomyth? Leave your thoughts in the comments.