Evil Overlord Deconstruction (2024)

I've just begun work on my first novel-length story. It's a high fantasy story taking a look at the Evil Overlord and his associated tropes, and trying to come up with justifications for most of them. I.E., why does he always wear plate armor? What's with the Spikesof Villainy? Why would anyone settle down in Mordor? Why are the Mooks so loyal to him?

The Evil Overlord is not, however, a Villain Protagonist. The story instead follows the archetypal Prince Charming, who is framed for the murder of his father. Naturally, the Treacherous Advisor steps in to fill the power void, and orders him killed. Now a fugitive, Prince Charming flees to the one place he knows the soldiers won't follow him. Yup. The Mordor expy next door.

After spending some time in the Evil Towerof Ominousness, the Prince is surprised to find that the people of Mordor are— what a twist— actually nice! The Orcs, Fish People, and other various "scary" races of the world rally behind the Dark Lord because his is the only kingdom with open borders, and they've been driven there by Fantastic Racism from the other countries. The overlord never makes any public appearances without his armor so that assassins from the "good" kingdoms will never know what he looks like. They constantly raid small villages on their borders because of the lack of arable land in Mordor, and they need the supplies to survive. The ancestor of the Overlord was betrayed by the ancestors of the other kingdoms and left with the most inhospitable land left on the continent, with barely any resources. However, the Evil Overlord thinks they may finally have the man-/orc-/fish-/monster- power to take over one of their neighbors, and finally get out of the hellhole his people have been trapped in for generations.

Meanwhile, back in the other kingdoms, a Knight in Shining Armor begins assembling a Five-Man Band to take down the Overlord and keep his country as it is now: the dumping ground for everything in the world the "good" kingdoms don't like, but can't destroy.

Will Prince Charming make a Face–Heel Turn and become the Evil Overlord's trusted Black Knight? Is the Overlord a misunderstood saint, a true villain, or something in between? Just who, if anyone, is in the right?

Troperiffic? Absolutely. Overly complicated? You bet. Done before? Probably. But this is a story that I've really sunk my teeth into thinking about. Villains have always fascinated me so much more than Heroes. I'd just like to talk about what I'm writing here, and what aspects of typical villainy you guys would like to see rationalized or explained.

edited 1st Jun '12 8:29:00 PM by NanoSquid

My aim here was to make it start off feeling like the role-reversal you mentioned, but then have it turn back the other way, presenting the "villain" as Not So Different from the other leaders, just one who was dealt some pretty lousy cards and is trying to make the most of them.

Again, it's my first crack at novel writing so I don't expect it to be perfect or all that groundbreaking.

edited 1st Jun '12 9:47:46 PM by NanoSquid

It's worth remembering that the inhabitants of Mordor will probably still be kind of nasty - not because they're inherently evil, but because living in that sh*tty a situation tends to brutalise you.

What's precedent ever done for us?

The only thing I've got is to make sure the "Good Guy" (Be this the Prince in Hiding, the Overlord, or someone in the traditionally heroic 5 man band) gets the girl.

That's usually a good as a being Licked by the Dog or a Pet the Dog moment.

The Power of Love is an easy indicator as to who is the Good Guy in a story, unless you go for Tragedy in which case the girl is going to get stuffed in the fridge.

Should the Evil Overlord be female (Evil Overlordess?), have a beautiful daughter(s) (or both ) or there is someone on the Hero Team that can fit the bill for sexy plot device, use it.

Clearly, someone has never heard of Unholy Matrimony.

Romance is morality-neutral.

What's precedent ever done for us?

This sounds to me as much a subversion as a deconstruction, although I still get them mixed up from time to time. But yeah, deconstruction in that you're explaining the trope, subversion in that you're favouring the unexpected, 'morally justifying' explanations ('nice guys with poor soil') over the obvious ones ('they're a bunch of marauding jerks that like free stuff, like many, many historical cultures').

Either way though I think mook dynamics should be a recurring theme, because no villain is truly a villain without his mooks, pretty much everything depends on their activities, and they usually don't get the benefit of much screentime so giving it to them is a good opportunity to do something new. And of course kidnapping and/or deathtrapping, since it allows for the villain to have a proper heart-to-heart with the hero without being interrupted by bouts of trying to kill each other, which is good opportunity to bring up anything not addressed elsewhere as well as giving them both some humanizing or disturbing moments depending on just how misunderstood or messed up they are respectively. Especially if the captive is the villain's romantic preference and the subject of relationships comes up.

edited 4th Jun '12 7:42:32 PM by Kesteven

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On the subject of kidnapping, supposedly this was actually done in the past (Rome's founding and the reason there's a Bestman at weddings for example)

Attitudes of Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil may have been present even back in the Dark Ages but given the alternatives, it might actually end up being a lesser evil.

A rape could force an alliance or win a kingdom by default, end a war and give a desperate, starving people a way to out of a hopelessly bleak situation.

Also, to be fair, this doesn't always work. You may provoke Biblical retalition (the story of Troy and The Rape of Dinah come to mind) but it would take a profoundly unfeeling and stupid Overlord to not even consider this option.

edited 4th Jun '12 9:59:23 PM by Natasel

Actually, the idea of exploring "Mook Dynamics" was what gave me the idea for this story. Why would they stay so loyal? Why would they charge the heroes when they know that's suicidal?

If you want your overlord to be unsympathetic, a personality cult and rule by fear should work. Check out the human wave tactics used by Russia in World War II, and how they got those to work.

If you want your overlord to be sympathetic, emphasise heroic self-sacrifice, desperation caused by their utterly miserable lives, and a desire to make a better world by any means necessary.

What's precedent ever done for us?

I'm going to echo that this doesn't seem like much of a deconstruction of the evil overlord trope as your "evil overlord" doesn't seem to actually be at all evil or really even very overlord. From what you've described, the worst thing that could be said about him is that he's as bad as everyone else, and even that's stretching things a bit.

It seems like you're really not writing a story involving an evil overlord so much as you're writing a story involving a much-maligned ruler.

edited 5th Jun '12 12:33:46 PM by Paul3

double subvert the evil overlord trope

make it so that the real reason why the evil overlord wears armor is to hide the fact that s/he is actually a human. A clever chess master that sees his/her mooks as pure expendables, and actually secretly enjoys sending his/her mooks to their inevitable doom.

But he does it interestingly, s/he is their hero. S/he goes off into the battle with the warriors, and s/he secretly negotiates with the surrounding villages to let them believe they have won certain battles and lost certain battles, then farms them into a specific battle every once in a while and s/he turns on them and slaughters all his/her own soldiers.

S/he controls his/her people so manipulativly because s/he is a sociopath with a dark and tragic history of having all his/her choices being controlled and being abused constantly

But hey that is just my two cents for what it is worth :P

Also, what kinda land of mordor are we talking about? A barren desert with nothing? Or a volcanic wasteland? Because the thing about volcanoes is that plants LOOOOVE them, because of all the stuff that comes out of volcanoes that are really really good for plants.

The reason why Hawaii and Yellowstone national park are so beautiful and green is because of all the volcanic activity there.

edited 11th Jun '12 10:38:10 PM by i3ear

I like sound and storytelling.Ask me about radio shows!

Maybe there is no Evil Overlord?

Or at least, not A Evil Overlord.

Sort of like Santa Clause, its just something the elders of Mordor invented to keep up the spirits of their people.

Every so often they choose one of their best to become Overlord, a figure of strength in a land that desperately needs it, a stern leader who can take the resentment of keeping order with harsh punishment because there are scant rewards to go arround. Someone to give their loyalty and unite a desperate, divided people with the hope of a better tomorrow.

edited 12th Jun '12 9:48:34 PM by Natasel

Thank you.

Well, going a step furthur, might as well bring about the Myth that the Overlord is an immortal Bad Ass.

Like The Phantom. Only more LTOR.

His "Elite Guard" could be part-time Overlord performers out of costume.

The best archer, most skilled swordsman, the strongest warrior all take the mantle from time to time, lending an air of an unbeatable, untiring warrior that can take mortal wounds and after a short (and secret) ceremony involving ceremonial things like Blood of the Innocent, Black Iron and a bowl of Noodles, the Overlord rises as Champion of Mordor once again!

edited 12th Jun '12 9:53:15 PM by Natasel

I think that sounds pretty interesting! That sort of brings it round to a deconstruction again too because one possible explanation for why the leader is an over-the-top card-carrying flamboyantly oppressive warlord is that someone's deliberately invoking the trope for effect.

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