Though I say 'Evil Protagonist', what I really meant was an Evil Character who happens to be the focus of the story. Whether his personality is evil yet has justification when he does those sins doesn't matter as long as you add subtext to the story.

Yet I find it odd that most stories find it hard to make an Evil MC that is liked by readers. It isn't as if you need anything special to make it work. The only, and I mean ONLY problem I find is that some readers have the flawed perception that a self-insert Power Fantasy about a trashy human being getting to be the psycho murder scum that he is like in FFF-Class Trashhero is fine... when in reality stories like that only exist as torture fantasies.

What's the point of writing about a main character who does not abide by morals or is smarter than everyone else in the room? (And I mean it quite literally, though I'm not saying that as a compliment considering how the average IQ of everyone drops when this kind of character is around.) It doesn't really intrigue anyone when they see a grown man trying to take candies from babies, and similarly readers won't be impressed at seeing mere 'Evil'.

Self-awareness doesn't mean looking down on everything righteous. After all, it takes what people consider 'virtues' to succeed in life. No matter how much of a trash you are, if you experience even a small level of success, then that means that you have some virtue that others can relate with, which is most commonly 'diligence' rather than kindness.

Kindness is for 'good people', but diligence is something that can be gained by anyone. Though this thought also gives writers the misconception that diligence is 'easy'. Even though in reality: You can't be 'diligent' without having a mindset or inner belief driving you forward. This kind of virtue changes your perspective on life whether you want to or not and makes you emphasise with others who similarly gave up things to stand tall in life.

Despite this, there are a lot of writers who tend to cast off this detail as if it's no big deal, which tends to dehumanise characters into their archetype rather than actual characters. All they become is murder machines with no nuance in their thoughts.

When you write a 'good person', it is necessary to show flaws in order to highlight their perseverance and strengths. Similarly, when writing a 'bad person', it is importance to set some kind of good aspect about then that isn't merely 'justification'.

No matter how much you justify a character's actions as something beyond murder or slaughter of innocents, you risk being that middle-man between the story and the readers that's always having to explain the MC's actions to the audience.

However, a true Evil Character needs no justification for their actions. As they are Evil, they know they're Evil, and we readers also know they are Evil. The question a writer faces most when writing this kind of character is: 'What purpose does his evil actions serve in the overall narrative?'

In the Overlord Light Novel, the 'evil' of the main character stems directly from 'role-playing an evil characters in another world'. As the MC chooses to keep up his charade of being a 'villain' even if people die in the process, it adds the nuance to the story where the readers are left wondering if the world itself will retaliate against his conquest and whether he'll be truly happy down the long-run.

Evil for the sake of being evil isn't relatable. No one in their right mind sees themselves as the villain, and even if they do, it has nothing to do with being trash that likes being a murder hobo. Most people act like bad people as a way to release their frustrations on others or because they enjoy it.

In both cases though, the world retaliates with an iron fist when 'evil' is done poorly. This is why detective thrillers are so great, as no evil act can be hidden for long, and once it's revealed, the consequences of actions catch up to them.

Doing evil for the sake of emotions without care of the consequences only works when the world actively punishes the MC when he does it poorly or with ease. After all, it isn't as is virtues inherently stop people from understanding how to combat evil methods, and if you want to give such a main character an opponent, it's best to create a character that can oppose him like Batman does to Joker. It's when a strong and equally competent contrast exist does a villain get more spotlight.

Imagine this: Would the Joker be able to exist without a Batman? Even in the most recent Joker movie, it would still kill the nuance of his character if his unapologetic evil clown persona wasn't matched with characters with equal personality.

Of course, the differences don't have to be so clear-cut as well. The only reason I'm bringing it up is that 'Pure Evil' must be matched by an equally strong and competent 'Pure Good', rather than despising virtues as acts for only the brainless.

Giving your character good luck despite his bad personality messes up how there should be equal retribution for evil acts. In reality, no evil individual is protected by God or Satan. They exist, but that doesn't mean those that can hunt them down doesn't exist. All evil actions have their drawbacks.

For example: Let's say your main character kills an entire village. Unless he goes out of his way to make sure there is no one to remember his evil deed, there will be people who will try to enact justice on him sooner or later. And continuing the cycle by killing 'justice-mongers' only ends with having more people trying to kill you in the end.

My point is Evil MCs must take responsibility of their evil actions without justifying it or pretending like the drawbacks of evil acts doesn't exist. No matter how 'smart' or 'powerful' your main character is, evil acts will make others bad together against him. This is a fact. And he must pay for his decisions even if just a little bit.

Competent Evil MCs will mix deceit and feign kindness instead of being a murder-happy sociopath that understands how people work yet lacks the lingual tongue or charisma to either defuse potential enmities or shift blame onto someone else. The whole reason you see evil magistrates talk so much is to do exactly this!

Writing a 'Power Fantasy' is fine, but you must add some layers to it or else the story will just become an extremely bland description of an 'evil guy' taking advantage of people for no particular reason. It's not intriguing when an Evil Character has so much power unless they are an enemy.

Good people have their morals, and bad people have their willingness to do ANYTHING to get the job done. Both of these have their own strengths and weaknesses, allowing some to be able to do things the other would never be able to do.

Some 'good people' aren't necessarily threats to the MC because of their kindness, but rather their sociability and ability to gather those around him to fight for a singular cause. This is exactly the reason why people love stories about Heroes Vs Demons.

Anyway, you must respect to 'goodness' in the world if you want to write an 'evil character'.

That's all. Thank you all for sharing your time and be sure to ask if you guys want another blog~!