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Originally Posted by Raynor
On the other hand, censoring oneself due to whatever legislation is stupid, because you would have to avoid all possible groups that would be offended - right?
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You know, I've been wanting to do a census of sorts to find out just what the most offensive thing in the US is and write a book about it?
I'd provide a hate mail address on the last page...
Here's what makes Tolkien's bad guys interesting [in my opinion]: even the truly evil ones didn't necessarily start out that way. His bad guys have stories, motives, really great dialog...
Now look at Shakespeare's villains. Just a sampling, I haven't got all day...
Iago: whimpering that Othello got promoted over him. Hints that Othello has been doing illicet things with Iago's wife. Oh snap. He's a manipulative creep. Somewhat inept on his own, but great at messing with other people. A bit of a Wormtongue character, really.
Richard III: says he's a villain in his opening soliloquy. That's a good way to judge bad guys, by the way. You want a good villain, give him good monologues. Melkor, Milton's Lucifer, Richard III, Saruman... Dick feels cheated by life, so he's going to be evil. Intense, no?
The Entire Cast of Macbeth: ooh, controversial. Lady Macbeth is NOT the bad guy! Well, sort of. You want a great story, make your characters totally screwed up. Who do you blame? The witches for giving Macbeth the idea? Macbeth for acting on it? Lady Macbeth for goading him? Fate for predetermined bad-guy-ness? Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, Frodo Baggins, and Eru meant for Melkor to be Morgoth and create snow.
Really good writers make their bad guys round. They have histories. They have reasons for their evilness. They have really expansive vocabularies.
Eff political correctness. Pick an idea and embody it in a character.