It's now 3:17AM here, and I have my sister's wedding tomorrow, so I should sleep (or drink copious amounts of caffeine). Hope you enjoyed the video! Let me know down below: what's the rivalry between your hero and villain like? Stay nerdy! GET ON WRITING AND WORLDBUILDING VOL II (the book with ALL the discussions we've had + tons of extra depth and detail) I linktr.ee/timhickson ~ Tim

Have you thought of doing a video called, "Help! I have an amazing world built but no plot for it!

Funny how the two greatest villains in Movie History are a thug clown and an asthmatic deadbeat dad in space.

Moriarty and Sherlock is one of my all-time favorite rivalries. Sherlock is a self-admitting sociopath. He is very pessimistic and comes off as cold-blooded in his philosophy. He treats other people rudely and with contempt. Then he befriends John and becomes much kinder, gentler and more optimistic. He will do terrible things, but only to protect those he loves from those who would hurt them. Moriarty is a full-blown psychopath, which Sherlock recognizes fairly early in their rivalry. He does terrible things out of boredom. I think when he says Moriarty is similar to him he is doing more than stalling or unnerving him. Sherlock is admitting to himself and his rival that he could have ended up a destructive psychopath too if he never met John. Their similarities in philosophy, dress, mannerisms, habits and core personality traits (when we first meet them) leads up to this encounter, which also shows us how much Sherlock has changed.

And this is why the OG Teen Titans Robin vs Slade is the best hero vs villain dynamic in cartoons.

Actually I did not come up with this but each of Batman's villains is supposedly one of his strong qualities turned against him example given Joker is his own Insanity turned against him, Catwoman his own attractiveness turned against him, Penguin is his money turned against him, Etc.

Just realized Aang and Ozawa never actually met until the final fight.

"The Romantic Adventures of the Joker and Batman" AKA The Lego Batman Movie

Here's a twist, Villain: We're not so different you and I. Hero: Well DUH! it is at this moment we realize that the Hero is more of an anti-hero.

As a working comic book writer, I sincerely thank you for making this video. PLEASE keep doing what you're doing, sir. :-)

*BY GOLLY, MAYBE I SHOULDN'T DESTROY WORLDS?!*

Still hoping for the video on how to kill of an antagonist.

Your next video should be about family relationships in stories. This video was great.

I subbed to this channel specifically for these writing videos and I'm personally loving it. I've been laying out the general structure and world of a fantasy story for several months now and you've helped me think of the story, magic system, and now hero/villain dynamics in ways I've never considered before. Thanks so much, and keep up with the awesome videos :)

Dude, this was just... such a good video. I wish you were my creative writing teacher. I have a couple "rivalries" I've formed my own works but there just feels like something is missing.

I've written a story in which the villain is the hero's author, subjecting the character through a variety of trials to allow for a story to unfold. The idea was to create a villain limited not by the scope of his power, but rather just his motivation. It also allowed for a high degree of freedom in the development of the story.

I really don't understand it. Why would you choose between cookies and muffins?

Do you ever hold Mishka up like Rafiki held up Simba?

What if: The villain a selfless and compassionate person whose actions will put lives at risk. The hero is a cruel selfish person who wants to stop the villain to further their agenda. Through the conflict, the hero's selfishness leads to many unnecessary deaths. The hero fails to thwart the villain's plan because of their selfishness. Hero has a crisis of conscience after the villain gives the hero a reality check. Turns out the hero always saw themselves as a morally decent person, but lacked compassion, selflessness and empathy. The villain always believed that their dogmatic approach to morality would always achieve the best results, but was too naive to realise how harmful they truly were. The hero gives the villain a reality check regarding how flawed their dogmatic beliefs are. The villain learns how to be less naive and the hero learns how to be a better person. The two realise that they could learn a lot from each other, and team up to face up against a larger threat. Could this be a good hero/villain story?

Have you seen Black Panther yet? The Tachaka and Killmonger relationship basically hits every point you made and it does this well.

Tim stated that his "necessary opponent would steal Mishka away from him...or die trying". Can't you all see the truth? He's referencing spyro, the dark lord. It's yet another one of his sneaky hints dropped into his videos to warn us about Spyro's underlying ambitions. We, the Subfuries, must stop the foul beast before he takes our beloved leader away from us(and Tim's pants). We need as much support as possible. All Hail Mishka! If you are wondering what on earth im on about, watch Tims previous videos and hunt my comments like wolves hunt their prey; then, and only then, will you see Spyros true motivations... anyway... All i could think of throughout the episode was RTTE😂 "When the hero doesn't know who the villain is until this moment" all i think of is RTTE...like how Hiccup doesn't know who Drago Bludvist is but we know whats coming. Good ol' dramatic irony. "Strong similarities to make them stand out", Vigo and Hiccup were both cunning and used intelligence in their war against each other, they both had pride and liked to play fair which is what ended up in vigo joining Hiccup.

I live for your perfect uses of the Epic Sax Guy

I think a good topic for this series would be redemption arcs.

Supreme Paradigm Dalek: "The Asylum is destroyed." Dalek: "Incoming teleport from Asylum planet. We are under attack!" Supreme Paradigm Dalek: "Prepare to defend! Defend! Defend!" Dalek Prime Minister: "Explain, Dalek Supreme!" The Doctor: [from off-screen] You know, you guys should really have seen this coming. Thing about me and teleports, I've got a really good aim. Pin-point accurate, in fact. Or, to put it another way..." [he sticks his head out the TARDIS door] "Suckers!" Supreme Paradigm Dalek: "Identify yourself!" Dalek: "Identify!" Supreme Paradigm Dalek: "Identify!" The Doctor: "Well, it's me! You know me, the Doctor! The Oncoming Storm, the Predator--" Darla: "Titles are not meaningful in this context. Doctor who?" Dalek Prime Minister: "Doctor who?" Supreme Paradigm Dalek: "Doctor who?!" The Doctor: "Oh, Oswin. Oh, you did it to them all." [grins] "You beauty!" Daleks: "DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?! DOCTOR WHO?!" The Doctor: "Fellas, you're never gonna stop asking!"

One thing I loved about Legend of Korra is that each villain challenged an aspect of the thing she cherishes most as part of her identity: being the Avatar. Book 1, Korra believes she is a half-baked Avatar because of her stalled mastery over the four elements, and Amon can literally take those powers away, rendering her powerless. Book 2, Korra is confronted with her spiritual failings as the Avatar and her relationship between her family and her nation, and Unalaq creates a rift between both and proves to be her superior in spiritual understanding, eventually becoming a Dark Avatar to replace her (though this was done really shitty). Book 3, Korra heralds an era of spiritual and cultural change that coincides with the rebirth of the Airbenders, and Zaheer and his Red Lotus arrive to break down the governments she's been butting heads with bureaucratically, while also murdering her in the Avatar State to remove the Avatar as an obstacle forever, threatening the new Air Nation in the process. And last, Book 4 gives us a Korra who is trapped in a PTSD cycle who abandons her duties as the Avatar to recover from her trauma, while Kuvira rises to power and claims that the new world doesn't even need an Avatar, and her defeat of Korra in their duel outside Zaofu threatens Korra's relevancy and influence; she doesn't have to de-power Korra, replace Korra, or eliminate Korra's role as previous villains tried to do, she just has to show the world that Korra isn't needed.

Perhaps you could do a video on secondary characters and their relationship to both the antagonist and protagonist as well as their relationship with each other.

11:20 There is no such a thing as loving literary symmetry "too much".

So I discovered this channel at about five this morning starting with his three part series on writing and, i've already watched so many videos. It's gotten to a point where i literally have a journal out on my desk writing and taking notes about the things hes teaching me in this video to help me make the world i've dreamed of since i was 13 (i'm now 18). Fleshing out things i could never figure out before, giving characters motivations I never thought of before and really helping me create this world i've always wanted to. So thank you for being the channel you are; I know its a little fast to say, but it really has helped and i've already subscribed. Side note, i hope this post isn't too cringy or poorly written to make my thanks seem worthless in anyway, this has swiftly within hours become one of my favorite KZfaq channels and I hope it grows.

Guts vs Griffith is "I quit my job because my old boss was a dick."

"in Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl" I NEARLY SPIT OUT MY DRINK YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT I'M NOT ALONE IN THIS FANDOM god bless you for having wonderful and similar literary taste so this poor socially uncultured teen can better understand writing

My hero: Damien, a shepherd from a remote village chosen by the Goddess to combat the rising tide of Darkness in the land. His necessary opponent: (in Book 1) Eura, a fallen angel who has turned against the Goddess' teachings. Why Eura is uniquely suited to challenge Damien: Eura has consciously given up the power of Light and Healing because of the Goddess' rule forbidding that the angels interfere in the affairs of mortals. She still thinks what she is doing is in the best interests of the people of the world, but her solution to the problem of suffering is to conquer the world, to rule it with an iron fist, since humans obviously can't be trusted to rule themselves. Damien, on the other hand, is young and idealistic, and fully believes that if he follows the Goddess then everything will turn out okay. (He's the Chosen One, after all.) So when he's confronted with his own folly (that bad things happen and the Goddess doesn't do anything about it), he is shaken to his core. Damien believes that Eura is evil, through and through, but Eura still thinks that she is the true hero of the story and Damien is a fool.

0:07 "...that I'm sure are hidden in the deep, dark fanfiction corners if the internet." Not so deep, chum.

Like how Green Goblin is a foil for Peter Parker like what he could’ve been if he chose to abuse his power instead of using it for service

I'm so glad to see that someone else properly recognizes the deliciousness of muffins! Oh yeah, and I enjoyed your insight into character relationships. But priorities must be kept!

Thought provoking video as always. I think my favorite part of the hero villain relationship is the question of significance. Often times the hero and villain are the most significant characters in one another's lives.

LOVE IT! these story/plot building videos are great! They help remind me what I could be doing better and what I shouldn't do at all.

I'm 17, currently doing world building on a story right now. I REALLY appreciate your videos on writing, as I'm having a lot of trouble with making my story great.

Thank you! Love how you break it down so simply. Love all the hard work you put into presentation! Crisp and to the point! Easy to remember while you write.

4:40 "It's a heartbreaking scene when you tear up over the lose of the villain." [Me] "The Hidden World didn't have to make me."🤭🤭

Wow, great post. I want to share this with all my writer friends. I think this applies across genres.

Love your videos! Really helps me decide what to do for my novel!

This helped me with writing my villain - thank you so much! before, I hadn't really planned out much interaction between the main character and the antagonist, but now i realise how important their interaction is.

I always go back and pause the videos whenever you put something on screen for a quarter second...... I am never disappointed.

An anime called Psycho-pass also has these elements. Does a good job

hey Hello Future Me, i just want to say i love these videos and they really help me with my own writing. i take notes and study them to help my own progression, and I think its helped a bit, so I want to say thank you and keep it up!

I've listened to this video so many times while writing my fantasy book, and I'm currently just a few days from finishing the third draft. Thank you for all the work you do, Tim!

Death Note is the perfect example of a well done antagonist vs protagonist story with Light and L who are so similar only they could challenge the other. It's made all the more interesting by the fact that the labels of protagonist and antagonist could be applied to either character, it just depends on what the viewer thinks justice is.

i saw the master in the thum nail. never seen a vid, and this one is still loading, but you got a subscriber.

I absolutely love this On Writing series, and I can't wait to see more of it. You have some really excellent insight into this idea. These videos are why I'm subscribed, damn, so great :P

Lemme start by saying you have exponentially changed how I write and made me massively better since I started watching you about a year or two ago you’re amazing and thank you so much man

Plenty of useful tips, reflexions, and practical ideas. Well done, Tim, thanks!

Love how much detail you fit into one video! Keep it up!

I'm loving these videos! They are so informative and thought provoking for a writer such as myself. You should do one on main character romantic relationships and their place within a story.

This was really useful for planning my Nanowrimo story, Tim, thank you.

I love your work! Not everything is applicable to me YET because I have a lot to work on for my story, but ... just ... yes! Theres so much information set in an interesting way.

Great, absolutely great. Thank you Tim, these writing videos are so cool and interesting. Congratulations on your sister's wedding :D

Another great video, thanks so much!! Keep doing what your doing!

Thanks for mentioning Artemis Fowl, those books got me into reading.

This was actually hugely helpful to me! I've been working on a story for quite literally *years* but could never get far because, while I had sunk time into worldbuilding, characterizing my heroes, and contemplating themes, I'd fundamentally neglected a "necessary opponent" for my protags! Hopefully this will lead to new writing fervor. Thank you!

Hey Tim! I just wanted to say that you have a new subscriber and I honestly think you deserve more! Your theories usually impressed me, or else made me think of certain concepts in a way a had never thought of before - but then you made the ‘on writing’ videos and they are honestly more healpful than a lot of videos made by published authors. I guess people didn’t lie when they said reading would be good practice for writing. Anyway, I have a question (or rather a video suggestion) - what is your advice on writing a story about personal struggle? How could you write a story in which the protagonist is actually a villain (or a villain to themselves)? It would be nice to see some good axamples, as all most stories I’ve seen centred around this theme are lack-luster. Anyone else have some advice?

One of the most interesting hero/villain conflict I've read in comics was the Adam Warlock vs. The Magus storyline. It turns the hero is the mirror image of the villain completely on its ear. It's still available in paperback form so I won't spoil the story if you want to read it.

14:20 I love how you selectively ignore season 2 of Legend of Korra when you're talking about good examples on this channel. XD I don't blame you.

Every time you post a video like this it makes me want to scrap everything I've ever written and start over with your tips in mind :P

What an excellent video. I've learned a lot thanks to you and have taken so much notes of this wonderful info of yours. If only I could subscribe twice.

Hey Tim! Wonderful job as usual, very insightful and very helpful. I've got several of these rivalries, but I think the most interesting one is one where my protagonist serves the antagonist directly, and has to get out of it in order to save lives. Suggestion for a video: the art of the anti-hero

Ha, this is the perfect video for me right now. We have to write a story between a protagonist and their rivalry with the antagonist

I've never written a novel, but I wrote a pretty extensive backstory for a tabletop RPG character. My hero: a former enforcer who finally managed to achieve his goal of getting revenge for the murder of his father. My villian: the daughter of the man who killed my hero's father. She has taken control of my hero's former faction and has sworn to hunt my hero down. My hero now understands the futility of the cycle of violence and is running and hiding instead of confronting her.

I am in the process of creating a new campaign story for a D&D and these videos are super helpful in building a cohesive world with a compelling plot. I can already tell my players are getting pretty invested in the world and this video should make my antagonist really good. Thanks for making these great videos, I look forward to more.

The relationship between the Doctor and the Master is one beautiful sight to behold. Friends, rivals, enemies, The other is the only one that can fully understand each other, what they have been through, what it is like to walk throughout the universe as everything turns into dust.

Your point at the end of the video really reminds me of the Big Bads on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each season, the big bad reflects the obstacle Buffy has to overcome to grow up.

Thank you for this series omg

thank you so much, your videos help me build my fictional world and characters, even though I'm not an author (I'm making a story for a series). still, thank you so much. your writing videos are inspiring!

I gotta say Harry Potter and Voldemort (sorry I shouldn’t have said that), Batman v Joker, and Aang and Zuko are the 3 best rivalries I have ever seen.

Hello! Just wanted to let you know that I’m absolutely loving your channel. Every time I watch one of your videos I’m motivated to write again, and often times I walk away with new inspirations and ideas. So thank you!! Will you be doing episodes on FMA/Brotherhood in the future? I’d love to see some deconstruction of that series! Thanks!

I love your videos, thank you

I looked at TDK Joker differently. Still a match for our friend in a rodent costume -I know bats aren't rodents, go with it- but because he's methodical. You don't just CD a hospital or orchestrate a hostage dilemma by truly being chaotic and random, you do it by being intelligent and meticulous. Joker arguably had Batman in the palm of his hand for most of the movie, and even got him to cross some serious ethical lines. This was his plan. Oh Jesus, does this mean TDK is a story about the power of friendship prevailing, since the apparent difference is that Bruce had people who cared enough to speak up?

That was an amazing good analysis. Thanks, I think it will help me a lot as a GM in Pen&Paper Roleplay. Greetings from Germany

I really love your on writing videos they help so much and eager young writers to make the best story their imagination can take them the right way. I'm glad my instincts didn't make me write those mistakes about my protagonist and antagonist relationship. Thanks again for the video, enjoy at your sister's wedding, and congratulations to the to-be-newly-wed couples 😄😄

Damn. I'm not really sure if I can properly portray just how fascinating and informative your videos really are, so I won't bother going into detail. All I can say is "Thank You for making these videos, they're beyond amazing and have been a massive help for developing my own writing and characters." You rock, hands down.

could we maybe see a essay on writing a story where the pov character isn't a "good guy" also maybe on when the overarching opponent is the believes of your character

Great video, learned a lot :)

Please do a video about static characters vs. dynamic characters please

I need your cat. She (?) is absolutely adorable. On another tangent entirely, that was a great, interesting video. Thank you! (ALL HAIL MISHKA!!!)

Thanks for this video! Really informative

Damn, man! You just gave me a new idea that I only loosely touched on and could have dropped! I've been setting my story up as it being a battle between brothers; twin heirs of a powerful heritage. But, you just gave me an idea for a surprise villain. He and the hero ultimately want the same thing, and they both approach it from the viewpoint of hopelessness and disgust, but they have very different views on how to do it and how meaningful the victory can be.

What you describe for #3 is my favorite type of villain. I want to see heroes make certain choices because either they or/and the audience know what kind of person they would be if they didn't.

I don't have the affection you do for that Batman story or Sherlock, but I loved your insights.

My favorite kind of hero villain relationship is the policeman vs vigilante. These are the kind of villains who countiniously chase the protagonist, whose always one step ahed (smoker and luffy, garcia and zorro, j jonah and spiderman). I like it because of the respect that often forms between them: the villain grows to respect the ability of the hero and might even let them escape if they feel they didn't defeat them fully because of ability. These are the kinds of character who will join forces with the hero against a greater threat

So helpful. Thanks!

Your comment on the symmetry pf the consulting detective vs the consulting criminal reminds me of the holistic detective vs the holistic assassin.

This was really helpful. Thank you!

Very helpful video!

Gods -- there are so many good insights in this.

Liking all your videos so that you can make more

Have you watched Death Note yet? It's a perfect example of a brilliant Protagonist-Antagonist relationship.

I think one of the greatest hero/villain relations I’ve seen is Skitter and Jack Slash in the Worm web serial. They have some really interesting moments together and they both play off each other to up the stakes in their own stories

Feels like a rehash of Lessons from the Screenplay: The Dark Knight - Creating the Ultimate Antagonist

I was already hooked when I saw the title but as soon as I read "Doctor" I just clicked

These writing advice videos are great ;) In terms of RTTE I definitely think Viggo was one of the best foils for Hiccup, and in my own fanfics I’ve got a sort of ongoing rivalry occurring between Hiccup and this villain who is kind of a cross between ‘Drago Bludvist wannabe’ and ‘Hiccup if he was more of an arrogant sod’. This video is definitely making me think more deeply about their relationship and how it affects the narrative.

"We're not so different, you and I." The example of this I love the most comes from Star Trek Nemesis. Shinzon uses that line on Picard, telling him how with a bit of a different history, he would have come out exactly like him. But later in that same scene, Picard throws that right back at him, telling Shinzon the exact same thing. This works so well for a couple reasons. One, it is not the same tired trope of "hey we're the same!" but actually looks at the cause of their differences. If this one thing was different in your life, we'd be the same. This carries an implication that they could change; with just a proper shift in perspective or by falling to the exact same weakness, the hero would indeed be the same as the villain. Two, the way Picard shifts it back onto Shinzon manages to work so much more powerfully than Shinzon's attempt to use it on Picard. Normally in this trope the hero doesn't sputter at the comparison. "No! I'm nothing like you! Because the reasons we are different are more important than the reasons we are the same!" But the villain who first proposed that similarity is the one who saw that similarity; they are the ones who already believe it. So when Picard turns it back on Shinzon and tell him how he could have been a different man, it hits Shizon harder, and you can actually see him pause for a moment at the thought. And the implication mentioned earlier becomes so much stronger, both to the characters and also to the audience. Shinzon could change; Shinzon could become the man he oddly admires. Perhaps in a different world where their character arc could have been more than a two hour movie, this could have been explored.