Villains+of+Traditional+and+Children's+Literature

Lucas Powell Curtis Rodriguez Sydnie Rushing Christopher Schwartzenberger
 * Group Members:**


 * Starting Points to Consider:**
 * What villains are found in traditional literature (folklore, including fairytales/folktales and Greek/Roman mythology, Biblical villains)? What criteria or characteristics make a villain in traditional literature? Are there different criteria for male and female villains? Do male and female villains have the same motives and fates?


 * What makes a modern villain (children’s literature mainly, but also film)? What are his/her strengths and weaknesses (including tragic flaws)? What kind of background is typical for a villain (ancestry, childhood, socioeconomic status, etc.)? Why does the modern villain behave the way he/she does? Are there different criteria for male and female modern villains? Do they have the same motives and fates?


 * Who are some of the villains in the Harry Potter series? Are they typical modern villains or do they reflect traditional literature villains? What examples of villains can you find in other children’s literature or children’s media (film, comics, manga, TV shows)?


 * Why were witches considered evil, especially in the 1500-1600s? What did real witches do, and why was this a threat to the Church? How are current images of witches and witchcraft in culture and literature different (and the same)?

**Villains of Traditional and Children's Literature**

  A villain is the bad guy, the antagonist, the evil, the negative of a story. He is the character who will stop at nothing to stop the main character or antagonist. He likes to reck everything and send fear through your bones. A villian like Voldemort in the Harry Potter series wants you to shiver when you hear their name. Voldemort was originally Tom Riddle but he wanted to really scare someone so he scrambled up the letters in his name to create the name that was so awful people couldn't even mutter his name, instead they only said "he who must not be named". Lots of great villains went by something different than their original name because they wanted something different or unique. A name is a label that we use to identify a significant person. A villain wouldn't want to go by a name like Ashley or Beth because it's so common. The villain wants you to know exactly who they are by only hearing their name. Many antagonist's wouldn't nessesarily change the name to just a single name but to a series of names like the wicked witch of the west in The Wizard of Oz. The wicked witch's name was really Elphaba but in this case her reputation built her name and the people re-named her. A name is as important as the Villain, without the name you have no Villain.
 * Villains in children's literature are normally the most vile, evil people ever. In the Harry Potter books Lord Voldemort is basically a tyrant before his fall while trying to kill Harry. If you were not serving him as a deatheater, you were against him. He thought himself to be the most powerful wizard ever, and was abusing that power to try and make his own world.
 * Villains in children's literature for the most part have the same basic views, they are narcissistic with delusions of grandeur and thoughts of world domination. They normally have a breaking point early in their lives, and after that their lives become one huge power trip, and they try to either convert or destroy everyone else.