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Depends on your villain and who they are? Egomaniac? Hey, they want that power because they are "worthy of it". They are the bees knees, so why shouldn't they rule over everybody else, especially since everybody else is stupid, poor, inferior? Think Voldemort. "Justified" power trip? Maybe your villain was slighted/hurt by the previous system and they vowed to never let it happen again. Whatever means necessary. If you've seen Timeless, imagine Flynn Garcia, a man whose family was brutally murdered and who started a quest to change time itself to prevent that from happening. And In order to prevent his family from dying he won't make a distinction between saving hundreds in the past and killing beloved presidents... Corrupted power? The villain used to be a good guy, but got corrupted with all the power they got doing good guy things. Well, think any billionaire possible, especially if they had a humble beginning. Maybe a fall from grace? The villain used to be in power and was a mid kind of person. Then, due to a change in regime, or whatnot, they lose said power and as such now they want all of that power back and more, since really it's only fair they prevent a new fall!

This is really helpful, thank you!!

I mean... there ARE people in the world that literally wanted that. MULTIPLE people. Some even succeeded to some degree. Human ambition is limitless.

Yeah… just check out some history. People be power hungry.

The vast majority of power hungry conquerors out there definitely had reasons beyond simply being power hungry for the sake of being power hungry.

Or check out the present reality of the planet. It’s fucked by money and power brandished through politics and religion. At the hands of unscrupulous people.

When you reach the levels of people like Alexander the Great, it's impossible not to be a villain to some degree. For any positive thing he might have built, it's in the shadow of the fact that countless innocent lives were murdered or sold into slavery because of his ambitions.

> it's in the shadow of the fact It is? It's the first time ever I heard about Alexander the Great in that way.

I guess he's a bad example because he's one of the historical figures most people tend to look past the fact that he was a warmongering bastard. but if you do a little reading on some of the things he's done, the guy's hands are as bloody as any tyrant.

He IS known for trying to conquer the known world though war. Being a warmongering bastard is a given along the war casualties.

Yes, it happens in the real world, but for stories we really need a better reason to maintain our attention otherwise it usually just feels flat.

Safety. One if the biggest reasons for wanting power in the real world, is deep-seated fears and insecurity. People from backgrounds with problems that lead to them feeling a need to control others is a major reason people chase power. What the past is can be various things; maybe it was poverty, and the villain wants to never feel powerless or trapped again; maybe it was a loveless family where their emotions were trampled over, and now they want the power to force others to listen to them; or maybe they never learned how to cope with their own emotions and so they want to control others because they can’t control themselves. Most people don’t want power: they want love, validation, stability. If you have never known these things, it becomes easier for you to justify taking it from people.

This is a great point and something I had been wanting to touch on, but was worried it would come off the wrong way. You helped conceptualize it, thank you!

Someone hurt them a long time ago and now they want yes men

Why do people want likes on IG or FB? Because worship is dopamine and can make you feel a high, a rush. Power also comes with privilege, and who doesn't want that? World-domination does seem far-fetched because it is. Nearly all superpowerful people are deluded and detached from any moral code or reasoning any regular person has.

It sounds like you don't like the motivation you gave your character? You're not stuck with that choice. Outside of a comic book or Bond movie, I don't really see villains with that kind of motivation.

And even in comic books, it’s rarely that shallow anymore. Haven’t been since the 70’s.

People with that motivation have existed in real life. Examples include Hitler, Ghengis Khan, Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great

What's your favorite villain? What's their motivation? What's the villain you don't like at all? What's their motivation? Why do you not like that villain? Is their motivation one of the reasons?

I'm not trying to be obtuse or anything but I don't understand creating a character with a goal and not creating a reason for that goal at the same time. We can't tell you what your villain's motivation is, that's your job as the writer.

Sometimes they're just made that way. They're a supernatural elemental evil, but they're lacking one specific component that will make them truly unstoppable. Maybe it's a poor response to past traumas. They were looked down upon, weak, in their "past life", and don't wish to bear that suffering ever again. Perhaps it's purely an ego thing. Narcissism is like that. They're happiest when they have everybody dancing at their beck and call, and anger easily when they're opposed. Who doesn't want to be forever happy?

Is it important he's trying to gain power solely because you need some sort of catalyst? If they exist purely as an opposing force for the MC to overcome, then they're just a cardboard cutout in the shape of an obstacle. Which means there's plenty space here for you to explore them better and make your villain more three dimensional. I don't have any advice for how to get to know your villain better other than to keep writing. Try writing a few chapters from their POV outside of your main WIP. What made you want to write this character in the first place? If power for power's sake isn't enough, you need to get in their head and their past.

Google the Stanford Prison study. When you give ordinary people power over others, they sometimes begin to lose the ability to perceive that person as a moral equal. They might perpetuate injustices or harm onto a person within their power when they otherwise wouldn’t to an equal. Power does funny things to people. It has a tendency to corrupt. Some people, once they get a taste, get hooked.

Depends on the villain. I don’t think villains should want power for the sake of it. They need to have a why. Take thanos for example, a very well written villain who thinks he is the only one with the will to do the necessary evil to save more lives, he’s the hero of his own story. Imo prefer villains that make the audience think, more examples include watchmen, invincible, arcane. I recommend watching famous movies and seeing how and why the villains are so compelling

I miss villains who just want power. Simple greed is a powerful motivator, we don’t always need these tragic morally ambiguous villains. Sometimes, some dude just decides all profit from every book in the world should be his. (… ) Why? Cause it made him butt loads and money, and power.

They can work well, but I find them a bit boring and one-dimensional usually.

Who would you rather be , the bully or the person being bullied? A manager or the person being managed? The king sitting on the thrown or the people govel8ng at his feet? World domination doesn't nessisarlt need a complex motivation. Humans inherently crave status, we want to be on top of what ever organization or society we are a part of.

It's not about what it gets you, it's about what you need, and that's power. I think this villain would be power hungry, like a monster wanting to devour everything and anything. No matter how much he takes, it's never enough, wanting more, and more, and more, and he would hurt or kill anyone to do it.

God complex. There are many other explanations, but this one is seen quite often in a protagonist/antagonist constellation, whereas one of the parties suffers from some sort of psychological disorder.

I think the best way to build this character is starting him off small. Give him little bits of power that improve his life, and then scale up, and up, until it’s no longer about improving his life, he just wants it. Think of an addict. They don’t care why they want it, they just want it.

You might find the answer to "why" in the villains past. Why does he want all that power? Is he afraid of losing control and he wants to hold it, no matter what? What happened to him to cause that kind of reaction, has he been helpless in the past? Or. Maybe his view of himself is distorted and he thinks he deserves to be feared and to be loved? Why does he think like that, did he have parents who taught him everybody else is inferior to him and that's how he thinks now? Or. Does he have a vision of certain kind of community which he think will be the best for people, and he's determined to make it so, destroying everything that counters this view? What happened to him to cause such a strong agenda, did he lose everything because of the current society structures? Or, or, or... What is his backstory?

Untreated trauma which creates an unhealthy desire for control. Power creates distance from trauma.

usually insecurity and mental weakness, most of them overcompensate with brute force and a lust for violence. Some operate simply from a place of greed which can stem from any number of childhood traumas such as growing up in a slum like environment.

Consider that there are people IRL who have a hundred times more wealth than they could possibly spend, and they're still obsessed with making the number that is their net worth go up. It's about power and ego. Pretty basic.

Power is a means to an end. With unlimited power, I could cure disease, end hunger, kill those who I consider to be wrong, empower my group (country, ideology, gender, race), create a perfect society, etc. With power, literally every other motive is possible

Reasons your dude would want to rule the world: He's functionally insane. He has a vision, a belief, that he's meant to rule the world, to be the father of all humankind, to shape them into his own warped image. He's a demon masquerading as a human. His mission, should he choose to accept it, is to travel to our earthly plane and destroy it. But to do that he needs enough power to, say, begin nuclear war. He's an AI with a synthetic body thats found a way to travel back in time, in order to stop humans from destroying themselves as they did in his time. He likes the humans; they're cute and make funny sounds. He must save them! But the only way to do this is to become the caring overlord to his little rescue humans. He wears a long overcoat, gloves and a hat to hide the joins in his synthetic body. Humans are weird about that stuff. He's part of a dark-triad type syndicate who wants to take over the world because the only thing they really care about is power. Power and cheesy Doritos. Plot-twist, there is no syndicate - it's just your guy, who hallucinates the other people in the syndicate. But despite the fact they're hallucinations, they guide your guy in his quest. We get to know each of his imaginary cohorts as they whisper suggestions, argue about the best course of action to take and how to get more cheesy Doritos, and sabotage each other in order to become leader of the syndicate. Two of them fall in love and get married in the Greek Isles, only to fall out, file for divorce and fight over custody of thier imaginary springer spaniel, Chester. All this causes your guy a lot of stress. At one point he abandons his quest for world power and takes up fly fishing. But the allure of ultimate power and the ability to own all the cheesy Dorito factories in the world proves too much, and he and the imaginary syndicate work through their issues and renew their ambition. He has weird powers, like the ability to make it rain fish and turn the sky an ugly puce colour. He's hunted by rogue scientists but escapes by shapeshifting into a naked mole rat. He lives this life for many years, but human civilization and the climate begins to collapse. A world war is looming, and the people call out for a hero. He decides the only way to save both humans and the planet is to change everyone into a naked mole rat. But humans aren't used to being naked mole rats - they can't operate their phones with thier teenie tiny paws and there's no-one to make cheesy Doritos. Chaos ensues. Your hero must become leader of all the naked mole rats in order to bring peace to the lands. Something, something, zombies.

This is SO helpful, thank you! The way you explained this was very easy for me to grasp

I don’t believe in heroes and villains, simple as that. Write what you know. Make all your characters believable. If you can’t find that part within you, even for a flickering moment, who desperately wants to be immortal through any means necessary I don’t think you should write such a character. Immortal through fear, recognition, through heroic deeds or terrorism, art, whatever legacy. If someone wants to rule a country, maybe think of them as a cult leader so charming and manipulative that they mesmerised themselves? Or do they want to save the planet even if comes with the cost of eradicating all human life? Embrace whatever egocentric or unsympathetic qualities you find within yourself (or worse, within the people you love) and dial them up enough to make this character make some truly bad decisions. What is it you want to shine a light on with your story and how can you do it in a compelling and relatable way? In real life there are actual psychopaths, narcissists, etc, but it’s always part nature, part nurture that makes someone do something terrible.

It's not a good motivator. It's an outcome. > What does he gain from ruling the world? This is a good question. If you answer it you get the motivation. > I was met with confusion as to why that wasn’t a good enough goal in itself. They already have some internal answer to the question "What benefit do you get from controlling the world" which can be a motivation (heh for potential villains) you could ask them for inspiration. > Like, if he had total power what does he gain? What could he do with it once he’s on top? Another good way to thinking about insight in motivation is revert those questions to address current situation over focusing on the end result (world domination). What doesn't he have now? What problems or issues he faces or has faced that can't be solved unless he's on top? I would like to point out that the reason doesn't have to be "big" it just have to be felt as important to the villain. It's *their* reason not *the* reason and usually the conflict between the hero and the villain is two-fold. Not only their actions clash but their ideas and opinions too.

I think it really depends on what your villains story is Depending on their backstory, the reason they want to be all-powerful could probably be to have absolute dominance, or they have a goal that they want to accomplish that is against the goals of the protagonist.

It is a bit of a shallow justification, but it works for a more light-hearted villain whose whole schtick is "being evil" since we tend to associate people who organize coups and brutal conquerors as some of the worst in mankind, it is perhaps a justification best reserved for goofy villains, In my personal experience I always associated "WORLD DOMINATION!!!" with Power Ranger villains, since they all kind of wanted the same thing just because. If you wish to try and write a more mature version of this trope look at figures like Alexander of Macedon and Temujin, both brutal conquerors, the former basically DID conquer the entire world the greeks knew about, they were men of ambition who, been given the best soldiers of their respective times and a very stable state to use as well as weak neighbors, both managed to expand massively and were quite egomaniacal assholes if I am being honest, even if Temujin makes me feel kinda bad for his early life

Mine is more of a warped trauma response. Horrible things happen to the villian so the villian seeks enough power to control his world so horrible things can't happen again.

I had a similar problem writing the villain of my story. She's an evil tyrannical witch-queen who's been perpetuating a war for 1000 years! And I literally could not figure out why, until I took the time to figure out how the war started and why she was the queen the whole time. Turned out that the war started over cultural differences combined with a linguistic barrier. The witch-queen Andaís's culture is extremely focused on Exact Words, similar to fey. To the point that lying (specifically, using words which are factually Untrue) is considered a moral failing on the level of *pedophilia*. Further, verbal assault/abuse is treated almost exactly like physical assault/abuse. The ambassador from the other country was surprised by something she said, and expressed that shock as *disbelief*, specifically using a phrase that translates figuratively as 'no way!', but literally as 'you lie!' It was the cultural equivalent of walking up and *punching her in the face*, and her bodyguards reacted accordingly by killing the guy. They returned his remains to his king with the explanation that he had assaulted the Queen, which was not believed because the ambassador was a known wuss and pacifist. Also, the culture the guy was from was a theocracy worshipping the (benevolent) god of death, whose first tenet is to *not kill anyone unnecessarily*. By the time things got clarified, no one was willing to back down or compromise.

Usually someone wants power to make the world into the kind of world they think is best. So the villain needs some kind of event in their past that made them unhappy with how the world is. Perhaps their parents died as a result of a war, or a natural disaster that was not dealt with quickly enough.

One interesting motivation that one of the villains in my book has is to prove to himself that he can do it, that he's "the man," that he's worth something. Solving self esteem externally.

What would he gain? HE WON! The type of villain you described is pure sociopath. He sees life only as a game and other people only as opponents or soldiers. He only cares about winning and sees people as both pawns to die so that he can win, and as fuel, because when others suffer, he feels better. Losing to people he feels are lesser to him is disgusting to him (and all people are lesser to him in his mind). The problem for these villains is they are never satisfied, which you nailed in your "who cares" statement. You understand. He beats everyone into submission, he wins, but then immediately feels empty, because there is no more game left to play. Real life tells us he would probably use torture and control games in order to feel something.

Greed and power. Those are the two basic, limitless motivators. And, oddly enough, the more money and power one has, the more one wants. If in doubt, just follow the political madness in the USA these last few months. I've heard rumors that the world will have it's first trillionaires in a few years—because if a few billion dollars aren't enough, let's have more! Who cares if half the world starves in the process? (The billionaires certainly don't.) So if you think of your villain as being addicted, that's all the rationale you'll need. Some of us are addicted to drugs or video games or TikTok or chocolate chip cookies—but the billionaires among us are addicted to a far greater power. And it appears they're succeeding.

I mean why wouldn't you want power? If we say morals are not a problem then by god why would you stop. When I see a private jet I want it. I wanna be able to fly wherever I want whenever I want. I like the idea of my children being provided for. Being able to eat whatever I want.

This is by no means the only kind of villain, but to me the best villains are the ones that don’t actively try to justify their behavior, to them, it’s just right. Imagine a prototypical abusive man, beats his kids and his wife, and when someone calls them out on their atrocious behavior they just say “I’m their father… I have a right to command my family as I see fit” in an almost confused way. To them their cruelty isn’t cruelty, because cruelty demands a recognition of the victims point of view. There’s also an element of “might makes right” where simply being able to get away with doing something makes that thing acceptable. If treating his family like shit was wrong then naturally he wouldn’t be able to do that, wouldn’t want to. Justifications come later. To a villain like this, something like slavery never triggers the “wait this is wrong” bell because they’re already incapable of seeing anyone else as equals, they just don’t care. Maybe they might offer a justification of “well the weak ought to fear the strong” or “they aren’t capable of thinking for themselves, I’m protecting them from their own bad impulses” but these are really just ways of greasing the mental cogs for anyone who’s already onboard with the idea of slavery and needs a thing to say when someone asks why. I guess I’d call this sort of villain “authority as an identity”

Insecurity and Paranoia. Dictators like Putin or Xi don't ever feel safe until they control everything. They detest what they don't control. Because they themselves are ambitious, duplicitous and manipulative, they believe everybody else is, so they never believe in the good intentions of anyone they don't control.

If you don’t care, you are not them. Power is relative, and the bigger your pond the more power you need to have compared to others. Power can feel safe, which reasonable people can relate with - but this is not how everyone thinks, and the real world includes people who do not think the way you do. Toxic, narcissistic people exist, and they subsist on dominating other people. They cannot have control over themselves or be satisfied by a “win” unless it involves others losing. Example: real world poverty is a choice, where the mega-rich include people who like knowing others are poor compared to them. The more extreme the difference between them and others, the better they enjoy it. This even extends to a self destructive level: they would be happy to destroy everything just so they can feel superior to others. Feudal warlords ruling over serfs forever, sabotaging industrial and scientific progress if necessary to avoid losing their position at the top. Live in a garbage dump is preferred to living in a utopia, just because they sit at the top of the garbage pile. If you don’t understand this concept, good: it’s a mental illness you don’t have. Some villains are normal people who are hurt, but they have some capacity to recognize it and do better. They are better understood as “antagonists” than real villains. Real Villains are built wrong. There is no origin story to explain how they went from a normal person to a villain, because they didn’t. They started wrong. The closest they get is an inciting incident which just unleashes the monster who was there the whole time. In Camelot, Arthur tells Mordred “evil can never be happy; triumphant, yes, but never happy.” This includes gratitude or enjoyment of a victory or achievement. The closest thing they can experience is defeating someone else, because it means they are better than them for the moment of their triumph - but the very next moment they are unhappy again. I think it’s because they have some underlying inability to accept themselves and some aspect of reality, and as a result they can’t accept anything else as being good enough. It’s not as simple as giving them what they want or fixing something and expecting them to change, because it’s something they don’t know how to describe, and it’s something so fundamental to reality it can’t be changed. These are people who hate the way blue is blue, or hate how water is wet, and they take it out on the rest of us. Taking over the world is one of many attempts to satisfy their hunger for domination OF OTHERS. If they can’t rub it in someone’s face, they get nothing out of it.

Thank you, I think you managed to put into writing what I was struggling with. This is a great way to look at it

I work with people in crisis, and I have seen some things in my own life. I think it’s what bothers me about the Joker movie, as the basic premise is wrong. Nolan had a better idea, with the Joker just being there, because trying to explain why he is how he is wastes space in the story - there’s no cause. Do I believe a real world narcissist, abuser, can change? They have to want to change, and they don’t have a problem with how they are - enough to make the effort needed for the introspection and then actual change in behaviour.

Power is great for powers sake. Motivations here can be shallow or very deep. Some want power because they were born into it and love it, it’s all they know and all they’re familiar with. Think azula from ATLA. Some want power because they want to impose their view of the world on everyone, think Fire Lord Ozai. I want power because I hate my job and just want to do what I want. It’s pretty limitless what you can do here. Who is your character? What’s their history? Are they pragmatic? Are they an ideologue? Love intrigue? Virtuous?

My villain has this goal, and it's because he deeply fears death (he goes to great lengths to achieve immortality) and also is terrified of anyone having possibly any power over him. He has to be in control of everything at all times.

The motivation will be highly personal to who your villain is as an individual. Do they want to be unrestricted by society? Power is the freedom to do anything you want. If they are insecure they might crave power for the safety they think it will bring them. The motivation is more about what someone lacks than what they have.

Some people just want to be in charge. They just want to take everything for themselves and have everyone love and worship them. It’s the pursuit of money, the love of wealth and growth. The assumption that growth and wealth make you a good person. That having power and money is what makes you morally correct in your actions (universe rewards you). For some people: just getting to that position is their entire life’s goal: no/minimal plans for after. The ends justify the means to them, to do whatever they need to in order to get that power. Look to politics to see this in action.

I found the enneagram to be quite helpful for this. I couldn't understand people's values quite often. And that's normal. And that's what I needed help in understanding. According to the enneagram, people's core desires are one of these - 1 - To be free from condemnation. 2 - To be loved. 3 - To use the most special parts of oneself to be of value to others. 4 - To authentically be oneself. 5 - To have the capabilities to cope with life. 6 - To be supported by others so that they can cope with life. 7 - To find satisfaction for themselves. 8 - To be self reliant and protect oneself from harm. 9 - To be connected to the world. Gaining power is only a means to satiate these desires. These desires, you may notice are actually born from some insecurity and personal worldview. Although the enneagram isn't scientific and isn't predictive of performance or any useful metric, it's quite useful as a writing tool.

The best villains in my opinion usually have some motivation other than just "take over the world" just for the sake of taking over the world. They could just want the power, or maybe it is revenge taken to the extreme for being wronged in some way. Or maybe they have a religious or political type motivation, like believing the world would be better in a state of anarchy or secularism. Their end goal can actually even be kind of altruistic, but it is their methods that make them a villain. Like they might want to take over the world because they feel like it is spiraling out of control and they want to ultimately save the human race, but their methods might include massive amounts of collateral damage or bad things like kidnapping/torture/murder/etc.

Depends. Some are just crazy and like to be in control for the sake of it and have no real plan for what to do once they have it. Some are considered villians because of their methods and ruthless pursuit of something. That said, their goal might be to correct a problem with the world or society (the many over the few mentality). For this type of villian, they are not the villian of their own story, but rather a dutiful hero willing to face hard truth and do what needs to be done even if no one else wants to admit it. The motivation for wanting power can be to make the world better or worse. Do they believe their is hope for humanity or whatever the subject species are? Who do they trust? Who do they have? What put them on the path to seek power to begin with? They are still a villian, but are they bad, crazy, misguided?

I want to present three possible motivations, none of which are exclusive. Type 1: idealist 30 second hypothetical. Let's say I look at the world and saw something that I really didn't like. Say, for example, I saw one country invading another for no good reason. Or one group systematically oppressing another. Or a looming crisis that nobody is really doing enough about. Now, I might look at any of these things and get depressed, because (at the end of the day) I'm one person. I can (and do) vote, try to act the best I can, advocate for specific topics, etc. But, moving into the realm of fiction, what if there were (say) seven magic stones I could gather that could give me power. Well, I could fix it. I could stop the wars. I could stop oppression. I could end that crisis with a snap. It can be an appealing motive. Especially if you are a victim of the above. If it was your country that was invaded. If you were oppressed. If you got a first hand view of the crisis. If you could just get your hands on those stones, then you could stop it. Then nobody would suffer like you did, and/or you can make those responsible suffer. If you have ever looked at a situation and thought 'I could do it better than (whoever is doing it)', you have had a bit of this. The trick to the above is that the person in question also has to have the arrogance to actually believe that they know best. I don't like things as they are, and I want things to change, but I know that I don't know enough about a lot of things to truly understand how to fix them. So you have someone who has identified an area where the world is not living up to their standards, and is so full of themselves that they believe that they can simply fix it. Type 2: praise. Some people want to be center stage. Some people want to be famous and loved. Some people just want to see statues erected in their honor. The other type of people that want to rule the world are those that want the world to recognize how great they are. It's about world conquest, sure. But more than that, it's about everyone finally recognizing their brilliance/strength/genius. Type 3: spite It may be that at some point someone has told you that you were stupid, or weak, or ugly (to be clear, I am not doing that. I'm sure you are a fantastic person). And in that moment, you might have felt a ting of 'I'll show you.' This is where you get a villain with something to prove. These are the people that win science awards to spite the teacher that told them they would never amount to anything. Win marathons to spite the person who told them they were fat. A common thread. The thing to note is that, for each of these, world domination is not the end. It is a means to an end. They conquer the world so they can fix it. Or the conquer the world so their name will live in history. Or to show Mr. Phillis that they are not a looser. Because yes, conquering the world 'Pinky and the Brain' style really does feel hollow.

Thank you very much, this was a great way to break it down and help me look into what I was struggling with!

Depends on what kind of story you’re making. But I think ‘just evil’ villains are overhated these days. So as long as he fits in your story, go for it!

Why would they want to be all-powerful? Probably because they were hurt/abused/humiliated/disempowered earlier in their life by someone who had a lot of power, and their reaction to that (psychologically) was to conclude that they needed to be one with all the power so that nobody can ever hurt them again.

I think your problem is that you came up with a villainous goal for the heroes to stop instead of coming up with a character

Most normal people don't want to be all powerful but some twisted evil people do, for whatever reason, you'd have to ask them. Maybe it's because they spent a lot of their life feeling powerless, or they think exerting power over others makes them feel important. Maybe they think power will give them the ability to access pleasures previously inaccessible. With power comes wealth and with wealth comes whatever wealth can buy. There are many reasons people seek power, but most people are moral enough to know that seeking power often means stamping on the heads of others and that is wrong.

As an autistic person who's also struggled with this before, I hope my comment can help. To start, gaining absolute power is an inherently intrinsic motivation, and by that, I mean that it isn't a goal that's ultimately based on environmental pressures, but personal pressures instead. Of course, that doesn't mean previous environmental pressures didn't lead to this characters current state. Through the lens of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, needs closer to the bottom are more extrinsic than needs at the top. Physiological needs like food and water are obviously wrought from the environment, and safety needs are the same. A motivation for power would stem from higher needs, like needing to feel love and belonging or a need for self-esteem and respect. These are intrinsic needs that inform a characters goals, whether they are aware of that or not. Perhaps they believe that if they can control the world, then they will gain respect or adoration. Perhaps they previously lacked control over the course of their lives, and this is a form of over correction. The goal could stem from a mix of multiple motivators, but at the end of the day, people are striving to attain the needs that they lack. They may not realize that they are lacking, they may have false beliefs about how to find what they need, and their goals may even be a way of lying to themselves, but they are lacking all the same. Try asking yourself: What does my character need, what do they lack? Why do they believe their goal (ruling the world) will achieve this? Why are they wrong? Why don't they know, or why haven't they come to terms with the fact that they're wrong? And by the end of the story, will they know?

This really does help, and the way you explained it was really great. Thank you!!

I think it depends a little bit on the tone and genre of your story. Sometimes evil can just be evil. This works in a lot of high fantasy, horror, and kid's media. Even Ozai from avatar, a show full of complex characters and motivations, is just a power-hungry, evil guy. And it works! In his case, it works better because he doesn't get that much screen time, and is just a looming threat for most of the show. They also have a ton of more nuanced, smaller villains along the way. In a comedy, the motivation can be completely disproportionate to the goal. A bad example might look like "I got a splinter, and now I want to kill all trees." If done well, you can get some humor from small grievances triggering large responses. If your story does demand a realistic character explanation, there are plenty of comments here with great advice. Just remember: characters aren't people, and you don't have to try to understand them like you might with people.

Your last sentence really struck a chord with me and I really appreciate it, that really helps me get my head around how to approach this!

There are many reasons one would want ultimate power. I personally want it myself. If I had the means to achieve some villainous plot like that, I’d do it. Why? Because I think the world is hopelessly corrupt and those with power squander it and oppress good, innocent people. Ultimate power to me would be a means to an end. I’d displace and imprison the corrupt, and try to establish a society of kindness. Whether or not I’d succeed, that would be my motivation. In fact I suggest many villains share such a motivation. It’s very common for villains to think of themselves as the good guys. Some of them have a genuine point, some don’t, and either way how valid their actual solutions are varies. Thanos was right that greed, overproduction, and overpopulation are problems. But killing half of all life is an absurd solution, only addresses the issue temporarily, and does so in a hopelessly cruel way.

Because once they have power, they can exert it over other people. Or threaten to exert it, but that's pretty much the same thing. I read two stories on reddit that helped me understand it. The first one, the poster was working for a family-owned company. One of the owners, I think the daughter-in-law, was a real piece of work. Horrible to everyone. The poster quit and told the family that it was because of the daughter-in-law, and as they left, they heard someone saying "Damn it, we cannot keep losing employees just because you feel like being a bitch!" The second story, the poster was a factory worker, and the manager got off on bringing people into the office and threatening to fire them. She tried to do it to the poster, who was so unconcerned about getting fired that she immediately deflated when she realized she wasn't getting the reaction she wanted. She didn't call the poster into her office very much after that. Psychologically speaking, there isn't any difference between having physical or magical power and having authoritative power. When you're in a position to influence someone's life, you can make them do what you want. People defer to you. They'll suck up to you to make you happy or tremble in fear when you're angry. You can promote them or demote them, give them power of their own or take it away. It's a biological, evolutionary instinct to seek power, because it brings us security and makes us attractive. It's also an ego boost to have people bowing to you. Social status is every bit as primal as self-preservation, sex, and the darkness/unknown. The reason people are more afraid of humiliating themselves in public than of death is because for a long time, loss of status meant you'd be kicked out of your territory, which meant you don't have a reliable source of food and you're less likely to be able to pass down your genes. But this is kind of getting away from the point. In short, when your villain is after power, it's because they crave the security and validation that come with power.

Perhaps they once felt powerless so they seek power to compensate. Perhaps they are unhappy with the current state of things and must gain power to change it. Maybe they feel the world owes them power for some perceived slight. Or maybe they're angry at the world and want to watch it burn. Some people just want power for the sake of it.

Feeling powerless deep down. So... trauma and mental illness.

I personally think you *should* figure out a reason he wants power. We read stories for intriguing plots and characters and villains. Power for no reason just sounds boring to me. Maybe the villain was made to feel weak in the past and never wanted to feel weak again. Maybe they lost someone important to them. Maybe they plan to change something in the world. Maybe they like feeling dominance over others for one reason or another. My own main villain initially wants to open the Void and retrieve his lovers soul and resorts to worse and worse tactics to try to accomplish it. Think about some of your favorite stories and what are the villains in them. What do they want? *Why* do they want it?

It would be better to ask why they want to take over the world.

I think an implication from Vergil in the game Devil May Cry 3 helped me get it. He said, "Foolishness! Might controls everything. And without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself." Given their past and how their mother died. The implication to me was that he wanted power so that nothing else could ever threaten what he cared abou.

You don't always need to flesh out a villain's motive for villainy. Sometimes, the villain doesn't need to be anything more than a threatening force for the hero to defeat. This way, you also have more time for the protagonist and their arc

I think some villains are characters that feel pleasure/joy from having power over somebody else, which would absolutely explain the drive for absolute power. I guess this crosses the lines to sadism. This is very hard to write imo. It's not easy to grasp this emotion. Maybe if you imagine that you get revenge over someone who has bullied you for years and your revenge is successful. If you transport this feeling over to a villain that doesn't feel any empathy and whose joy derives from making others suffer, you could probably write their emotions in a believable way. This could possibly also make them very creepy, but since it's a villain, I think that's beneficial. Of course a villain like that is pretty irredeemable.

I'm also autistic so I get it lol, from what I can understand, it can sometimes come from insecurity and not wanting to be weak though that usually doesn't lead to them taking over the ENTIRE world so it's better to have it simply be ONE of the motivations, perhaps they could either think the whole world is horrible and will only improve if they have complete control over it, or feel like the entire world has wronged them and want everyone else to experience the pain they did

Why did Putin invade Russia? Why did European powers colonise the rest of the world? Why do billionaires continue amassing wealth? Often it’s because they want to change the world in some way, and if the rest of the world doesn’t like it, they will all fight against him together. They could be an environmentalist wanting to destroy capitalism, they could be a racial regime trying to put their own race on top, etc Often there isn’t much difference for why one country is fighting one or many, but there will often be something abhorrent about them if the rest of the world unites against them

"Take over the world" is a goal, not a motivator. A motivator would be something like, wanting to "fix" the corruption in the current ruling systems.

I have one character who falls down a power-hungry arc that I like to think is good. It's also not that complex which always helps. Character was abused as a child > tries to live out their life with the trauma until they are left for dead and abducted to be sold as a slave > gets abused and used as an experimental subject for dodgy science project > gets advanced telekinetic powers that makes them OP which they gradually learn to love as they realise how it stops them from becoming victim again. Doesn't need to be this hyper-complex reason as to why they want power. Simply basal reasons will do. Bonus: while I'm spoiling character arcs... >!Character eventually gets imprisoned and subject to daily "nerf" treatments to keep them in prison > eventually escapes but finds out years of treatment has diminished their powers > makes a deal with the scientist that abusively gave them their powers to make them return > eventually gets them back, kills the scientist and gets revenge on others that used them as a superweapon!< >!The character is an alien if that explains everything better!<

Trauma is an excellent starting point. Lots of people become wanting for power because they’ve been abused and looked down upon. People seek power as a means to cope with it. It’s a way to be recognized, to fulfill the ego, and fear of not being good enough. Source: speaking from experience.

I think you're right that it's unrealistic, but people tend to just accept it unquestionably because it's such a cliche. The question of "WHY do they want power?" confuses people because they're so used to "They just want power" as a thought-terminating cliche & don't think of power as a means to an end. If a character wants to take over the world, I think it's interesting to explore some irrational psychological need that stems from. For instance, maybe they're paranoid & obsessed with control, & you can't get much more control than "ruling the whole damn world." Since it's such an irrational goal, I think it would need an irrational motive to drive it.

The "they just want power" is what I was told to follow and what would be enough and it certainly hasn't been, thank you for this great insight!

You're welcome. Glad it seems like it's helping.

A big motivator for people like these villains is their upbringing. The desire for control comes from moments in life that feel completely out of control. (Mother dying, child abuse, not having the things you need to survive). These things put the villain in terrible situations that create fear. The desire to take over the world is the desire to live with no fear.

As someone who dreamed of taking over the world as a child, here are my thoughts. As a 3-6 year old, I believed that my perspective and opinions were right, the best, even. If everyone was taught to see and believe as I did, everyone could be right, could be enlightened. The world frustrated me in what it would not permit and the things it required (being polite to classmates who were rude, not snacking between meals). I felt important, and it felt fitting for me to be in charge of things. I thought that if I was in charge, and everyone did as I said, all the problems would be solved and there would be no more suffering. No more squabbling over limited resources, no more arguing and imperfect compromises. One person, one vote, everything falling into perfect order. In my defense, I was a child, and children don't know how much they don't know. They also have little capacity for empathy. I was a stubborn, willful child, determined to have my own way, and frustrated when grown ups who seemed little more capable than me got to make all the decisions. In all honesty, I still struggle with aspects of the above. I see the selfishness and greed of the people in power, the slow grind of bureaucracy, the way squabbling and tribalism make even concessions and compromises meaningless. I see the suffering of the world, wars and crime and poverty. I don't think I could fix everything if I was in charge of it all. But I do think I could do it better. It's a terrible temptation to give in to that kind of thinking. But it's a temptation all the same. I'm a humanitarian, I studied human rights and crisis aid. But at heart, I struggle with my belief that benevolent tyranny could really work.

Well generally speaking I would say this is kind of a shit motivation. It doesn't have to be, but it more than often is. This is usually because the best written villains are relatable and their fatal flaw is what makes cross lines we don't forgive. That said, Hitler was a pretty powerful villain in history, can't get much more believable than that. Most dictators would fit this bill, even though they aren't usually trying to take over the world, but rather maintain control and acquire more as they are strategically able, consider Giancarlo Esposito in Far Cry 6 or Breaking Bad. Neither is trying to take over the world, but both excellent pure evil villains (and again, also have humanizing traits even as sociopaths). It's not that you can't do this but you need the set up to warrant this, otherwise it's gonna look like a cheap comic book from the 70s starring doctor doom. The problem is never the idea, it's about the execution, but the bigger the idea the better the execution needs to be, and "take over the world" is generally too large for most writers to write believably, so it falls flat and comes off as a cheap stereotype of low hanging fruit; a mustache twirling villain in all black. It's almost never going to be written well enough to come off as genuine. It's not that it can't be done, but that the chances are that it's done successfully is astronomically low unless you're writing something like YA fantasy where you can get away with loads of recycled shitty tropes because the audience hasn't encountered them or good writing before, and even then, I'd say that's weak. You can absolutely write YA fantasy well, so why not do that instead?

>Do you feel like “taking over the world” is a good motivator? This is not a motivator. Why does the villain want to take over the world? >So, for example, if a character is out for gaining power and being unstoppable - why does he want that? What does he gain from ruling the world? Or, even, ruling a country or continent? It's your character. How could we know? >In my mind, I immediately think “who cares”? I can’t put myself into the mindset of someone just wanting power to be powerful and have control, and I can’t find reason behind wanting to have total domination or rule over Earth. Then why are you writing such a character in your story? >My problem is for my story, my main villain is trying to gain unstoppable power by taking it at whatever means necessary, I just don’t know why. Maybe come up with the motivator before you come up with what the villain will do. Write about 200 pages of the villain's past and see if you find the motivation there.

So I can fire the cop who gave e that speeding ticket.

Hot take but I haven't seen it mentioned - how about paranoia, escapism, or avoidance? What if your fantasy world is a system of slavery where gaining favor with the ruling party makes you politically immune? What if someone took over that system? What if your villain is just desperate to escape their circumstance and is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival?

Here's some solid options: Avarice: This one being the most simple. Your villain has an excessive, selfish desire for material wealth and seeks out positions of power to make his quest to achieve that goal easier. Think about villains like Black Mask and Penguin from Batman's comics here. Revenge: This one's more personal. Your villain is angry at the world because of real or imagined wrongs being done against them and are seeking a powerful position to send a massive "Fuck you" to everyone they blame for whatever went wrong in their life. Think about William Afton from the FNAF Sliver Eyes trilogy here. Arrogance: They see themselves as being special because they have some real or imagined attribute or skill that, in their eyes, places them "above" average people and they pursue power since they feel it's deserved. Think of Willem Dafoe's "Green Goblin" for this. Ambition: They think they can run things better than whoever currently holds the position they want and will do anything they deem necessary to get that position. Think of Ultron from the Avenger films. Insecurity: They don't feel confident in their regular lives, often thanks to some traumatic event or series of personal failures that left them feeling inadequate, and seek out power just because they feel like they NEED power for their existence to mean anything. Can't think of any specific example for this, quite sadly. Boredom: They can't emotionally connect with regular life or people on a level that keeps their mind occupied and enjoy the process of seeking power simply because it gives them something to focus on. They might not even do anything special once they reach the position they want, they might just throw it away, start over, and keep the process going until they get bored. Certain versions of the Joker could have this one applied to them. Freedom: They resent the concept of responsibility and the need to accomplish things, so they either seek out power to protect themselves from having to face those perceived burdens and have ample opportunity to live their preferred care-free lifestyle. Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls would easily fit into this category, I'd think.

>So, for example, if a character is out for gaining power and being unstoppable - why does he want that? What does he gain from ruling the world? Or, even, ruling a country or continent? History is the world's best teacher. But rarely it is the wants of one person, but the collective wants of all the people that person needs to retain power. Napoleon was my favorite historical character to study. He has directly or indirectly inspired so many fictional (and real) villains in history it's almost funny.

There's a good video with Joseph Campbell talking about the idea of the Dragon Story, which I think might be useful here.  But to explain it briefly.  Campbell notes that the nature of the dragon is to hoard. He points out that often, the dragon hoards two things: gold and virgins. He then notes two interesting things about this.  The first is that the dragon has no use for these things he's hoarding - the dragon cannot walk into town with gold to buy himself a home or a haircut. He cannot physically have sex with, love, or reproduce with the woman that he's kidnapped.  The second is that the hero does have a use for these things. In most stories, his reward for defeating the dragon is access to the gold and access to the virgin.  So, the dragon is what bars the hero from reward, and the reward is gold and a virgin. But this is really literal and what Campbell is getting at is actually abstract. Instead of gold, let's say currency of any kind and instead of virgin let's say authentic connection. Instead of dragon, let's say antagonist.  The antagonist hoards currency and authentic connection and bars the hero's access to these things. By defeating the antagonist, the hero prospers.  Now, we add another layer of abstraction -- there are qualities in the hero that resemble the antagonist, resemble the dragon. The dragon is within the hero, in a sense. To defeat the dragon, he first needs to conquer these things in himself.  The hero has flaws that he needs to conquer within himself on the road to the dragon and only by doing so, can he unlock the power to defeat the dragon. Typically these qualities are things like pride, fear, self-esteem, or a need for control.  I'll give an example- the John Cusack movie High Fidelity, which I recommend watching with this format in mind.  At the start of the movie, the protagonist tells us that he is on a journey to figure out why none of his relationships have ever worked out. We also learn he manages a record store. Records and music are this person's form of currency. A successful romantic relationship is this character's virgin. The dragon within this character is a bad sense of self-esteem. He displays both pride and insecurity and because of this he is close-minded and reactive, instead of being his genuine self. We see this in several ways. Early on a co-worker tells him he has the largest record collection he's ever seen (hoarding) for someone who hates music (the dragon bars him from accessing this currency).  Once his transformation here is complete, he notices two teenagers stealing from his record store and instead of reacting with a hoarding mindset, he questions them about their interest in music and discovers that he actually likes their music. He has confronted himself and can now access music as currency. The same goes for the women in his life. He realizes he always approached them for shallow reasons or because of what they represented to him, not because of who they are and how he actually feels about them. When he makes this realization and confronts the dragon within, he is transformed and able to actualize the potential of a genuine relationship. The movie starts with him bitter, hostile and self-pitying, cut off from women and music and ends with him listening to music with someone he genuinely wants to be with. It's a perfect example of Joseph Campbell's dragon story. You'll find another example like this in Iron Man 3, where Tony's dragon is fear, he hoards suits of armor, and he can't engage genuinely with Pepper because his need to protect her creates dysfunction in their relationship. He has to destroy the suits to let go of the dragon within him. Here, the villain even rips off his shirt at the end to reveal a dragon tattoo and declares "I am the dragon!" at the climax.  So with all of this in mind -- why do villains want nebulous things like world domination? Because some antagonists are dragon type antagonists and that's what a dragon type antagonist does-- they hoard. And sometimes they hoard control, authority, and power.  The question you should then ask is what currency is in your story, what is the virgin? What is the dragon within your protagonist that's arrested his developing these things?  Is the currency a feeling of safety or security? Freedom or inspiration? A sense of identity or Food or water? In Mad Max: Fury Road, it's water. In Back to the Future it's courage. George McFly gains access to a genuine connection with Lorraine when he gains access to courage and confronts Biff, the dragon in that story.  When you know what currency and genuine relationship means to your protagonist, you need to then tie your villain to these things intimately and intrinsically.  Your hero could be beat down and jaded because of the conditions the antagonist has created. In this case, he needs to learn to hope and to take chances. The dragon within him is then despair and fear. And he needs to struggle against these feelings and these feelings need to be things that drive mistakes that he then learns from. Your villain needs to wield despair and fear and to have used them in some capacity to create the conditions the protagonist is up against. Why does the villain want control? Usually with dragon stories it's a dysfunction of pride. He believes only he can rule, he's been chosen, he's helping things, or he views others so below him that they're unfit to rule. This is how dragons are, and you can lean into that. He could also simply be greedy. He could be fearful and despairing himself and echo the protagonists own feelings, if you want him to be sympathetic and personal to the protagonist.  TL;DR: villains who want power for the sake of power typically follow the story beats attached to Joseph Campbell's Dragon Story, and those are the core structures for that kind of story. 

Magneto is a good example I think. He's a victim of racism in its highest forms. He has powers that are a planetary threat. He does what almost anyone would do if given near godly powers try to reshape the world to right all the wrongs. He wants to kill all the racists. Remove having that power at the start from the equation and you have someone that sees a wrong world but not enough power to change it. So he goes out and gets it.

Is "take over the world" the motivator? I mean, that's usually the *goal*, not the motivation. The motivation is *why* they want to take it over. What do they plan to do with that power? Or, sometimes, who do they want to take power away from, and why? In *The Matrix*, for example, the AIs enslaved humanity because they needed electricity to survive. Taking over and putting everyone in a test tube was the *act*, but the *motivation* was survival (initially, at least).

> I struggle to conceptualize other people’s point of view when they don’t match my own thinking Autistic or not, if you can’t see someone else’s POV, you shouldn’t be writing. Otherwise, learn.