elfey
Since: Jan, 2001
Jul 1st 2011 at 5:03:41 PM
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I liked the old topic name better. It had alteration.
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ashwintrisal
Since: Nov, 2011
May 29th 2012 at 1:57:27 PM
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You mean alliteration? If so, yeah, I somehow prefer "Antagonists Assimilate" to "Villains Blend in Better".
I can't easily see how to blend this into the main article, but wouldn't it be the case that villains tend to be better at lying, manipulating, and disguising their true intentions? In other words, all that lovely social-grease stuff that allows you to get along with people you have little in common with, and working your way around problems without causing waves?
I mean, if the hero is a straightforward type, he's more likely to stand out because he doesn't have a quick and easy answer for the oddities — he's not practiced in lies. Like, imagine a hero and a villain get sent back in time. The hero tries to explain things to everyone and gets thought a loony. The villain carefully observes, comes up with quick and convenient lies (I didn't know that because I'm from out of town, oh sorry that must have slipped my mind, ah but of course I meant this other thing, oh I need that crucial thing for a completely innocent and unsuspicious reason, etc.), finds ways to get unwitting people to solve his problems for him, and so on.
Obviously it's not going to work for 100% of villains, but they do tend to have more facility with observation and manipulation, just as general traits. And the more charismatic the villain, the better this works.
Only the curious have, if they live, a tale worth telling at all.