Loveable YA Villains

Credit to the artist. (this artwork is INCREDIBLE, I love it.)

Disney have a very good showcase of villains, as shown in this amazing artwork above, but villains in young adult books are an entirely different story. In young adult, there are a lot of awful villains that basically make the protagonists' lives a living hell. But then there are loveable ones. Ones that are both terrible and wonderful; the bad things make them better and more tortured. They beckon a reader, almost, to love them instead of hate them. Suddenly, the hitches they make in the story make adventures rather than a hindrance.

Some examples? The Darkling, from the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Holland from the Shades of Magic series. Amarantha from A Court of Thorns and Roses.

(Credit to the artist)
Holland

Before Osaron came along and destroyed Holland and broke down his city that he loved and cared for, Holland was portrayed as a terrible Antari, the bad to rival Kell's good. In A Darker Shade of Magic, he killed Baron and that left him in a terrible perception from Lila's view point. Holland made bad decisions and he killed. But then, bit by bit, his past was revealed. And with it, Holland's strength. Finally, a version of the strong boy who refused to be broken by the Dane twins was revealed. The Antari who fought a god trying to overtake his mind that had already been bent and willed by others was revealed. Holland was a villain that fought and then stood his ground and fought harder. In A Gathering of Shadows, I found myself rooting for him and his city. I liked that he'd finally made his way to the top, to being a king, and finding love in his city again and making it to what he always thought it should have been. Until it crumbled, until he was blackmailed, until he had to fight again. In A Conjuring of Light, Holland was the target. And I almost wished for his death on a couple of occasions just so his poor, tired mind and body could be free. Instead what I got as a reader was heartbreak. More of his past with the Danes was given and with each part added together, I cried and felt more and more for Holland and only admired him more. He was a powerful person who was used and chained up for most of the last story, who didn't always mind that he was seen as untrustworthy because he knew what he'd been through and what he'd live to survive and help with. What Victoria (V.E) Schwab gives us in Holland is magical and torture and the will to go on and have something driving you forward.

(Credit to the artist)
The Darkling

The Darkling. It's been a long time since I read this trilogy but Leigh Bardugo writes her villains like the best of the best. What struck me when I read Shadow and Bone was how much admiration I could have for a villain and was it normal? He was the first character I'd ever really liked for his evil nature. He was dark and beautiful and powerful and featured in some amazing scenes. Ones that come to mind was when he twisted his magic to make something stunning, alongside Alina's in the party in Shadow and Bone. On the boat in Siege and Storm, I adored him even when I perhaps shouldn't, when he was dishing out violent threats. I wanted Alina to be happy and whilst I knew there was a part of her that loved The Darkling, I knew Mal would be her happy ending but when he taunted her, he taunted readers too. Leigh Bardugo wrote him to make us root for him. What I didn't expect--what a lot of people didn't expect that I've talked to--was his ending. As an amazing villain, he deserved better. But as a villain, he had the best exit and closure. Everything about him was dangerous and mysterious, and having his mother as a horrid part of the story made everything so much better. She was there to annoy him or to help Alina out when she knew the son she loved had gone too far. The Darkling refused to make her his salvation no matter how hard she tried but she never stopped loving him. If anything, she was the only one who understood him, which is why, I think, she helped Alina in Shadow and Bone.

(Credit to the artist)
Amarantha

I want to end with Amarantha because she was a bitch. She was truly awful to Rhysand and more of that comes out in A Court of Mist and Fury. But in the first book, her character of the evil queen with her power and court was amazing and done so well by Sarah J. Maas. She was a villain who made her evilness work and not to the point of not wanting to read on with the story. (Also, the fact that she gave Tamlin a mask which would have given his "tan" face awful tan lines when he took it off is hilarious.) When I first read about Amarantha, she was striking and dramatic and powerful, immediately jumping off the page. She got a really great indirect introduction before the scenes Under the Mountain happened and I think that made it for me. I was so intrigued to meet this clever woman who had tricked Tamlin (which I later cheered her on for because he truly doesn't deserve any sort of love but then realised it fell onto the rest of his court) so when I finally did, I was impressed. Here was a truly awful female villain who owned her role.

Of course, come Rhysand's story of actually living with her, I truly began to hate her. But she was cunning and clever and I love that in villains. They have to be to survive young adult stories; otherwise they just don't make the role good enough. Yet when she was on the page in all her horribleness, Amarantha was a very creditable villain.

What do you think makes a good YA villain? Personality? Their backstory? Dialogue? Their look or actions?