What makes a good villain in a story?

[Link]

I am writing a fantasy story, and the villain is given a very strong role. My question is, how do you make the audience believe, without a doubt, he is evil. How do you make the reader hate a particular character. I don't think making him a murderer is enough, there has to be something that makes you want to kill him yourself.

 

[ANaman]

A great villain is the villain that believes that he/she is actually doing good. But if you want an activity that automatically makes anyone evil it is rape, no character in the history of anything can rape someone and be thought of as a good guy.

But make a reason for everything the villain does, just because he's "evil" isn't good enough make the villain justify his or her actions, but make those justifications unpopular with most people. A great example of this is the man in the hunchback of notre dame who thought the gipsy girl was the devil and burned down a whole city looking for her.

 

[tCecit]

I always find that taking a character the reader loves (like the MC) and making the villain humiliate or deface them starts the seed of hate. Have them criticize/humiliate/deface/ the loved character. Also, it makes me hate the villain more when what they are saying about the MC is true.

I agree that murder is simply not enough, unless the villain kills a beloved character and then acts like an ass and is just so nonchalant about it you want to throttle them.

 

[Ellis]

Vilifying someone can be a difficult task. The bad guy has to go against everything that is moral and sane, the things that push the protagonist to try to stop the villain.
Hope that helps