You can't have a decent fairy tale without a villain. Villains are often easy to spot in fairy tales, as they are usually causing problems for the 'hero' character. The aim of most fairy tale protagonists is to overcome the villain, sometimes by merely getting past them and sometimes by defeating them. Villains are often perceived as being the 'opposite' of the hero character in fairy tales. There are a few different groups of villains that commonly appear in fairy tales.
The first one that comes to my mind when thinking of villains in fairy tales are stepfamily. For some reason, stepmothers and sisters are always really horrible in fairy tales. In
Cinderella, she has her stepmother and stepsisters who have her working as a servant for them, and don't let her have any fun at all, and then you have the stepmother in
Snow White, who actually tries to kill her stepdaughter because she is "the fairest of them all". Definitely villainous.
The next is Witches: Witches in fairy tales are always evil. In
Rapunzel, you have the witch who locked the baby Rapunzel away in a tower, just because her mother craved a certain type of food from the witch's garden. The Witch then went on to blind Rapunzel's 'Prince Charming' and abandon Rapunzel in the middle of a forest. Then you have the witch in
Hansel and Gretel, who tries to fatten the children up and eat them.
Wolves are always used as villains in animal fairy tales. In
Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf goes so far as to pretend to be Little Red's grandmother, just to satisfy his hungry belly. The wolf is exactly the same in
Three Little Pigs; scheming and blowing down houses to eat the pigs.
Other creatures are used as villains in fairy tales as well. There's the giant in
Jack and the Beanstalk, and the troll in
Three Billy Goats Gruff. There is even an imp in
Rumpelstiltskin. All characters used to cause problems for the hero of the story. There's even an evil fairy godmother in
Sleeping Beauty, which goes to show that even typically 'nice' characters can still be used as villains.
In the end though, all villains are defeated by their hero counterparts, who live happily ever after, while the villain has either been killed, or is never seen again.
Not sure if it is just me but the last image (Jack and the Beanstalk) is showing as a blank in the post although if you click on it, it is then visible.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I had the same problem yesterday with a picture of one of the Undead. But they do have a bit of a reputation for being troublesome.
Ooo that's interesting as soon as I added a comment it appeared OK. So just pretend I said(wrote) nothing....
DeleteHaha thanks for letting me know anyway! That happens to me sometimes too, I can't see a picture but everyone else can! :)
DeleteLike you said, villains are essential to fairtales! I love how they are always defeated :)
ReplyDeleteMe too, fairy tales wouldn't be the same if there weren't villains to defeat! :)
DeleteIt would be a strange fairytale is the 'hero' did not have to overcome anything in the story. I like the Jack and the Beanstalk image in action..:))
ReplyDeleteThanks :) You're right, you can't have heroes without villains, there would be no point in them :)
DeleteWhat would a great story be without a villian? There are mandatory!
ReplyDeleteThey really are! Sometimes I like villains better than the heroes! :)
DeleteYou are right. No Fairy Tale should be without a villian.
ReplyDeleteThere's got to be some sort of conflict, or there would be no point to the story :)
DeleteVillains are so fun to write! And then defeat :)
ReplyDeleteI bet they are fun to write, I'll have to try it sometime, it's always fun reading them being defeated :)
DeleteIf there's one thing fairy tales are good at, it's villains. I LOVE Maleficent, and the witch from Hansel and Gretel!
ReplyDeleteI love villains, I tend to like them more than the 'good' characters! They're just more interesting :)
DeleteWhat is a fairy tale without a villain? A boring princess sitting around a castle doing nothing.
ReplyDeleteExactly! :)
DeleteOh, how I love a good villain! When they make you so angry that you can't stop turning pages, that's the best.
ReplyDeleteAllison (Geek Banter)
Oh, definitely! Sometimes you just need that evil character who causes trouble, makes the story so much more interesting!
DeleteThere absolutely has to be a conflict in a story, I suppose in real life. Makes things interesting!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! It would be boring without :)
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