Every good hero needs an even better villain: although it’s perhaps a little cliché, it’s been a golden rule of storytelling for almost as long as we’ve been telling stories. Beowulf needs Grendel, the Fellowship of the Ring needs the insurmountable forces of Sauron, the Rebel Alliance needs the oppressive threat of the Galactic Empire. Aside from simply providing great conflict, a villain is also a funhouse mirror reflecting a hero’s convictions and morals back at them: freedom vs oppression, lawfulness vs corruption, order vs chaos.
