Doctor Evil! I didn’t spend six years in an evil medical school to be called Mister, thank you very much.” These hilarious words were said by Dr. Evil, the ridiculously arch and wildly funny villain of the Austin Powers franchise. Dr. Evil embodies all the classic negative character traits of a villain: He’s selfish, maniacal, and hell-bent on world domination. “Bad” characters in your story have negative character traits, just like Dr. Evil – although maybe not so obvious! What are negative character traits exactly, and what are some examples of bad character traits? Read on for a negative character traits list that will help you craft your own villains.
Negative character traits list
First, let’s define negative character traits
Before we dive into some negative character traits examples, let’s define what this type of traits entail.
NEGATIVE CHARACTER TRAITS DEFINITION
What are negative character traits?
A negative character trait is a trait that is undesirable, or in plainer terms, just bad! Negative character traits make the character unlikeable, or worse, evil. This is why villains in a story usually have multiple negative character traits, from selfishness to cruelty to egomania.
Negative character traits also affect the people around the character. For example, if a character is selfish, it affects how the other characters in the story interact with that character, and informs their opinion of them.
Negative character traits fall into a few key categories. Some traits are morally reprehensible, such as dishonesty. Some traits are undesirable or deemed bad by our society, such as being smelly or dirty. And some negative traits are emotional or mental, including things like being high anxiety, or lacking confidence.
Having a negative trait doesn’t make a character “bad.” In fact, most protagonists have negative traits, since that’s realistic to real people. But if you want to create a villain, their overwhelming feature is usually an abundance of negative traits, or a key driving negative trait that causes problems for the people around them. Read below for more negative character traits examples. Which of these examples of negative character traits apply to the villains from your favorite movies and shows?
Bad Character Traits:
- Traits that are undesirable: Low self-esteem, negativity, self-criticism, apathy, anxiety, procrastination
- Traits that are considered immoral: Selfishness, stubbornness, laziness, pessimism, impulsiveness, cruelty
- Traits that we as a society consider to be “bad”: Disloyalty, jealousy, greed, disrespectfulness, rudeness, arrogance
Negative traits List
Negative traits for characters
No one is perfect. Realistic characters have both positive and negative character traits, and your protagonist will surely have a few negative character traits, whether they procrastinate too much or have trouble with their self-esteem.
But it’s important to remember that the traits you choose will define how the audience perceives your character. If you want the character to be liked, you might give them more positive character traits. By contrast, when creating a villain, you’ll want to go for more negative character traits to make sure the audience knows this character is going to be an obstacle for your protagonist.
To look at an example from literature, take Tom Buchanan from “The Great Gatsby.” Tom is the main competition Gatsby has for Daisy’s love, and he’s painted as a villain. Tom is arrogant, brash, unfaithful, and entitled. He treats people like they are inferior, and his behavior and negative character traits make him unlikeable, making the audience want to root for Gatsby.
A description of negative traits for characters
Negative character traits list
List of negative character traits
Ready to start writing your “bad” characters? What are some negative character traits you can use in your own writing? See the negative character traits list below to help you pick traits to ascribe to your characters to give them negative character traits.
- Aggressive
- Bossy
- Careless
- Immature
- Selfish
- Egotistical
- Arrogant
- Rude
- Thoughtless
- Shy
- Cynical
- Dishonest
- Deceitful
- Aggressive
- Violent
- Cruel
- Intimidating
- Boastful
- Narrow-minded
- Moody
- Devious
- Deceptive
- Dishonest
- Competitive
- Controlling
- Condescending
- Irrational
- Spiteful
- Superficial
- Untrustworthy
- Overbearing
- Dramatic
- Stupid
- Jealous
- Clingy
- Argumentative
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Villain Archetypes
Now that you understand what negative character traits are, you may want to learn more about how to craft villains for your story. There are actually some common villain archetypes throughout literature and film, and it may be inspirational to learn about them. Read on to learn more about how to write a good villain using archetypes, and how you can make your villains memorable and effective for an audience.
