Why do we find villains so damn sexy?
Move over Klaus Mikaelson, Villanelle, and Kylo Ren... Lucius is making a run for the throne.
Maggie Update
Okay, so maybe I should stop saying I’m going to post every week. Because that clearly isn’t always going to happen. I’m doin’ my very best! As you all know, I’ve had a lot going on lately, and I already know that once I start writing I will have even less motivation to write anything other than The Hunted.
But hey, that’s probably what y’all want most from me anyway. And you’re in luck, because my characteristically ambitious goal is to finish an 80,000 word first draft in four weeks. Then I hope to go into Edit Mode for the next eight weeks, ultimately ending up with a ready-to-read finished novel before I leave for Europe in June. That could make an early release for The Hunted a very real possibility, but the official release date will remain July 5th until further notice. If you want it delivered to your device as soon as it releases no matter when that is, you can preorder it on all retailer sites.
And have you seen this freaking gorgeous cover yet??? I literally set the wide banner version as my desktop background because I just can’t stop staring at it. I love just how well every single cover captures the vibes and setting of the books. You guys won’t really understand this cover until you finish The Illuminated, though.
Speaking of… The Illuminated released today! Wowowowow. Still in disbelief that I somehow managed to pull this all off. I am so excited for people to read this book, and I’m even more excited to start connecting with new readers as I slowly but surely pick up steam. In fact, I created my very first Facebook reader group yesterday morning called Maggie Sunseri’s Secret Coven. It currently has one very enthusiastic member: Me! I reckon our coven will be very, very small at first, which I think will be fun. I’m just pumped to FINALLY show people the TLWOA-themed memes I’ve had in my back pocket for months. (Yes, we’re doing a Lost Witches acronym now. It’s just easier.)
My summer plans are officially finalized. I’m starting in Madrid for one conference, then going to Matera, Italy for a second (the third oldest city in the world, frequently used as a movie location—go look it up on Google Images—it’s insane), and then I’m heading to the U.K. where a third conference is being held. I can’t wait to include all of you in the journey. I also can’t wait to be out of this damn house. It’s been a longgggg two years.
I think… that’s it. Is that it? I don’t even know anymore. I’m tired physically, mentally, and existentially. The world is being all dark and horrible again. Well, actually, it never stopped being dark and horrible. Writing Time means I’ll also be 90% off social media, which is for the best. I hope you all also find time away from all the doom scrolling, anger, horrors, and cruelties being broadcasted 24/7 as well. Your mental health is important, and sometimes the only thing we can do is take care of ourselves, our families, and our communities, and do whatever it is we are called to do to make the world just a little brighter.
The Main Event: Sexy Villain Time
First, a list. The top villain characters I personally find incredibly sexy… and you all aren’t allowed to judge me, cancel me, or kink shame me, okay?
Kylo Ren from Star Wars. I mean, come on! The man is sexy as hell, and let the record reflect that I started shipping him and Rey from the moment I saw Episode VII in theaters. Everyone told me I was wrong for it, too, but I held strong. And I was RIGHT, damnit. This scene in particular… 😳
Klaus Mikaelson from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Yeah, he was hot. 11/10 fantastic villain you hate to love. I think my favorite thing about Klaus as a character was his rich backstory and multifaceted depth. Sure, he killed and tortured and turned people into vampire-werwolf hybrid soldiers, or whatever.
But, like, his dad was really mean to him, and sometimes he cries a little because he’s sad and lonely and feels betrayed by those he loves. Also, he paints. Maybe that’s part of the magic formula for what makes a likable villain—we have to still be able to identify the humanity beneath the monster, still be able to relate to them on some level, and see a sliver of something redeemable within the darkness. Or maybe they just have to be really hot.
Side note: Damon Salvatore would have also made the list, obviously, but I ended up deciding he wasn’t a true villain. Also, I may or may not have run a semi-successful Instagram page dedicated to Elena and Damon’s relationship in high school. Do with that information what you will.
Villanelle from Killing Eve. Yeah… she’s the blueprint.
Delightfully witty, stylish as all hell, and completely and utterly psychopathic. She kills for a living, and she doesn’t feel at all bad for it. How else could she afford all her couture?
I think a key to what makes Villanelle so attractive is the “they don’t care about anything or anyone except me <3” trope. Like sure, she’s a (nearly) sociopathic assassin and could give less of a shit about being “good” or “moral.” But… she really likes Eve! And that’s so cute! Cute probably isn’t the right word. But, you get me, right? There’s something deeply attractive about a villain who hates or feels indifferent toward the whole world until they meet the hero/love interest. It tickles our need to feel special—our need to feel worthy and chosen.
Peter from The Great. This is perhaps getting into controversial territory, but I actually couldn’t help but find Peter charming. Another case of a witty, near-sociopath who is at best apathetic and at worst unflinchingly cruel from his position of power, and yet, somehow, ends up falling madly in love with the woman staging a coup to kick him off the throne. I thought his antics were kinda cute, and despite his despicable actions at the end of Season 1 (that I won’t ruin for you—you’re welcome), by Season 2 I was fully shipping him and Catherine.
Here’s some TLWOA trivia for you: Peter’s sense of humor and adorable lil psychopathic tendencies inspired a lot of my initial conceptions of Lucius when I first starting writing The Discovered. The two most certainly have mommy issues, that’s for sure. And daddy issues. So I guess they just have issues, in general. That seems to be another key trope for a great villain—their origin has to stoke sympathy. There’s gotta be a reason why they are the way they are if they have any hope of winning us over.
And that brings us to the reason y’all will want to cancel me. Sorry! I am who I am…
Okay, I’m actually not sorry. Nate Jacobs from Euphoria is simply unfathomably sexy, independently of the whole being-evil thing. (Because of course in real life I would be repulsed, but this is FICTION.)
Like… the gun scene where Nate went fully unhinged was scary and clearly traumatic as hell for poor Maddy. However, part of it was also kind of… hot? Maybe? A little bit? In a very fucked up way? Oops. I am a little sorry for that opinion, actually, but as someone in recovery I’m trying to tell the truth more or whatever.
And yet again, we’re hitting the trope previous characters have met: a sympathetic backstory involving serious trauma, generally at the hands of caregivers, that have in turn created a villain that traumatizes others. Childhood trauma does not remove culpability and accountability from an adult’s actions, but it does provide a reason. Evil isn’t born. It’s made. Just read about literally any real-life monster’s background. Serial killers were nearly always raised in severely abusive households. Nate’s unhealthy, sexist relationships with women and general unhinged-ness is a product of that primordial trauma, passed to him by his no-doubt traumatized father. Nate also caters to the “he hates everything and everyone but he’s obsessed with me” trope, which is a favorite of romance readers, and especially crucial to enemies to lovers stories.
I could continue, but it would be a very long list, and it would only get weirder and more personally revealing from here. (Okay, one last one: Draco Malfoy in the later Harry Potter movies kinda did it for me.)
So let’s get into it!
I’m sure not everyone finds these kinds of villains even remotely attractive, but the number of people who do vastly outnumber them. (Source: I don’t have one. I might have just made that up. But I think it’s probably true, or at least the number is a lot higher than you would think, and it’s certainly normal.)
What gives? Why do so many of us like the scary bad guys? One possible reason could be the link between physical arousal (fear) and sexual arousal. Many studies seem to indicate that a lot of people can get their wires crossed when experiencing an influx of adrenaline and anxiety associated with a fear response, which just might trigger a sexual reaction. This has an obvious linkage to kink and BDSM, where fear is one of the hallmarks of a wide range of fetishes and power exchange dynamics. I would guess that power, fear, and kink have a lot more do to with why we find villains sexy than most people care to think about, let alone admit.
Let’s go deeper. Women aren’t the only ones attracted to villain types, and as I proved with Villanelle, male villains aren’t the only targets of our guilty obsessions. As with everything in human sexuality, we’re going to run into all kinds of identity mix-and-match combos and nuances. For simplicities sake, I’m going to use a hetero example of women attracted to male villains in these explorations, but there’s a lot to be said about the reversal and queer representations as well.
Why do so many women lust after the villain? Harkening back to my previous discussions about dark erotica, BDSM, and the patriarchy, it might seem counterintuitive that we’re hot for characters that on the surface level seem to embody our worst fears. But again, desire in real life and desire in fiction and fantasy don’t always overlap. And sometimes they do overlap, but the fantasy version is still far more dark, non-consensual, or extreme than what’s desired in a real life situation. That’s just how our freaky little brains work sometimes, in more areas than just sex. Our subconscious playground is far more bizarre and unexplainable than our conscious decisions, actions, and speech.
Do I want to be threatened by a Chad with a loaded gun? Not particularly. But just like anyone else, I might have a subconscious desire that Nate Jacob’s particular brand of confidence, assuredness, and determination complements or fulfills in someway. Maybe what appears to be our worst nightmare is actually something that soothes our real-life anxieties. Perhaps the reason we love the “he hates everyone but me” trope isn’t just because we want to be special or sought after. It could also point to the notion that if the very worst person in the world—or the ultimate embodiment of what we fear the most—loves us or otherwise protects us, then we would be presumably safe from all the rest of the men who threaten our security on the daily.
“Nothing can hurt you when you’re with me,” Lucius says to Áine in The Illuminated.
(I wouldn’t say that the line woos Áine in that moment, but it sure wooed me. I just love him. He’s very horrible and bad, but I just can’t help it, damnit. I cannot wait to hear everyone’s thoughts after this book…)
Not buying that idea? Okay, fair enough. Maybe we don’t crave the Big Bads for a sense of protection or security. Maybe it’s more about that first idea, that fear and arousal can be linked, and there’s something undeniably sexy about psychopaths with a sweet spot, or characters we seek desperately to redeem. Maybe we want to feel like we can change evil people—that we have control over some of the darkness in a world that feels increasingly hopeless and chaotic. [Insert the “I can fix him” meme.]
Or maybe villains give us a chance to explore the Jungian shadow—a theme I explore heavily in The Illuminated and will continue to explore in the rest of the series. In many of these examples, a lot of what made these characters appealing didn’t necessarily have anything to do with sexual attraction. There are qualities in a good villain I might want to have more than I want to make out with. Again, this may seem counterintuitive. I’m not saying I want to kill people without feeling bad about it, or hurt people at all for that matter, but there is a certain allure of being cold, uncaring, and fearless in a world that often makes us feel insecure, helpless, and apologetic.
Villains embody the shadow in all its glory—our most hidden and denied proclivities, thoughts, and needs—and identifying with the villain could be letting us harmlessly indulge in the release of our own dark sides. We all want to be more self-assured. We all want to be more effortlessly witty as we tear down those who disrespect or attack us. We all want to just let go, sometimes. Whether that means we want to embody the villain ourselves, or be close to the villain in some way, I think they’re two sides of the same coin.
In a world like ours, sometimes feeling safe amidst absolute darkness isn’t such a bad thing.
What do you think? Who are your favorite villains, and why?
As always, please, please, please comment, reply to this email, or reach out on socials if you want to discuss! Or go join the coven and start a convo in there. Unlike some of these villains, I promise I won’t bite.
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Klaus would be at the top of my list. I do think Damon could be on the list and he is definitely one hot bad boy. As you can see, I'm binging your blog posts since I'm waiting for the next installment of your series. LOL.