Fifty Horror Clichés That Need to Die in a Fire

#8: Hero Versus Villain Dynamic

When it comes to the traditional horror novel, there is no problem usually distinguishing between the lovable protagonists and the horrific monsters these cast members need to fight.  The main characters after all are always the ones with lovable flawed personalities.  They are additionally usually the protagonists of said story, making the audience side with them through their retellings of the unfortunate events that have or will occur.  We side with them because the book tells us they are the ones with trustable information.  When it comes to the horrific creatures of the night though, they will always be labeled the so-called bad guy.  Their crimes, seemingly motivated by a lust for anarchy after all, are unforgivable, at least from what the protagonist is saying.  As a result, horror novel characters receive labels on their overall characterization and roles in the story according to perspective.  Whoever tells the story in horror fiction usually ends up being in the right, all because of perspective.

  Perspective is a very sensitive tool to use in fictional works.  How it is formatted will determine who are the so-called heroes and the so-called villains.  If the police of Little Tall Island believe Dolores Claiborne to be a heartless killer of her husband and then elderly lady Vera Donovan, the reader from their point of view is expected to see the situation the same way.  If you reverse the situation to be through Dolores's perspective though, you end up seeing the island's citizens as ignorant to the abusive tendencies of her husband Joe St. George, giving her a justifiable cause to her later actions of killing him during the book's total solar eclipse.  You see the same instance with the real events that caused Vera's death, which was not from the clutches of an evil woman but rather completely accidental.  It is this awareness of the situation for the audience reading Stephen King's novel Dolores Claiborne that makes it a great fictional example of the power behind perspective.  Because both sides of the story are explained quite well to the reader, neither the police nor Dolores are in the right.  Instead, the audience is given the choice to interpret the situation for themselves, making the piece much more powerful than your typical Stephen King novel.  Although it is less of a horror novel and more a dramatic dive into the unfortunate circumstances that all parties in the story experienced, Dolores Claiborne is an excellent example of eliminating limited perspective for the reader.  It does something a lot of novels, especially horror novels, fail to do; give more of a dynamic between the characters.  All that really exists is the "essential" hero versus villain trope.  There is almost never a two-sided conflict arising between the different character factions.

With famous horror icons such as Freddy Kruger, the audience is never given a strong explanation as to why they went crazy.  While it can be assumed the killer just was always psychologically crazy, that is not how motivation works inside the minds of a fleshed out character.  A dynamic character such as horror genre gem character Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul is shown to be motivated by the situations around him instead of his newfound extreme hunger for human flesh.  Ken Kaneki is motivated by his emotional perspective of the world whenever he dawns his iconic permanent smile mask; persecution exists on both sides of the battlefield.  The titular ghouls are persecuted due to their inability to eat anything other than human flesh, which regular humans interpret as just an act of pure evil.  Ghouls eat human flesh only to survive one day longer, with insanity being the only other option on the table.  All humans in the series meanwhile are hated by ghouls due to the few that hunt them out, especially those working for The Center of Ghoul Control.  These people only want to preserve the lives of other humans and prevent families from being torn apart by ghoul attacks in Japan.  Ken knows that neither side is right or wrong.  He fights for both factions as a result, killing bad ghouls who over-hunt humans and killing bad humans who kill ghouls for pleasure.  Ken is a horror genre character done right, with all of the fundamental elements of a horror story still being preserved in the process.  This is thanks to his quirky character trait of being a hybrid of the two species he has vowed to protect.  Both sides in his mind are worth protecting, depending on the circumstances presented to him.

  The best horror novels are those who ditch the hero versus villain ideology we have been fed on for many years.  Instead, both sides of the conflict should be given diverse characterization that leaves it up to the reader whether or not they are in the wrong.  This type of characterization creates a sense of mystery that great horror novels such as Dracula presents the audience.  Instead of the typical slasher type storyline, it is best to aim for strong character dynamics within every cast member.  Themes such as revenge or insanity are great examples to use in these more perspective dynamic story lines.  In the revenge plot, the reader has a chance to see the psychological shift in multiple parties following a tragic event that sparks the idea of vengeance inside one or more characters.  Inside the insanity plot, readers can learn about the effects a person's declining mental state can have on themselves and others.  In both instances, the horror still is preserved through the overall sense of mystery in the story.  The hero versus villain dynamic can be ditched in favor of better storytelling.  As a result, more readers flock to the story while the author can experiment with characterization and character motivation.  It is a victory for both parties involved.

  Shifting perspective from one group of characters to multiple groups cracks open new layers never seen before in the horror genre.  Sticking to the hero versus villain mindset will lead to bland story lines that just involve another typical maniac.  Breaking that mold though brings life into whatever storyline you wish to pursue.  Perspective is not just another element that you can sideline when writing a story.  It dictates how the overall quality of the story will end up being.  Will you create a generic unreliable first person narration or create an entirely new take on the third person perspective?  Choosing the right one will determine your overall story's quality.