How To: Create Your Fantasy Bad Guy

3. The Nemesis Continued

So, as I said in the last chapter, now that we have established the nemesis' backstory, we need to determine what makes them the nemesis. To do this, work through both your protagonist's and your nemesis' backstory and draw out the conflicting moments. By this, I mean we need to pick out things that differ in their lives that may cause them to have opposing morals, beliefs and/or motivations. Whether they are introduced as the nemesis or will become the nemesis, these conflicting statements will help you determine their rivalry. It will also help you pick out the opposing character flaws, such as the self-confidence example I pointed out earlier (Harry = lacking self-confidence, Draco = overconfident).

Your characters don't necessarily need to know about how they conflict, but knowing will help you determine what kind of relationship your nemesis may have with the protagonist.

We're gonna take a trip back to my How to Create your Fantasy Hero/Heroine guide, where I did the same thing as I did in the backstory chapter, but for Harry. I'm going to use it to offer an example of how I would do this.

Harry was born to Lily and James Potter in the Wizarding World, but they were murdered when he was barely 2 years old
Draco was born to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in the Wizarding World. His father was a Death Eater

We can see straight away that, although vaguely similar, their infancy conflicts. Harry's parents were killed by Voldemort, whereas Draco's family were allied with Voldemort and his father was a Death Eater during the first wizarding war - when Harry's parents were killed. Although Draco and Harry didn't cross paths until the end of their childhood, we can see that they were raised in completely different environments. This would have determined their morals, beliefs and motivations. Which we can look at in more detail by comparing their childhood.

Harry was raised by his Aunt and Uncle in the muggle world, who kept him in a cupboard under the stairs and generally resented him due to his magical abilities; which they kept a secret from him. Until a big hairy half-giant broke into his house, told him he was a wizard and made a pig tail sprout out of his cousin's bottom
Draco was raised by his parents, who were pureblood supremacists, and so he grew to withhold his family's prejudice against muggles and muggle-borns. They had a respectable image from being allied with Voldemort, however, his father avoided imprisonment by claiming to be under an unforgivable curse. Due to their wealth and Draco being their only son, he was a spoilt, materialistic child. 

A lot more conflicts are identified in their childhood.

➼Harry was raised by muggles who resented wizards and witches but weren't openly prejudice about it. Draco was raised by purebloods who resented muggles and muggle-borns and spread their prejudice to their son.
➼Draco's family were wealthy, they lived in a manor and spoilt him. Harry lived in a cupboard under the stairs and pretty much only came out when the Dursley's needed him to.
➼Harry was completely unaware of his magical abilities, his aunt and uncle were ashamed. Draco's family were very proud of their abilities, the purity of their bloodline and their social status.
➼A big hairy half-giant did not break into Draco's house to tell him he was a wizard - he already knew.

Again, Harry and Draco were yet to meet, however, knowing these childhood conflicts will allow you to draw out their character flaws.

➼Draco is extremely prejudiced against anyone who isn't pureblood or blood traitors, such as the Weasleys. Harry wasn't exposed to anything that would make him particularly prejudice.
➼Upon finding out he was a wizard, Harry had a serious lack of self-confidence regarding his abilities. Draco was overconfident in his abilities.
➼Harry is naive, he knows nothing about the wizarding world, the muggle world is all he knows, he also has low self-esteem. Draco is arrogant and proud of his family name, a name everyone in the wizarding world knows of.