Supernatural Underground: Secret Villains: The Year of the Villain in Fantasy #8

Sunday, September 1, 2024

Secret Villains: The Year of the Villain in Fantasy #8

by Helen Lowe

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No discussion of villains in fantasy fiction would be complete without considering those "big bads" that work behind the scenes.

I can think of no better place to start than with the Black Ajah in Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time fantasy series (completed by Brandon Sanderson and now adapted for television.)

In Wheel of Time, Aes Sedai are an order of power users, all women, sworn to protect the world from the Dark One (the supreme "Big Bad") and divided into suborders or "ajahs", denoted by color. The Black Ajah are Aes Sedai secretly pledged to serve the Dark One rather than oppose it, who operate as a fifth column within the ranks of the other ajahs.

Liandrin Sedai -- Black Ajah masquerading as Red...

Argued by many not to exist at all, finding and exposing them is a major part of the early work undertaken by three young adepts, Nyneave, Egwene, and Elayne, when they first join the Aes Sedai order.

Egwene, Nyneave, Elayne -- hunting Black Ajah

The work they and others do end up revealing that the Black Ajah are numerous and operating at every level in the order. But secrecy and working from the shadows remains the Black Ajah's modus operandi throughout -- just as deception and betrayal, torture, murder, and insurrection, are their hallmarks.

Channeling the one power (saidar)

Among the ranks of fantasy's secret villains, I can think of few more compelling than Taravangian, in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Ostensibly an elderly and mildmannered king of limited intelligence, he has secretly dispatched an arch-assassin to murder his rivals, and exsanguinates patients in the charity hospitals he is publicly praised for founding.

He also professes political support for Dalinar Kholin (one of the story's main protagonists), while all the time plotting to overthrow him. And although Taravangian does lift part of his veil of secrecy when necessity demands, he does so purely to survive and continue plotting and conniving another day.

Sometimes, the secret villain may present as a friend to the hero, in order to win their trust, learn their secrets, and ultimately betray them -- which is exactly what the young man called Flor does in my novel, Thornspell. Although there is a clearly recognized "big bad" for the hero to focus on, all the while Flor is at his side, smiling and winning his confidence...

Although when it comes to secret guises, my personal favorite is Deth in Patricia McKillip's The Riddlemaster of Hed series, who appears to be first one person, then another. His motivations and actions are one of the story's most constant and enduring riddles -- and he may not, in the final analysis, even be the betrayer and villain other characters think him. To find out for sure, though, you'll have to read the book and unravel its riddles, including that of Deth, for yourself. J

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About the Author

Helen Lowe is an award-winning novelist, poet, and lover of story. With four books published to date, she is currently completing the final instalment in The Wall Of Night series.
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Helen posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog, monthly on the Supernatural Underground, and tweets @helenl0we.

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