Villains in the Firefly 'Verse

Do you make use of canon villains in your stories? Do you invent new villains? Do you use collective villain entities, eg. The Alliance, Reavers, Blue Sun?
Your thoughts on Firefly villains here.

ebfiddler987 wrote:Do you make use of canon villains in your stories? Do you invent new villains? Do you use collective villain entities, eg. The Alliance, Reavers, Blue Sun?
Your thoughts on Firefly villains here.

i don't recall bringing back any canon villains individually (unless you count Badger and Yo/Saff) but Blue Sun a bit, Reavers nope, the Alliance yes definitely.

i enjoy making new villains or antagonists that help to explore specific themes, ideas and attitudes or help show sides to the Serenity crew we only saw a little of in the brief run of the show.

also it's easier than having to get yet another familiar voice and character right! LOL

I use both old characters and new characters, but I'm not that good at fleshing out minor original characters, so my villains are mostly already existing.

I make use of the Alliance a fair amount. Blue Sun is a big part of one of my over-arching plot arcs, so yes, quite a lot with them. Reavers, only as a threatening menace. I've had Reavers chase Serenity in space, but I've never written an up-close Reaver encounter. I'm not much into horror, and I can't imagine an up-close Reaver encounter as being anything other that icky, so...no inclination to write one.

Saffron is definitely my favorite villain/antagonist, and she's featured in two of my stories so far. Just *love* writing her -- she's soooo awful.

The Operative is also a continuing character in my fic series. I'm doing my best to leave it completely ambiguous as to whether he's a good guy, a bad guy, or an in-between guy, for as long as I can. Did seeing that Miranda broadwave really work a revolution upon his character? Or not? Or maybe a little bit? I am planning to string this along for as long as I can.

I have avoided writing Niska except as a character in one of Mal's nightmares. I don't like him. Too extremely bad.

Atherton Wing: I haven't written him in yet, but I have a plan for a story that essentially involves him getting more of what he deserves. The thing that makes him appealing as a villain/antagonist is his sense of entitlement. Ugh!

Commander Harken: I would like to work him in again, somehow. No specific plan at this time, but I like him as an antagonist. He's not inherently evil, but is a natural antagonist for the crew due to his rigidity. I would like to explore him further. How did his encounter with the crew and the Reaver survivor affect his character in the longer term? I think there are some interesting questions.

ebfiddler987 wrote:I make use of the Alliance a fair amount. Blue Sun is a big part of one of my over-arching plot arcs, so yes, quite a lot with them. Reavers, only as a threatening menace. I've had Reavers chase Serenity in space, but I've never written an up-close Reaver encounter. I'm not much into horror, and I can't imagine an up-close Reaver encounter as being anything other that icky, so...no inclination to write one.

Oh I DELVE into horror. I live for knowing I made that cold chill crawl down someone's spine. Or startle. Or, one of my favourite reviews I ever received: "HOLY $#!% #@$%!~& #@(( WHAT BAH??"

It makes me giggle, and wring my hands while giggling, in a most unsavoury and gleeful way.

I'm also big into angst, so in between the uneasiness, there will also be feeling sorry for the Reavers, who did not chose to be what they are.

Your Saffron makes me hate her, and yet you can't stop watching her. I killed Niska right off. My Operative is still dangerous and misguided, in a different way. I think you've made him very ambiguous, it works very well, clearly he is still pulling strings and his attention is dangerous for the crew, but he's less of an immediate threat.

Very excited about your upcoming ideas! We all want to see more atherton comeuppance.

Bytemite wrote:I live for knowing I made that cold chill crawl down someone's spine. Or startle. Or, one of my favourite reviews I ever received: "HOLY $#!% #@$%!~& #@(( WHAT BAH??"

That's an awesome review!
Actually, I think the reviews where the readers express really strong views are actually pretty positive, because obviously your writing got to them and prompted them to react in an extreme way. So even "@#$%^&^" means "awesome" sort of.
I've been enjoying all of the readers who are absolutely hating Saffron in my current story -- just exactly what I was aiming for.

The review was from when I apparently killed Mal. Oh, there was much cackling that day. Which is also nice because it came from one of the reader's I'd alienated with the early incomplete view of the Simon and Inara backstory, but I brought them back in after all the crazy plot twists and reveals.

And the plot twists and reveals still aren't done yet...

You got a really strong negative Saffron reaction from me once while I was betaing. And even though she's been toned back even a little from then, she still is a perfectly hateable villain. Everyone loves a hateable villain. I think everyone thinks your Saffron is just marvelously wicked and bad.

Bytemite wrote:And the plot twists and reveals still aren't done yet...

I know! Looking forward to more twistiness!