: Re: How to make a harmless villain TvTropes alert! Harmless villains are the straightforward opposite of a complete monster and the typical evil overlord in fantasy, and so, creating one who can

@Shakeerah107

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This needs to be specifically catered to your story and your world for it to make sense, so I'll try to offer some suggestions within the context of one specific world.

So, the world. Let's say this is Urban Fantasy, where the 'magical world' is hidden by powerful enchantments (like Harry Potter-ish standards, so don't think too hard on how hard it really is to keep this world a secret, only that it must be a secret for reasons).

Let's pick a random setting. Hmm. In keeping with Rowling and the HP series, let's go with modern-day London. So CCTV is a thing, everyone has a mobile phone with a camera, and there are only a few million people that might expose the magical world (so there's an organization working tirelessly to keep it under raps).

Alright. Now, let's figure out ways to make a 'harmless villain' that is effective within this setting.

How about a pastry chef? This passionate and ambitious tyke wants nothing more than to make the world's greatest pastries for all to enjoy. So how do they go about it? By slave labour. What's wrong with making pastries?! The ends justifies the means, and with some dark connotations. And you can even twist this to social commentary on modern day slavery, in the form of being eternally underpaid, even while working 2 jobs. It's efficient, and evil. But they are treated well.
How about a lonely little princess that just wants someone to play with? But she's not used to sharing, so she 'hires' friends and makes them play with her now and forever? That's pretty evil, if benign.
How about someone that loves puzzles and those old detective novellas, and decides that everyone should learn to solve them? So they kidnap the protag's little sister (why is it always the little sister?!) and leaves an envelope with a clue, that leads to another clue, which leads to a maze.
Maybe let's go a little more twisted, while essentially harmless themselves. How about there's a clue hidden somewhere. The protag is brought to a room with only one exit that's locked. There's a key somewhere in the room, and all they are given is a blunted dagger. The twist? The sole clue given is that maybe one of the dozens of rabbits hopping about has it... only they didn't swallow it. (the villain is technically benign, but makes the protag do horrid things, so they may claim to be superior! After all, the villain didn't kill those harmless bunnies... the 'hero' did.)
Alright, enough darkness. Let's play with the setting. What if the villain is in love with a muggle (TM), but hates the rules keeping them apart. So the villain breaks the rules!
Okay, too tame? How about they set about trying to expose the magical world! Le Gasp! I mean, it would be all to simple to do. Just draw the attention of the muggles and have them take pictures of it. Twitter would handle the rest, and it's all in the name of love!
How about this person isn't bad/evil at all. Just perceived that way? Think about it. PR and public perception is what makes all the difference in the reader's mind. Look at Snape--no one's more loyal, or even a better or braver a person. But he appears bad, and no matter how often they are proven wrong, Harry and co (and the readers) consistently tag him as the big bad (TM).

It's all about working with what you have. So let's take your example (I had to get to that eventually). A dragon that's just lonely, and kidnaps children to play with. Maybe put this into a different light (once investigated by the protag), that this dragon is really the angel of death, or used to be. But instead of killing the kids they were sent out to collect the soul of, they whisk them off to a magical land where they'll never die, and they're forever young (a la Peter Pan). Or maybe they really are the angel of death, and take the children's souls there to live happily ever after.

How do you want to spin it? Because the spin given is what makes all the difference in the world.

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