Feminine evil
I decided when I started writing June and the Star that I wanted to have a young female protagonist confront an older female antagonist. It was important to me that their female identity played a significant role in their identities and actions, rather than being a superficial detail.
So what makes a female villain compelling?
Three female villains that I truly love are the White Witch from the Narnia books, the other mother from Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, and Professor Umbridge from the Harry Potter books. All three are truly diabolical, and I drew upon all three when conceptualizing my female villain. Despite their distinct differences, these characters embody archetypal qualities that define female villains for me.
Deceptive Appearances
Female villains have a unique advantage in their ability to deceive. Women are less likely to be seen as dangerous or violent predators, allowing them to more effectively disguise their predatory tendencies by leaning into the femininity of their appearance. They can present themselves as beautiful maidens, motherly protectors, or a blend of both, initially deceiving those around them before showing their true colours.
The White Witch, when encountered by Edmund (in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) as well as Diggory (in The Magician’s Nephew), is described as extremely beautiful.
Yet she was beautiful too. Years afterwards when he was an old man, Digory said he had never in all his life known a woman so beautiful.
— Upon encountering the White Witch, The Magician’s Nephew, CS Lewis
The other mother quite literally imitates the appearance of Coraline's real mother.
Professor Umbridge leans into her femininity, described as wearing fluffy pink cardigans and bows, speaking in a high-pitched, girlish voice, and decorating her office with ornamental plates with kittens on them.
"I’m sure I must have misunderstood you, Professor Dumbledore," she said with a simper that left her big, round eyes as cold as ever. "So silly of me. But it sounded for a teensy moment as though you were suggesting that the Ministry of Magic had ordered an attack on this boy!"
— Umbridge speaks, Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling
However, each of these characters are described as having an incongruous appearance. The White Witch has a snow-white skin, a “very red mouth”, and a proud, cold, stern face. The other mother is described as taller and thinner than Coraline’s actual mother with paper-white skin and buttons for eyes.
She looked a little like Coraline’s mother. Only . . . Only her skin was white as paper. Only she was taller and thinner. Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped moving, and her dark red fingernails were curved and sharp.
— Coraline, Neil Gaiman
Professor Umbridge is described as toad-like in her physical appearance, which contrasts with her voice and sense of style.
She was rather squat with a broad, flabby face, as little neck as Uncle Vernon, and a very wide, slack mouth. Her eyes were large, round, and slightly bulging … The witch spoke in a fluttery, girlish, high-pitched voice that took Harry aback; he had been expecting a croak.
— Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling
Flattery and Manipulation
Another key aspect of these female villains is how they manipulate. These characters may flatter their victims, telling them how special or important they are. They may also position themselves as acting in their victim’s best interests when actually they are trying to harm or disarm their victims.
The White Witch tells Edmund he is the “cleverest and handsomest young man” she’s ever met and that she wants him to become her heir, as long as he will bring along his brother and sisters to her castle.
"My poor child," she said in quite a different voice, "how cold you look! Come and sit with me here on the sledge and I will put my mantle round you and we will talk."
— The White Witch to Edmund, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
The other mother tells Coraline that she’s been waiting for her to arrive, and that things haven’t been the same without her. She also tells Coraline that she “only want[s] what’s best for [her]”, when trying to convince Coraline to replace her eyes with buttons.
On a china plate on the kitchen table was a spool of black cotton, and a long silver needle, and, beside them, two large black buttons. "I don’t think so," said Coraline. "Oh, but we want you to," said her other mother. "We want you to stay. And it’s just a little thing."
— Coraline presented with the bargain, Coraline, Niel Gaiman
Professor Umbridge positions herself as wanting to protect her students from dangerous lies and irresponsible practices while denying the existence of a real danger.
"The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend."
— Professor Umbridge to her students, Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling
Control and Punishment
Behind their appearances, behind the lies and manipulations, are the core nature of these characters. Part of that core nature is the desire to get their opponents to participate in their own domination. The three characters overlap in their desire to somehow break their victims or teach them a lesson. There is also an indecent excitement about the prospect of causing pain or humiliation. This is not a cold, calculating grab for power; it’s more personal, and much more twisted.
When Aslan submits himself to be killed in Edmund’s place, the White Witch revels in making a spectacle of his death. She dictates that he is to be bound, shorn, and muzzled, and delights in letting her followers bite, kick, and spit on him. And, in the moment before she kills him, she takes pleasure in telling him that his ultimate sacrifice has been meaningless, and that he’s done nothing but delayed Edmund’s execution.
Her face was working and twitching with passion, but his looked up at the sky, still quiet, neither angry nor afraid, but a little sad. Then, just before she gave the blow, she stooped down and said in a quivering voice, “And now, who has won? Fool, did you think that by all this you would save the human traitor? Now I will kill you instead of him as our pact was and so the Deep Magic will be appeased. But when you are dead what will prevent me from killing him as well? And who will take him out of my hand then? Understand that you have given me Narnia forever, you have lost your own life and you have not saved his. In that knowledge, despair and die.”
— The White Witch delivers the final blow, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
The other mother’s efforts throughout the novel have ostensibly been to get Coraline to stay with her and act as a daughter. When Coraline refuses to play along, the other mother begins to show her true colours. She punishes Coraline “for [her] own good” and says she can come out when she’s “ready to be a loving daughter.”
“Sharper than a serpent’s tooth,” she said, “is a daughter’s ingratitude. Still, the proudest spirit can be broken, with love. ”
— The other mother reacts to Coraline’s rejection, Coraline, Niel Gaiman
Coraline challenges the other mother to a game to win her freedom as the cat tells her “her kind of thing loves games and challenges”. Finally, when it appears that Coraline has lost the game, the other mother is ecstatic in her triumph.
“There,” she said, waving her hands at the corridor. The expression of delight on her face was a very bad thing to see. “You’re wrong!” … “Now,” she said, “you’re going to stay here for ever and always.”
— The other mother wins the game, Coraline, Niel Gaiman
Professor Umbridge shows delight in causing pain at several points in the book. She forces Harry to repeatedly cut the words “I must not tell lies” into the back of his hand, which both causes him physical pain and literally carves her lesson into his skin permanently over time.
“Oh, you won’t need ink,” said Professor Umbridge with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice. Harry placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not tell lies. He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harry’s right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel — yet even as he stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leaving the place where it had been slightly redder than before but quite smooth. Harry looked around at Umbridge. She was watching him, her wide, toadlike mouth stretched in a smile.
— Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter
Throughout the novel Umbridge becomes more and more draconian in her rule over the school, cracking down harder and harder on the student body, who begins to rebel more and more. She wants to bring the students under her thumb, and becomes more extreme over the lengths she is willing to go to achieve this aim over time. Finally, she talks herself into literally torturing Harry to get her way.
“The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue,” said Umbridge quietly. “No!” shrieked Hermione. “Professor Umbridge — it’s illegal” — but Umbridge took no notice. There was a nasty, eager, excited look on her face that Harry had never seen before.
— Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter
In Conclusion
I think what is most interesting to me about the three female villains that I described above is an additional element they bring to the table. To me, a male villain generally has his own aims and goals: power, domination, control, or material gain. The main conflict between a male villain and his victim arises from the differences in what the villain and hero want; the villain wants to take over the world, the hero wants to defend it. The male villain is still unscrupulous and evil in his methods, but I think often he does not care one way or the other about what happens to the hero.
This is not true for the female villains described above. In many ways, hurting or dominating the victim IS the aim.
While the White Witch seeks total control over Narnia, she goes to great lengths to involve Aslan in his own demise, inflicting humiliation and pain. Why not just dispassionately dispatch with him?
The other mother wants, more than anything, compliance from Coraline. She creates a trap that is designed specifically for Coraline, to tempt her into participating in her own destruction. Why does she require Coraline's consent for sewing buttons into her eyes? Why not simply overpower her?
“Now, if you will be a good child who loves her mother, be compliant and fair-spoken, you and I shall understand each other perfectly and we shall love each other perfectly as well.”
— Coraline, Neil Gaiman
Professor Umbridge works as an agent of the Ministry of Magic, trying to suppress the news at Hogwarts that Voldemort has come back to power. However, her efforts in controlling the school population go far beyond that, extending to domination of all students and professors. Why not just concentrate on her mission?
The answer to these questions is the element that I find so fascinating about these characters. There’s something within them that needs to personally dominate their victims, which I believe is the major hallmark of a compelling female villain.