An Antagonist’s Master plan that makes sense

[Srebak]

I don’t know if this is the right place for this but I need some advice regarding a fanfiction story of mine

You see the main villain of this fanfiction story wants to control the world in order to “purify it”, “make it better” and other such things, and in his quest to do so, he has spent a great many years building up an incredibly powerful multinational secret organization, complete with a great number of loyal, battle-ready soldiers. However, what i am planning to have as a part of the long-running story arc is that the main villain intends to use various means in order to increase his forces in his plot to takeover. You know, like; recruit or tame incredibly powerful beings and creatures or just use things like magic or science or both to actually create his own versions of the aforementioned. This seemed like a good idea to use as a story arc and a really good way to give my overall story a sense of “something wicked this way comes”, if you know what I mean.

However, what I find to be the real problem here is that; whenever I imagine what the main villain’s evil organization is like, I usually imagine it to be very powerful, very competent, and have a vast army of armored soldiers at its initial disposal. An army that would, at the very least, be able to take over a small third world country, if given the right amount of time, and, the very most, would be able to launch a series of dangerous attacks upon a much larger nation, if given the right amount of precise planning and proper coordination. But if the main villain was already in possession of such an impressive military force of his own (still not so sure about how to how he even got it the first place), then why would he need to recruit and/or tame powerful beings and monsters, much less create them, huh? Why wouldn’t he just use the army that he has in order to begin his campaign?

I mean, I have tried to create an explanation for that; you see, I figured that it would help to say that while the main villain might want to takeover the world, he doesn’t want to start a war, so he intends to bide his time and either A.) create an army that is so big and powerful that the takeover will be as quick and painless as possible, or B.) come up with a plan that will ensure his absolute domination of the world in one fell swoop. Although, to be perfectly frank with you all, I am not entirely certain about just how well that that explanation holds up, any thoughts?

 

[OrionTheAbsol]

If we're talking about an organization of that scope, it'd be extremely difficult to keep it a "secret," especially when concerning a private military force. All of the organizations in the Pokémon series would have to step out of the shadows at some point to make sure their plans go accordingly. There would also have to be a very good justification to why the antagonist would go to such lengths to take over the world. Like, what led him to that point and why?

You would need to be specific on what you mean by "purifying it" or "making it better." Purifying it how? To get rid of crime? To rid the world of dissenters? To stop war? To end starvation? By declaring war on the whole globe, he would effectively make everything worse for people. It's usually not as simple as "the world is in my hands, now everyone listen to me!" Even when he technically conquers the whole world, there are always going to be dissenters and rebels who will attempt to destabilize the tyrant's rule. Unless this tyrant managed to take away all means of resistance, his plan will absolutely fail. And it'll just be civil war after civil war in many places.

As to why he would need to recruit powerful monsters to his cause... well, to strengthen his army, of course! It'd be unbelievable if he singlehandedly took over the world with his private military alone. And all nations just fell without much resistance.

As to the explanations, letter A is simply not realistic. He would have to coordinate for every single country in the world to fall easily (and we're talking about thousands of smaller governments to overthrow). But without resistance at all? Just not plausible. Not all governments are just going to surrender like that.

In letter B's case, he'd have to be in possession of some kind of power that would threaten the whole world's safety. Something overwhelming enough (and people would think he'd be crazy enough to use it) that the smaller governments would stand down.

 

[Welkamo]

I know this is an old thread, and I know that my reply doesn't 100% have to do with the army thing, but hear me out:

How about, instead of emphasizing the militaristic parts of the villain's scheme, you emphasize the villains manipulative tactics? After all, he's got to get support from somewhere, and if he has enough supporters, he can gain more power and, therefore, more resources he can use to gain power. He can still have an army, but that army's got to be loyal to him somehow.

Your mentions of the villain wanting to "purify the world" make me think of cult leaders, the types who exploit good, well intentioned people who want to make the world a better place. These leaders will use tactics—black and white morality, telling victims they're part of a grand plan to save the world, quick answers and excuses—to manipulate these people and use them for their own personal gain. It's a lot more realistic, and a lot more terrifying, than "I have an army, now obey me". Maybe your leader can put up a front that he's doing good, so that outsiders won't suspect him of anything nefarious. The problem with military force is that, unless you've got a really, really good military, most people (and governments) are going to fight back, and even if you're making the greatest army in the world, it's going to be really hard to hide that.

Springhole explains what I'm trying to say really well, so I'll link some relevant articles form there:

Things About Brainwashing Writers Need To Know - Springhole.net

What Writers Need To Know About Predatory People - Springhole.net

Writing a jerk character? Want people to like your jerk, or at the very least not completely hate your jerk's guts? Here are some tips!

springhole.net

Things About Cults Writers Need To Know - Springhole.net

As to why he would need to recruit powerful monsters to his cause... well, to strengthen his army, of course! It'd be unbelievable if he singlehandedly took over the world with his private military alone. And all nations just fell without much resistance.

I agree with this 100%. The villain doesn't need complicated reasons to catch powerful monsters; he could just want to strengthen his army, or he could just want more power.

 

[Greninjaman]

Sometimes, the simplest plans/reasons/motives are better than overly complicated plans/reasons/motives.