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4.2.2
 
New roles of evil 
In current children’s fantasy, an increasing number of authors break with popular 
traditions. Not only do they scrutinise and revise conventional role models for good and evil 
but also other customary parameters. These comprise for instance the idealised, firmly 
established premises of aimed-for brevity, simplicity and conciseness. Further parameters are 
a clearly structured plot accompanied by a straightforward moral message. On account of the 
pedagogical alignment
of children’s literature, within whose framework fantasy is no 
exception, moralisation has established itself as an obligatory feature for education. In some 
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Anna Dale. Whispering to Witches. London: Bloomsbury, 2004.
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Not only in reality but also in fantasy literature human behaviour follows realistic conventions. As a rule, 
human behaviour cannot be reduced to artificial simplifications, but proves to be a very complex system.

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cases, however, so much attention is attached to the moral message that the harmonic overall 
design, especially the textual consistency, must make concessions. A prime example for such 
an imbalance are C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Here, much of the textual 
consistency is neglected in favour of the religious world view the author urges to convey.
It can be observed that in fantasy for children there is a current movement away from 
these traditional but largely standardised parameters towards more individualisation. In the 
first place, this concerns developments of character-conception and the closely connected 
heroic portrayal, and also includes the elements of violence and humour. Without a doubt, the 
most prominent cases are those of the hero and his antagonist, the villain. Both gain from the 
detachment from traditional restrictions and the simultaneous opening towards complex 
characters with an individual psychology. A shift in emphasis from external to internal 
conflict can be observed, i.e. from physical combat to psychological duel. Consequently, the 
direct conflicts may decrease in quantity, but they increase in intensity and quality and gain 
depth. It is no longer clear right from the outset that the hero is purely good and his adversary 
purely evil. As in reality, the truth lies somewhere in between.
On the basis of the traditional roles of evil we will now take a closer look at the new 
roles of evil in British children’s fantasy. In the following, we will analyse the developments 
in the light of selected examples of modern villains and see in how far innovations influence 
for instance the antagonistic role of the hero or the moral message.
The new roles of evil are manifold and reveal different grades of detachment from the 
basic traditional ones. Fantasy novels which work with moderate changes of evil largely 
adhere to the traditional roles, yet introduce deviations from them. Contrary to the cliché of 
the fair hero versus the dark villain, the latter can for instance be portrayed as blond as in the 
case of Rowling’s Draco and Lucius Malfoy. Any reversals of the colour conventions for the 
representatives of evil affect the figure of the hero, too. At Hogwarts, teachers and pupils 
wear black, so that traditional colour coding becomes unreliable. Another example for this is 
C.S. Lewis’ White Witch, who, by donning white, feigns purity and innocence. With external 
markers becoming null and void, internal features are given more emphasis and judgement is 
passed on the deeds rather than the appearance of a character.
As moderate new roles of evil already show beginnings of a move towards 
psychological evaluation for a distinction between good and evil, they portray developments 
of the evil psyche, strive for a more structured personality as well as for an understandable 
motive for the villain’s deeds. Just as the hero is defined over his subjectivity to moral 
standards – which, depending on the respective classification become more and more open to 

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interpretation – the villain is free from these moral constraints.
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His main task is to negate the 
positive values represented by the hero by pursuing wicked ends, thus forming an antithetical 
counterbalance. Since his room for manoeuvre encompasses everything evil, i.e. “non-good”, 
the villain delights in inflicting physical and/ or psychological pain on his fellow beings. 
More often than not, the representative of evil holds a high post – usurped, as is fitting – 
which procures him the necessary means needed for scheming and plotting.
Beleth, the lord of hell in Brennan’s series, is a prime example of the personification 
of such new roles of evil. As far as his behavioural patterns and his external appearance are 
concerned, he can be ranked with other traditional villains of demon or devil-origin.
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Like 
them, Beleth is obsessed by power and its lustre. As head of the daemons, he must by 
definition exceed his fellows in strength, readiness to resort to violence, and power. Motivated 
by his lust for absolute control, he eats his father
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in order to replace him on the throne. 
Beleth surpasses other megalomaniacs and their greed by far by not just wanting to dominate 
hell and the faerie realm, but also reality, the so-called Analogous world. New is not only the 
globalisation of the threat and the ensuing conflict but also the means by which the demon 
operates.
For Beleth, harnessed technological achievements are the key to his planned conquest. 
He either relies on portals, artificial connections between two worlds, or employs demon 
ships,
(mis-)interpreted by humans as UFOs. However, his delusions of grandeur are his downfall. 
As a rule, the more traditional the role of the villain is drafted, the more obvious his weak spot 
becomes. In contrast to others, Beleth does have a master plan and a meticulously elaborated 
strategy. As good as his preparatory work may be, the demon is not yet enough modern villain 
to succeed. In the end, he fails because of his traditional hubris and blindness to anything else 
but power. In Beleth’s case, he is defeated when he least expects it: At the apex of his power. 
Instead of a triumphal celebration of his assumption of control over the Faerie realm through a 
marriage to Blue, Beleth meets his end through the hands of his bride.
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At least in this stadium of new roles of evil the villain is only subject to the condition that he does not perform 
any positive deeds. However, these constraints can be transgressed by a villain who performs good deeds. He 
then does not turn into a good villain (a contradiction in terms), but gets transformed into an - admittedly 
contested - hero.
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Brennan, Ruler of the Realm, p. 407.
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Brennan, Faerie Wars, p. 277.

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The closer authors orientate themselves at traditional patterns of the fantasy villain, the 
less room there is for development. This is due to the static nature of the traditional villain, 
whose evilness remains unchanged throughout. Tied up in rigid patterns of behaviour, he 
cannot possibly be flexible in his ways or adapt to changing situations. As the villain’s weak 
spot is the predictability of both his actions and goals, his plans are soon thwarted by the 
farsighted hero. Yet, there is no denying the fact that a more pronounced psychology renders 
the representative of evil more interesting and challenging. Moderate new roles of evil have 
realised the potential of variety. As a result, they are undertaking the first steps towards a 
more complex and fanned out, less predictable and thus more ambiguous psychology.
Whereas moderate new roles of evil are still firmly rooted in traditional forms of 
fantasy and only use new features sparingly, more complex ones can be found in current, 
innovative publications. The more innovative the villain is portrayed to be, the less 
predictable and the more ambiguous he becomes. His development is similar to that of the 
hero and can equal the latter in such characteristics as individuality, complexity, psychology 
and even intelligence. Colfer’s Artemis Fowl starts out as a three-dimensional villain, a 
criminal mastermind. It is only in the course of the first novel that he changes sides, i.e. his 
attitudes and ways towards the more positive. However, despite the fact that in the later 
novels Artemis Fowl, now converted, fights against evil, he remains an ambiguous character 
since he has not fully renounced his criminal energy.
The case of Stroud’s Nathaniel illustrates how a good child can turn evil when 
exposed to bad influence. Throughout the trilogy, he increasingly turns into a villain, only to 
convert the instant before his death. However, this change of mind at the last minute makes 
him an ambiguous character, comparable to Almond’s Stephen Rose in Clay.