First off, Zuko was never the villain in Avatar: the Last Airbender. Therefore he is not a compelling villain. Hear me out. A villain is defined as "a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot." Zuko doesn't really for that definition as his motives weren't evil and he performs honorable actions. However he does fit the definition of an antagonist, which is "a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary."
Just as heroes are a subset of protagonists, villains are a subset of antagonists. If our story needs a villain, that's fine. The Legend of Korra antagonists are villains and half are done well (Amon up for debate). However, if we start with the idea of a villain, we limit ourselves and imagination, potentially falling into tropes with no logical explanation. Antagonists, however, for example, are free to also be genuine heroes, just like Zuko, as they are merely opposition, not necessarily evil. As a result, the real question is how to make compelling antagonists, and let them be villains if need be.
Now that we have that understanding, we can see that it's easier to make a compelling antagonist. When we think of it as only someone who opposes the protagonist, then what we should see is that it's the same as making any character compelling. What the label of antagonist does is simply define part of the relationship.
One popular type of antagonist is the Rival, defined as "a person or thing competing with another for the same objective or for superiority in the same field of activity." Think Red and Blue from the original Pokemon games. Team Rocket was the main villain, but the final battle was against your rival, someone who is not evil at all. For a story about being the very best, that is the most appropriate antagonist. Another example is in the Prestige where the drive is to be the best magician. What's interesting here is exploring how that drive was what led to their conflict and one to the point of becoming a villain.
Now if our story is about redemption, then it's possible to flip the normal associations and let the hero be the antagonist. It's hard for me to think of a good example. If I understand correctly, Megamind has this as the pitch, though I never watched it. The closest example I can think of is the episode where Zuko tries to join the Avatar, but only Toph trusts him. Though there is another one focusing on Katara. If you are interested more on that, check out Hello Future Me's video essay on it.
Now with all that being said, there is one specific quality I would like to promote people to use more when creating characters, especially antagonists, and that is Loyalty. When we talk about characters being compelling, the first question we should ask is why would anyone be loyal to them. For this, let's examine Treize Khushrenada from Gundam Wing.
To be fair, I doubt people outside of my age group would be familiar with the series and it has been many years since I watched it, but I always found the character compelling, even if I did not understand him. He was in charge of the initial antagonist organization and manipulative, but he was also charming, skilled, and spared the life of his would-be assassin. However, perhaps the most impressive is seeing his men's willingness to die for him. In terms of what inspired such loyalty, there was one action I could remember and that was how nightly routine of listening to the names of each soldier who died.
This bit is important because it shows respect for his men. To him, they were not just soldiers but people with names. This helps show what makes him compelling to a group of characters, and in turn, makes him compelling as a leader and character, even though he was an antagonist.
To recap, when seeking to make a compelling villain, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, villains are a subset of antagonists and not necessarily what's best for a story. Second, antagonists are simply characters so whatever makes any character interesting applies here as well. Lastly, a good way to make characters compelling is to show why other characters are loyal to them.
I hope this helps you all as it helps me. If you would like more ideas on writing antagonists, check out Hello Future Me's video on writing villains where he focuses on motivations
J. D. Nyle
