Writing a Negative Character Arc (and why you should consider it)
Jun 27, 2025
Last week we talked all about villains that scare us silly. I gushed about Mindhunter and Darth Vader and all things villainous. (you can read that post here).
That got me thinking...what about negative character arcs?
Villains are scary and all, but do you know what's even scarier? Someone who is supposed to be the hero but fails. Someone who stumbles, loses track of their identity, and spirals into eternal darkness.
So that's what we're talking about today: a negative character arc.
(have you grabbed the free character depth workbook yet? Make sure to grab it by clicking here)
But first - what is it?
To keep things straight, we're going to talk about the negative character arc in the context of the hero's journey. So if you're outlining a book right now, this is a good place to take notes.
By the way - if you need help outlining, I have a great resource for you here.
In this plot structure, you take the hero's journey and basically reverse it. The hero falls from grace, stumbles into darkness and is either lost forever or chooses to be.
And of course we have to reference Star Wars - it wouldn't by my blog if I didn't talk about it at least once - because one of the most well-known examples of this would be Anakin Skywalker.
Before we get into the details of the negative character arc, I want to point out a few key details about Anakin's writing that you'll find helpful:
1 - he starts out as a good guy (literally the chosen one. He's supposed to bring justice and peace to the galaxy,)
2 - his reasons for going to the dark side are sympathetic (he's unhinged, but in his position, who wouldn't be?)
3 - not very many people help him NOT go bad (the Jedi council is to blame for all of this, in my humble opinion)
And if you're worried, don't be. I've got other examples beyond Anakin that we'll talk about today. He's just always at the top of my mind.
Alrighty...now we can dive in.
Part one: the call to darkness
In a story that features a traditional hero's journey, we start with the call to adventure. This is where the hero gets a nudge that it's time to embark, whether physically or mentally (or emotionally or spiritually, and sometimes all four) on the transformative journey that shapes the story.
This is the, "this is why you're reading this book" moment.
In the negative character arc, we have a similar moment. Just instead of going up, we go down. In this instance, instead of a "hey, it's time to rise up and better yourself" type of situation, the main character is met with temptation, trials, or corruption.
And it becomes an offer the simply cannot refuse.
In my favorite example, Anakin has a dream that Padme dies. (Actually, there are a few moments that turn him - but this is the poignant, in my opinion, so let's go with it).
In this case, Anakin's motivator is fear. He is downright terrified of losing the woman he loves. And if you had force-sensitive dreams that sometimes predicted the future, wouldn't you be scared, too?
Anakin truly has good intentions here. He's just...a little bit naive and very bad at regulating his emotions. Also the Jedi Council treats him like dirt. But that's a discussion for another time.
(someday, I'll write a post called, how to not destroy the galaxy like the Jedi Council did).
So Anakin is put in between a rock and a hard place, so to speak, and because he's emotionally vulnerable, he does what any frightened person who do:
He hunkers down and lashes out.
.
In negative character arcs like this one, it needs to be said that the temptation isn't necessarily external. There's not always a dude promising riches if you betray your friends. Sometimes (a lot of the time) the motivating factor for a negative character arc is an internal conflict - like a fear.
In fact, fear is a really common and relatable reason for a character who is good to become bad. This is exactly what we see with Anakin.
In another vein, let's use Macbeth as an example. Macbeth is a guy who was told by three witches (who should have kept to themselves, tbh) that one day, he was going to have lots of power. When he tells this to his wife, she starts pushing him towards this power - and the prophecy becomes true.
BUT they must sacrifice the lives of everyone who stands in their way, which happens to be, funny enough, everyone they love.
Besides being a cosmic joke to the highest degree, there are actually TWO motivating factors that cause Macbeth's downfall:
1 - fear of his wife (or respect...I dunno. She pushes him to do it).
2 - and greed. The both of them had a lust for power like no other.
Both factors are both external and internal, depending on how you look at it, so you should start to notice the wide variety of options you have here.
Part two: the threshold
The next step in all of this madness is for your hero to commit to his or her transformation. They've got to do something that means they're finally on their way towards darkness.
Now, this isn't the point of no return (more on that in a minute) but it is a monumental shift that separates them from becoming a true hero.
In Star Wars, one could argue that this moment happens when Anakin decides to start hanging out with Palpatine on the regular. Palpatine is Anakin's Lady Macbeth - he pushes him, feeds him lies, and uses him to his own ends, the same way she does to Macbeth.
The parallels here are wild.
Similar to how the hero will finally commit to the journey in the traditional hero's journey, this is where our-not-hero leans towards that negative force and says, "okay, I'm listening."
For Macbeth, this threshold is crossed when he starts buying into his wife's grand vision of his ascension to the throne. Notice how no crime has been committed yet - but the door has opened, and Macbeth is willing to step out.
Part three: the descent
In the classic hero tale, your hero faces trials and challenges. These trials and challenges give them lessons, which they then take to becoming the hero they're supposed to be. Now let's do the same but opposite for our negative character.
In the negative character arc, your character faces tests and trials that slowly chip away at their morality, sanity, or humanity (or all three). Although they may not necessarily fail in any of these situations, winning or succeeding costs them something dear.
These costs, over time, lead to that fateful spiral.
In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin is forced to make a ton of difficult choices that push him to his limit: he's asked to spy on the Chancellor, which goes against his values; he struggles with his fears about Padme, which leads him to be erratic; he also feels jilted by the Council's refusal to make him a Jedi Master.
All of this escalates into his final snapping point (which we'll talk about next).
Part Four: the point of no return
While I'm writing this, I'm hearing the phantom of the opera in my head...(that's a tangent for another time, but if you want to hear my ramblings about The Phantom of the Opera, do let me know)
At the midpoint of the negative character's arc, your character reaches an utter abyss: a moment of no return where they confront the consequences of their choices. This is the heart of a negative character arc, where the hero becomes the monster, or realizes they’re trapped in a nightmare of their own making.
Part Five: Corruption takes over
This is where we see the final transformation of your hero-turned villain. Whatever hope we had that they'd turn back is gone; now, we have no choice but to shrink away in disgust at what he or she decides to do next.
To continue our example, Anakin battles Obi-Wan and is left to die. He wakes in the Darth Vader suit we all know. I talked a lot about it in the blog post from last week.
The Conclusion of the Negative Character Arc
Anakin's arc technically concludes at the end of Episode III, even though I'm in denial about this and will always watch in hopes that it ends differently.
Surprise: it doesn't.
Darth Vader's arc, however, wraps up with Luke Skywalker redeeming him at the end of The Return of the Jedi. And you know what? That's pretty darn cool to me.
What you do with your negative character arc ultimately depends on the themes you want to convey to your reader. Do you want your reader to know that absolute power corrupts absolutely? Then you probably don't want to redeem him.
Do you want your reader to believe in the power of love and friendship? Maybe your negative character dies, but has a change of heart at the end.
There's another example I forgot to write about until just now (which shocks me, because it's from one of my favorite books ever): Jack Torrence in The Shining.
Jack starts off as a regular, hard-working guy (who beats his wife and has anger issues) and ends up as an axe murderer.
Sure, he hears voices and is possessed by the spirit of a horrifyingly haunted hotel (say that ten times fast), but at the beginning of the story, he isn't a killer.
Not exactly, anyway.
The Shining poses a serious question - did Jack start out with the evil in him, and he only needed a little push? Or did he become evil when he began working at the Overlook, as did so many before him?
Either way, there's a little known detail that was missed in the movie that is REALLY IMPORTANT when we're talking about the ending of a narrative character arc:
The last thing Jack does before Danny and his mother gets away.
Even though Jack is chasing them with axe (yikes) he gives Danny a minute to get away. He fights the evil. He tries to give his son a chance.
Wow.
I'm not going to give you the answer this time, but I want you to think about it: what do you think Stephen King was trying to say with that ending to a narrative character arc?
Why this is arc is so darn fun...
Writing a negative character is so darn fun because in a weird way, it breaks all the rules.
It taps into that subliminal fear of losing control, and just faintly touches the secret desire to go against the norms of culture.
The hero is supposed to win, right? They're not supposed to fall apart and destroy everything.
So when it happens, it's shocking. Surprising. It grabs our attention every time.
In the case of Anakin Skywalker, every time I watch Episode III I secretly hope that the ending is different (or...not so secretly. My husband gets to hear my complaint every time). But if the ending is so upsetting, why do I keep watching it?
The same reason we all come back to these stories. It's a bit of a dark mirror. We want to look in, and we just hope we don't see ourselves looking back.
See you next time,
Rachel
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