Have you ever turned the final page of a thriller and realized, almost sheepishly, that you were rooting for the person everyone else wanted to see fall? As a thriller writer, I’ve always been drawn to villains who feel human rather than purely evil. Growing up in Kuwait exposed me to a lot of Middle East history and culture, and my travels, policy work, and love of spy fiction have all shaped the way I think about people. We are rarely simple, rarely just one thing. We are shaped by loyalty, fear, grief, ambition, love, and the choices we make under pressure. Those contradictions are what interest me most when I write antagonists. In the Ahriman series, the antagonist is not a flat stereotype; he is someone with a complicated history, shaped by forces both personal and political.
Stories are not just plots; they are mirrors that reveal how we think and feel. Humans empathize with strongly developed characters, even when those characters make terrible choices. A morally complicated antagonist asks us to sit with discomfort. We may not approve of what they do, but if we understand what they want, what they fear, or what wounded them, we keep reading. Give a villain a motive we recognize, a loss we understand, or an enemy even worse than they are, and suddenly our response becomes less simple. We are not cheering for evil exactly. We are following conflict, pain, temptation, and consequence from a safe distance. In other words, we follow the villain because, at some level, we are also exploring ourselves.
In my thrillers, and in the books I love, the most compelling villains never twirl mustaches or cackle at their own cruelty. They live in the gray areas, convinced they are right. Here are some of the techniques I use, my own “tradecraft,” when crafting an antagonist who feels like flesh and blood rather than cardboard.
Personal stakes: Global conspiracies are thrilling, but they resonate most when they collide with something intimate. Give your antagonist a cause that intersects with who they are, what they value, or what they believe they cannot lose. It might be family, freedom, belonging, pride, loyalty, faith, survival, or the need to protect a version of themselves. In my debut, Kuwait matters not just because of the political crisis, but because it is personal to Petra Shirazi, tied to her history, identity, and regional expertise. The same idea can apply to your antagonist: show us the private reason the conflict matters to them, not just the public reason they claim to be fighting for.
Conviction over chaos: My favorite villains rarely see themselves as villains. They may believe they are serving their country, protecting their family, defending an old loyalty, or correcting a wrong only they can see. That conviction makes them scarier because their actions have an internal logic, even when that logic is warped. Show readers the worldview that drives your antagonist, and let them articulate it. A mission rooted in belief is more chilling than senseless malice.
Competence and ghosts: Spy fiction loves hyper-competent characters: heroes and villains who can hack the network, shoot straight, and speak five languages. But perfection is boring. Balance their skills with something human beneath the surface: fear, guilt, loyalty, grief, love, doubt, or something they cannot afford to lose. These pressures shape how they act, what they hide, and where they might break. When readers glimpse both the brilliance and the vulnerability, they lean in.
Agency and consequences: Even cornered, let your antagonist make choices. An active villain keeps tension high. At the same time, make sure their actions have costs. A dead informant, a broken friendship or a lost cause reminds us that even villains pay (or have paid) a price.
Moral ambiguity: Real espionage is painted in grays. Force your villain to weigh collateral damage or ally with yesterday’s enemy. The more conflicted their choices, the more they mirror our own inner debates. Sympathetic antagonists, people convinced they’re heroes, challenge us to examine why we choose our own sides.
A backstory you can feel: Readers often respond differently when they understand why someone became who they are. Instead of dumping exposition, weave in specific details that feel lived in. The feel of sand and heat in the air in Kuwait, or the smell of fresh croissants at a Paris bakery, can pull readers into a memory more naturally than explanation alone. The goal is not to decorate the page, but to make the antagonist’s past feel real enough that the reader can understand how it still shapes them.
The best villains hold up a mirror not only to the protagonist but also to the reader. When I sit down to write an antagonist, I try to understand the person beneath the role. What fears sit behind their bravado? What do they believe they are protecting? What lines have they already crossed, and what lines do they still refuse to cross?
Those questions reveal how much of ourselves we hide. In Ahriman: The Spirit of Destruction, the plot’s first act unfolds in Tehran and then shifts to Kuwait and New York. Each setting carries its own history of conflict and compromise, echoing the moral pressures faced by the characters. The antagonist’s choices reflect Petra’s own in uncomfortable ways. Both are torn between duty and loyalty. As the story unfolds, readers may not agree with the villain, but they understand why he chose his path.
That mirror extends beyond fiction, but it should never become an excuse. When writing or reading thrillers, I try to balance empathy with accountability. An antagonist’s humanity does not erase the devastation they cause. If anything, it highlights the tragedy of their choices.
Writing international thrillers is part strategy, part sprint and part soul searching. Global stakes make us turn pages, but it’s the characters that makes us live the story. Villains are not just obstacles for heroes; they are reflections of the fears, desires and flaws we all carry.
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Warmly,
Puja
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