The Seba library treats Villain in 9 passages, across 5 authors (including Lewis, Marc, Jung, Carl Gustav, Moore, Robert).
It’s called the striatum (shown in Figure 1) and it’s the main character—the villain—when it comes to addiction.
Lewis explicitly nominates the striatum as the neurobiological villain of addiction, reframing moral culpability as a structural property of an evolved brain circuit.
, The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease, 2015thesis
The evil showed itself early and plainly in the boy’s villainous character.
Jung reads the fairy-tale child’s villainous character as an early, archetypal signal of a dangerous fate arranged by the spirit figure, linking villainy to the shadow dimension of the Self.
, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, 1959thesis
Human tyrants are those in kingly positions (whether in the home, the office, the White House, or the Kremlin) who are identified with the King energy and fail to realize that they are not it.
Moore argues that the archetypal villain-tyrant arises when the ego becomes possessed by and identified with the King archetype, producing sadism and destructive rage.
, King Warrior Magician Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine, 1990thesis
A contemporary image of the Warrior turned passionless killing machine is, of course, Darth Vader, from the Star Wars saga. It is alarming how many boys and adolescents identify with him.
Moore uses Darth Vader as a cultural villain-figure exemplifying the Warrior archetype’s shadow pole — the Sadist — and notes the psychological danger of widespread identification with it.
, King Warrior Magician Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine, 1990supporting
Naturally, it is generally the evildoer who invented the trick who loses in the end.
Von Franz observes the structural law in fairy tales whereby the villain-trickster who originates the malicious scheme is defeated, reflecting a psychic principle of compensatory justice.
, Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, 1974supporting
If one looks at it, there is already projection… To look at it means to become infected by it.
Von Franz argues that direct engagement with the villain-as-evil risks psychic infection through projection, recommending an attitude of centered non-involvement as protection.
, Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, 1974supporting
Someone who has unlived creativity tries to destroy other people’s creativity… That’s why Jung says that if a patient outgrows his analyst, which happens frequently, he has to leave.
Von Franz identifies a subtler form of villainy in the refusal of consciousness, whereby unlived potential turns destructively against others who pursue development.
, Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, 1974supporting
There are just as many stories which say the one as the other. It is a complete complexio oppositorum.
Von Franz notes the paradox that fairy-tale ethics offer no single prescription for confronting the villain, reflecting a deeper structural tension between collective norms and individual moral response.
, Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, 1974aside
We also avoid necessary confrontations by simply assuming that all people are good… this may frequently make us victims because we don’t want to see how others take advantage of our harmlessness.
Banzhaf warns that naive denial of the villain-quality in others — rooted in shadow-avoidance — renders the psyche complicit in its own exploitation.
, Tarot and the Journey of the Hero, 2000aside