Barbara Cartland - Villains

The thing about Barbara Cartland villains is that they are just so danged evil. They just ooze it.

Some things about the villains -

They are sometimes completely and utterly insane. Don’t you just love crazy bad guys? They don’t need a reason to do anything they just do it.

Heroes have mistresses! Villains visit brothels (or sometimes run them). Ok, this is not a fail-safe identification factor but it does crop up quite a few times.

More often than not the villain is a family member though. 

With the hero’s very ownests villain it is usually some cousin who wants to give him a helping hand towards the pearly gates so he can inherit and then squander all of the family cash (that was left to the hero because everyone liked him so much more and it had nothing to do with him being the eldest – obviously). There is also the hero’s brother who will do the same thing for pretty much the same reasons…unless he thinks that his brother isn’t using the money properly and wants to give it all to the poor (totally happened by the way!).

And then there are the pre-made villains that come along with the heroine -

There is the dastardly uncle who wants to force her to marry his son so that they can get her inheritance.

Or there is the wastrel brother who may be trying to steal from her or be using her to further his own ambitions.

Or there is the villain who just wants her because…well, he just does! And he will do anything from bribery to kidnapping to murder to get her. Mwahahahaaa.

Got to love a good baddie!