Antagonists

Discussion re antagonists and creating suspense

So I’ve been reading a bunch of David Baldacci lately—good, solid bestseller bait—and for the most part I find his protagonists solid, likeable and sympathetic but not especially memorable or interesting.

However, in the one I’m reading now, the antagonist (or is she another protagonist—I’m not sure) is really pretty riveting. She’s a North Korean assassin sent to kill the president’s family in retaliation…well that’s not important. She grew up in a work camp under horrific conditions, was brought out and trained (rather brutally) as an assassin. As readers, we care deeply about her even as we hope that she will fail in her mission and maybe defect to the US and live happily ever after, but we rather suspect she will fail and die. That seems to be the source of the suspense in the story, and it’s very effective.

In addition, this character has gone back to the work camp and brought out a little girl on the (pretext?) of training her. However, she appears to be mothering the child more than training her. There’s some tension about whether she will mother the child or actually turn her into an assassin. And what will happen to the child if she is killed or defects? In NK, every member of traitor’s family is sent to the labor camps to “purge the tainted bloodline.”

The Rescue of the Endangered Child is one of the most powerful themes in literature. It’s a recurring theme in the book. Over and over, the protags are rescuing children against enormous odds.

Another theme is the choice between following orders v using your own judgment in the field. Will the protags help the assassin or, failing that, her child? Divided loyalties is a related theme.

The story is full of relatively one-dimensional characters, but this one character makes me think about villains (antagonists) that you care deeply about. Tragic villains? When do you want to use one of these? How do you do it? Is it always more fun to read? Or are there times when it’s better just to have a villain the reader can hate without complications? The consensus in the writing/publishing community is that the reader should be able to have some empathy/sympathy for the villain. How would you go about making some of your villains more sympathetic and would you want to?

Could having some empathy for the villain make the reader hate him more?

These are the things that go through my mind when I am muddling around in the garden.