Villains by Necessity

infobox Book |
name = Villains by Necessity
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
author = Eve Forward
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Tor Books
release_date = 1995
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 544 pages

"Villains by Necessity" is fantasy novel written by Eve Forward, daughter of Robert L. Forward. It is currently out of print and a rare find among booksellers.

Book Summary

"Villains by Necessity" is a fantasy that takes place in a world in which good finally triumphs over evil. However, in this fantasy world where a complete purge of evil is achieved and darkness is almost unheard of, a single druid discovers that this could be considered too much of a good thing. With the contrast of good and evil gone, the world has become unbalanced and dangerously unstable. In order to prevent reality from literally falling apart the druid must find a way to bring back the darkness, which the old heroes have locked away. Together, the no-nonsense druid, a gloomy assassin, a mischievous thief, an evil sorceress, an innocent-minded centaur, and a mysterious black knight must step out of their comfort zone and work together to save the world from itself.

The Villains

* Sam(alander) - The sole remaining assassin of his guild and possibly the entire world, Sam has an especially tormented past that contributed to his dark path and still haunts him. When he was a child, his mother was raped then killed in front of him. Sam managed to escape only to be taken in and trained to be an assassin. Despite a lot of seething hatred, mistrust, and extreme violence toward others, Sam has shown that, like many of the villains he does not rigidly fit the definition of evil as he would have people believe, even playing the part of an anti-hero when he sees a young woman nearly assaulted in a similar manner to his mother.

* Kaylana - Kaylana is the druid, who recognizes the danger in the imbalance of the world and seeks out remaining villains in order to convince them to help her restore balance to the world. She considers herself to be completely neutral and simply doing what needs to be done in order to prevent the world from falling apart.

* Arcie - Former master of the thieves guild, Arcie considers himself Sam's friend, and has been known to help him out every now and then when guild business required it. He finds himself struggling to maintain his livelihood now that any element of evil is being forcefully purged from people. Arcie knows that stealing is not considered good but he never thought himself as evil as Kaylana accused him of being when they met. His small stature is source of several jokes.

* Valeriana Ebonstar - One of the last of the Nathuans (Dark Elves of sorts), she is a frustrated, egotistical, and undeniably evil sorceress who is more or less forced on the journey against her will for the purposes of survival. She is hateful toward everybody around her and the concept of teamwork is hard for her to grasp throughout most of the story. Her familiar is a raven named Nightshade.

* Blackmail - A mysterious black knight whose enchanted armor hides his face and voice, he finds the druid's party on his own. For motivations unknown until the very end, he joins their quest. It was Arcie who decides to nickname him "Blackmail", because the knight did not reveal a name for himself.

* Robin - Robin is a cowardly centaur spy who follows the party under the guise of an aspiring bard. The actual villains treat him with even less respect than they do each other, but as time goes on Robin begins to realize the necessity of behind the villains' quest.

Themes and Controversies

The bulk of the themes in "Villains by Necessity" mostly are twists on typical fantasy stereotypes resulting mostly in a wide range of light hearted and dark humor, but a fair mixture of controversial views of the general ideas behind what is truly good and bad are introduced as well as the story moves forward. Often the characters are confronted by situations that point out the inconsistencies behind the traditional ideas of being strictly categorized as one or the other.

Related Links

[http://www.thegline.com/book-of-the-week/2000/11-13-2000.htm Villains by Necessity on Thegline.com]

[http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_forward_villians.html Villains by Necessity on Green Man Review]

ee also

*List of fantasy novels

Other stuff

[http://www.guilduniverse.com/villains World of Warcraft guild]