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Q&A How do I write a compelling villain-all-along twist?

I have in mind a character who is the protagonist's trusted ally throughout the story, but it is revealed at the end that he was the primary antagonist for most of it. This kind of thing has, of c...

4 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by PlutoThePlanet‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T12:28:30Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/46699
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar PlutoThePlanet‭ · 2019-12-08T12:28:30Z (almost 5 years ago)
I have in mind a character who is the protagonist's trusted ally throughout the story, but it is revealed at the end that he was the primary antagonist for most of it. This kind of thing has, of course, been done many times in the past, most recently in:

> _Spider-Man: Far From Home_ with the character Quentin Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio.

I want this to be foreshadowed but still surprising, the "How did I not see this coming?" sort of twist. But once it's clear that someone else is pulling strings in the story, this character is probably an obvious first suspect to readers, given the prevalence of this trope. What are some strategies to lead readers off the trail and make the twist compelling?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-07-17T15:10:20Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: -1