I Control My Minions Through...

Every leader has their own personal style, their own spin on how to get, maintain, and lead supporters, and villains are no exception. Here are the ways evil leaders like the Evil Overlord, Big Bad, or even a petty crime boss lead, control or coerce their Evil Minions, Mooks, henchmen, and The Dragon to do their evil bidding. In no alphabetical order, they are: Authority: The legitimate authority figure within an organization, such as an army, and his minions are under him on the organizational chart. The minions may or may not be aware of his true objectives, but follow him because it's their job to do so. The General Ripper, Hanging Judge, and leaders of The Remnant are examples of this. An Engineered Public Confession that proves he has betrayed the interest of the organization can bring him down, as can going through his superiors (if he has any), otherwise replacing him, or an Enemy Civil War with other branches of service. Birthright: The Big Bad has some sort of birthright (for example, he's some sort of feudal warlord) and the mooks are bound to him by a code of honor/duty. Usually The Caligula or God Save Us from the Queen!. Only outright assassination or a coup d'etat from a good sibling can stop them. Divine Right: The villain claims to be a god or has the blessing of a god to be The Leader. Alternatively, may be a Dark Messiah faking/actually possessing either divine or demonic backing. Doesn't matter if they are Good or Evil; they will sometimes be worshiped and followed purely because they are divine. Obligation: Some people believe that a man's word is his bond, and that even if they have no personal Loyalty to the villain, they have a contract, promise, or other obligation that they have to fulfill. In some cases, they may even be bound to the Big Bad by a Magically-Binding Contract regardless of what they would want to do themselves. The best routes the hero can take to defeat this will usually involve convincing the minion that their boss has no intentions of keeping their promises, finding loopholes they can exploit, or coming up with a way to Take a Third Option that technically fulfills the obligation without harming the hero's cause. Popular Sovereignty: Rather than being a legitimate authority figure installed by external sources, the Big Bad is elected or selected from those below to implement an agenda. These villains are both easier and harder to combat than their cousins; since they achieved their authority through consent, they can be discredited if shown to be incompetent or a Straw Hypocrite. Unfortunately, these Big Bads rarely bring their organization down with them unless they were a special breed of Magnificent Bastard. There are always a long line of wannabe evil presidents and pirate captains in the wings... Your Minion's Minions: A great way to keep powerful minions in line is by having influence over THEIR minions through one of the other methods. Many a Starscream and potential Young Conqueror were undercut by the possibility of their rebellion facing a loyalist counterreaction. Bonus points if the vassal is powerful in their own right to take you out but not powerful enough to take on their own vassals. Corruption: The Big Bad decides that rather than recruit from those interested, he'll instead make an applicant pool by means of The Dark Side, Being Tortured Makes You Evil, More than Mind Control, Psycho Serum, or the dreaded chocolate chip cookies of doom! To undo this usually requires an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight and a lesson about how Good Feels Good, but those corrupted tend to be harder to break free (and for the villain to control) than Mind Control below. Fear: The bad guy controls their Mooks with good old Machiavellian Fear. Because Rank Scales with Asskicking, he will use threats of violence on them and/or their loved ones. The mooks are in no way evil, just working under threat of violence. Heroes can break this form of control in different ways. One is to rescue the hostages, beat up the Big Bad (thus proving him to be weak and "harmless"), convincing the mooks of The Power of Friendship, or demonstrating that it is he who should be feared. If the odds turn against a particular villain, there's also the chance of the mooks getting their own back. Criminals and crime organizations tend to be fond of this one. A favorite for subordinates who are Trapped in Villainy. Being the Lesser Evil: In a world with Black-and-Gray Morality, the Evil Overlord gets assistance from the population because they're fighting against Eldritch Abominations. What's a little slavery and torture compared to living in Mordor? If the heroes can't immediately provide a better alternative, i.e. they really do need the Less Evil Side's assistance, a Conspiracy Redemption may be in order. Coercion: The villain has a hold on someone that they can leverage to make someone do whatever they wish, be it a threat to some loved one that they've kidnapped, having their hands on something the minion needs to survive or would die if they lost (such as a lich's Soul Jar), or access to a crippling weakness that said minion has. The best way to get this kind of minion to turn on the villain is to remove the hold that the villain has on them, such as by rescuing those under threat or getting back what the villain has. Evil Versus Oblivion: The villain markets his methods as the only viable solution to a crisis that will result in The End of the World as We Know It. The most likely way this particular motivator can be undermined is for the Hero to find a way to Take a Third Option that works and doesn't involve any undue coercion. Fear of Losing Privileges: The villain ensures loyalty by stating that the heroes want to do things like free their slaves and reduce their political power — this generally only works if the evil minions are part of a noble class. Unless the heroes have more money than Mammon, they're not going to be able to provide compensation for their loss of status even if the outcome is fair. Conversely, select Elite Mooks can be convinced to turn against the Big Bad if doing so would (temporarily, hopefully) give them greater privileges. Point of No Return: This villain is supported by his minions for one reason; if the villain falls, they will be severely punished by a legitimate authority. If the minions didn't do anything to earn punishment, an honest promise from the hero to spare them will get many of them to abandon their leader. Minions may feel that they're Trapped in Villainy. Prejudice: Villains love controlling prejudiced minions, because nothing short-circuits a minion's critical thinking abilities like whipping up hatred and a desire to dominate an "other". If revealing the villain to be a secret target of the bigotry or a Straw Hypocrite is too distasteful for the hero, they need to hunker down for a long campaign to eliminate or at least ameliorate the minions' prejudice. (Fanatical) Loyalty: Nothing beats blind loyalty in minions. The minions are loyal for one or more of the following reasons: Agenda: The villain has The Plan where Utopia Justifies the Means, and the mooks heartily agree in the guise of Well Intentioned Extremists or Black Shirts. Acceptance: The mooks are poor, ugly, diseased, mutants, or an entire caste/race/nation of people who are marginalized. The villain shows that Dark Is Not Evil by giving them a home, relief, and promises of justice and equality (which often overlaps with Agenda). He may or may not be lying because Equal-Opportunity Evil means more minions. Blind Obedience: The minions genuinely believe their boss to be incapable of error, usually paired with an oath for Undying Loyalty to make questioning their authority the farthest thing from their mind. My Master, Right or Wrong sometimes crop up. Indoctrination: The mooks are trained from birth and taught to love, fear, and obey the villain. In all of these cases, the best way to undo support is to expose (or frame!) the bad guy as a Straw Hypocrite. Kindness: The villain has personally helped, rescued, or enfranchised the minion or one of their loved ones, who follows him out of gratitude. The villain may have done this altruistically as a Pet the Dog, in an attempt to get their loyalty, or it was completely unintended but they accept their fealty anyway. Love: The Big Bad is an emotional manipulator, The Vamp, or has More than Mind Control/Love Is in the Air as a power. They can also love and inspire love in others. All his or her minions do evil out of love. Revenge: If the good guys have hurt someone, offering them a chance for revenge works wonders. Even better, some Big Bads pin their crimes on the heroes and then get those hurt to sign up. Unfortunately, if they ever find out (say, from the heroes) that it was the Big Bad who was actually responsible for the loss that inspired them to seek revenge, they will turn on the Big Bad with a vengeance. Respect: The minions genuinely respect and admire the villain. This is usually because the villain is charismatic, an effective and reasonable leader, or they think he's a great guy. These minions are the least likely to betray the villain, but they may pull a Mook–Face Turn if something happens to destroy their respect for him. Material Benefits: Sometimes, the reason minions follow a villain comes down to a matter of simple supply and demand — the villain promises to give them something they want in exchange for services rendered, or that the job itself will serve as a means to an end to make what they want easier to get. If not bound by any other ties, the simplest way for the heroes to counter this is simply helping the minions find more convenient legitimate ways to get what they want. Incidental Importance: This tactic, favored by Emperor Scientists and Dark Messiahs especially, is to provide some sort of benefit to their minions that is unrelated to their ruling over them. The idea is that if this person is buttressing their economy or mass-curing plagues around the countryside, they'll be able to do so better (or alternatively, threaten not to so do) if they get authority alongside it. These villains need to be undercut by separating the benefit from the authority figure or just showing that there is Always Someone Better. Money: Money is a valid superpower, after all, and the bad guy hires Punch Clock Villains to do his evil bidding. Being motivated by filthy lucre (or having Signed Up for the Dental), the best way for heroes to cause a mass desertion is either to outbid the bad guy or bankrupt him. If the villain is rich enough, this can be the most effective kind of control. Sexual Favors: A more direct but less effective form of reward, and sometimes overlaps with Love under Loyalty. A common method for Femme Fatale characters, it generally only works on a few minions at a time, and rarely is the sole motivator. Mind Control / Remote Control: Loyalty is such a finicky thing. It takes ages to create, can be crumbled in seconds, and requires continuous upkeep. Some villains decide to take loyalty (and free will) out of the equation with mind control, and/or robotic minions. The downside is that they can be Turned Against Their Masters and/or shut down by pulling a plug. Power: Asskicking Leads to Leadership or some other such variant; the Big Bad is followed because he is the strongest. Can be undone if The Hero defeats him or otherwise proves himself powerful enough in some other fashion. This works best when the Big Bad possesses godlike abilities. A Piece of the Action: Not only is the Big Bad powerful, he can empower his minions, either as officials in his new regime, or by giving them superhuman powers. Resources for Another Project: Do you have a pack of necromancers chafing against not having bodies to legally raise or MadScientists harassed by mobs of Evil Luddites? In exchange for loyalty, rewrite the laws in their favor, have your Elite Mooks deliver them special material, soforth. This can backfire if the minion(s) can get their project resources through some other means, hence this method is better used to control minions like Evilutionary Biologists rather than a Corrupt Corporate Executive. Sadism: The bad guys follow the Big Bad because he gives them a way to indulge their worst sides, be it hurting people, fighting, killing, mad scientific experiments, or just plain being cruel to other people. They particularly love orders from the Big Bad that give them free rein to do whatever they want, usually to some chosen victim. It's unlikely that the hero can offer them more than the Big Bad, but if they can manipulate either side into Even Mooks Have Loved Ones or a Villainous Demotivator, betrayal will ensue. See also Stock Evil Overlord Tactics.