How not to write a demon lord

[Zenomew]

An Evil Overlord typically lounges in a ridiculously over-the-top fortress in the middle of Nowhere-Ville, scheming to Take Over the World (or at least the local coffee shop) with an army of bumbling, not-so-bright minions. Forget politics—no senate bothers with him, no Pope would touch him, and royal blood? Please. He might even be immortal, expecting to rule forever because, why not? His hobbies include terrorizing towns, dabbling in mind control, and breeding supervillain sidekicks. His dark realm’s sole purpose? Conquering his neighbors’ gardens, and mandatory military service is just a given. He’s your go-to Satanic Archetype, complete with eternal darkness, fire, brimstone, and, of course, the ever-dramatic Ominous Opera Cape.

No I don't need to write a villain like that

All I need is to create someone who is power hungry, manipulating but not obviously evil

He has a good reason to create wars or conqueror everything

A villain who knows the meaning of the word "mercy"; just simply choose not show any unless required

Someone smart enough to make sure that the artifact which is the source of their power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity. It will be in in safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is their one weakness.

Preferably their Legion of Terror will be kind and courteous to the general population when not actively engaged in sowing chaos and destruction.

They also have a good approval rating from most of their underlings (in which evil overlord you want to work under section in the evil jobs employment magazine)

shows most of the traits we'd expect of a fantasy hero, and oh, plans to subjugate all the humans in the world. But it's all justified, you see, because not a single free human he's encountered has ever been vaguely nice to him...most of them try to kill him for some reason or sometimes no reason at all

 

[Cipiteca396]

An Evil Overlord typically lounges in a ridiculously over-the-top fortress in the middle of Nowhere-Ville, scheming to Take Over the World (or at least the local coffee shop) with an army of bumbling, not-so-bright minions. Forget politics—no senate bothers with him, no Pope would touch him, and royal blood? Please. He might even be immortal, expecting to rule forever because, why not? His hobbies include terrorizing towns, dabbling in mind control, and breeding supervillain sidekicks. His dark realm’s sole purpose? Conquering his neighbors’ gardens, and mandatory military service is just a given. He’s your go-to Satanic Archetype, complete with eternal darkness, fire, brimstone, and, of course, the ever-dramatic Ominous Opera Cape.

... Am I Evil?

 

[ParticleOfSand]

... Am I Evil?

We use morally flexible for that term.

 

[PancakesWitch]

An Evil Overlord typically lounges in a ridiculously over-the-top fortress in the middle of Nowhere-Ville, scheming to Take Over the World (or at least the local coffee shop) with an army of bumbling, not-so-bright minions. Forget politics—no senate bothers with him, no Pope would touch him, and royal blood? Please. He might even be immortal, expecting to rule forever because, why not? His hobbies include terrorizing towns, dabbling in mind control, and breeding supervillain sidekicks. His dark realm’s sole purpose? Conquering his neighbors’ gardens, and mandatory military service is just a given. He’s your go-to Satanic Archetype, complete with eternal darkness, fire, brimstone, and, of course, the ever-dramatic Ominous Opera Cape.

No I don't need to write a villain like that

All I need is to create someone who is power hungry, manipulating but not obviously evil

He has a good reason to create wars or conqueror everything

A villain who knows the meaning of the word "mercy"; just simply choose not show any unless required

Someone smart enough to make sure that the artifact which is the source of their power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity. It will be in in safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is their one weakness.

Preferably their Legion of Terror will be kind and courteous to the general population when not actively engaged in sowing chaos and destruction.

I prefer the original archetype because that's very rare nowadays and its pretty soulful tbh, everything you see now is what you described afterwards, its the typical self-insert edgelord that's actually not too edgy sometimes (but he definitely has a harem of slaves), he's super smart and nothing goes wrong and he's a genius mastermind because... because he is ok?? Also he was just a depressed incel back on Earth with lack of communication skills but now he's incredibly charismatic.

 

[Zenomew]

I prefer the original archetype because that's very rare nowadays and its pretty soulful tbh, everything you see now is what you described afterwards, its the typical self-insert edgelord that's actually not too edgy sometimes (but he definitely has a harem of slaves), he's super smart and nothing goes wrong and he's a genius mastermind because... because he is ok?? Also he was just a depressed incel back on Earth with lack of communication skills but now he's incredibly charismatic.

Sounds like the Ainz from Overlord

 

[ThrillingHuman]

Pro tip: Just don't add any vigils of erroneous sin or the signs of the pale deity of deep waters and you should be a-okay.

 

[Corty]

Just write a perfect hero who wins and conquers the world, but in the epilogue, show it from the other side’s perspective as their people are being put into concentration camps to be purged by a cheering crowd praising the hero the readers rooted for since the beginning.