Since people seem to like my Diaries of a Villain series, I was hoping to write a few more but I am beginning to run into the snag that all writers hit when trying something like this: a lack of appropriate characters.

It's not that there is a dirth of villains. Every story has a villain in some form or another and a good many of them are interesting, deeply-detailed characters. The vast majority of modern antagonists are not, but that is a rant for another day. My point is that, while plenty of wonderful bad guys are out there, not many of them fit the profile that I look for when going to write a diary for them. It is not enough for a villain to be interesting but he or she must also have an air of mystery about them. For instance, when I began the series, I considered both Ganondorf and Darth Vader for candidacy. The reason I chose the former over the latter is not because one is a better villain or better character, it is because anyone who has seen the Star Wars movies (the real ones. One through Three do not exist)already knows everything there is to know about Darth Vader. Who he is, his motivations, his conflicts and his story from start to finish. Such cannot be said for Ganondorf.

The characteristics that really draw me to a villain are intelligence, mystery, a definable sense of menace, dedication to his master plan, or just to a certain code of conduct and the impression, even at the end of the movie, that we still don't have the whole story about who this characters is. If I end a movie/book/game/show/story with the thought 'That was a great villain. I wish I knew more about him,' there is a prime target for a Diary of a Villain. Any bad guy without these trait barely registers as a villain. A killer maybe, a threat if he's lucky, but not a true villain.

So, if anyone reading this has an idea for a devious and dangerous villain that they would like to know more about, please share. I have great fun writing these and I hope you have fun reading them.

Remember, to qualify as a real honest-to-god villain, candidates must have these qualities.
Menace: The villain must present a threat. To the established order, to the protagonist or just to the world in general, a villain must be dangerous and capable. If the world has no cause to fear them, then they might as well stay home.
Depth: As mentioned above, a lot of movie enemies would not fit here. Freddy Kreuger, while dangerous, is about as two-dimensional as characters get. He might have a whole backstory but I really don't care what it is. A villain must be interesting enough to warrent someone investigating his character.
Mystery: As previously mentioned with Darth Vader, if everybody already knows everything there is to know about a villain, then there is very little that I can bring to the table. I'm looking for villains that show just enough of themselves to prove that they are deep enough to have alternative motives without quite letting you know what those motives are. Especially villains that are unpredictable and devise plans that work towards a goal that no one sees coming.

And that's about it. Please respond to this, be creative, come up with a villain I've never heard of. Give me evil that I can really sink my teeth into.