You could have the villian age backward, meaning he was born in the future and lives his life back through what we perceive as time. That way he knows the future (making him powerful) but doesn''t know his past. A different timeline helped him survive to become the heroes villian before his death. Then you can kill him off and have him return in the future, maybe younger and physically stronger but not as powerful or intelligent to compensate for him being younger. Granted, it may make things overly complicated when trying to explain.

I think Merlin aged backwards and Dan Simmons did something similiar in his Hyperion books, so it has been done before.

I thought the Tolkein explained in the books how Gandalf came back. I may be wrong, I haven''t read them in a very long time.

oooooh, if I were you I would be wary of talking about Tolkien and implying that he didnt have a perfectly consistent and reasonable explanation for something happening...
Gandalf, also known as Mithrandir to the elves and something else to his own people is not a human, but more of an angel (an Ainur, IIRC).
When he fell with the Balrog he actually died IIRC but because of this quasi-divine nature he was reborn because his mission wasnt finished, hence the whole Gandalf the White thing. It''s not just a change of robe, it''s an actual change of personality/rebirth.

Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

I''m not saying that there wasn''t reasons for Gandalf coming back, but in the course of the story (the explanation to the characters) much of the detail of his reincarnation was left unrevealed.

First of all, to me, this is already a bad idea, and I''ll explain why.

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You could always just mitigate the power of death. Have an underworld, a la Greek mythology, that you could actually just walk into while you''re still alive, and theoretically walk out of once you''re dead.

The Greek Underworld was protected by Cerberus-- no living creature could get in, no dead creature could get out.

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So you kill him, he gets chained to a rock in Hades, breaks his bonds and scrabbles back to the surface. You can kill him again, and he''ll just go back to his rock, or one much like it. Eventually, he gets so good at getting out of Hades that killing him only serves to buy you a few days'' respite before he turns up again. Then you need to investigate more permanent ways of disposing of him.

Theoretically, if he was in the Underworld, Hades himself would take care of not letting him escape. (This is going along with your Greek basis.)

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Some ideas:

1. Kill him, then run really fast down to Hades and chop off his arms so that he can''t get loose again.

That just sounds horrid and stupid.

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2. Tie him to a tree in the world of the living, and then it''ll take him a few days to die, buying you even more time.

If he can get out of the Underworld, surely he can break a tree.

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3. Lock him in a terrestrial dungeon, where he''ll be fed and kept from killing himself, so he''s out of the picture for a lifetime.

If he could get out of the Underworld, surely he could escape a cave or dungeon.

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4. Teach him the true meaning of friendship, thus killing the evil inside him, not his body.

The worst of these ideas.

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5. Tie a rock to him and chuck him in the river Styx. Since he''s already technically in the land of the dead, he can''t go there, so he just sits at the bottom of the river until the end of time.

Cabin By The Lake style. This sounds a bit interesting, but still no. I mean, all he''d have to do would be to use his powers to shatter the rock or the chain.

I look at things in "seasons." A good (average) storyline, for me, would be about three seasons long. In this, you could have a villain in the first season that would be killed, another in the second season, then the first return more powerful in the third. To me, this would work out well. If you had a longer project than this, you could maybe pull it off for a third time, but it''d have to be the end of it all. Like, you couldn''t have the villain return three times and there still be someone more powerful the entire time you fought him. *shrug* That''s just my theory.

quote: Original post by Pale Rider
Granted, it may make things overly complicated when trying to explain.

Yes, it would, and the villain wouldn''t be able to get anything done, because he would be speaking backwards and everyone normal wouldn''t be able to understand him. Also, he say everything in reverse; i.e. if he were reciting a short essay, he would say his opening paragraph last and his closing paragraph first. It just sounds dumb for it to work that way.

quote: Original post by grahamfr0
I have read The Stand and Eye of the Dragon, and King does not offer any substantial explanation to Flaag or his mean nastiness. You could just have your villain return mysteriously.

In manga, there''s something called the "Star System." Basically, the man who created Shaman King (Hiroyuki Takei) had a character named Anna Kyoyama, who is also in two other manga made by Hiroyuki. He got the idea from another manga artist, I think.

necessity
the hero has to bring back evil because of necessity, they need the blood of the vilain to life (to keep the tree of life in healthy as ex), they have to summon it and his spirit reincarnate in some random place and then bring chaos, the hero as to kill him to bring peace and harvest his blood, each time the evil die and come back he is stronger, making the task more difficult, this fatality and dilemna (the hero is hurt by morl dilemna of his duty) that''s was for saying no without imagintion, lol

illusion
the hero fight the evil once, but the evil use an illusion trick to win the match, the hero thought he had win but the vilain keep coming back without explanation, the hero gone crazy caught by despair, but after a while after some endless fighting and keep winning/try again, he start to accept his fate as his duty, then once his mind is free for desire, he start to perceive the flaws in this reality and after a while (realizing that he has to die because ther would be no end to the battle), wake up in a world dominated by the vilain, the trick of the vilain was suppose to last for eternity, the vilain don''t expect the hero came back, the vilain has more brute power, but the illusion give the hero far more training which make it invincible

succession
the vilain is the god of chaos and war, and use an avatar to challenge the hero, his true purpose is to die from the hand of the hero, then use the avatar to train the hero, his avatar is resurect (phoenix tails, the god as one phenix as a pet ) stronger each time to let the hero get stronger and oriant his quest to artefact to became godlike and strong, once the hero beat the latest incarnation of the avatar (no more feather left to the phoenix, wait! it can grow again ) he hs to face the god of war and beat him, the purpose of the god was to find his successor to his god duty, someone from the mortal plan and which had life in a mortal condition to rule over other mortals in better way than a born immortal could have

however, his topic is a nice training, i post only 1% of the idea each time because in my mind it''s a whole universe which is created, i can even see character, clothe, attitude etc... (different each time) that''s would help me
great

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
be good
be evil
but do it WELL
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Maybe he never really died...?

"Stop it mister!!! I don''''t even know you!!!"

quote: Original post by Captain Of The Day
Maybe he never really died...?

Will someone please do me the favor of going through and counting how many times that''s been suggested? And next time, actually read the thread.

Sorry... read like the first page, half of the second, and the last, then posted.

"Stop it mister!!! I don''''t even know you!!!"