And now we come to villains.

Villains are as important to your story as your main character, so you better make yourself a good one.

Villains essentially follow the same format as your main character, only you want people to hate and respect them at the same time. You still don't want a Mary Sue, because then your main character would have to be Mary Sue to defeat them. Your villain should be powerful and a massive challenge for your main character, but not "impossible."

Villains also need backstory. Why do they want what they want? Why do they have some beef with your main character?

The backstory doesn't need to make your readers feel bad for the villain or make them even like your villain as a character, but it's always a possibility. Like in Harry Potter when you find out Voldemort's backstory or Snape's backstory (but then again Snape...). Sad backstories do make for a good, layered villain, but if your villain was just a screwed up dragonet who grew up to be a screwed up dragon, that makes a good villain too.

Queen Scarlet in WoF is a good villain because she's absolutely freaking deranged. She would kill anyone for virtually any reason. She doesn't really have a backstory per say but it's safe to assume she went a liiiiiiittle bit *cough cough* or a lot *cough* over the top with the power she gained as Queen, just as Blister and Burn were obsessed with that same power. Power twists ordinary characters into great bad guys because not everyone resists it, and the ones that don't are your villains.