Macmillan Academy The Scholar Lab

English · KS3 · writing task

Rewrite the Villain

Every story has a villain — but villains rarely think of themselves that way. Tell the tale from the other side.

The challenge

Choose a well-known antagonist: the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, the witch in Hansel and Gretel, the stepmother, the giant — anyone.

Retell one key scene from their point of view, in 400–600 words, so that the reader feels sympathy for them. The one rule: you may not change what actually happens — only the perspective on it.

This is the difference between plot (the events) and narrative (how they're told). Same events, completely different story.

How to get started

  1. List the hard facts of your chosen scene — the things that cannot change. Everything else is yours.
  2. Write in the first person ("I"). Let us hear the villain's voice, not a narrator describing them.
  3. Give your villain a want (a goal) and a wound (something that hurt them). Sympathy grows from both.
  4. Show how the same actions look reasonable — even kind — from the inside.

Stuck? Open a hint

Try the challenge first — then reveal these one at a time.

Hint 1
Pick the exact moment the hero would call "evil". Now ask: what was the villain trying to achieve, and what would they say in their own defence?
Hint 2
Use an unreliable narrator — the villain might leave out, excuse or twist details. The reader half-believes them, which is what makes it powerful.
Hint 3
End on a line that makes the reader uneasy about who the real villain is.

Take it further

Write the same scene a second time as a flat, neutral news report. Compare the two: what specific choices created sympathy in the first version?

Read how published authors do this: Wicked by Gregory Maguire (the witch from The Wizard of Oz) and Grendel by John Gardner (the monster from Beowulf).

Produce & share

Make something: Submit your 400–600 word retelling from the villain's point of view. If you're feeling bold, include a short note explaining the choices you made to win the reader's sympathy.

When it's ready, email your work to Mr King. The best pieces may be featured in the student showcase.

What you'll practise

Narrative perspective and voice, characterisation, the unreliable narrator, and using empathy as a writer's tool.