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People in stories, especially bad guys in stories usually want to take over the world, but why? What's really to gain? Even in reality it's a complex question. That's what we're talking about here.
What's the real reason to want to be the boss of everything? Money isn't the objective because when you become the leader of everything money is irrelevant, you control all standards and commerce. Is greed a motivation? Well no because being the boss of everything eliminates the motivation for greed. Power is the only true objective: being the ultimate boss means you can control everything. It's a crap load of responsibility and work though.
On a smaller scale, why do you want to be the leader, the CEO, the king, the boss, the emperor? It could be because you have an overinflated ego and you think you deserve it so you can show off to others (Trump). It could be that you want power and control over others. Maybe it's the only way to can achieve safety and security, by getting to the top and being in charge of everyone else? Or maybe you have a vision for the future or a passion for something and being the leader is the only way to can enact your vision or preserve it?
A very small scale example: I rose up on this site and became its leader. I started out as a comicer like everyone else, joining in 2003, positing my comic in 2004. Dylan Squires, creator of the site (known as Volte6), was always the leader then. I became more involved in the community and was made a moderator. I was passionate about the site and wanted things to run well and do right by the community. Eventually I was made an administrator with power to run the site. I was part of a small group of fellow admins. As time passed they all left and it was just me in charge. Through negotiation I took control of the site from the owner at Wowio. I later established my own team to help me run things. Through all that my only motivation was to make sure the site stayed running so that people could post their comics as usual and get comments and engagement. I'd love if someone else could be in charge instead of me though but it's a very complex and expensive process.
Why do you think people want to take over the whole world? Especially bad guys in stories?
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Quackcast 737 - Why take over the world?
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, April 29, 2025
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Why take over the world?
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Ozoneocean at 6:39PM, April 30, 2025
@Paul- yes, often "saving the world" means saving their vision of it which means trampling everyone who stands in the way of that and feeling justified about doing it because their objective is so noble. There's a bit of that in Trump, though for him "the world" equals 1980s USA.
Ozoneocean at 6:35PM, April 30, 2025
@ Bravo- Yes with wolves and other animals it's more about the survival of a family group with the oldest parent in charge, sometimes male, sometimes female depending on the creatures. So it's not about dominance it's just about them being the progenitors and them being genetically driven towards ensuring the survival of their DNA... And that's what scales up to human tribalism in the form of religious sectarianism, people supporting different football-teams, nationalism, racism, etc
Ozoneocean at 6:19PM, April 30, 2025
@Marco- I think that works on a smaller scale but I personally don't think it scales up well to world dominance...? Though it could be a part of it. Like with Trump he certainly has a lot more childish motivations than the normal person.
Ozoneocean at 6:17PM, April 30, 2025
@Jason Moon- YES! That is a great motivation. As a means to an end :D
PaulEberhardt at 8:24AM, April 30, 2025
Some of them may even genuinely think that by taking control they were saving the world or at least improving it. These guys are generally the worst.
bravo1102 at 8:03AM, April 30, 2025
The alpha myth is just that. A myth. It was completely debunked by subsequent research. Cooperation is the key, not domination. So it's about building the biggest and best coalition or team. Sure one guy is on top but he has a bunch of guys supporting him every step of the way who helped putting him there. If you say "well such and such didn't " you're wrong. They just made certain they got the spotlight and even eliminated everyone else as possible rivals. See Stalin, Hitler, the Romanovs, any number of English kings and so on throughout history going all the way back to the first known guy who wanted the world: Sargon the Great.
bravo1102 at 7:56AM, April 30, 2025
To prove their mousey worth they'll overthrow the earth. They're Pinky, Punky and the Brain, Brain, Brain. The world is there and it needs truly great leadership of the most intelligent mind on the planet: a white lab mouse named Brain.
marcorossi at 1:50AM, April 30, 2025
@Ozoneocean - basically I think that, among our many instincts, we have a strong dominance "alpha maling" (or alpha femaling) instinct, that we generally we have to repress a lot. THus the bad guy/gal will gnerally act based on these normally repressed instincts of alpha-ness, so the closest one in your example would be "It could be because you have an overinflated ego and you think you deserve it so you can show off to others". There are other possibilities of course, but I think most are variations about this: e.g. some bad guys are ostensibly just excessively rigid in their religion or ideology, but it will often be implied that this is just their inflated ego.
Jason Moon at 6:43PM, April 29, 2025
Another interesting theory behind wanting to take over the world (in a fantasy setting) may not be the whole power or dominance idea going on in the villains head but instead the usefulness of it. Like if the villain is a monster or vampire and wants to use the inhabitants of the world for their resource of food. Another interesting theory is from FF7 when Sephiroth finds out that he isn't human and that his mother is an alien that landed on earth to destroy it but failed. Once sephiroth learns of his origins and finds the remains of his mother he decides to attack the planet and use it as a vessel to travel the cosmos to find another planet to assault. Sometimes conquering the world itself isn't even the main goal to the villain but just one of the tasks needed to fulfill a larger agenda.
Ozoneocean at 5:08PM, April 29, 2025
@Marco- We know that aspect of the dynamic, but intellectually WHAT does the bad guy want to actually do when they're the ruler? If they were a real person what would they be going for? Story dynamics are one thing, ruling the world just equals bit stakes, nothing more really, most authors don't think further than that, but what if they did?
Banes at 11:21AM, April 29, 2025
King Quack Conan
marcorossi at 8:33AM, April 29, 2025
I think in many genre story there is an element of badassness and show of of dominance, at the bottom from the hero, but to justify this the bad guy has to be dislikeable and way more dominant, so it makes sense to have bad guys who are excessively dominated by a desire of dominance.