History Literature / VillainsByNecessity

* MacGuffin: The Spectrum Key, which is split into six pieces located in hidden, guarded places.
* MacGuffinGuardian: All the pieces of the Spectrum Key have magical guardians that the protagonists must defeat to retrieve them (though we don't see Blackmail's).

* MineralMacGuffin: Every piece of the Spectrum Key is a different type of mineral, in the colors of the rainbow (thus its name).

* TheNightThatNeverEnds: Inverted. As the forces of light continue to spread unchecked through the world, it moves closer and closer to endless ''day.'' [[spoiler:By the end of the book, the world is sunny and bright in spite of it being eleven at night.]]

* WanderingMinstrel: Robin, who uses his profession as cover to spy on the villains, using as justification the fact that there aren't many adventurers left, and he wants to write a ballad about them.

* GenocideSurvivor: Valerie is the [[LastOfHisKind last Nathauan]] due to surviving the genocide which killed the rest, including her family.

** It's revealed that Sam grew up in poverty with his mentally ill mother, the pair squatting inside an abandoned warehouse to survive. He had no idea who his father was or where he'd gone, as his mother couldn't remember. Then he walked in once to find that she'd been raped and beaten by a random drunk. He killed the man, with the building catching fire when the lamp fell over. After he escaped, the assassin's guild recruited him.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: It's revealed that Sam grew up in poverty with his mentally ill mother, the pair squatting inside an abandoned warehouse to survive. He had no idea who his father was or where he'd gone, as his mother couldn't remember. Then he walked in once to find that she'd been raped and beaten by a random drunk. He killed the man, with the building catching fire when the lamp fell over. After he escaped, the assassin's guild recruited him.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler: Valerie]], easily the [[EvilSorcerer evilest]] [[ImAHumanitarian person]] in the entire party, lost her family and ''entire people'' to brutal slaughter by the Verdant Company, which is one reason she hates Fenwick so much.

** Good mages also often have them.

* FantasyPantheon: The gods are frequently referenced, but most don't get named or explicated (one, Mula, actually appears in a vision though). The named ones a description in the book are:

* FantasyPantheon: The gods are frequently referenced, but most don't get named or explicated (one, Mula, actually appears in a vision though).
** There's Rhinka, goddess of wisdom.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Kaylana, who was a child during the last war between Good and Evil... over a hundred and fifty years ago. [[spoiler:Blackmail tops her by being one of the heroes who FOUGHT in the war 150 years ago. In the present all he has is a bit of grey hair. He says his armor is enchanted, implying its magic kept him alive.]]

* RedheadsAreRavishing: Kaylana is a beautiful redhaired woman who's got both Sam and Fenwick trying to get her attention, while specifically her hair color was among the things the pair like about her.

* RedheadsAreRavishing: Kaylana is a beautiful redhaired woman who's got both Sam and Fenwick trying to get her attention.

* HeroesWantRedheads: Kaylana, since she's got both Sam and Fenwick trying to get her attention.

* ArchnemesisDad: [[spoiler:It turns out that Mizzamir's Sam's birth father, the [[TheArchmage greatest wizard in the world]] who tries to stop his quest throughout the book. Sam has contracted to kill him, and does so by the end. Neither one knows the other's related to him before TheReveal in the finale though. Even prior to his quest Mizzamir had been the greatest threat to Sam as one of the last criminals, trying to [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood brainwash him into being a good citizen]] with magic.]]

* MageMarksman: [[spoiler:Sam it turns out does have some magic that he inherited from his birth father, but doesn't know at first. This results in him having an uncanny ability to hit things using throwing daggers. He may miss his target, but they still always hit ''something''. The dagger ricochets up to that point, even if by physics it should stop. Once, Sam even hits ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard himself]]'' with his own dagger as a result.]]

While long out of print, it was re-issued as an ebook in 2018.

* CoolPet

* {{Druid}}: Kaylana, who's the [[LastOfHisKind last one left]]. There used to be thousands more, but they were all killed. Most of their traits are typical ([[SpeaksFluentAnimal speaking with]]/[[FriendToAllLivingThings caring for]] animals, having a cool pet, using nature-based magic, rare VoluntaryShapeshifting and being very LongLived), though the book adds that they also believe in keeping the {{balance between good and evil}} (to the point of pure stupidity -- this is what killed the others).

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Sam. He explicitly states that none of the assassins ever killed an entire family, plus they make their killing quick and painless.

* TwoGirlsToATeam: Kaylana and Valerie are the women in the FiveManBand of villains on their quest.

* DeadlyDodging: Sam dodges a charging unicorn while there's a tree right behind him. The unicorn ends up with its horn stuck once Kaylan causes the tree's bark to grow closed around it. Robin then protests the villains' plan of taking advantage of the unicorn's helplessness to behead it. They don't as Valerie notes that {{unicorns are sacred}} to Good folk and they would rain down vengeance if it was killed.

** At one point, Sam attempts to play off his assassin's garb as the costume for a play, "''The Tragedy of Oswald, Prince of Volinar''". Sam describes the plot as [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} "The one where the fellow's uncle kills his father and marries his mother."]] He later even mentally quotes "To thine own self be true", ascribed as coming from an "ancient play".

* FiveManBand: Our protagonists, who coincidentally form the EvilCounterpart to the legendary Heroes that saved the world in the great war. Due to the book being what it is, the line between a typical evil party and the heroic FiveManBand winds up rather blurry.
** BigBad: Sam, professional assassin and HitmanWithAHeart, who keeps the band together and decides on the next course of action, thereby leading a team of villains to unleash unspeakable evil into the world. He's also personally devoted to murdering the archmage Mizzamir, striking from the shadows while he lives in the light.
** TheDragon: Arcie, a thief who robs everything he can find. Closer to TheLancer than a typical Dragon, being a voice of reason and largely acting as Sam's backup through the adventure.
** TheEvilGenius: Valerie, the sorceress who seeks the death of those who wiped out her people, bringing magical knowledge and ingenuity.
** TheBrute: Blackmail, a perpetually-mute BlackKnight who's by far the most physical presence of the group and the best at direct combat.
** TheDarkChick: Kaylana, who's really only villainous by association and seeks to restore balance to the world rather than cause the world any real harm.
** SixthRangerTraitor: Robin, the NonActionGuy who's sent to the group by Mizzamir to act as a spy. [[spoiler:He eventually has a HeelFaceTurn (depending on your viewpoint) after realizing the villains are right and the world is going to end, on the motivation of not wanting to die.]]
** TeamPet: Nightshade, Valerie's familiar. Also for a time Blackmail's horse.

* GreatOffscreenWar: The War that set up all the events in the book. Over a hundred and fifty years ago, Good fought Evil in a vast, destructive conflict. Evil was led by the Dark King, with many battles whose relics are still left behind in the present. The Six Heroes finally gathered every segment of the Spectrum Key on a quest, causing the defeat of Evil and then sealing it off from the world entirely. Unfortunately, this upset the cosmic balance, so in the time since things have slowly been sliding toward "sumblimation", i.e. destruction by pure Light and Good. Six villains instead have to gather the segments and release Evil for averting this.

* GoodIsBadAndBadIsGood: The events of the novel, the war and its aftermath, flips the common perceptions of good and evil upside down so that the heroes are destroying the world and the villains have to stop them.

* HeroicParadox: The heroes are seeking to eliminate all evil, but are doing this by the evil action of removing all freedom/choice by brainwashing and killing.

* GoodisBadandBadisGood: The events of the novel, the war and its aftermath, flips the common perceptions of good and evil upside down so that the heroes are destroying the world and the villains have to stop them.

* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: Mizzamir plays the Palantir Ploy throughout the book. It seems to work perfectly at first, but the presence of both Kaylana and Valeriana in the group causes it to only give him some vague glimpses of the protagonists' progress (Arcie also damaged his scrying font while prying gemstones out of it, reducing the font's power). Later, the protagonists get ahold of a {{magic mirror}} which allows them to remotely view Mizzamir, conveniently revealing [[spoiler:that Robin is his spy.]]

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The party at the beginning. At one point they nearly end up coming to blows, before Kaylana gets the others to realize that none of them can complete the quest -- or even survive in the long run -- without the abilities of the others.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** The Druids who kept the balance between good and evil by siding with either side that's in the minority, ends up earning the attention and ire from both sides.
** The villains who team up together do so and keep together through a pragmatic alliance: they aren't idealistic heroes, but they know better than to backstab each other and wipe each other out. Although they come close to blows once, Kaylana talks them down, pointing out none can survive their quest absent the others. On a normal quest, she notes the party would quickly evaporate, and it's survival that keeps them together.
** A balance between good and evil requires some shifts every now and then, so that things don't become rigid and brittle.

* NecessarilyEvil: The book title lampshades that these villains have taken on the task of saving the world, so their being evil (aside from neutral Kaylana) is a necessity. Indeed, evil itself turns out to be. None but Kaylana is more than just mildly evil either. [[spoiler:Blackmail's even revealed to be a {{paladin}} who realizes their quest is needed.]]