Need help with Villain motivation

So after reading a few threads I wanted the Dm hive minds help, my BBEG running a group that wants to kill a kraken that is supposedly causing massive havoc across the ocean. However it is actually from a Eldrich being trapped and imprisoned by the kraken that’s trying to break free. I need some motivation I’ve heard that a deadly sin works well

Start by exploring the "Whys". 

• Why was the eldritch being imprisoned?
• Why by the kraken, specifically?
• Why is the Kraken seen as evil by the world at large, if it did so?
• Why does the Kraken have to die for the being to return?

Then I would ask - what happens in your campaign if the party does kill the kraken? apocalypses sound cool, but saying "and then the idiot god bumps into the planet and everyone dies" would be a sucky end to the game. What will the Eldritch being do? Raise the seas? release a horde of fish-people on the world? Perhaps the Highlands become a last refuge, where the fish monsters cannot get due to the distance from the sea. A big change to the setting is a good thing if an apocalyptic force is unleashed.

Once you have an idea what they will do, and what it means to the world, you have why it was imprisoned (to stop that from happening) and what will happen if they do slay the Kraken. Then, you can apply the "Why". The ancient one will flood the lowlands to expand the empire of the fish people. Greed, conquest, and wrath (the people of the lowlands summoned the kraken to imprison them?).

Hope this helps!

More talking about the guy that wants to kill the kraken but thanks

Ok, misinterpreted that the eldritch being was the villain. So the questions above still stand, but now you have the added question:

"Why does the Villain want this?"

Someone is trying to make this happen. Why do they want that? What do they get out of it? Are they all that they seem? Are they a puppet of a greater being?

The more info you can give, the easier it is for the hive mind to give you ideas for weaving it all together. So let's start with: what happens if the kraken dies?

Could you clarify the premise a bit? I initially understood it the way ThorukDuckSlayer understood it, which was wrong apparently. Correct where I'm wrong

• The BBEG (humanoid?) is a cult/group leader
• BBEG wants to kill a kraken
• Kraken is believed to cause havoc across the ocean
• Havoc is actually caused by a trapped eldritch being. --> Kraken is innocent (except it trapped the eldritch being)

If everything there is correct, here's a few questions that could help motivate the whole situation

• Does the BBEG know the havoc is caused by the eldritch being and uses the kraken as an excuse?
• If not, what does the BBEG gain from killing the kraken?
• What happens if the kraken dies?
• Or more importantly: what happens if the eldritch being gets loose?
• Is the BBEG The BBEG or are they just a pawn of The BBEG?

 And what do you mean by "a deadly sin works well"? Do you mean one of the seven deadly sins or something entirely different?

Ok.. so the idea is : 
(1) an Eldritch being was imprisoned inside of? or in a location guarded by a Kraken.
(2) there is a group with some kind of leader who wants to kill the Kraken. 

There are a few possible directions:

(A) The fact that there is an Eldritch being trapped within the Kraken is known by only a few scholars / ancient wizards or might be entirely a legend / myth in the world, so the person trying to kill the Kraken doesn't know that this would release an Eldritch being upon the world. Perhaps the Kraken is in truth causing havoc on the oceans because the Eldritch being has found a way to affect its mind causing the Kraken to become extremely aggressive in the hopes that this will cause some good guys to go kill the Kraken and release it by accident.

(B) The fact that there is an Eldritch being trapped within the Kraken is more well known amongst scholars / historians / theologians, but still unknown to the common folk. In this case the person trying to kill the Kraken knows this would release the Eldritch being upon the world and is doing so because they have made some kind of deal with the Eldritch Being for power upon its release. The rest of this persons group might be cultists who worship the Eldritch being, or might simply be working with this person for money / influence because the leader already has some amount of power granted by the Eldritch being - however the followers might no know where the power originates.

(C) The fact that there is an Eldritch being trapped within the Kraken is common knowledge, but the intentions of the Eldritch being are not necessarily completely evil. Perhaps the Eldritch being was a patron to a past tyrannical empire and was imprisoned when that empire was defeated. However, those who were favoured by that empire (this could be a particular species) have lost their power and now want to restore their lost empire by killing the Kraken to free the Eldritch being. The leader / group are run either openly or in secret by those people

Why did the kraken imprison the eldritch being in the first place? Or maybe it didn’t. Could be the eldritch being, I’ll call it Ted, was rolling around, wreaking havoc, you know, classic Ted. Then some ancient group of adventurers imprisoned Ted, because they couldn’t manage to just banish him back to the far realm. Those adventurers then cut a deal with the kraken (or maybe used a wish or something) and so the kraken became Ted’s jailer.

Things were fine, the kraken had all but forgotten about Ted. Then some group stumbled upon an ancient ruin which described Ted and his shenanigans way back when and they thought, you know, we like the way Ted thinks. Let’s free him from his prison and join him. They formed The Cult of Ted — there’s always a cult — and got to work, loosening the bonds that held Ted in place. So now Ted is causing havoc again, while the kraken is vaguely annoyed it even has to be a part of this, but it’s a kraken of it’s word, so it’s doing its best to keep Ted contained.

Let's set aside the why & how of the Kraken's involvement for a moment to focus on the Eldritch Being (Who I will also call Ted).

Who is Ted, and how do you imagine him? Are you imagining a huge being emerging from the ocean, and if so, to do what? Reap souls and sanity, unleashing a visage of mind-bending dread and ultimately creating a "destroy it now or the world ends" scenario? Or do you imagine it more like a pandora's box, where they unleash evil into the world and the world changes irrepairably around them?

All signs currently point toward Ted being the evil mastermind who has enslaved a cult to free him - which is a solid foundation. Then, you can say that the cult has grown to a degree that many are acting without direct influence from Ted, because they have become fanatics of belief, not control. That way, the guilt of fighting them goes away!

Maybe then you can bring in the "BBEG", here called Karen, as a side character with their own plot. The Kraken, fighting to keep Ted bound for eternity, killed Karen's parrot as collateral damage, and Karen swore revenge. The Church of Ted offered her the weapons to kill the Kraken, and she went on her merry quest to inadvertently free Ted by seeking revenge. There, she meets the party, and explains all the ideas she had for killing a huge sea monster (hint hint, guys!) before being given this poison lance which can slay a kraken. The party knows there is something up with the sea, and the kraken is seemingly to blame, so they may well team up with Karen to slay the Kraken.

For this to then have some element of decision making for the party, you need the other half of the story - a paladin order trying to stop them (think the Medjai from the mummy, or the people in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). The party find the Paladins of Kraken and they are trying to stop them - they can take their own decisions from that.

If they decide to not slay the Kraken, they have to fight Karen, her crew, and her arsenal of big-thing-killers on her ship, assisted by the Paladins of Kraken. If they decide to slay the kraken, they have to fight the Kraken and the Paladins, supported by Karen (likely being a "defend the ship until it connects" approach.

Now, back to Ted.

I think that the best option, if Ted is unleashed, is that the seas become creepy and dangerous. Phantoms start luring people to drown, as Ted begins to feed. Fogs start to blow in, carrying spectral seafarers which are incorporeal but deal psychic damage, and fish-folk who are very much corporeal and deal damage-damage. Then, the sea levels start to rise. People say it's the volume of the dead beneath the waves, but it's Ted taking on an eldritch horror form. Rising seas mean new challenges for people, political pressures. Dwarven kingdoms become entirely reliant on their pumps, and some flood entirely. people are pushed together, making a boiling vat of discontent, anger, mistrust. This is the scene the party must negotiate through now, having brought Ted back to the world (or failed to stop Karen).

From there, the story is up to you. Resurrect the Kraken, using a diamond large enough, which is found in a pyramid in the jungle, which just sank beneath the ocean? Find another powerful primordial to hold Ted? Just kill Ted with Karen's arsenal of weapons? Give up themselves to be guardians of Ted?

How does any of this sound? Can we build on any of it in the right direction?

Well, the villain wants... something. Trying to figure out what that is. Think about your players goals. What are they trying to accomplish? Maybe, save their home town from pirates who are tyrannically ruling over them. Well, then find a way to contradict that. If the BBEG kills the kraken and releases Ted, the Ted will pop up beneath the hometown and kill everyone. Finding some way to get your players invested beforehand will make your players more engaged, rather than a random BBEG with nothing going against the players except for that they're evil.

Quote from Scruvy >>

Could you clarify the premise a bit? I initially understood it the way ThorukDuckSlayer understood it, which was wrong apparently. Correct where I'm wrong

• The BBEG (humanoid?) is a cult/group leader
• BBEG wants to kill a kraken
• Kraken is believed to cause havoc across the ocean
• Havoc is actually caused by a trapped eldritch being. --> Kraken is innocent (except it trapped the eldritch being)

If everything there is correct, here's a few questions that could help motivate the whole situation

• Does the BBEG know the havoc is caused by the eldritch being and uses the kraken as an excuse?
• If not, what does the BBEG gain from killing the kraken?
• What happens if the kraken dies?
• Or more importantly: what happens if the eldritch being gets loose?
• Is the BBEG The BBEG or are they just a pawn of The BBEG?

 And what do you mean by "a deadly sin works well"? Do you mean one of the seven deadly sins or something entirely different?

 1. BBEG thinks that the havoc is being caused by the kraken. 2.The BBEG is influenced by the eldrich being 3. Armageddon in the ocean 4. Again Armageddon in the ocean 5. More like the first fight/stage

most fantasy villains can be motivated by a deadly sin (Voldemort- pride)

Quote from cl0ud_master >>

Quote from Scruvy >>

Could you clarify the premise a bit? I initially understood it the way ThorukDuckSlayer understood it, which was wrong apparently. Correct where I'm wrong

• The BBEG (humanoid?) is a cult/group leader
• BBEG wants to kill a kraken
• Kraken is believed to cause havoc across the ocean
• Havoc is actually caused by a trapped eldritch being. --> Kraken is innocent (except it trapped the eldritch being)

If everything there is correct, here's a few questions that could help motivate the whole situation

• Does the BBEG know the havoc is caused by the eldritch being and uses the kraken as an excuse?
• If not, what does the BBEG gain from killing the kraken?
• What happens if the kraken dies?
• Or more importantly: what happens if the eldritch being gets loose?
• Is the BBEG The BBEG or are they just a pawn of The BBEG?

 And what do you mean by "a deadly sin works well"? Do you mean one of the seven deadly sins or something entirely different?

 1. BBEG thinks that the havoc is being caused by the kraken. 2.The BBEG is influenced by the eldrich being 3. Armageddon in the ocean 4. Again Armageddon in the ocean 5. More like the first fight/stage

 

most fantasy villains can be motivated by a deadly sin (Voldemort- pride)

 Have a look here https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-only/237848-need-a-bit-of-campaign-help using a lot of Lord thunderfarts idea

Ok, so if the BBEG of this first stage of your game is aiming to kill the kraken, and is doing so with the intent that the Kraken must die, but is also being influenced by the eldritch being known as Ted, then you have a broad range of options, which I would break down to:

Option 1: Direct Influence.

Maybe the first-mate is a mind controlling cultist of Ted, who's also a doppelganger, who is directly influencing the BBEG pirate captain to try and slay the Kraken. The BBEG's motives might be Wrath or Pride, depending on the direct influence - is it that they think they are the only one who can kill the Kraken and calm the seas, or do they just hate the Kraken? What is their trusted advisor(tm) whispering in their ear? Alternatively, is Ted in their mind directly, and they seem impassioned to kill the Kraken for no reason other than because they must?

Option 2: Influences and Scheming.

I prefer this style. Let's say that Ted started to get loose, and the Kraken fighting them back causes storms and sea surges. Ted, being a semi-omnipotent entity, times and directs their escape just so to cause the Kraken's response to flood a town which contains the family of a monster hunter, which triggers the chain of events which leads the hunter to seek vengeance (wrath) on the Kraken. Ted continues to provoke the world into thinking the Kraken is a problem, goading them to attack it - perhaps the party has backstories which (at your behest) have reasons they dislike the Kraken - shipments lost, families drowned, that sort of thing. Then, weave reasons why Ted caused those things, so that the party's backstories are all "you were manipulated by Ted to hate the Kraken".

It sounds like the BBEG of the opening section should be fairly simple - perhaps even notably simple, like every other member of the crew hates the kraken but has a life, and the captain is possessed with a single purpose to kill the kraken. At first, they seem like a parody of captain Ahab, but the party may realise they are under some form of charm to kill the kraken. 

Another option would be the Geas spell, where they were bound magically to slay the kraken and tell no-one of the Geas. If they break it, they die. The party need to work it out and then find who put the Geas on the captain to free them from their bonds.