Supervillainy!

Today's topic is one near and dear to my heart: Villains. More over, who is the greatest fictional villain of all time and what does it really take to be that level of dastardly which makes your proverbial toes curl.

It is this author's belief that the greatest villainy in fiction are representations of what we may all become, under the wrong circumstances. It isn't about having a super power or doing bad things because you're a bad person. It's about motives and a twisted sense of humanism that goes right to the edge of what we could see in ourselves on the wrong day.

I poked around at what other people have written about this and it's no shock that basically nobody agrees at all- like, not even a little. Still, I did find some fairly common names and I have to admit, these are certainly contenders. Here's my top 5.

The Joker- Let's face it, what is Batman without The Joker? He's just a guy in a cape, that's what. This character is chaos embodied by a broken mind and a broken face. He represents the dark side of humanity and the insanity that lurks beneath the surface of every person you meet. His character has been re-invented and re-envisioned so many times and, amazingly, seems to get better with each rewrite.
""Winged freak terrorizes"? Wait till they get a load of me! "

Darth Vader- Tragic hero? Tragic villain? Just plain evil? Vader has become a representation of internal conflict and self righteous revenge. It's a toss up between him and Joker as most recognized character in my list, but I suspect he would win that match up, which goes a long way to say how infamous his character really is.
"Today will be a day long remembered. It has seen the death of Kenobi, and soon the fall of the rebellion."

Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias- Undoubtedly the least known on my list is also the most interesting. Veidt is a character from "The Watchmen" and his role is not technically a villain. He enacts a plan that leads to the death of millions in order to achieve what he sees as a greater good and, upon successfully doing so, ends up questioning if it was the right thing to do at all. Veidt is the torn villain, committing crime in the name of justice because life isn't always a black and white affair. Given his powers and vision, would we act the same? Could we pull the trigger on so many lives today to save so many tomorrow?
"I can save this world."

Cruella DeVil- The only woman on my list. Look, if you have good fashion sense, good business sense, and lots of money, there are a lot of less evil ways to make yourself a new jacket that doesn't involve the murder of 99 innocent puppies. Heartless, cold, and cruel, Cruella is that kind of villainy you can see for yourself in those who have simply lost touch with humanity.
"I live for fur. I worship fur."

Captain Hook- Hook is Peter Pan's enemy, but he's more than just a literary foil. In neverland, where a child doesn't have to grow up, Hook represents what we all become as we get older. The idea that adults are evil and children are good and pure doesn't sit well with me, but the message is very clear: Hook represents our lost innocence... and it's pretty evil to want to murder a bunch of kids too.
"He'll crow. He'll fight. He'll fly. And then... he'll die."

Got a favorite villain? Toss it out there and tell us why!




Words from The Fool:

Be it Voldemort or Mordred Darkthrop I believe it is the villains that make a good story. There's no character more boring than Superman, his popularity is entirely based on what interesting villainy his rivals cook up. A great villain must have motives, brilliance, and a flair for the dramatic. I mean, Bond would be a dull hero if, instead of tying him to a gold table and trying to laser him in half, Goldfinger just blew his brains out with a 9mm and THEN gave the iconic "And now I will tell you of my evil plot" line. Villains are what make our heroes, it is the evil that makes them good. No fooling.

I'm surprised not to see Sherlock Holmes' greatest rival on this list. Though it's been so long since I read the books I don't remember much about Professor Moriarty (who was apparently inspired by real people). Perhaps he was a black and white villain after all.

Interesting trivia - in one of Isaac Asimov's books, about the Black Widowers Club, he had a clever waiter doing a Jeeves, coming up with solutions to everything. Arthur Conan Doyle referred briefly to Prof. Moriarty's treatise Dynamics of an Asteroid. Biochemist Isaac Asimov came up with a brilliant idea for what might have been the motivation behind the book - Agatha Christie was probably proud of him.

Also - I have always had a soft spot for Mr Lemon from Shining Force. He's not a real villain as such, but remains a favourite character.

I think one of my favorite villains ever is Professor Umbridge in the Harry Potter series. She's so cold, evil, and pink (I am UNBIASED!), and she is simply horrible. There's not even an explanation except that she is a bad person, and I plainly can't stand her. There are not very many characters where I literally cringe whenever they do something, but she's one of them. I hate her SO MUCH! <3

Another one of my favorites is rather recent. The character of Mother Gothel in Disney's "Tangled" is just so wonderfully awful. Her subtle manipulation of Rapunzel puts her up there with the best, and she's got to be one of the most dramatic villains ever.

And then there's the Queen in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and I don't even need to explain that one. A little girl's heart in a box? It's so dastardly.

Yes, I'm mostly partial to female villains. They just somehow seem so much more evil, and that may sound sexist, but it's true. Something about the 'fairer sex' being evil just makes them that much more evil. And I ain't here for sympathetic villains. >=)

I'm assuming fictional villains right?

Callisto from Xena. She's insane, is or almost an equal fighter to Xena (Xena's able to kill at least 30 people in a free for all brawl), and has no morals at all. Definitely a very scary villain.

Ms. Trunchbull from Matilda. She threw a girl by her pigtails over a spiked fence. She stuffs kids inside a makeshift iron maiden.

Audrey 2 from Lil shop of horrors. Giant human eating plant with mind control and lots of vines.

Judge Turpin from Sweeney todd. Abuses his power, lusts after his 'daughter'.

Judge Frollo from Disney Hunchback (he's a pretty decent guy in the book. its Phoebus who's an evil prick.)- tries to kill all the gypsies. almost burned down france to get one woman (almost like helen of troy).

T-1000 from Terminator: judgment day. So freaky the way it never runs out of energy, never stops, and will kill anything in its way.

Gaston from Beauty and the Beast- Die!

Eh? Methinks Superman and Batman would still function okay without their villains. As in, real-world speaking. As a story, I know it would be boring. As a hero who saves the world/community in general? Well, so long the neighbourhood is fine and dandy in the end, who cares what the bad guy is like or what do they do?
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Ditto KTC about Miss Trunchbull. Holy crap, that's EVIL

Ukoku Sanzo from the anime/manga series Saiyuki. That guy is just confusing. He's evil for very confusing reasons. He's not evil for the sake of being evil, yet his reasons for being evil is still unrevealed as of yet because the series is far from over. It almost looks like all the basis of his evil is an old bet that he had with his late friend, and even that is just a speculation.

I was rather meh about Tangled's Mother Gothel, but they did her pretty interestingly. She's not outright abusive, unlike in the Barbie version of Rapunzel where Gothel pretty much treats Rapunzel like Cinderella's stepmother treats Cinderella. I have to wonder if they modeled Gothel after Sarah Brightman, though. Gothel SURE looks like Sarah Brightman. In my opinion, at least.

The shark in Jaws is my favorite villain :p

Quote:

Another Shining Force fan here ^^

My favourite villain? Definitely Sephiroth. Yeah, I'm sure someone saw that coming.

Why? Sephiroth is someone who was corrupted by someone else's meddling into a person who had a very twisted sense of good and evil. He thought that he was the rightful owner of the planet all because he was corrupted by his mother. It also helped that he kicked butt. Anyways, he was evil because he thought that he was right, he had no morals, and he was kind of insane. That's the best kind of villain in my book!

OMG. Super villains? Well, I have a list! Not all of them are super though, but they are in their own ways.

1 - Kefka Palazzo (FF VI): One of the most evil antagonists in the Final Fantasy series. He defeated an enemy kingdom single-handed by poisoning everybody in that kingdom. That's Doma Castle. He is also able to achieve god-like powers over everybody and against all those who oppose him. Thankfully, he gets PWNed big time.

2 - Princess Azula (Avatar: The Legend of Aang):
Well...she almost killed the Avatar with a single bolt of lightning. If he did, the plot falls with a tragedy.

She's no good to be fire lord of the fire nation either. Imagine her to banish everyone who served her throughout the years and those very loyal to her. Good thing Zuko and Katara doused her blue fire of insanity.

3 - Dolores Jane Umbridge (HP5): I think this is self-explanatory...

Yuffie: Sephiroth? poor guy just got experimented on by a crazy evil mad scientist with a god complex XP (<--what i constantly refer to hojo as XP) which i realize now that you eluded to.

on that topic, Hojo from FFVII is is one of my most-hated villians. see the reasons Yuffie gave for Sephiroth...except that hojo was the man behind him. he also managed to screw up the lives of Vincent, Cloud, Angeal, Genesis, and Lucrecia by direct meddling, and just about the rest of the planet indirectly. and that's not even going INTO the mess that he caused in Dirge of Cerberus.

~Durza, from Eragon! i love durza XD he was one of those people who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up paying for it big time--you don't see it in the movie, but in the book you do.

~Genesis, also from FFVII. i'm not fully sure he classifies as a full-on villain--i mean, obviously sephiroth caused a LOT more trouble XP--but he certainly isn't a hero. genesis should've been an english major instead of a soldier, seriously. same basic origins as sephiroth, more tragic tho. i suppose he's a bit like durza in that respect. and the red jacket, and the reddish hair...hmm...i see a trend in my favorite villains ^^; (and besides that--he has a really pretty sword XD XD XD)

~Lucius and Draco Malfoy! i hated Draco in the earlier books/movies, but about the time of HBP i started to like him XD lucius i've always liked, but that's partially because of the name ^^;

Favorite villains
1. Zuko in the 1st two books of Avatar. His purpose to restore honour was noble and he was also cunning.

2. Azula from Avatar

3. Rapunzel's adopted mom.

I actually agree with Rapunzel's mom in the latest movie. She really chalks it up there with Maleficent as the most evil Disney villain.

Moriarty was on my pre-top-5 list, along with several others (Lor from Star Trek, that banker guy from It's A Wonderful Life, ect.)

They don't have to be SUPER villains, they just have to be fictional

I avoided Anime specifically as a personal thing to focus on more mainstream villains Otherwise Light from Death Note would top my list followed very closely by The Chairman from Kaiji.

-Fool

PS: My girlfriend will be happy someone brought up Callisto, she was going on and on about how she should have been on my list. LOL

I totally forgot about Lor... I remember that... That guy makes me want to rip my eye balls out. There was also Kahn. He was just plain psycho. Or anyone from the Dominion. Or the Borg Queen.

I also want to add President Snow from the Hunger Games. He's just so evil, and he knows it. It's like he enjoys watching people die horrible and gruesome death.

President Snow was a freaking awesome baddie. Loved him!

I tend to like a lot a villains- they seem to often be some of my favorite characters in stories. I'll try to limit myself. In no real order, a few of my favorites are:

-Duke Roger of Conte, from the Song of the Lioness quartet.
-Mother Gothel, Tangled.
-Ozorne, The Immortals quartet.
-Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty
-Lady Tremaine Cinderella
-Dear ol' Voldy, Harry Potter

A villian must be the one who makes you hate him, who really make horrible things like killing someone dear to the hero. The hatred the player has for the villian makes him cool, but my favourite villian so far is Sephiroth from FFVII, because he was a result from an experiment of ShinRa on FFVII.

Also, there's some villians that aren't so bad that actually make us love them, like the ones who changes to the good side. Like Velna in the game Legaia 2, she belongs to a race called Kabel, Kabels were killed by humans and all she wanted is revenge, and for that she stayed alive for hundred of years to have her revenge, even if she's not the main villian of the game, she was a cool character.

But... I don't hate the villains. I think they are awesome characters. I love them for their villainy.

...
Also, add Ganon/Ganondorf and Vaati to my list. Legend of Zelda for the win!

hehe, ganondork. The first game was hilarious with link having to roll inbetween his legs to score a hit on his tail XD

He also likes to play volleyball with Link. That's an all around villain right there. Next thing you know he'll be taking Link and Zelda camping before he takes over Hyrule. XD

Buuuut... I still like him.

*shudders* oh god, the volleyball. Much harder than GDork's final form.

Hmm...I think it should be Beatrice from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni.Her personality is more twisted then I ever though.This because she can play human emotion without effecting herself.This is the best villain I ever come through but so sad she still defeat by the main protagonist.I wish she would maintain her evil scram.

The Joker from the Batman comics, Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter, Akabane from GetBackers, Muraki from Yami no Matsuei, Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events, Voldemort from Harry Potter, Ni from Gensoumaen Saiyuki, & Xellos from Slayers are mine. (I was going to add Sauron from Lord of the Rings, but I'm halfway through the 2ed book & he still hasn't shown up yet).

I actually had an old Livejournal post on what I thought made the most interesting villains:

1)Social taboos abound.

2)Socially (& sometimes legally) unacceptable sexual orientation or sexually ambiguous.

3)Don't consider themselves evil, more like completely neutral & can be allies when they feel like it.

4)A small simple looking man with an aura of fear as large as an angry Red Dragon.

5)Children are afraid of them, even when they're being nice.

6)Tend to love rather than hate their enemies.

7)Nonmediocre appearance, but doesn't really look that menacing.

8]Works best alone, complete disdain for well-being of any lackeys, if any lackeys at all.

9)Most are sadomasochists.

10)Rarely serious, often silly or generally relaxed.

11)Obstinate with goals, but what really is the goal?

12)Most have a long fuse & don't anger easily.

13)Unpredictable, always holding back, so the hero is constantly met with surprise after surprise.

14)Androgyny, either in appearance or mannerisms.

15)Retaliant; always coming back for more.

16)Insanely powerful or cunning. Some have never been defeated by the hero even once.

17)Hero cannot comprehend his way of thinking, even if his actions become predictable.

18]Unusual weapons, mybe some psychological warfare & trauma.

19)Nothing known of his childhood. Origin stories may clash with eachother or not exist at all.

20)No matter how much you learn about the character, there is so much more you'll never know.

21)Nomadic. These guys don't seem to own more than what they carry & call no one place home.

22)A certain intence madness, but not "legally" insane. (Even the Joker is not TRUELY as crazy as he acts).

23)One step ahead of the hero. Truely the hero is a monotinous creature of habit & our villains are rarely suprised by anything they do. When they are suprised, they enjoy it & it just eggs them on.

24)See battles as a pleasure akin to sports or sex & don't take them seriously, even if the hero wants them dead.

25)Is not below teaming up with the hero to fight against a shared enemy. Often even gives hero inside information on other villains.