StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Which type do you like? :


The complex villain, with deep history of tragedy or whatever, with a complex character and personality (ie someone like Darth Vader).


Or the simple, sheer embodiment of evil type of villain (like Kefka from Final Fantasy 6)?



And from any of the two above, do you like the one that acts all emotionless, or the one that seems to be on a constant insanity streak?

As one would say in D&D, "Chaotic Evil."

It depends on the level of coolness of the villain in question,like Vader and Khan two of sci-fi coolest villains,and in the non sci-fi Gary Oldman as cool villain roles.

The complex, emotionless villain. All the best ones were like that: Darth Vader, Al Bester, Gul Dukat (before he was possessed by devils), Morden, Maul, Palpatine etc. However the qualfier of "emotionless" isn't quite true you know, all of the above had their passions.

Too, insanity doesn't necessarily mean incompetent or unable to plot..

I like it when villains are emotionless, evil, sociopaths with no souls who beat puppies and eat babies for fun...then when they fall headlong into a reactor (plasma/anti-mater/fusion/etc) of some sort i feel absolutely no sympathy. As an aside: i like my villains to be sort of all-powerful, so whenthey are defeated (and they always are) the victory is all the sweeter . That was one of the things that drew me towards Star Wars.

I like the polite, intelligent, ruthless villians. one shouldnt be a complete slob just to appear evil.

the whitty villan

The complex, tortured, misunderstood, purely evil villain who understands all his actions yet wins in the end and crushes the protagonist without remorse.

Ming the Merciless! He was awesome. Gaudy, overdressed and looked like he should be named Dante.

The complex emotionless villain is by far the best. The depth of character, believability, and understandability they bring to stories adds depth and meaning, when done properly. The "MWAHAHA" James Bond villains have their perks, but honestly there's nothing that can compete with complex characters in an understandable situation.

Personally, I like exaggerated over-the-top villains such as Palpatine in ROTJ, Darth Vader, His Divine Shadow, Max Cady, Shang-Tsung, Khan Noonian Singh (in ST2), Megatron, and Commander Kruge (in ST3).

I can see the appeal of the more coldly calculating type of villain, but for me, movies are about escapism.

The ”hero” from Falling Down.

Great move if not for the forced ending, naa don’t blame society he went just because the mundane reason of a divorce.

Skip the ending and he is so fucking great.

BTW Tyler Durden rules!

Pure evil, insane villain - they are hillarious.

"I shall call him Mini Me"

Faram wrote:The ”hero” from Falling Down.

Great move if not for the forced ending, naa don’t blame society he went just because the mundane reason of a divorce.

Skip the ending and he is so fucking great.

BTW Tyler Durden rules!

Its like you had a bunch of ideas, but you didn't wanna finish any of them without jumping to the next one

Dalton wrote:Ming the Merciless! He was awesome. Gaudy, overdressed and looked like he should be named Dante.

My choice was obvious...

I like complex villains, but not necessarily emotionless ones. Darth Vader is a perfect example.

In fact, the farther from pure evil a villain gets, the cooler he is, I think. I like to be reminded of the fact that the villain thinks he's the good guy, because that makes the experience that much more real. That's what makes villains like Vader, Piett, or Magneto so much better than lame one-dimensional jackasses like Sauron. I like villains that you can really root for.

Robert Treder wrote:That's what makes villains like Vader, Piett, or Magneto so much better than lame one-dimensional jackasses like Sauron.

Piett? Piett's not a villain. He's like the villain's sidekick.

I picked pure evil emotionless. Palpatine has to be one of the greatest villains ever. While you can argue that he may be complex, I think he's probably evil enough to come off as pure evil.

Stofsk wrote:

Robert Treder wrote:That's what makes villains like Vader, Piett, or Magneto so much better than lame one-dimensional jackasses like Sauron.

Piett? Piett's not a villain. He's like the villain's sidekick.

My point exactly. He's such a realistic character (while not having much said about him) that you don't even consider him a villain, though he is one in a technical sense. But to him, he's just hunting criminals, serving his country, and trying to please his superiors.

Much better than Sauron, who has to be the worst villain in a major series ever. I mean, what exactly is Sauron's motivation? All he wants is to be mean. Sure, there are people like that, but they don't often get very far because it's a stupid fucking outlook to have.

Hell, Cobra Commander and Destro were at least three times as deep as Sauron. They had goals, they had emotions. That's what makes compelling villains.

Robert Treder wrote:Much better than Sauron, who has to be the worst villain in a major series ever. I mean, what exactly is Sauron's motivation? All he wants is to be mean. Sure, there are people like that, but they don't often get very far because it's a stupid fucking outlook to have.

Hell, Cobra Commander and Destro were at least three times as deep as Sauron. They had goals, they had emotions. That's what makes compelling villains.

Sauron actually had a motivation that wasn't readily apparent in the LotR. You get a better glimpse of Sauron in the Silmarillion.

I think Tolkien himself said that Sauron wanted to bring order to the world. It just so happens he felt that the best method to go about this was to subjugate the world.

I think it's unfair to compare him to Cobra Commander and Destro, at least in terms of competence, Sauron brought the Numenoreans to ruin. Admittedly, they helped, but he did some serious prodding.

It's probably a lost cause to argue that Sauron had human motivations. For one thing, he wasn't human. But come on, some credit! Cobra Commander? Ouch.

Crom wrote: I think it's unfair to compare him to Cobra Commander and Destro, at least in terms of competence, Sauron brought the Numenoreans to ruin. Admittedly, they helped, but he did some serious prodding.

Cobra Commander and Destro helped Sauron bring down the Numenoreans?

Spyder wrote:Cobra Commander and Destro helped Sauron bring down the Numenoreans?

Well. No. I meant the Numenoreans helped bring about their own downfall.

CC and Destro, to sufficiently bring about the downfall of Numenor, would have had to actually be trying to work for the good of Numenor.

I go for the complex, emotionless villain. Not only are they often cooler than the supposed hero, but they're the ones you can tell are going to be a real threat.

Villain's reaction to suddenly being defeated against all odds...

Insane villain: "What?! What is this?!! This is impossible, I am invincible!!"

Emotionless villain: "...interesting. Perhaps I had underestimated my opposition...it won't happen again."

Villain's reaction when the hero is brought, bound before him...

Insane villain: "Before I kill you, I just want to know one thing..."(followed by villain's death as he had just violated one of the fundamental rules of the Evil Overlord Handbook.)

Emotionless villain: "I have no use for you...kill him."

-Damien

I actually like over the top villainy. Dr Doom is a perfect example along with Vader and Ming.

Villains should have this larger then life aspect given their goals are utterly nuts yet they have the passion and resources to succeed if not for those pesky do-gooders.