What kind of villain do you prefer?

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2004-03-20 11:47am

None of the options really fits my favorite style. I like villiains who posess insane ammounts of skill and know it. The ones who are arrogant, but not to a fault. The ones who are intelligent, but not above hot-blooded fits of rage. I also like wordy, longwinded villians. I guess I also favor amorality/ruthlessness over true evil. That's about it. I can't think of a good example off the top of my head.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-03-20 04:04pm

Lazy Raptor wrote:None of the options really fits my favorite style. I like villiains who posess insane ammounts of skill and know it. The ones who are arrogant, but not to a fault. The ones who are intelligent, but not above hot-blooded fits of rage. I also like wordy, longwinded villians. I guess I also favor amorality/ruthlessness over true evil. That's about it. I can't think of a good example off the top of my head.

Raistlin Majere from dragonlance fits this perfectly. He is also a perfect example of a villain that sees everything they're doing as being for the greater good, and doesn't see their own actions as being evil.

Dirty Harry · Post by **Dirty Harry** » 2004-03-20 04:26pm

Lazy Raptor wrote:. I guess I also favor amorality/ruthlessness over true evil. That's about it. I can't think of a good example off the top of my head.

I think its the same for me to. People who would appear to be normal but are capable of acts of extreme violence or ruthlessness. A pretty good example of this would be Vic Mackey from The shield, a bent cop who killed another cop to keep his corruption a secret. Garak from DS9 would probably fit into this catagory, remember how exactly he helped Sisko lure the Romulans into the Dominion war?

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-03-20 05:15pm

Magneto is a complete dumbass. He claims he's doing what he's doing for the good of mutants but he goes and creates a Brotherhood of Eeeevil Mutants (TM).

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2004-03-20 06:17pm

The complex, emotionless villain will always be scarier to me because I won't know what he's thinking.

PrinceofLowLight · Post by **PrinceofLowLight** » 2004-03-21 02:04am

I like a villain who knows what he wants and knows exactly what he's doing. Xanatos, Bester, Morden, Prequel Palpatine.

I like the ruthless villains with a totally alien psyche that is nonetheless brilliant at what they do. Hannibal Lecter, Kefka and Darth Vader (a mind so twisted by The Dark Side) is a good example.

I like the over-the-top, arrogant-but-has-a-reason-to-be villain. Cobra Commander, Ming the Merciless, OT Palpatine.

I like the competent, "Just Doing My Job" type of villain. General Leo, Piett(most Imperial officers, actually) and Agent Smith (Before those sequels that never happened) to a lesser extent are good examples of this.

In fact, I like most villains. The only archetype I don't really care for is the misunderstood, tortured villain that we're supposed to feel sorry for. Oh, you torched a village because you were experimented on by da evil copuwation when you were a little kid? Let's feel sorry for him instead of KILLING HIM BECAUSE HE TORCHED A VILLAGE!

Post by **Gandalf** » 2004-03-21 04:55am

I like a complex, somewhat emotionless villain, like Angelus and Spike from Buffy. They were evil, and they loved it, they had fun and such.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-03-21 05:32am

James Moriarity, Kiaser Soze, Henry Lime, & Roy Batty

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-03-21 03:30pm

Is there not a room for those villains who are neither emotionless nor insane?

BTW - I have a thing for those villains who are once-honourable people fallen from grace, though they can be hard to do correctly.

Spyder · Post by **Spyder** » 2004-03-21 03:43pm

Peregrin Toker wrote:Is there not a room for those villains who are neither emotionless nor insane?

BTW - I have a thing for those villains who are once-honourable people fallen from grace, though they can be hard to do correctly.

Not really, just look at how they did Shinzon and do the exact opposite.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-03-21 04:15pm

Spyder wrote:
Peregrin Toker wrote:Is there not a room for those villains who are neither emotionless nor insane?

BTW - I have a thing for those villains who are once-honourable people fallen from grace, though they can be hard to do correctly.
Not really, just look at how they did Shinzon and do the exact opposite.

Do you mean that Shinzon is a neither-emotionless-or-insane villain, or a villain who's a honourable man fallen from grace. (I don't know that much about Nemesis as I've never seen it)

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-03-21 05:53pm

No, he (shinjin) was just failied wimp.

for honerable turned evil, look at The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, The Man in the Iron Mask. Hugo and Dumas were good at creating those fallen hero villians.

The Prime Necromancer · Post by **The Prime Necromancer** » 2004-03-21 06:00pm

I don't think I can pick a single "kind" of villain. Among my list of favorites there's probably a least one from each of those rather broad categories.

My favorite villains are intelligent and ruthless. They know what they want, and they let noone get in their way of achieving it. They dominate the screen when they so much as appear. Their dialogue is memorable, and their voices powerful and/or unique. They often hide their true nature behind a veneer of civility, professionalism, or even humor. It is the rare moment when their confident and composed demeanor is shattered, but it is all the more startling and fulfilling when it occurs.

I think having to pick between "emotionless" and "insane" is like picking between two extremes. There are plenty of great villains who fall between those two.

Spyder · Post by **Spyder** » 2004-03-22 09:22am

Peregrin Toker wrote:
Spyder wrote:
Not really, just look at how they did Shinzon and do the exact opposite.
Do you mean that Shinzon is a neither-emotionless-or-insane villain, or a villain who's a honourable man fallen from grace. (I don't know that much about Nemesis as I've never seen it)

Shinzon was meant to be what Picard would be like had he had the humanity driven from him at an early age, a corrupted Picard which ideally should have played out similar to a fallen Picard. Unfortunately the effect didn't quite take and the end result was "evil retard".

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-03-22 09:16pm

Yeah, fuck Shinzon, the evil Ron Pearlman Reman chancellor was a better villian.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2004-03-22 10:01pm

After the nth time of seeing a villian doing something incredible stupid yet hideously obvious, I'll just settle for a competent villain who wasn’t a escapee from a mental asylum for the terminally stupid.

Competent villains make or break a TV series/movie for me(Yes, I dont watch much TV as it is).

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2004-03-22 11:08pm

I prefer a competent villain that is entertaining to watch, but realistic and non-cliched.

Captain Cyran · Post by **Captain Cyran** » 2004-03-22 11:52pm

I'm gonna have to go for the pure evil insane villain. Most of the time I will admit, writers and directors fuck it up and insane means inept. But when someone actually gets it right... God DAMN they leave EVERYBODY in the dust. Such examples of a very well done pure evil insane villain has already been stated, it's none other than Carnage!

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2004-03-23 12:52am

The Yosemite Bear wrote:Henry Lime

Do you mean Harry Lime, Orson Welles' character in The Third Man? Because if you do, then I agree with you.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2004-03-23 01:18am

Darth_Zod wrote:
Lazy Raptor wrote:None of the options really fits my favorite style. I like villiains who posess insane ammounts of skill and know it. The ones who are arrogant, but not to a fault. The ones who are intelligent, but not above hot-blooded fits of rage. I also like wordy, longwinded villians. I guess I also favor amorality/ruthlessness over true evil. That's about it. I can't think of a good example off the top of my head.
Raistlin Majere from dragonlance fits this perfectly. He is also a perfect example of a villain that sees everything they're doing as being for the greater good, and doesn't see their own actions as being evil.

one of my favorite characters ever.

tho, I never saw him as evil.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-03-23 01:32am

I prefere good ones.

FaxModem1 · Post by **FaxModem1** » 2004-03-23 01:38am

Londo Mollari, not really a villian, because you can identify with him.

The Shadows, you can see it their way.

Megabyte, just because he is so composed, but when uncoiled, look out.

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-03-23 03:39am

A villain has to have a certain amount of style, charisma, or presence. As long as they have that, then everything else can develop around them. If they lack it, I won't shed a tear if a toilet falling from an airplane randomly kills them five minutes after they wander on-screen.

Case-in-Point: In Trigun, Legato carries out his tasks, laying down his life for the atrocities he believes in, and looks damned good doing it. In comparison, Knives just looks and acts like a humongous git(I swear that boy has the worst dress sense out of anyone in the entire series). Since I know that many will claim that Knives is at the opposite end of the sanity spectrum from Legato(they're right), I will point out that I also am a big fan of Vicious and Pierrot Le Fout from Cowboy Bebop, other homicidal madmen. Cackling lunatics have their place, even if a lot of the time its drawing attention away from the bastards behind the scenes.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-03-23 03:57am

Actually, "Pierrot le fou" was just the name of the episode, named after the Godard film. The assassin in the episode just goes by Mad Pierrot, IIRC.

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-03-23 04:02am

Maybe so, but Pierrot le Fou just sounds better in my head.

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What kind of villain do you prefer?

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