# Favourite villian



## TopHat (Sep 4, 2013)

Hi guys!

One of the most fun parts of writing is just creating characters, according to me. Villains and antagonists are my favorites and I sometimes find myself cheering for them more than the hero. And throughout all kinds of media I've seen some unforgettable characters, perfect counterparts to the hero.
I'd like to know who your favorites are! 

In both literature, movies, comics, all kinds of media: Who is your favorite villain or antagonist and why? 

Yours,
TopHat.


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## Spider (Sep 4, 2013)

This thread has already been created.

http://mythicscribes.com/forums/novels-stories/8818-your-favorite-villain.html


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## Xitra_Blud (Oct 18, 2013)

Really hard for me to pick. I love villains so much. I know one of them is Ursella, from The Little Mermaid. Another is going to be Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, she's just awesome. Getting out of Disney (but still in animation) I love...what's the name of the dude from Quest for Camelot. He was pretty rad. But I love villains. I tend to favorite them over the hero, lol, so this was pretty hard to decide.


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## Ireth (Oct 18, 2013)

Xitra_Blud said:


> what's the name of the dude from Quest for Camelot. He was pretty rad.



Sir Ruber, I think.


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## TrustMeImRudy (Oct 18, 2013)

-sticks out tongue at Spider-

Come on guys...The Master to the Doctor in New Doctor Who. 
Furthermore, if anyone has ever read Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart, I love the villain in there, not because of his personality or power or anything of that nature, but because of how he is represented. Can't say more without spoilers, and I refuse to ever spoil my favorite book for anybody.


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## Kn'Trac (Oct 18, 2013)

I've always have a weakness for Count Stradh von Zarovich or Firran Zal'Honan (Azalin) from the Ravenloft series of novels. Their lives are so tragic, that you can't help but feel a kind of sympathy for them, even though they are ruthless monsters and would kill with little more than a second thought.


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## shangrila (Oct 18, 2013)

In all honesty, I've always liked the Joker as a villain regardless of the medium. There's just something cool, in a villain sort of way, about his particular brand of insanity. Not to mention I love the idea that he and Batman practically need each other.


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## Guy (Oct 18, 2013)

Kurgan from the first Highlander movie.

Smaug. I normally despise arrogance, but from the first time I saw the Hobbit cartoon as a kid to this very moment I thought Smaug was just so damn cool.

Hans Gruber in the first Die Hard.

And, of course, Agent Smith. I especially sympathize with him on those days when I'm particularly disgusted with humanity. And I've been told several times I look like him. Or I did when I still had hair.


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## The Maven (Jul 25, 2014)

I quite liked the Joker in the Dark Knight. Heath Ledger was phenomenal.


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## Smith (Jul 25, 2014)

Scorpius. Farscape. If I could pick only one antagonist to fit the Magnificent Bastard trope, it would be him.


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## Gryphos (Jul 25, 2014)

For me it's probably got to be Andrew Ryan from the game Bioshock. While I may thoroughly disagree with his libertarian philosophy, I love his persona. His eloquence, his intelligence, the way he's always in complete control of the situation...



Spoiler: continued



... even in his death.





Spoiler: Spoilery scene from Bioshock



This is probably my favourite cutscene from any game: the death of Andrew Ryan. As I said earlier, I love the way he essentially gets the last laugh by using his own death to prove a point.

[video=youtube_share;14pQ5B0iTUs]http://youtu.be/14pQ5B0iTUs[/video]


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## skip.knox (Jul 26, 2014)

Walter White in Breaking Bad. Easily the most vile character I've encountered in fiction, not least because he's one of the most complex.


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## wordwalker (Jul 27, 2014)

These days I've got a list, when it comes to comics villains. I'm biased more toward a longterm body of work (body count of work?) than any one outstanding run-- no, the push Tom Hiddleston gave to Loki is just too recent to make that, um, cut.

4) Magneto. Because the world needs a Holocaust-based villain who's almost *right* but still wrong on an epic scale, with a practically cosmic level of power. 

3) Lex Luthor. Because you can't ignore anyone who keeps the Big S on his toes. And the idea of Big Money/ Influence and sheer human ambition and ego really is the perfect dark counterpart for a perfect hero. Which one is it that humanity really deserves?

2) DOOM! Because he's in some ways the template for all comics villains, or at least the quintessence of them. He doesn't have the extra wrinkles of the previous two, but nobody expects him to. He was too busy inspiring Darth Vader.

1) The Joker. Because, he doesn't use no frickin' templates. ("When supervillains want to sit around and scare each other, they tell Joker stories.")


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## PlotHolio (Jul 27, 2014)

Hans and Simon Gruber, hands down.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Jul 27, 2014)

BOOK: The villain from _Dragon Tears_ (Koontz) who stopped time, ripped a girl's arm off, and left her paused half-tipped over. The reader never gets to see the resulting chaos because this guy just didn't give a sh*t.

MOVIE: The alien queen from _Aliens_. I don't feel I need to justify this.

VIDEO GAME: M. Bison. He's involved in every kind of evil, including killing the token female's dad on a Tuesday.

CARTOON: Star Scream. He hated everybody, like an evil Donald Duck.

TOY: The Head-Hunter, who was the main villain in many games involving Legos. He hat a hat shoved over the neck. No head. That way you wouldn't have a villain with a stupid smile. Today's Legos have their game face on, but I played with yesterday's Legos. Yesterday was 25-35 years ago.


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## Asterisk (Jul 30, 2014)

The best movie villain for me is hands down the Joker.
Book-wise, Umbridge. God, I think all HP fans hate her with more of a passion than Voldemort


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## wordwalker (Jul 30, 2014)

Asterisk said:


> Book-wise, Umbridge. God, I think all HP fans hate her with more of a passion than Voldemort



The thing is, we _see_ her more than we do the Guy We Can't Name. Voldemort builds up a lot of offstage momentum, and we start to learn about his past, but it doesn't create the same personal hatred we do for an actual ministry meddler who carves up Harry's arm to "prevent" lies. :furious:


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## TopHat (Aug 3, 2014)

The Joker is probably one of my most favourite villians too. He's so chaotic, you never know what he might do! Plus he's funny to watch/read about. Heath Ledgers Joker is, hands down, the best Joker I have ever seen. Nicolsen made an unforgetable Joker too, but he wasn't as scary as Ledgers.


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## Gryphos (Aug 3, 2014)

I know I already did a post about Andrew Ryan, but another noteworthy villain that many people seem to forget is Kingseeker Frampt from the game Dark Souls. Although he may look absolutely ridiculous (image for proof),






he is extremely manipulative. Throughout the game you go on thinking he's an ally, calling you "chosen undead" and "elucidating your fate", guiding you throughout the game. In fact most people probably went through their entire first playthrough believing he was a friend. Only when you look into the cryptic lore of the game do you realise his true nature.

In actuality, there is no "chosen undead", he just tells you that. He would have told any undead who stumbled upon him that they were 'destined' to link the fire. And what he never tells you (and what the player themselves may not realise, as the end is rather difficult to understand) is that linking the fire not only kills you, but is ultimately pointless and doesn't really achieve anything. Frampt essentially tricks the "chosen undead" into trusting him, before sending them to their death for his own selfish needs. And the player probably won't ever even know what's happening.


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## rhd (Aug 3, 2014)

I'm going to go with Micheletto from the Borgias played by Sean Harris. He's like the most evil pet assassin, extremely loyal, and probably one of the most interesting secondary characters I've ever come across. 

Smith, I agree I did wait for Scorpius to come on screen in my Farscape days.


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## Addison (Aug 3, 2014)

All characters have depth. NEED depth. Evil, like good, is made not born. 

That said my favorite villains are:
TV: Regina/Evil Queen, Once Upon a Time. A complex, powerful woman to be feared and receive sympathy. On the other hand her psycho mother takes a close second to her. She wanted to be so much more than what she already wanted, not seeing what she had, that she destroyed her daughter's life so she would be as miserable as Cora so Regina would follow her foot steps. While on the subject I'm not convinced that Cora only found out about Daniel when Snow told her. She just used and played on Snow's heart so that she would tell her so that Regina would have someone to hate so much that she would go completely evil. 

Movie:...this one is close. But I'd have to say the caves from Sanctum. It's a thriller/survival movie about a team of cavers and explorers working to map out the caves of the world's largest, dangerous and most mysterious cave system "Esa-ala". A flash flood blocks their exit, kills one member. Slowly the water and dangers of the cave climbing, loss of food, water and the toll of losing others takes everyone else out. There's no physical person that can be beat up to stop the suffering. No phone call or antidote to solve it. The perfect depiction of man vs. nature. 

Book: This one was hard to pick, I read a lot of books. But I have to say Voldemort. Not just for who, or maybe what, he is but for how he affected Harry's life through the series. The first three he was more from a distance, ethereal, as a villain. The fourth he transitioned. The fifth and sixth he was both but still a force to be feared. Then the seventh he is more subtle then really brings down the force at Hogwarts. His background, while it helps readers to understand him, doesn't help him get as much sympathy as Regina, but I think Mac Taylor said it best on CSI:NY "There are people out there with worse stories than you, they never hurt anyone. You're not getting any sympathy from me."


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## psychotick (Aug 4, 2014)

Hi,

Movies - Jean-Baptiste Emanual Zorg from the Fifth Element - he does evil with such brilliant style that he makes me laugh every time. Plus he's Gary Oldman.

And an honourable mention to Jack Nicholson from the Witches of Eastwick for one of the most brilliant speeches ever given.

TV - Catwoman (Eartha Kitt) from the 1960's camp series of Batman - she really loved that role - and the voice!

Honourable mention to Doctor Smith from Lost in Space (not the rubbish movie). He exhibited so many brilliant character flaws and yet made them brilliant.

Books - Doctor Moreau - the archetype of the modern mad scientist. In some lights he almost seems reasonable and then just when you think so, your shown another deep chasm of insanity. And with him I'd chuck in Captain Nemo from twenty thousand leagues for much the same reason.

Cheers, Greg.


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## DaFlaminUnicorn (Aug 8, 2014)

Smith from the matrix. He's awesome and he's played by Hugo Weaving aka Elrond and the Red Skull.  Also The Red Skull. He's fricking awesome.  Hail Hydra! :insertevillaughhere


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## Gryphos (Aug 11, 2014)

Well if you want to talk about villains, I can't believe no one's mentioned GLaDOS from the game Portal, possibly one of the most iconic villains in recent popular culture. A rogue AI that's taken over Aperture Science research facility by gassing the researchers, and then passes the time by making test subjects go through challenges, only before killing them at the end.

She is basically one of the most entertaining and interesting characters in gaming, and definitely the best AI character in fiction. She's like HAL 9000 but so much more funny and hilariously passive-aggressive. Because that's the thing, most of the game she isn't even trying to kill you, she's just guiding you through the course while occasionally throwing passive-aggresive comments and false promises of cake at you.

A thing about a lot of AI characters a lot of the time is that they're presented as emotionless, which (in my opinion anyway) just leads to a boring character. But GLaDOS' dialogue has so much personality to it that it's almost impossible to not chuckle at almost everything she says. But in a way she's also rather tragic, unable to control her own sadistic tendencies.

Genuinely a truly amazing character and fantastic villain.


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## Fyle (Aug 13, 2014)

Darth Vader.

He is physically intimidating, mysterious (as far as how powerful he actually is with the force) and cold hearted. 

His breathing gives you chills and the contrast of that red light sabre works nice. 

Gotta say, the Joker is a great choice as well.


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