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Your Favorite Villain

Guy

Inkling
Kurgan from the first Highlander movie. It's so weird knowing he's the voice of Mr. Krabs.

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. Of course, Alan Rickman always plays a good villain.

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.
 
Kurgan from the first Highlander movie. It's so weird knowing he's the voice of Mr. Krabs.

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. Of course, Alan Rickman always plays a good villain.

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.

SMAUG!! Favorite cartoon Smaug quote-*mocking* "you don't know 'bout that... I will SHOW you!!"

The style for that movie, and the last unicorn, was based on the art of the great Arthur Rackham.
Who also happened to have illustrated... Me. :)
 
Darth Vader!!! But I am also a huge fan of Hannibal Lecture. He's so intriguing, and intelligent. He's this monster but he has principles "he only eats the rude!" I loved the movie and the book. The book is more detailed.
 

Quillstine

Troubadour
If I had to go with the last bad guy who really scared me...then it would be the Raptors out of Jurassic Park! I was young when I saw the movie, for nights afterward I would lie awake tormented. Certain I was going to get mauled to death by dinosaur.

Khan is up there...so vengeful! The reavers out of firefly were might spooky too!

But my all time favorite bad guy was Count Olaf....Lemony Snicket always made my day :D

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musycpyrate

Scribe
My favorite villain might not really be a villain, but he can be. It is definitely The Hound from A Song of Ice and Fire.
 

Shaggy-Donahugh

New Member
I would have to say slenderman.
Now before I'm stoned to death (technically he's a monster, a thing not a person), I have a defense to make. I don't know how many of you have heard of this, but I recently read something on tumblr about how humanity evolved from pursuit predator's (basically we just follow you until you are too tired to run away). Now a lot of movie monsters are like that, but Slenderman pulls it of beautifully. You never really see him move, just when you think you've gotten away, you turn around and he's just a little bit closer. It's like being the animal being hunted by a human, and this is terrifying. He makes for the ultimate villian, which is a representation of ourselves.
 
Hmm, that's a tough one. If someone were to hold a flintlock to my head I'd probably say Lord Foul from The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I understand Foul's motivations at least, and even sympathise with them somewhat. In many ways he's a more compelling character than Covenant, who generally makes me want to slap him upside the head and scream 'What were you thinking?!'
 

AnneL

Closed Account
President Snow from The Hunger Games (books and movies both), because he's so realistic it's scary. Also, Donald Sutherland is so much fun to watch in the movies.
 

Ginger Bee

Scribe
This looks like a bit of a zombie thread that keeps going, but I'm going to reply anyway.

I love Loki from the Avengers movies. He is a villain that manages to be in turns utterly evil, charming, and vulnerable. He has intelligence and wit, an endearing smile, and a completely foul mind. His chaotic nature is entirely satisfying.

I've also always thought the standout character from the Kevin Coster version of Robin Hood was the Sheriff of Nottingham. He was also a more complex villain, which appeals to me. I don't want to simply hate a unilateral character. I want to enjoy a villain, and still enjoy seeing him/her crash and burn.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
I've also always thought the standout character from the Kevin Coster version of Robin Hood was the Sheriff of Nottingham. He was also a more complex villain, which appeals to me. I don't want to simply hate a unilateral character. I want to enjoy a villain, and still enjoy seeing him/her crash and burn.

Helps that he's played by Alan Rickman, too. :) That man is an amazing actor, especially with villains.
 

buyjupiter

Maester
Inquisitor Glokta from the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Although it's hard to say if he's really a villain by the end. He's definitely a sympathetic character by the end of the trilogy.

Otherwise, it'd have to be Lord Voltmeter from Heroics for Beginners. He's your classically inept villain, which leads to hilarious results.
 
I'd like to change my earlier vote, if that's possible.

I say sometimes that I don't like how casually evil is often used in fiction. That's because I think evil is something different, something, for lack of a better word, special. So for my favorite villain, I choose someone who represents evil at its pure core, and furthermore, who represents evil on a personal level. Someone who would never dream of ruling the world, or even robbing a bank, because the destruction of a single life is more than enough for him.

Why can't you understand? I love you so much . . . I want you. That's what love is--wanting. Love is stopping at nothing until you get what you want. For instance, I got the katana tsuba I wanted. It's the same with you and Sandra. Both of you are mine . . . Soon you'll understand what love really means. You will accept my love. You'll become drunk on excitement, and then you'll comprehend what my love is. You'll thank me for it. You'll give me everything of your own volition.

Greg Lowland of A Cruel God Reigns, you are my favorite villain, and may you burn in hell forever.
 

TrustMeImRudy

Troubadour
The Prince of Chi'in from the Bridge of Birds novels is up there. Venom from Spider-Man comics too. And oohhhhh....the Silence from Doctor Who. Not the motivation, we technically still don't know what the motivation really is yet. Just what they are and how they are used...its brilliant.
 

JRFLynn

Sage
The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, Christine sucks :rolleyes:

Anime wise, it would be Griffith from Berserk, you would never guess he'd become the villain...but that just shows that the bad guy can be the least person you'd ever expect, and that ambition can rot just about anyone's soul.

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teacup

Auror
Anime wise, it would be Griffith from Berserk, you would never guess he'd become the villain...but that just shows that the bad guy can be the least person you'd ever expect, and that ambition can rot just about anyone's soul.

The anime was "meh" to me throughout, but I watched it anyway, and when it hit the point where Guts left, it became fantastic. I loved Griffith's fall and how he became what he was by the end. (I've not seen anything by the anime, though, so I don't know what he goes on to do, villain wise.)
 

JRFLynn

Sage
Hey Teacup, you should read the manga, which goes far beyond the anime...If you thought Guts was a badass before, he totally destroys after Griffith's fall; more monster action, better support characters, magic, and cursed armor...What I like most about the story is that Gutz begins as a sort of anti-hero, where Griffith is that noble Arthurian hero type character that everyone has burned in their brains. Their roles switch, however by the end where Guts is still his old bloodthirsty self but he's on a mission for revenge. I'd say Berserk has probably influenced some of my own characters, just because the protagonists are so freaking awesome hehe.

Trying not to get off topic here, Griffith is mysterious and unreadable up until the very end...you just expect him to do what an Arthurian archetype would do, so I think that was purposefully done to lull the audience into falling into that trap. By the time the truth comes out, it blows your mind. Love it :p
 

teacup

Auror
Hey Teacup, you should read the manga, which goes far beyond the anime
I probably, would, if I had the time. But I hear the manga isn't even finished yet, and could still go on for years. I'd hate to get up to date with it then have to wait for more :p
 

Ophiucha

Auror
I would be amazed if Berserk ever finishes, to be honest.

My favourite villain would probably be Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes books. I love a good criminal mastermind, and having him go against the detective mastermind made him all the more brilliant. I love that he's got a job as a professor, as well. Something to be said for villains with a 'secret identity', too. He's had about a thousand reinterpretations that have either fuelled my love for him further or turned me off the adaptation entirely. Of the most recent three adaptations, I thought BBC has the worst Moriarty and the RDJ films had the best. Elementary's was quite... different, but I thought it worked well.

I also really like Kim Newman's Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'ubervilles, which is 'written' by Sebastian Moran in the same way the original Sherlock books were written by Watson. Great, funny adaptation of the stories.
 
Ozymandias from Watchmen(Graphic Novel or movie) because he does terrible things to try and make the world a better place. The line "I did it 20 minutes ago." is still haunting, and something most writers over 20 years later still can't bring themselves to do.

Runner up is Magneto. They spend years painting him as a terrorist. A lunatic who kills because of a deranged belief that humans will round up mutants, put them in camps, and exterminate them just because they are different. Then they reveal the Auschwitz tattoo, and how he's the only survivor out of his family, and you're forced to think about how right he is.

Honorable Mention is Mr. Freeze. A man forced to break the law to save the woman he loves. My favorite story involved him breaking out of Arkham and building a freeze cannon just to make it snow. Not to cripple the city, not to rob a bank, but because it's his wedding anniversary, and it snowed on his wedding day as he and Nora left the church. When he tells Batman as he surrenders: "I can't cure her, but I CAN make it snow." I felt like I'd been punched in the gut.
 
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