Amazing Anatagonists/Villains

[ZappaMaestro]

I was torn between putting this topic here or in the Cinema category; however, I feel as though it should go here so as to allow discussion of all art and media, not just animation or live action stuff. Hopefully that's okay!

Anyways, I'm curious to hear about MelonLand's favorite antagonists and villains. It can be anyone from anything so long as they're an antagonist for a certain period of time. Have a favorite baddie that turns good? Well that counts too!

What makes them your favorite villain? What quirks and flaws do they have that either upsets you or helps you relate to them? Do you like them because of how they act or because of how they are connected to the story? Please remember to put all spoilers in spoiler tags for those who might be interested in the thing you're discussing!

For me, one of my favorite antagonists is Kotomine Kirei from Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero, though I much prefer his depiction in the F/SN (Fate/Stay Night) visual novel. He's a priest sent by the Catholic Church to watch over and mediate the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki, except he is not the neutral player he's made out to be. F/SN Spoilers:

Spoiler

My favorite part about him is how he was born with interests that don't align with what we commonly consider to be good. He's a very terrible person and he knows it, yet also can't do anything to stop or prevent himself from being that way. He opposes Emiya Shirou, the protagonist, not because he has some greater overarching dream or wish, but because he genuinely wants to watch the world burn and Shirou's victory would prevent that selfish, mildly contemptible desire. The third route of the game, Heaven's Feel, displays this the most when he's nearly dead, yet still fights Shirou because he knows no other path than the one he's been on. He almost wins too, except he bleeds out halfway through the fight because of wounds he acquired earlier in the story.

[close]

He flips the idea of a sacred, holy priest on its head and showcases how no one is truly neutral in any story even if they're depicted that way, which is ultimately my favorite part about him. 



Is he the most well-written villain? Not by a long shot. Is he still likable despite being as close to true evil as humans can get? Yeah for sure. Does his role in the story do more than drive the plot forward? Yes, and that's something I find very important for an antagonist.

How about you guys? The questions above are a simple guideline for this thread, but you're by no means obligated to answer them all. Feel free to simply talk about your favorite villain in detail if that's what you desire 

[Bede]

Generally, I sort my favorite villains into 3 categories. "Love to hate" are villains that you like because they are entertaining to watch on screen. "Hate to hate" are villains that are excellent villains for how they are written; they are meant to make you despise them, and by God, do they accomplish that. Lastly, "hate to love" are villains that you sympathize with; antiheroes often also go in this category.

I'll give a personal example from each category.

For "love to hate," I simply have to put Bill Cipher. It's the cliche answer, but, what can I say? You can't out-do the doer when it comes to fun villains. He's an absolute delight to watch on-screen, and steals the show of any scene he's in, while simultaneously never losing his terrifying, villainous factor.



For hate to hate, I think Belos from The Owl House is the best example.

Spoiler

He's a serial child abuser and murderer, manipulator, and bigot. His goal is to LITERALLY murder everything that he doesn't understand. I think that he's VERY well-written, though. Of course, in a show all about a human being transported to a world of witches, what better to be the villain than someone literally from the ages of witch burning? He's so well-written as a manipulator, too. Every single scene that he has with Hunter sends shivers up my spine. It disgusts me so much to the point that I have to give props to the writers.

[close]

Most of my favorite villains, though, are from the hate to love category. I love me a sympathetic villain, to the point that I'm struggling to come up with only one. But, I have to stay true to my icon and website name, and say Macaque from LEGO Monkie Kid.

Spoiler

Macaque is my FAVORITE flavor of redeemed villain. "Yeah, he tried to kill us a bunch of times, but then we were on the same side for a bit and he hasn't tried to do it since, so it would be awkward to try to kill him now? He also got his heart broken by one of us in the distant past, and now the two of them sort of have a gay thing going on, so... Yeah. Anyway, now he shows up at random to help us sometimes. He likes anime also."

[close]

PERFECT specimen. No notes.

[wygolvillage]

Akio Ohtori from Revolutionary Girl Utena is such a vile person and one of the best written villains I've ever seen. Everything he does is so awful (probably too awful to mention in detail on this forum  ) but the show is really good at establishing why he's like this, and how he's a symptom of a larger societal disease, having been born into a system that exists to create more "princes" and "princesses", while his behaviour is never excused or justified by the narrative... Throughout the narrative he tries to resurrect the "virtuous prince" part of himself (Dios, who is held as an ideal of masculine gender roles throughout the show) by manipulating the students of the academy into the dueling game. And he fails to revive Dios over and over and over again, continually chasing this pointless goal. It's all part of the show's commentary on gender. It's very satisfying at the end when... (Spoilers for a 1997 anime)

Spoiler

Anthy, the survivor of his abuse, leaves him behind to rot in the gilded cage he's built for himself. "Playing prince in his cozy coffin" indeed! And, IDK where to fit this bit, but I like how in the movie he's more openly pathetic. He postures himself as a cool and suave manipulator in the show, but it really is all a front. AND HE GETS RUN OVER BY A LESBIAN CAR IN THE MOVIE HELL YEAH!!

[close]

It's all just very thoughtfully written, and he's so good at being a truly hateable villain.

I'm also a huge fan of Castlevania's take on Dracula, who is similarly stuck within a cycle of grief. At a certain point his quest to destroy humanity is more about the idea of vengeance than the actual person who he's avenging... Dying and reviving over and over again just to continue a pointless war because after all those centuries, without any other purpose in his "life", he has nothing else to define himself with. Without his quest for vengeance, he is nothing. This parallels nicely with the intergenerational trauma of the protagonists, the Belmonts, who are as bound to this cycle of violence as Dracula is.

The best part? Lisa, his dead wife? Her last words were to beg both her husband and son to not kill in her name. Only one of them took that to heart...

(oh god can you tell I like cyclical narratives)

[Yukari]

I cannot think of a straight-up villain... But currently, my favorite antagonist, and one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, is Rosa Ushiromiya from Umineko. It's a series full of demons and witches, yet she manages to be the scariest character to me (which is saying something, because the cast is very big). She's horrible in a way that is super possible irl. When other characters call her out, or bad things happen to her, it's very cathartic. I definitely have a "hate to hate" relationship with her. I find her more reprehensible than the actual murderers in the series.

Spoiler

Her entire thing is basically "what if an ableist had an autistic kid". I was impressed at how accurate her daughter, Maria, is portrayed, and then I found out the creator of Umineko used to work in civil services, specifically, welfare for children. Which explains why Rosa's interactions with Maria are so similar to my own experiences...

[close]

Anyway, I was browsing old Umineko fansites from the late 2000's/early 2010's, and I was not surprised to see that Rosa was the only Ushiromiya sister that didn't have a fanlisting. I'm only on Episode 4 (out of 8) and she gets exponentially worse with each iteration.

Umineko is an interesting experience because it's already harrowing to see the main character butt heads with Rosa, or see Maria try to cope with having Rosa as a mom... and then I remember, "they still need to deal with the murderous witches and demons".

[neoratz]

i was just trying to answer this question in a different thread on a DIFFERENT SITE the other day and i was really struggling... it's hard to nail down just one villain! i guess for now i will just have to pick one and add more to this thread later lol. one that sticks out to me is a certain character from Devilman... so don't read if you don't want the biggest Devilman spoiler EVER!!!

Spoiler

i really adore Ryo Asuka, though i'm not sure if he fits in this thread since he's kinda a good guy and a bad guy at the same time >_< the reveal that he's Satan was totally mindblowing to me. i love that he's still shown to be caring and compassionate... and that the reveal is even shocking to him! even in the end, his motives weren't from a place of wickedness... he recognized the demons as beings with their own right to live, and he realizes his mistake in fighting humans as God resets the Earth V_V

[close]

I cannot think of a straight-up villain... But currently, my favorite antagonist, and one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, is Rosa Ushiromiya from Umineko. It's a series full of demons and witches, yet she manages to be the scariest character to me (which is saying something, because the cast is very big). She's horrible in a way that is super possible irl. When other characters call her out, or bad things happen to her, it's very cathartic. I definitely have a "hate to hate" relationship with her. I find her more reprehensible than the actual murderers in the series.

Spoiler

Her entire thing is basically "what if an ableist had an autistic kid". I was impressed at how accurate her daughter, Maria, is portrayed, and then I found out the creator of Umineko used to work in civil services, specifically, welfare for children. Which explains why Rosa's interactions with Maria are so similar to my own experiences...

[close]

Spoiler

oh man, i'm glad i'm not the only one interpreting Maria as autistic! i'm currently reading Umineko as well and these are the EXACT feelings i've been getting. Rosa really is terrible, so i'm surprised the story still manages to make her interesting. i hate her but i like her but i hate her haha. i'm on episode 5 right now, i will be interested to hear more of your Umineko thoughts if you ever feel inclined to post more! (i noticed you have a liveblog on your site, which i will definitely be checking out ;D)

[close]

[plantovision]

I have always thought, and will forever think, that the best villain in all of fiction is... (spoiler for Portal 2)

Spoiler

...Wheatley. His entire personality is centered upon being built to be so immensely stupid that he can make a bad decision in any possible situation, and his voice acting sells it perfectly. Honorable mentions to Cave Johnson, but I don't think he counts as a villain.

[close]

[Alexandriarch]

My favorite villain is Ashram from Record of Lodoss War.
He is so awesome.  Ashram always does his best.  I don't even think he is a "bad guy", he just comes from an evil island & wants a better home for the other folks there. He should have been the one to defeat the "Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain"

[MrsMoe]

Personally, my favorite movie villain is Alex Delarge. Yeah, I get that he's completely disgusting and an irredeemable person, but that's exactly why he's my favorite. He's a fun character to analyze and pick apart psychology.

My other favorite villains include

- Pyramid Head from Silent Hill ( that is, if you consider him an antagonist)
- Monika from DDLC
- Light Yagami from Death Note
- Ryo Asuka from Devilman Crybaby
- Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls
- Aku from Samurai Jack
- Makima from Chainsaw Man
- Jack Torrence from The Shining

[Yukari]

@neoratz maria autism truthers!!

I do have many thoughts on Rosa Umineko (thank you for enabling me ). I touched on this in my liveblog but I fully believe that the Ushiromiyas are telling a story that would get toned down in a mainstream/triple-A game. Rosa in particular is a brand of disgusting that I've never seen in anything, ever. I mean sure, we got kinda close with Ghetsis and N from Pokemon. But I think Ryukishi07 was literally unrestricted in what he could write about, so we get a very detailed exploration of "how does a parent end up like this, how did their extended family allow them to end up like this, why aren't the other relatives doing anything to stop this".

Also I like that she named her company "Anti-Rosa".

[Grimlock]

i haven't watched all of the shows but a megatron that has always stood out to me is the transformers animated version! even without him being massive in comparison to most autobots in the show, he's always finding a way to pull the strings in situations where he's incapacitated

also shoutout to Animated's starscream, tom kenny does a great job voicing him and you really feel how big of an ego he has. it's always fun to see him get his comeuppance and he always has something up his sleeve.

Lockdown also stands out with his weird mixmatched design, his episodes are always a fun time with him being a bounty hunter that gets hired by both sides. he doesn't show up in the shows often but its fun that he both showed up in cyberverse (despite being characterized completely differently) and there was another character with a similarly mixmatched design in there

[t4yl0r]

my favorite villain is skitter, the protagonist of the webnovel worm.



^ her. The Bug Girl. she's very badass. she is also the manifestation of a cockroach. one day in this girl's life produces enough trauma to feed a small town. she gets steamrolled constantly by stronger opponents, but gets back up each and every time. every single one of her victories are pyrrhic. this happens to her so often that she doesn't really trust a decisive win. she rationalizes and justifies herself so much that it's hard to not root for her, even if you know what she does is objectively wrong.

most of all, though, she can't stand inaction. she always has to be doing something. even if other people can do it, even if it's impulsive, she can't just be alone with her thoughts. if she's sitting still, she disassociates into her insects. she does so much morally dubious stuff on impulse because she can't stand the alternative.

i could say a LOT about her but i can't formulate my thoughts right now. to the ppl reading this pleeease read worm. it is seriously a good piece of fiction. it starts out rough and has a lot of Weird moments, but it has the best characterization and worldbuilding i've ever seen from any media. i would form a better elevator pitch but as of right now i am Exhausted.

[owlhari]

i will get my lesbianism out of the way and say gladOS from the portal games. her interactions with chell are either hilarious or sad (sometimes both at once) and there's a lot of potential characterization implied by her narrative that i like to read gay fanfic about

various steam powered giraffe characters like the becile family, the astronaut, and the necrostar are also great villains, although their exact placement on the "villain" spectrum varies.

[Badgermein]

I dunno if this villain is my favorite but he's always kind of stood out to me for some reason or another. Sykes from Oliver and company has always looked kinda of scary to me at least, but looking back, his character is dressed a LOT more like an accountant than a loan shark. Oliver and Company was one of those movies I enjoyed on the DVR when I was younger,  the musical numbers were pretty good, and the animation/characters always made me laugh. One thing that will stand out to the casual viewer of this movie is that

Spoiler

the death scenes of the villains are unusually BRUTAL. As in, there is no ambiguity to whether or not they die. There is no sudden redemption for the villains at the end. The two bad guy dogs land on the third rail of a subway line and get electrocuted. Sykes himself gets killed without question by an oncoming subway train.

[close]

I guess in reality, that's the main reason why that villain stands out to me so much, haha. Sure there's one or two tense moments with Sykes in this film, but admittedly he's not the MOST interesting villain. 

[PainterFight]

@t4yl0r I hope I pinged this right! Terribly sorry but I am new to reading Worm and I do not want to see spoilers. I wanted to read it completely blind. Can you edit your post on the main antagonist on a spoiler?

Spoiler

Like this?

[close]

[creaturefeature]

I got say I do find Loki interesting as a character. Althought he´s been  kind throught a journey lately? He starts off with some good intentions (like Thor is just not ready to be Kings at first) then falls into full villany.

Spoiler

Then reconciles with his brother and ends up doing an heroic thing?

But then the Thanos thing happens and now there is an alternative version of himself that didn´t die but is also going through his own redemption arc? Wild. Dunno if he even classifies as a villain anymore or just character who started off evil but changed over time.

[close]