BLARGH! I IS EVIL!: Villains who were not well fleshed out

[Captain Pancake]

Sovereign from Mass Effect. When asked why he's doing it, he responds that his motives are too complex for puny Commander Shepard to comprehend. Kind of redeemed with Saren, however.

Sovereign was one of the Reapers. That was his reason. They destroy humanity every time it reaches a certain peak, there could be a million reasons for this. Gurren Lagann comes to mind even.

I know he was a Reaper, but he gave no reason for the Reapers to even be exterminating organic live. He just said "Oh, you wouldn't understand."

All I'm saying is that Mass Effect 2 better offer a damn good explanation for all that noise.

(Though it'll probably amount to some crap about time travel and killing Commander Sheppard before he can do something heroic and/or cartoonishly evil)

either that or the reapers were invented by *shock horror* the geth. but back in time...

 

[Akai Shizuku]

The Halo villains, any villain in the BattleTech franchise, (includes the MechAssault series [loved every game]), Painkiller's villains (kind of fits for the game, though)...


Oh, and Nintendogs.

 

[The Ultimate 2]

Hang on, there's just one guy that seems to be missing from this forum, why hasn't anybody mentioned the Monarch from the Venture Brothers? I mean sure, Rusty Venture is a total dick and that he is dragging his family name through the mud but still, why is the Monarch always trying to kill him? WHY? What did Dr. Venture ever do to the Monarch in the first place?

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

\
Give a villain a backstory, and you run the risk of him/her becoming relateable.
If someone is relateable, then they're probably likeable.

I have to disagree. I like villains that have a back story, especially a back story that have a part that the villain could have either chose good or evil. that really makes a villain for me. The relateableness of villains gives the story more than just a good vs. evil motif, but it makes it deeper, saying "Yeah, this man is horrible and evil, but you could have made the same choices as him, and became a villain as well."

As shitty as the Starwars Prequel trilogy was, Anakin's choices made it almost worthwhile because of this.

I probably should have said "human" instead of "likeable".
When making a villain, most writers want to write a complete monster. Making the villain relateable makes them human.
That's what I was trying to say.

Buh. I hope any of that made sense. I was tired enough when I posted that first bit.

 

[-Seraph-]

Kefka (FF6/FF3):

Okay, he's an evil clown who murders people for shits and giggles and then helps reduce the world to smoking ash, laughing like a loon the entire time. A great villain with some fun dialogue to be sure but the question remains: Who is this guy? Why is he doing this? Does he just want to be a god, why? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I just never understood his motivation.

Did he just hate people who didn't like Cirque du Solei?

Kefka is actually explained more when you talk to the imperial soldiers in Vector after it was destroyed by the Esper attack. Kefka was a very high ranking imperial general, Ghestals second hand man. While the empire was developing their magitek power, they tried to experiment with infusing humans with magic to make them stronger and well...use magic. Cid discovered a means to which he can infuse people with the power of magic and needed a test subject since the process was untested. Kefka volunteered to become the first magitec knight and it turned out to be a success at first. Like mentioned earlier, the process was still in it's early stages and there were side effects. The magic infusion, while giving Kefka magical abilities, wore away at his mind and he slowly degenerated into a lunatic and eventually snapped all together. So he was a Great general turned insane from a faulty experiment which they then perfected with Celes. Ghestal, after witnessing kefkas mental break, kept Kefka around and also appointed him position of court mage/ambassador since the experiment was still a minor success (boy did that backfire later).

There is a nice little bit about what his childhood was like on Final Fantasy wiki, but it's not stated if it's canon or not. But everything in that paragraph is canon and true. Kefka was a sane and rather respectable person at first, probably like General Leo, but the magitek infusion ate away at his mind until he was nothing more than a lunatic.

So yea, he's doing it all for shits and giggles because he doesn't care about anything and the second there is opportunity to grab power he takes it. When you are totally insane, there is no need for motivation, you do things simply because you can, regardless of the consequences.

 

[HT_Black]

Lord Lucien of Fable II. He is the most ambiguously evil villain I've ever seen. Okay...you want to end chaos and impose order...you want to bring your wife and kidddy back to life...you shot an annoying b**ch of an NPC and threw my evil douchebag self out the window...honestly, he seems more like a champion of justice, given what I did over the course of that game.

I just don't get him.

 

[Wildrow12]

Kefka (FF6/FF3):

Okay, he's an evil clown who murders people for shits and giggles and then helps reduce the world to smoking ash, laughing like a loon the entire time. A great villain with some fun dialogue to be sure but the question remains: Who is this guy? Why is he doing this? Does he just want to be a god, why? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I just never understood his motivation.

Did he just hate people who didn't like Cirque du Solei?

Kefka is actually explained more when you talk to the imperial soldiers in Vector after it was destroyed by the Esper attack. Kefka was a very high ranking imperial general, Ghestals second hand man. While the empire was developing their magitek power, they tried to experiment with infusing humans with magic to make them stronger and well...use magic. Cid discovered a means to which he can infuse people with the power of magic and needed a test subject since the process was untested. Kefka volunteered to become the first magitec knight and it turned out to be a success at first. Like mentioned earlier, the process was still in it's early stages and there were side effects. The magic infusion, while giving Kefka magical abilities, wore away at his mind and he slowly degenerated into a lunatic and eventually snapped all together. So he was a Great general turned insane from a faulty experiment which they then perfected with Celes. Ghestal, after witnessing kefkas mental break, kept Kefka around and also appointed him position of court mage/ambassador since the experiment was still a minor success (boy did that backfire later).

There is a nice little bit about what his childhood was like on Final Fantasy wiki, but it's not stated if it's canon or not. But everything in that paragraph is canon and true. Kefka was a sane and rather respectable person at first, probably like General Leo, but the magitek infusion ate away at his mind until he was nothing more than a lunatic.

OOOH! Thanks for the info!

So we've basically got a case of Prototype Super Soldier Syndrome (PSSS)? Wow, that actually does make Kefka more compelling as a foe!

 

[Golden Gryphon]

Any Bond villain.

Seriously they're all just like, "POWER!", "MONEY!" "MORE POWER!", "MORE MONEY!"

And all stupid as hell, with their overly elaborate deathtraps designed purely for Bond to escape from. In fact I think all the villains are jst intentionally incompetent just so that Bond can look good beating them.

Be fair. Replace POWER with SEX and you basically have Bond's motivation. They aren't very deep books/films.

 

[mangus]

ANYONE in lost planet. god damn, why are they describing the second one as "much anticipated" when the first was SOOOO BAAAAD?

 

[SebZero]

Ah I see.

Sorry, I just assume anyone with Lelouche as their avatar has hopes of conquering the world and creating their own empire whilest wearing what appears to be very snazzy pope robes.

No, no, it's alright.
I have that as my plan as well - except for one thing.

I would keep the school-outfit. I prefer it to the robes.

Are you also going to force your best friend to wear that outfit Suzaku had in the end?

 

[Seydaman]

Any Bond villain.

Seriously they're all just like, "POWER!", "MONEY!" "MORE POWER!", "MORE MONEY!"

And all stupid as hell, with their overly elaborate deathtraps designed purely for Bond to escape from. In fact I think all the villains are jst intentionally incompetent just so that Bond can look good beating them.

this, xD money power!!

 

[blaze96]

Sovereign from Mass Effect. When asked why he's doing it, he responds that his motives are too complex for puny Commander Shepard to comprehend. Kind of redeemed with Saren, however.

Sovereign was one of the Reapers. That was his reason. They destroy humanity every time it reaches a certain peak, there could be a million reasons for this. Gurren Lagann comes to mind even.

I know he was a Reaper, but he gave no reason for the Reapers to even be exterminating organic live. He just said "Oh, you wouldn't understand."

All I'm saying is that Mass Effect 2 better offer a damn good explanation for all that noise.

(Though it'll probably amount to some crap about time travel and killing Commander Sheppard before he can do something heroic and/or cartoonishly evil)

either that or the reapers were invented by *shock horror* the geth. but back in time...

Nah my money is on the Reapers doing this because they need the tech. Once the species reaches the point they can build their own mass relays they are about where the Reapers are (remember they built the relays and the citadel). The reapers come in because they are at a point where the technology is easily upgradable to a level they can use, and is different. Every species come up with different forms of weaponry and ship design which means different parts. They are varied just enough that all the parts are different, but developed along the lines the reapers want so they can adapt it easily. I guess I'm saying that it is a kind of robotic version of genetic diversity mixed in with basic repairs to a ship. I'm more than likely wrong though, but it seems like a good answer to me.

 

[SebZero]

No, she likes to wear corsets and the like.
Also she can't fight.
OR SPIN

Can't spin?!? Your empire will crumble in a matter of seconds!!!

 

[Tri Force95]

I'm still wondering WHY Jack of Blades wanted to do all that shit in Fable 1. I mean, fuck, he wants to ruin the world? WHAT'S THE PURPOSE OF DOING THAT?!

But wait, all he wants is the blade of aeons, which will give him tremendous power, does that really mean he's evil?.. It's not like he'll ruin the world by doing that..

OH MAN!

"You never know what someone will do with power, until you give it to them." -Harry Dresden, from the Dresden Files

 

[SebZero]

I'll fund an evil government supersoldier program that will invent spinning bodyguards.

Isn't this thread full of reasons why a super soldier program is a bad idea?

Kefka. Prototype. Gears. Umbrella Corp.

The only time that ended well was with Captain America.

 

[Blackdoom]

Any villain from Power Rangers.