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

[Wildrow12]

Folks, a confession: I love villains. They tend to be the most interesting, the most entertaining and the most fun characters to watch in virtually any medium.

Now, usually one would expect that characters who are expected to carry a story must have a powerful motivation or some back story that explains precisely why they decided to become dicks to everyone.

But as we all know that just isn't the case sometimes. Two names come immediately to mind when I think about villains who aren't as fleshed out as they could be.

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?

Fire Lord Ozai (Avatar: The Last Airbender):

Now this one was disappointing. In a show lauded for it's rich characterizations and deep backstory (relatively speaking) we get a figure who is talked about but never shown completely. He is wreathed in fire, spoken of in whispers, and generally treated like he was Sauron from LOTR. After several seasons we finally see him...and he really didn't seem that impressive. But hey, at least now we'll get to know what he's about right? We'll learn what his evil plan is and why he's doing this, yeah?

Nope. He calls himself "The Phoenix Lord" (eliciting more than a few Jean Grey jokes from yours truly) and just tries to take over the world. No style. No meaning to his madness.

That and he gets bopped in one episode. ONE EPISODE! The dude is supposed to be a fire wielding engine of destruction and he gets slammed in 30 minutes!


*sigh*

How about you all? Any villains that you think could have used a little more back story or motivation?

 

[Hawk of Battle]

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.

 

[NeedAUserName]

The mutants from the Hills Have Eyes... I only know the names of the ones from the sequel (remake) because of the credits...

 

[oliveira8]

Ultimecia from Final Fantasy 8.

"I shall compress Time and destroy all life, for no good reason at all! MUHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!"

 

[[Cold-Shoulder]]

Goldman from "House of the dead 2" I still have no idea why he wanted to destroy the human race but he's still my favorite villain

 

[SamuelT]

Galbatorix from Eragon.

"Why would he do such a thing?"

"Because he is evil."

Yay for one-dimensional characters!

Spoiler: Rant about Galbatorix's alledged evilness

I mean, come on! The guy's never seen, and everyone says he's evil incarnate. For all we know he isn't!

Let's look at his evil deeds:

1, Kill the Dragon Riders.
So? They were 'corrupt and fought amongst themselves.' All he did was join in on the fun, be the best there is, and win. Now he's the bad guy and mad to boot? Riiiight.

2, The Empire is evil and bad, and war rages.
The war the REBELS STARTED. Without them, Galby could go and manage his Empire without distractions.

3, He killed dragons and enslaved them!
Comes with killing the dragon-riders. Why let that power go to waist when you can do some good with it after you slew them in a fit of madness. Seems pretty good to me, as would any normal human being.

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

... The majority of them?
The problem with most people is that they don't want their villains to be likeable.
I mean, they're the villains. The bad guys. You don't want people rooting for your bad guys, do you?
Give a villain a backstory, and you run the risk of him/her becoming relateable.
If someone is relateable, then they're probably likeable.

See, this is why you should always make sure you love all your characters.
If you write an antagonist you don't like, then he/she's not going to be very deep.
One of the biggest problems in all fiction, in my opinion.
Especially the Bible

Disclaimer: I am not an anti-theist, nor am I in any way against Christianity. It was just far too easy to resist.

 

[Mad Maniac with axe-firing chainsaw]

The whole of Umbrella Corp. Why are you doing this? Since when did it seem like a good idea to research zombies?

"Yeah, we'll totally be able to turn a profit on killing half a city. Project approved. So, my fellow board members (yes-men) are we in agreement?"

"Yes!"

Makes you wonder who would want to work for umbrella. The job security (in all senses) must be terrible!

 

[Wildrow12]

Goldman from "House of the dead 2" I still have no idea why he wanted to destroy the human race but he's still my favorite villain

I think he just wanted to scare people so badly that they would scream out insane gibberish.

Example:

"Don't come! Don't come!"

 

[j0z]

All of them, especially in video games.

Galbatorix from Eragon.

"Why would he do such a thing?"

"Because he is evil."

Yay for one-dimensional characters!

Spoiler: Rant about Galbatorix's alledged evilness

I mean, come on! The guy's never seen, and everyone says he's evil incarnate. For all we know he isn't!

Let's look at his evil deeds:

1, Kill the Dragon Riders.
So? They were 'corrupt and fought amongst themselves.' All he did was join in on the fun, be the best there is, and win. Now he's the bad guy and mad to boot? Riiiight.

2, The Empire is evil and bad, and war rages.
The war the REBELS STARTED. Without them, Galby could go and manage his Empire without distractions.

3, He killed dragons and enslaved them!
Comes with killing the dragon-riders. Why let that power go to waist when you can do some good with it after you slew them in a fit of madness. Seems pretty good to me, as would any normal human being.

Don't forget the taxes!
That go to fund the war...
That the rebels started...

Agreed.
We shall fight against the empire because of the taxes that they levied against us so they could defend themselves!

The Galactic Empire also. I saw Darth Vader kill like 2 people (not counting pilots he killed during the battle of the death star) He killed one during interrogation, and he killed Obi Wan.
He also killed the Emperor, but he was a "bad guy" anyway.
What exactly was the Empire doing that was so bad?
It was ruled by a Sith sure, but the only atrocity I saw was the destruction of Alderaan. All other incidents can be attributed to the state of war between the rebels and their sympathizersand the Empire

 

[Avatar Roku]

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.

 

[Wildrow12]

... The majority of them?
The problem with most people is that they don't want their villains to be likeable.
I mean, they're the villains. The bad guys. You don't want people rooting for your bad guys, do you?
Give a villain a backstory, and you run the risk of him/her becoming relateable.
If someone is relateable, then they're probably likeable.

See, this is why you should always make sure you love all your characters.
If you write an antagonist you don't like, then he/she's not going to be very deep.
One of the biggest problems in all fiction, in my opinion.
Especially the Bible

Disclaimer: I am not an anti-theist, nor am I in any way against Christianity. It was just far too easy to resist.

Yeah, but there is a difference between making a villain well-rounded and making a card-board cut out that the protagonists knock down. Sometimes having a villain that we can relate to can be a good thing. Why? Because the most frightening or compelling villains are those who are reflections of ourselves through a cracked mirror.

(Protip: I hate to tell you this, but that last line before the disclaimer? Kinda dickish there, friend. I know you were trying to be funny and/or clever, but it just didn't pan out.)

 

[teutonicman]

Cobra Commander.... yes you want to take over the world with the most elaborate and over the top scheme possible, yet he leaves flaws the size of his ego in his plans. It's a shame to because he's a leader of a highly organized terrorist group that has a snake theme... that just awesome.

 

[Wildrow12]

The whole of Umbrella Corp. Why are you doing this? Since when did it seem like a good idea to research zombies?

"Yeah, we'll totally be able to turn a profit on killing half a city. Project approved. So, my fellow board members (yes-men) are we in agreement?"

"Yes!"

Makes you wonder who would want to work for umbrella. The job security (in all senses) must be terrible!

I've always wondered what they were planning to do AFTER they triggered the zombie apocalypse? I mean, that damn things don't really take orders from anyone. Even Nemesis (which was supposed to be a surgical strike weapon, mind you) just killed everything in sight.

 

[SebZero]

The whole of Umbrella Corp. Why are you doing this? Since when did it seem like a good idea to research zombies?

Well technically they were doing it to create biological weapons, although I do agree their business plan is idiotic.

OT, I thought the Locusts froms Gears have a pretty lame motivation.

"You humans kill each other? Then that seems ample reason for us to kill you as well! Muhuhahahah!!!"

T_T

 

[Jennacide]

Ultimecia from Final Fantasy 8.

"I shall compress Time and destroy all life, for no good reason at all! MUHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!"

This. Kefka was fleshed out more than you may think. He was just a sociopath that wanted to ruin the world. Ultimecia LITERALLY came from right field and became the final boss. STUPID.

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.

OT, I thought the Locusts froms Gears have a pretty lame motivation.

"You humans kill each other? Then that seems ample reason for us to kill you as well! Muhuhahahah!!!"

T_T

Uh, what? It was never implied that was thier reasoning in the first. They deemed the planet thiers and wanted it back. In GoW2 you learn that the Queen was guiding them, and that the military and Marcus's father somehow had a hand in what is going on. Botched super science project? Most likely.

 

[Avatar Roku]

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.

Yeah, Sovereign struck me as a guy who was just in it "For the Evulz."

Saren at least had a good reason for what he was doing.
Even if he was an ass.

Yeah. I get the feeling that The Reapers' motives will be more fleshed out in the sequels though.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

MaxTheReaper. It needs work.