In terms of character archetypes that I love, none can match villains as far as I'm concerned. They're intimidating, they're sympathetic, they're monstrous, they're over-the-top, and they're absolutely wonderful.
As such I am giving you my personal top ten villains from various media.
Now please keep in mind that this list will be composed of characters from a variety of different media, from video games, live-action films, cartoons and so on. Also this list does not mean that I think your personal favourites are any less valid, they're just MY personal favourites, OK?
Also, this will contain a number of spoilers.
With that said, onto the list:
10: Sovereign, from Mass Effect.
I am a huge fan of the Mass Effect games and they provide us with a great number of antagonists to choose from. But by far the best of those selections is Sovereign, the Reaper. The reason why it's on the list is because the idea of what he is and what his goal is just terrifies me. A member of a race that's millions of years old, who has come and gone, cleansing our galaxy of all life only to let it grow so they can do the same thing over and over. That's a scary concept. Not only that but the fact that his kind views us as nothing important is also rather intimidating. That they look on us and see only insects. Even a fleet of all major races of the galaxy was only a minor obstacle for him.
9: The Firebird, from Fantasia 2000.
Having grown up with Disney films throughout my childhood, I knew that one of the Disney villains would have to make in on the list. It took a while for me to narrow my choices until I came down to either Chernabog from the first Fantasia, or the Firebird. Ultimately I chose the Firebird because unlike Chernabog, it DOESN'T get beaten. Chernabog retreats when sunlight and church bells approach. The Firebird doesn't die or get beaten, at least in no way that we see. It was a force of nature. A creature of pure destruction whose only action during it's brief appearance was to cause the death of every living thing in it's path. And that leaves quite an impression.
8: Palpatine, from the Star Wars films.
Oh I can hear the fanboys crying now. I knew that choosing this guy over the traditional villain favourite of Darth Vader would be controversial but that's how I honsestly feel. Looking over all six of the Star Wars films I can honestly say that this guy was the more effective villain. He didn't really participate that much in the original trilogy but he was far more effective than Vader precisely BECAUSE of that small role. You hear people refer to him all the time, this far away figure who controls this mighty empire. We see a great villain in Vader but the Emperor controls him, even from afar. He was even one of the few characters I liked in the prequels too. He manages to overthrow an entire galaxy's government and wipe out thousands of his enemies through his words alone, and that alone makes him more than worthy for this list.
7: Starscream, from Transformers.
I practically grew up with Transformers so you can probably blame nostalgia for this choice. Even though he wasn't the main bad guy in that show I truly felt that he was the more effective villain. Most of the villains in this show had little to no motivation for their actions and Starscream was no different. However I put him above the other villains because his goals were often in conflict with that of all other on his side. He frequently tried to usurp power away from Megatron, the leader of his faction and was frequently unsuccessful. He was pummelled for his insolence and even dies a few times. Yet still he kept coming back. He kept his eyes on the prize the whole time. You just have to admire tenacity and dedication like that. Even when the series was rebooted who knows how many times this character remains the most consistent in every incarnation. Guess I'm not the only one who likes him.
6: Doctor Octopus, from Spiderman 2.
Often regarded as one of comic's great villains, Dr Ock as he's frequently known, has appeared in almost all incarnations of the Spiderman franchise. But by far his greatest appearance was in Spiderman 2. Alfred Molina does a wonderful job in this portrayal showing not only a tragic villain, but also a jovial and dedicated scientist and husband, all in one character. This villains gets a spot on this countdown mostly because not only is he well-performed, but when you watch the film you honestly wish he WASN'T a villain. We see his life with his wife and how people respected him, all before seeing all that taken away in a single moment. Even then he continues his work in spite of how society views him. All the while you thinking to yourself "don't do it!". But alas, he does.
5: The Joker, from the Dark Knight.
Yeah you all knew this was coming. Of course Heath Ledger's performance was great and really set this version apart from every other incarnation of this character but what really makes this villain stand out for me was his unpredictability. Many other versions of the Joker have been erratic at times but this one was so chaotic and so difficult to understand that it was that lack of understanding which frightened me. I could not for the life of me get to grips with this character's motivations. We get some semblance of backstory but they all contradict themselves. The Joker lies about almost everything. Abused child, rejected husband, agent of chaos. All these ideas are put forth but it's like he's mocking those ideas. Making fun of the idea that such erratic behaviour could be explained away like that. A character who does such terrible thing for seemingly no other reason than the fact that he decided then and there to do them is in my view, a terrifying idea.
4: The Daleks, from Doctor Who.
I'm ca huge fan of Doctor who and these guys make fantastic villains in my eyes. What they are may not be very scary or intimidating, I mean how scary can a giant pepper pot with an egg whisk and a toilet plunger be? But what makes them good villains is not what they look like but what they represent. They are a race whose sole purpose in life is to eliminate any form of like that is not themselves. Anything not Dalek is the enemy in their eyes. Even their own kind have been known to kill themselves when they thought they were different to the others of their race. They are racism incarnate. The physical manifestation of hatred and prejudice. I think that more than qualifies them to be on this list.
3: Lord Shen, from Kung Fu Panda 2.
I had another dilemma for this one. Tai Lung or Shen? I chose Shen because in many ways he's the perfect parallel for our main hero. The main protagonist, Po, was taught in the first film that "there is no secret ingredient", that you didn't need some special scroll or outside thing to help you be a better person. But with Shen, it's the opposite. He develops a weapon to conquer all of China. He is described by his family's soothsayer as having a cup "that has no bottom". Shen is a character with a hole in his heart. He needs THINGS to be content. Not only that but he has a far more sympathetic backstory than Tai Lung did. While the audience can understand Tai Lung's sense of betrayal, we can understand Shen's better. The action's he takes before the story in the film, while vile and despicable, could be considered understandable when viewed through his eyes. He's a character you sympathise but also hate at the same time.
2: Sauron, from The Lord of the Rings.
Like with Palpatine, Sauron works as a villain because although he does many evil things, they're all spoken of from afar. The character would get together and talk about this guy and his plans from half a world away, yet always do so carefully just in case he hears them. This is a character who could not be stopped, even by death. In fact he IS dead for the entirety of the books, or rather near death and chained to the living world through the ring which was cut from him. He was not the most powerful character in Tolkien's world nor was he the ultimate evil of the wider story of Middle Earth, but he was devious. He was a liar and a seducer. A person who could convince entire armies to worship and serve him because of how well he knew people. So great was his power that even being around a single gold ring of his making could turn men evil. This was a character to be feared, even when dead.
1: Satan, from Paradise Lost.
Yep, it's the devil. When people think of evil, this is usually the guy they think of. Satan, or Lucifer if you prefer, is considered by many as the incarnation of all that is wrong in the world. There are versions of this character in almost every major religion in the world. The version written for this book though actually comes across as a sympathetic character. A man cast down from heaven along with his followers because of his failed rebellion against God. Now sentenced to Hell, the only thing he has to look forward to is an eternity of misery, made even more bitter because of the knowledge that he doomed not only himself but also his loyal followers, who remained faithful to him in spite of his failure. We see Satan's story from his point of view and in doing so it's not hard to see why he does the things he does. We even see him feel regret and sympathy for tricking Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, knowing full well that doing so will doom all future generations to toil and suffering, but does so anyway because it is his only chance of revenge against the one who banished him. He commits terrible things, unforgivable things, evil things. But what makes this character the number one villain as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that he KNOWS it.
As such I am giving you my personal top ten villains from various media.
Now please keep in mind that this list will be composed of characters from a variety of different media, from video games, live-action films, cartoons and so on. Also this list does not mean that I think your personal favourites are any less valid, they're just MY personal favourites, OK?
Also, this will contain a number of spoilers.
With that said, onto the list:
10: Sovereign, from Mass Effect.
I am a huge fan of the Mass Effect games and they provide us with a great number of antagonists to choose from. But by far the best of those selections is Sovereign, the Reaper. The reason why it's on the list is because the idea of what he is and what his goal is just terrifies me. A member of a race that's millions of years old, who has come and gone, cleansing our galaxy of all life only to let it grow so they can do the same thing over and over. That's a scary concept. Not only that but the fact that his kind views us as nothing important is also rather intimidating. That they look on us and see only insects. Even a fleet of all major races of the galaxy was only a minor obstacle for him.
9: The Firebird, from Fantasia 2000.
Having grown up with Disney films throughout my childhood, I knew that one of the Disney villains would have to make in on the list. It took a while for me to narrow my choices until I came down to either Chernabog from the first Fantasia, or the Firebird. Ultimately I chose the Firebird because unlike Chernabog, it DOESN'T get beaten. Chernabog retreats when sunlight and church bells approach. The Firebird doesn't die or get beaten, at least in no way that we see. It was a force of nature. A creature of pure destruction whose only action during it's brief appearance was to cause the death of every living thing in it's path. And that leaves quite an impression.
8: Palpatine, from the Star Wars films.
Oh I can hear the fanboys crying now. I knew that choosing this guy over the traditional villain favourite of Darth Vader would be controversial but that's how I honsestly feel. Looking over all six of the Star Wars films I can honestly say that this guy was the more effective villain. He didn't really participate that much in the original trilogy but he was far more effective than Vader precisely BECAUSE of that small role. You hear people refer to him all the time, this far away figure who controls this mighty empire. We see a great villain in Vader but the Emperor controls him, even from afar. He was even one of the few characters I liked in the prequels too. He manages to overthrow an entire galaxy's government and wipe out thousands of his enemies through his words alone, and that alone makes him more than worthy for this list.
7: Starscream, from Transformers.
I practically grew up with Transformers so you can probably blame nostalgia for this choice. Even though he wasn't the main bad guy in that show I truly felt that he was the more effective villain. Most of the villains in this show had little to no motivation for their actions and Starscream was no different. However I put him above the other villains because his goals were often in conflict with that of all other on his side. He frequently tried to usurp power away from Megatron, the leader of his faction and was frequently unsuccessful. He was pummelled for his insolence and even dies a few times. Yet still he kept coming back. He kept his eyes on the prize the whole time. You just have to admire tenacity and dedication like that. Even when the series was rebooted who knows how many times this character remains the most consistent in every incarnation. Guess I'm not the only one who likes him.
6: Doctor Octopus, from Spiderman 2.
Often regarded as one of comic's great villains, Dr Ock as he's frequently known, has appeared in almost all incarnations of the Spiderman franchise. But by far his greatest appearance was in Spiderman 2. Alfred Molina does a wonderful job in this portrayal showing not only a tragic villain, but also a jovial and dedicated scientist and husband, all in one character. This villains gets a spot on this countdown mostly because not only is he well-performed, but when you watch the film you honestly wish he WASN'T a villain. We see his life with his wife and how people respected him, all before seeing all that taken away in a single moment. Even then he continues his work in spite of how society views him. All the while you thinking to yourself "don't do it!". But alas, he does.
5: The Joker, from the Dark Knight.
Yeah you all knew this was coming. Of course Heath Ledger's performance was great and really set this version apart from every other incarnation of this character but what really makes this villain stand out for me was his unpredictability. Many other versions of the Joker have been erratic at times but this one was so chaotic and so difficult to understand that it was that lack of understanding which frightened me. I could not for the life of me get to grips with this character's motivations. We get some semblance of backstory but they all contradict themselves. The Joker lies about almost everything. Abused child, rejected husband, agent of chaos. All these ideas are put forth but it's like he's mocking those ideas. Making fun of the idea that such erratic behaviour could be explained away like that. A character who does such terrible thing for seemingly no other reason than the fact that he decided then and there to do them is in my view, a terrifying idea.
4: The Daleks, from Doctor Who.
I'm ca huge fan of Doctor who and these guys make fantastic villains in my eyes. What they are may not be very scary or intimidating, I mean how scary can a giant pepper pot with an egg whisk and a toilet plunger be? But what makes them good villains is not what they look like but what they represent. They are a race whose sole purpose in life is to eliminate any form of like that is not themselves. Anything not Dalek is the enemy in their eyes. Even their own kind have been known to kill themselves when they thought they were different to the others of their race. They are racism incarnate. The physical manifestation of hatred and prejudice. I think that more than qualifies them to be on this list.
3: Lord Shen, from Kung Fu Panda 2.
I had another dilemma for this one. Tai Lung or Shen? I chose Shen because in many ways he's the perfect parallel for our main hero. The main protagonist, Po, was taught in the first film that "there is no secret ingredient", that you didn't need some special scroll or outside thing to help you be a better person. But with Shen, it's the opposite. He develops a weapon to conquer all of China. He is described by his family's soothsayer as having a cup "that has no bottom". Shen is a character with a hole in his heart. He needs THINGS to be content. Not only that but he has a far more sympathetic backstory than Tai Lung did. While the audience can understand Tai Lung's sense of betrayal, we can understand Shen's better. The action's he takes before the story in the film, while vile and despicable, could be considered understandable when viewed through his eyes. He's a character you sympathise but also hate at the same time.
2: Sauron, from The Lord of the Rings.
Like with Palpatine, Sauron works as a villain because although he does many evil things, they're all spoken of from afar. The character would get together and talk about this guy and his plans from half a world away, yet always do so carefully just in case he hears them. This is a character who could not be stopped, even by death. In fact he IS dead for the entirety of the books, or rather near death and chained to the living world through the ring which was cut from him. He was not the most powerful character in Tolkien's world nor was he the ultimate evil of the wider story of Middle Earth, but he was devious. He was a liar and a seducer. A person who could convince entire armies to worship and serve him because of how well he knew people. So great was his power that even being around a single gold ring of his making could turn men evil. This was a character to be feared, even when dead.
1: Satan, from Paradise Lost.
Yep, it's the devil. When people think of evil, this is usually the guy they think of. Satan, or Lucifer if you prefer, is considered by many as the incarnation of all that is wrong in the world. There are versions of this character in almost every major religion in the world. The version written for this book though actually comes across as a sympathetic character. A man cast down from heaven along with his followers because of his failed rebellion against God. Now sentenced to Hell, the only thing he has to look forward to is an eternity of misery, made even more bitter because of the knowledge that he doomed not only himself but also his loyal followers, who remained faithful to him in spite of his failure. We see Satan's story from his point of view and in doing so it's not hard to see why he does the things he does. We even see him feel regret and sympathy for tricking Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, knowing full well that doing so will doom all future generations to toil and suffering, but does so anyway because it is his only chance of revenge against the one who banished him. He commits terrible things, unforgivable things, evil things. But what makes this character the number one villain as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that he KNOWS it.
