Villains you felt sympathy for, but felt you weren't meant to?

[uneek]

Syndrome of The Incredibles. Incredibly smart, a whiz of technology, and is beaten by dumb muscle.
Amon of Legend of Korra. The fact that his faction was in the moral right (fighting for equal rights to end the oppression of the second class citizens) kinda helps in this regard.

You do remember that Syndrome killed hundreds of superheroes and tried to pass himself as a hero by solving a problem he created.

Also, Amon's plan for equalization involved getting rid of everyone's bending. That's like if gay rights activists tried to make everyone gay.

 

[him over there]

Syndrome of The Incredibles. Incredibly smart, a whiz of technology, and is beaten by dumb muscle.
Amon of Legend of Korra. The fact that his faction was in the moral right (fighting for equal rights to end the oppression of the second class citizens) kinda helps in this regard.

You do remember that Syndrome killed hundreds of superheroes and tried to pass himself as a hero by solving a problem he created.

Also, Amon's plan for equalization involved getting rid of everyone's bending. That's like if gay rights activists tried to make everyone gay.

Amon equalizing people isn't perfectly comnparable to something like gay rights. Being a bender means you have power over those who don't. You're essentially a force of nature. Regardless of whether it's natural or not powers like that are powers over other people, he wants to get rid of them so nobody can harm anybody with it. The electric gloves are a parallel to guns which in the west were known as the great equalizer because it meant that fights wouldn't be sided towards whoever had the most physical strength. Any body could use a gun but some people don't have the physique for fighting.

 

[uneek]

Syndrome of The Incredibles. Incredibly smart, a whiz of technology, and is beaten by dumb muscle.
Amon of Legend of Korra. The fact that his faction was in the moral right (fighting for equal rights to end the oppression of the second class citizens) kinda helps in this regard.

You do remember that Syndrome killed hundreds of superheroes and tried to pass himself as a hero by solving a problem he created.

Also, Amon's plan for equalization involved getting rid of everyone's bending. That's like if gay rights activists tried to make everyone gay.

Amon equalizing people isn't perfectly comnparable to something like gay rights. Being a bender means you have power over those who don't. You're essentially a force of nature. Regardless of whether it's natural or not powers like that are powers over other people, he wants to get rid of them so nobody can harm anybody with it. The electric gloves are a parallel to guns which in the west were known as the great equalizer because it meant that fights wouldn't be sided towards whoever had the most physical strength. Any body could use a gun but some people don't have the physique for fighting.

Okay, here's a better analogy. A handicapped person crippling everyone.

 

[him over there]

Syndrome of The Incredibles. Incredibly smart, a whiz of technology, and is beaten by dumb muscle.
Amon of Legend of Korra. The fact that his faction was in the moral right (fighting for equal rights to end the oppression of the second class citizens) kinda helps in this regard.

You do remember that Syndrome killed hundreds of superheroes and tried to pass himself as a hero by solving a problem he created.

Also, Amon's plan for equalization involved getting rid of everyone's bending. That's like if gay rights activists tried to make everyone gay.

Amon equalizing people isn't perfectly comnparable to something like gay rights. Being a bender means you have power over those who don't. You're essentially a force of nature. Regardless of whether it's natural or not powers like that are powers over other people, he wants to get rid of them so nobody can harm anybody with it. The electric gloves are a parallel to guns which in the west were known as the great equalizer because it meant that fights wouldn't be sided towards whoever had the most physical strength. Any body could use a gun but some people don't have the physique for fighting.

Okay, here's a better analogy. A handicapped person crippling everyone.

Yeah that would work a lot better. My main problem with Amon was that he wants to take away bending despite inventing artificial bending via the electric gloves. Wouldn't it be infinitely easier to make everybody a bender rather than no one?

 

[Winnosh]

Basically everyone from the wheel of time series.

Spoiler: not really spoiling any major details but I've read up until fires of heaven

All they wanted to do was to become immortal and rule the world. Besides, as soon as they are defeated and imprisoned all the "good guys" literally break the world. And Shai'tan? the guy has been imprisoned throughout the multiverse since the beginning of time...
And the seanchan would be the smartest people in the world if it wasn't for the fact that they put magicish women in charge of imprisoning the magic women.

Oh and also Avatar. The "protagonist" never mentions the fact that the humans need the mineral to survive. He never even suggests that the Na'vi should let the humans dig in order for them to save earth.

Imagine Aragorn just marrying a ghost lady instead of bringing them to save minas tirith.

Also people tend to forget that the Navi GAVE the humans mining rights, allowed them to be there and even traded with them.

You know that school that Segourny Weaver was talking about that got shut down. It was shut down because some of the Navi decided to go on private raids against the mining camps. Mining camps that they had permission to start.

Yes the Navi MURDERED innocent miners and then hid out at the school. That's why it was closed.

The military security force was only brought in for protection after the unprovoked attacks. The weren't on the planet before.

 

[uneek]

Syndrome of The Incredibles. Incredibly smart, a whiz of technology, and is beaten by dumb muscle.
Amon of Legend of Korra. The fact that his faction was in the moral right (fighting for equal rights to end the oppression of the second class citizens) kinda helps in this regard.

You do remember that Syndrome killed hundreds of superheroes and tried to pass himself as a hero by solving a problem he created.

Also, Amon's plan for equalization involved getting rid of everyone's bending. That's like if gay rights activists tried to make everyone gay.

Amon equalizing people isn't perfectly comnparable to something like gay rights. Being a bender means you have power over those who don't. You're essentially a force of nature. Regardless of whether it's natural or not powers like that are powers over other people, he wants to get rid of them so nobody can harm anybody with it. The electric gloves are a parallel to guns which in the west were known as the great equalizer because it meant that fights wouldn't be sided towards whoever had the most physical strength. Any body could use a gun but some people don't have the physique for fighting.

Okay, here's a better analogy. A handicapped person crippling everyone.

Yeah that would work a lot better. My main problem with Amon was that he wants to take away bending despite inventing artificial bending via the electric gloves. Wouldn't it be infinitely easier to make everybody a bender rather than no one?

I don't know if you've seen the finale(if so, SPOILERS!)...

Spoiler

..but, it suggests Amon believes bending is the source of all evil. He wouldn't want anyone doing what his father did to him.

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

I actually felt the opposite way 'round about Hard Candy. Sure, Ellen Page was an unrepentant psychopath who was only in it for the guilt-free murder, but come on... dude was a child molester! Ellen Page's characters get this from me a lot, actually. Like in Super, she was still a crazy ***** and she raped Frank, but she clearly wanted to fight evil.

In non Ellen Page examples, Lindsey from Angel. What with Lorne's whole "I've heard you sing" line, I suppose we were meant to think he would always be evil and he was only helping Angel for his own gain, but he helped them out loads of times before, with next to no hope of personal gain, and he'd hardly done anything as evil to them as Lilah or some of the other villains they trusted had. Not to mention all the evil things Angel did to him- cutting off his hand, fucking his girlfriend, stealing his truck, subsequently wrecking said truck all to hell, choking his lead, putting that sign on the back of the truck, fucking his other girlfriend, and then having Lorne shoot him. Seems he could have given Lindsey the benefit of the doubt just that once.

 

[The Youth Counselor]

The rapist in the Atonement movie. I didn't want to like the character necessarily, but I'm so fond of the actor I couldn't hate him nearly as much as I should have.

This creepy dude

Spoiler

is the same guy as one of my favorite characters in all of television.

Spoiler

Spoiler

I wouldn't call him a rapist. He was unquestionably sleazy and creepy and letting some poor guy take the rap for rape instead of coming forward with information was definitely slimy.

Yes, he had sex with an underaged girl but it was consensual. At least he had the courtesy to marry her.

 

[CATS FTW]

I felt really bad for the collector general at the end of me2.

 

[Hamish Durie]

the joker

hes just having fun
(adding this so I don't get the awrning low content)

 

[auron200004]

I always felt bad for Joffrey Baratheon.

Spoiler: Game of Thrones Spoilers

I mean, his supposed father almost beat him to death, he shows the symptoms of a personality disorder and was born simply for the mother to gain power to the throne. I can't sympathize with his actions, but I still feel bad for the guy :/

Not to mention the fact that

Spoiler: Poor Joffrey

All of the messed up things he did before Robert died, including sending the assassin after Bran, were all done in a horribly misguided attempt at impressing and garnering the attention of his father. He wouldn't have done it if he hadn't heard Robert say that the Starks might as well kill Bran.

EDIT: I figured I should say one myself. I sympathize with villains more often than most. It started when I decided I hated Ash from the Pokemon TV show and loved Team Rocket.

Spoiler: Lords of Shadow

The most recent villain I have sympathized with is Satan (yes, THE Satan) from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. I suppose it means that I sympathize with him via religion, too, but I'm focusing on the game. Satan, in the game anyway, honestly seeks recognition from his "father", God. He seems to know that he made the mistake of a lifetime, and plots and schemes his way to get the God Mask so he can return to Heaven. It's entirely possible that he wanted to use it to destroy God, but he sounds more like an abandoned child than an evil revolutionary.

 

[raven47172]

I do tend to root for the Joker just because he is crazy and usually has no motive for what he does.

I always thought Moriarty from Sherlock was great, but I do not think he was meant to be disliked.

Oh, and if you can't tell the Taskmaster as well.

 

[Luca72]

In all of those movies with herbivore animals as the main characters, there's always bound to be a villain that is a carnivore. Of course, the carnivores never get to eat the main characters, and I always imagine the carnivores starving to death in a cave or something. I'm not saying I want all of the cute little animals to be devoured, but it wouldn't hurt to throw the carnivores a bone once or twice a movie. I mean, it's either try to eat the herbivores or slowly starve to death.

...I felt really sad when Tarzan killed that Jaguar.

Also, I don't know if the Wire counts, since you were supposed to both empathize with and be disgusted at both the cops and gangsters, but I felt sympathy for almost everyone in Avon Barksdales' crew. Especially Stringer fuckin' Bell. He made some really cruel decisions and was willing to kill anyone who'd make life difficult for him or his people, but I got the opinion that he was really trying to get off the streets, and every time he'd have any success, he'd get taken advantage of.

 

[Loonyyy]

Andrew from Chronicle. Yeah, he's written as a sort of sympathetic character, and all, but I really felt sympathy for him. He's simply an ostracised kid who's driven to hate people by the lack of acceptance he feels by society, particularly his peers. It doesn't in anyway justify his actions, but I ca totally understand where he's coming from.

Rush from Stargate Universe. He's written schitzophrenically as all hell (Seriously, I think that the writers had a serious problem with consistensy), but the show had a serious problem with "Oh, if Rush makes a logical statement, he's cruel and evil, unless the colonel gives him the nod". Like when he's making the obvious statement that someone's going to have to die to seal the shuttle. Suddenly he's the bad guy? Whut?

Then again, in a show filled with dunces and crazy people, I guess the morally neutral delusional genius is king. (I stopped halfway through the second season, I've no idea if he gets crazier)

 

[NeutralDrow]

a lot of the adversaries this guy had to fight.

To be fair, Kenshiro often feels sympathy for the adversaries he has to fight, so it's sort of implied the audience should feel a twinge here and there. Save for the really serious bastards, like Zeed and Jagi.

I don't know, but when he says that it just seems like he's doing what he's doing for some reason beyond just wanting power. The shame of it is, we never really got an explanation for why he wanted Sparda's power in the first place.

I think they implied that his pursuit of power is mainly the desire to emulate and surpass his father, with maybe a hint of grief and regret over his mother's death (just not to the same extent as his brother). Since he felt more of a connection to his demon heritage (compared to Dante, who stuck with the human path), when Arkham found him and presented him the opportunity to obtain his father's sword and all the power it possessed, Vergil leaped at the chance.

Not really sure why you felt you weren't supposed to feel sympathy for him, though. He does act like a bastard throughout the game, being complicit in a demonic incursion (though ironically, his kill count of demons rivals Dante's), trying to kill his younger brother, and backstabbing his nominal partner at one point, but the last third of the game do quite a lot to make him more an antagonist than a villain. Compare him to Arkham, who also pursues power, and uses similar methods, but has more "evil" reasons for doing so.

Besides, there is that bonus cutscene after the ending credits, where

Spoiler

Vergil decides to take on Mundus himself.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Basically everyone from the wheel of time series.

Spoiler: not really spoiling any major details but I've read up until fires of heaven

All they wanted to do was to become immortal and rule the world. Besides, as soon as they are defeated and imprisoned all the "good guys" literally break the world. And Shai'tan? the guy has been imprisoned throughout the multiverse since the beginning of time...
And the seanchan would be the smartest people in the world if it wasn't for the fact that they put magicish women in charge of imprisoning the magic women.

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic, but...in case you aren't, you do remember that the good guys "broke the world" because Shai'tan drove them all insane? The bad guys overall might get a bit of sympathy, but only because all but one of them is a complete dupe (and you're supposed to feel some sympathy for him).

In the Wheel of Time, though...I'd probably say the Shaido Aiel, save for a couple of utterly irredeemable psychos like Sevanna. Even Couladin is implied to have been manipulated by her, and it's hardly surprising that he'd be taken in by Asmodean and genuinely believe that <color=aliceblue>he's the true Car'a'carn, especially since he's not that bright to begin with.

Also, not all the Black Ajah are puppy-murdering sadists. Sure, any of them would happily murder a puppy if it were part of the plan, but not all of them would go out of their way for it. In fact, of all the darkfriends, they seem the most dedicated to their earlier causes, and left to their own devices will generally just do what they're doing to serve the White Tower and increase its prestige until ordered otherwise. That certainly explains the actions of some longtime known characters who turn out to be Black sisters.

 

[Lurklen]

I was gonna say the kidnapper in Gone Baby Gone, but I think you were supposed to sympathise with him at the end. Or at least get where he was coming from.

Teyrn Loghain for sure, he was a bad ass but also kind of a monster especially when you consider the things he did before the time of the games.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Well in Inglorious Bastards I felt the villains where more sympathetic, actually interesting, and felt like human beings (with the exception of Hitler in the film he acted like a child).

 

[demoman_chaos]

Trixie from My Little Pony comes to mind. She really just wants acceptance, or so says the brony looking probably a bit too much into it.

I always felt bad for Bowser. For all we know, the princess is a two timing hoe. The Koopa kids had to come from somewhere.

 

[communist dwarf]

I'm gonna go with Theon Greyjoy from the Song of Ice and Fire series. They did pretty well making his forced choices show in the TV series, but I have always felt sympathetic to him. He is a reactionary emo child who decides that his cruel family is better than his kind adoptive family. He is placed in situations where he is expected to do evil by the reader's standards and betray his former family. He gets punished beyond his crimes and always tried (at first) to protect his former family while appeasing his real family. I think that if he had either not been sent as a ward or gone back to his original family he would have been a decent person.