Why do so many people love the Villain?

[ShadowsofHope]

Because let's be honest with each other.

Most of the protagonists in modern games tend to be over-steroided douche bags with guns. The villain tends to lean towards the side of megalomaniac genius or charismatic asshole. It depends on whom gets your emotional reaction first, most of the time.

Though otherwise, a villain determines the hero. Have a shitty villain, you have a shitty hero. Have a magnificent villain? You tend to have a magnificent hero. Stories have to balance out there to have any decent substance.

 

[superstringz]

As long as the villain has believable motives, yes. I could see how Dr. Breen got to his position, but I do not understand how the Enclave(Fallout) can behave as they do. Breen: Likable, Enclave: Loathsome. Favorite (Anti)Villain would have to be Kimiko Ross (Dresden Codak, webcomic). She steals memories to try to make an AI to replace humanity. Thats typically the domain of supervillainy, but try argueing with any fan that she is evil/unlikeable. Your opinion will be empirically proven wrong.

 

[Turanga]

To justify the murderous thoughts that passes through mankinds mind at times. Or to simply be different.
Escapism, mmyes...

 

[Nemu]

Without a villain, there is no need for a hero.

Not strictly true, unless you expand the word "villain" to mean "any obstacle."

That's certainly the case with "man vs. man," and many cases of "man vs. society," and even the odd case with "man vs. himself," but I'd be perfectly willing to consider the protagonists of "man vs. nature" stories to be "heroes" in light of what they do. It's perfectly possible to have a protagonist without an antagonist.

Again: with no villain, there IS no story. A "hero" is someone who pits himself/herself against an obstacle, whatever it may be, and attempts to overcome it. Without said obstacle, there is no need for a hero.
As such, I didn't specifically note a TYPE of villain since I didn't think it was necessary. >>

Not arguing your point, as I agree with it. Just seems like a reiteration is all.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Without a villain, there is no need for a hero.

Not strictly true, unless you expand the word "villain" to mean "any obstacle."

That's certainly the case with "man vs. man," and many cases of "man vs. society," and even the odd case with "man vs. himself," but I'd be perfectly willing to consider the protagonists of "man vs. nature" stories to be "heroes" in light of what they do. It's perfectly possible to have a protagonist without an antagonist.

Again: with no villain, there IS no story. A "hero" is someone who pits himself/herself against an obstacle, whatever it may be, and attempts to overcome it. Without said obstacle, there is no need for a hero.
As such, I didn't specifically note a TYPE of villain since I didn't think it was necessary. >>

Not an especially relevant idea considering the thread subject. Unless we get into people loving the volcano from Dante's Peak or something.

 

[RTK1576]

I enjoyed Wicked, though I see it as a subversion of the villain archtype more than anything. Never read Grendel, though I'm curious now.

Also enjoyed "The Dark Knight Returns" (though its sequel series... Yikes!). It is truly hard to make a hero interesting unless the hero has some dark qualities. It's why some fans prefer Han Solo to Luke Skywalker. It also allows for some flexibility in story telling (a fallen hero, a chance at redemption). Still, sometimes writers go overboard on the notion, forgetting that a hero does have to stand apart from the villain or there's really no point in calling him a hero.

 

[3aqua]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/04/09/images/02emperor350.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/04/09/ana04017.html&usg=__2vdJDrPnb5U0Jo19fwnEPBWpwMY=&h=390&w=350&sz=20&hl=en&start=0&sig2=pl-uz1EoZp6N6ZEfT82VLw&zoom=1&tbnid=u9YTzG9kGI_e8M:&tbnh=160&tbnw=150&ei=xEV4TI-fA8qAswayo_mxDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Demperor%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D686%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=320&vpy=107&dur=2548&hovh=237&hovw=213&tx=101&ty=97&oei=xEV4TI-fA8qAswayo_mxDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

follow the link and explain how could you not like him he's so cute!

 

[Twad]

I have my own opinions and conclusions, I want others.
What signifigance do you see in it?
Why do people relate to the Villain?
Do YOU relate to the Villain? Which villain? May I ask why?
.. what about Villains that become so popular they become the hero? (or were a "villain" protagonist anyway)

The villian will lose 99% of the time. We feel for him, his efforts, his plans, ressources wasted by a bunch of lucky misfit, incompetent heroes that always succeed at the last moment.
Heck, the villian surely support whole cities with his scheme, good for the economy to have an "evil" empire going (the hundreds of minions are getting paid, they gotta live somewhere, they gotta feed, and their families too ect)

We feel for his countless minions, for they also have families that will mourn them by the hundreds, so much wasted human ressources, and all these funerals with closed caskets too.. (due to the extremely violent/explosive death of minions in general)

How come we dont see famillies of minions stalking/sue the heroes to get revenge for the murder of their dad/sons (because female minions are nearly non-existant)or something?

 

[Badger Kyre]

The villian will lose 99% of the time. We feel for him, his efforts, his plans, ressources wasted by a bunch of lucky misfit, incompetent heroes that always succeed at the last moment.
Heck, the villian surely support whole cities with his scheme, good for the economy to have an "evil" empire going (the hundreds of minions are getting paid, they gotta live somewhere, they gotta feed, and their families too ect)

We feel for his countless minions, for they also have families that will mourn them by the hundreds, so much wasted human ressources, and all these funerals with closed caskets too.. (due to the extremely violent/explosive death of minions in general)

How come we dont see famillies of minions stalking/sue the heroes to get revenge for the murder of their dad/sons (because female minions are nearly non-existant)or something?

Have you ever heard of the old game "Villains and Vigilantes"?
One of the recurring themes in that game was that the superhero protagonists were often up against masterminds "wealth is it's own super power" that had far more social acceptance than them. You could find your reputation quickly smeared. JJJameston comes to mind, and he wasn't even a villain, just a misguided ass.
There's also, for example, let's use Dr Doom. In his own country, Dr Doom IS the law... what does that make YOU?

I like your points, and wonder if you are a fellow "venture brothers" fan?

 

[Badger Kyre]

Like this?


* edit * even looking at an html tutor to try to remember, i'm doing that wrong... no img coming up.
Any ideas? Damn i'm dumb.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

The bad guy is far more interesting and, when done well, is a far better reflection on humanity than the hero. The villain also tends to be something most people would like to be themselves. It's not the bad things they do, but the fact that they commit these actions.

Villains are better than the hero often times. Luke had a few ragtag friends and had to huddle in a snowy cave for warmth. The Emperor had an entire galaxy under his thumb and the resources to construct multiple planet vaporizing space stations.

 

[Badger Kyre]

[bold]Offstage Villainy[/bold] - from TV tropes

This occurs when a villain is only really evil because we're told he is; most or all of his actions seem completely reasonable and justified. Essentially their evil-ness is an Informed Ability. Happens when lazy writers can't be bothered to show the villain actually being evil, and think that people simply calling them that and having good characters fight him will be enough. This is often a characteristic of The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.
Can also occur when a writer fails to make an antagonist actually antagonistic enough, and expects the audience to hate the character just as much as the writer does. This may also be due to Executive Meddling; especially at times when the Moral Guardians would complain about the villain doing anything too evil for the kids to handle.
Usually an aspect of the Designated Villain. Villains treated this way can be morphed into The Woobie or Draco In Leather Pants by fans who realize the character has never actually done anything bad. It's not uncommon for a hero with Protagonist Centered Morality to consider these bad guys redeemable, and easily forgive them just about anything.
Of course, this makes it easier for fans to accept a Heel Face Turn if they haven't actually done anything to make the audience dislike them. Contrast Villainy Discretion Shot and A Million Is A Statistic.

I use this as a parallel - most of the answers here were of the OPPOSITE - but I point it out because this sort of SLOPPY WRITING is what we see with the PROTAGONISTS over and over in the thread. Not exclusively. but primarily, we have people identifying with the villain as the protagonist is so plain and poorly written in his OFF SCREEN HEROISM as to absolutely fail to engage us.

 

[Sangtrain]

I only Root for Starscream...and zombies in any Zombie Film/Game etc.

 

[Betancore]

Well it's usually because I can relate to the villain in some way - he/she is usually, to me anyway, more realistic. They have a broken life. They have a motive. Something drives them. They're more interesting. Hell, they're not perfect. They're not bloody...nice all the time. And they are also more badass than the protagonist, because they can be - they're not restricted by their role.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

I think it's because the villain is pretty much guaranteed to lose in a film/game so we feel, for them that their entire goal in life is going to be smashed by some superhero wearing tights and their underpants on the outside.

 

[LOZFFVII]

The villain usually has a more interesting story...now, what I would like to see is a better version of this:

Hero: You can't win this -Villain name-
Villain: Ah, but I already have, for you see, everything that has happened has been beneficial to my plan. Not everything was what I had planned, but the events that have led to this very moment are very helpful to my plan. Even your meddling has helped me move my plan along, and for that, I thank you. [draw gun/sword/whatever]
Hero: I will fight you!
Villain: But it is not you who I wish to kill, my friend. You see, there is one last part to my plan...[turn weapon on self]
Hero: You're mad!
Villain: Am I? Or are you? Think of all the men you killed trying to find me, while I never touched a single person. Who is the villain here? [pull trigger/thrust sword/whatever is required to kill self]

This sounds a lot like a greek tragedy!
...Awesome...

It does? Interesting. I merely came up with that upon reading this thread...I wonder if it could actually be implemented into a short book?

Whatever you do, don't advertise on escapist - everybody who read your comment knows how it's going to end!

 

[Brightzide]

Scientific fact ( maybe not ) , everyones attracted to a bad boy/girl. Even though you'd think their traits are undesirable, they get laid alot more than nice guys do. Secretly everyone wants to do the bad guy...again and again and again...Then kill them and get some gamer score and go to bed.