Who's your favorite villian of all time, from any book, tv show, movie, manga, or video game? I'd have to say Light Yagami from Death Note or Darth Vader.
Darth Vader is a good one. Also, Chigurgh (sp?) from No Country For Old Men, Ben Linus from Lost (thouh he's not much of a villain anymore), The Major, Zorin Blitz, and Alexander Anderson from Hellsing...and likely more I don't remember at the moment. I really love a good villain.
It would have to be Diogenes Pendergast from the Diogenes Trilogy by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child for me. He's such a master at disguises and kills people in interesting ways. *coughs*
Sorun (Or however you spell his name) from LotR Sepheroth from FFVII is one of the most well deveopled villans ever by far Saren from Mass Effect The classics like Vader, Megatron, and Ganondorf are also musts... oh an BOWSER XD!
Darth Vader was truly a villian. A morally grey one, but that's what makes villians good, some humanity. He started out a hero, became a villian, and became a hero again.
I wouldn't call Sauron of LoTR a villain. He's barely even a character. He is more an abstraction of evil, with just enough anthromorphism to give him weaknesses that the forces of the West could exploit for victory. Saruman was a better villain, a deeply intelligent wizrd brought down by his arrogance and firm belief in his superiority. He lost sight of the importance of all the people of the lands, and why the Dark Lord had to be defeated.
I'm afraid I can't choose just one- but I can choose my favorite groups of baddies. Almost all the villains Buffy (the vampire slayer) has faced over the years stand out seperately in my mind, just because they're written so greatly by Joss Whedon- and in the cases of characters like Spike or the Mayor, are acted quite brilliantly. As for the book world, Terry Pratchett can churn out some extremely excellent antagonists-to list them all would take up far too much time, but rest assured that all 30+ of them stand out in my head with delightful clarity.
I wholly agree with Cogito about Sauron. I guess Iago is my favorite villain because he's pretty much the main character of Othello.
Saruaman, Vader, Saren, Angelus, hmm, I can't really think of that many. The Operative from Serenity was very good, in his role.
My favorite is probably Lex Luthor from Smallville, but since that is so related to Michael Rosenbaum's acting, it doesn't really count, right? Hmm... well, most of the books I read don't really have villains, just antagonists, so... I'd have to say probably the Joker. I used to not like him because I like anti-villains, and villains with more shades of gray, but then I realized why the Joker is so perfect. He's crafted as a perfect foil for Batman. Batman epitomizes order and the Joker epitomizes chaos. Though the Joker would just as soon wish you a good morning as blow your face off with a shotgun, what's really scary is that he can take away your sanity, or just convince you that you're insane. And because Batman is so ordered that he's already hovering on the edge of insanity, and the Joker is pure entropy, encountering him is even more of a danger mentally than it is physically. But I probably love Ra's al Ghul even more than the Joker, and he is so close to Batman--they are very similar, not opposites at all. Ra's is what Batman could have easily become just given a slightly different set of circumstances, or lesser willpower, or lesser faith.
One of my favorite villians has to be the Cavity Goon from Timmy the Tooth. Seriously, that guy's scary as heck, and he has a frick'n cool theme song! Another would have to be Malphas from Antibunny. For those who don't read that comic, Malphas is the president of the Loan Sharks, and enjoys exploiting rabbits who he knows will never be able to pay him off. His nemesis is the hero Nailbat.
Though he wasn't the main "villain" of the story, my favorite will always be Roger from Lord of the Flies. I don't know why, but I love him to death :redface:
Have you ever read Drizzt Do'Urden books? They have great action sequences, and IMO the only good D&D books. Well, the two best developed villians I have ever read off appear here: Jarlaxe, the renegade dark elf leader of a band of mercenaries and Artemis Entreri, an assassin and sellsword obssesed with defeating Drizzt Do'Urden, the MC, because of both characters' amazing skills with a sword. Search some info about them, there is a trilogy titled The Sellswords Trilogy focusing on both villians.
Vader is an obvious choice, especially since I'm such a Star Wars fanatic. I really like a lot of the villain's from Ted Dekker's books. They're all so quirky, especially Englishman; that guy changes his name, personality and ways of thinking on a whim. And... I don't know if this counts, but Dante from Devil May Cry 4 starts out as an antagonist. Not really a villain, but he fights against the main hero for a while.
I would have to go with Randall Flag from King's The Stand. He was also used as a major villain in King's Dark Tower series.
The eponymous Rebecca from Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. She's so dark and sinister and yet still human, and her effects on her surroundings are chilling. I think of all the books I have read, she's the character who had the most impact on me. Runners up are Kurtz from Heart of Darkness, Iago from Othello and almost the entire cast of The Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo.
The joker from Batman. No morals, no real backstory that matters, absolutely no character development. Just plain evil. Plus he's a clown, and clowns are always evil.
