So, I'm completely stuck on coming up with a bad guy for my story. I have motivation, relationships, and all sorts of other things planned out for him, but no character will come to mind. Anyway, in search of inspiration, I ask what your favorite type of villain is and/or who your favorite villain is and why. (For instance, do you favor the cool type like Jafar from "Aladdin" or the emotional types like Ursula from "Little Mermaid"? Err...I have the movie taste of a five-year old, but feel free to mention villians from anywhere you like.) Hopefully, somebody will come to life who wants my other characters dead.
I have to admit, Scar was my favourite villain from The Lion King. Something about how smart, sly he was and how he pretty much always kept it cool. But it's been a long time since I've watched that movie. I like Jafar, too. Or you could go with the classic villain (who's name just slipped my mind) the witch from Sleeping Beauty.
Scar is good. He makes a good villain to hate. Embittered and brilliant is a grand villain if it fits the right mood of the story. Hades from Herculie's was rather enjoyable and comical villain but still had that "evilness" about him. Fast-talking con man with a chip on his shoulder. Pin Head from Hell Raiser was a truly great Villain as he was basically "Following Orders" as opposed to being truly Evil in his own right. Very complex character he was. Very deep even if he seemed superficial at first. I guess it all depends on the type of Villain you want. If you give us an idea about him e might be able to tag him to an existing model villain that you can work from for inspiration or gap filling.
I like a villian who you can sympathize with on some level, even if it's a very small, twisted level. Scar from TLK was mentioned. (That's one of my favorite movies.) He was a sympathetic character in that he felt ignored/disrespected and denied something he felt should be his, something that a lot of siblings can understand. And he did show fear when he was defeated, meaning he was only "human" (lion, I know ). My favorite villian is one from my own work, Chakenapok (a figure from mythology so I didn't create him, but I wrote him my own way), who actually fits both your ideas of villain, cool and emotional. (He was very dry and sarcastic, but when he got mad, he got MAD.) And yes, he was an angry sulky sibling who felt he'd been denied something that was rightfully his, even if he wouldn't admit it.
My favourite villains are the ones that have a story behind them, a reason for their actions and a past that shows you why they are who they are. An example of a good villain is Mr.Freeze from Batman. His actions are stemmed largely from his wife being terminally ill, frozen in a chamber. While trying to protect her from being killed he is exposed to chemicals meaning he can only now survive in a world of ice and cold. His reaction then is to use his knowledge to make the world cold, to make everyone else feel as miserable as he is. You can sympathize with him in a way, as im sure most people would do all they can to protect a loved one; and many people who feel abandoned and alone want other people to feel their pain.
Feathers Magraw! (Sp?) The penguin from Wallace and Gromit, The Wrong Trousers. Come on, an evil penguin? Genius!
Azula from the Avatar especially during the mental breakdown. Scar(The Lion King), Sesshoumaru(Inuyasha), Bakura(Yugioh), and the Joker(The Dark Knight) are also ones that come to mind.
I've always thought Dr.Doom was up there with the best villains. His life is dictated by his paranoia. As a child, he was part of the despised Romani people, and his family was left at the mercy of the land's dictator, who unjustly kills his father, while Doom has to stand by, powerless. Finally, his mother ends up in hell, tormented by Mephisto, forever out of reach for him. Dr. Doom always has to gain as much power and control as he can, because deep inside, he's terrified that anyone who's stronger than him may one day hurt him, and for the same reason he can never trust anyone. He can never admit a single mistake or flaw, because his sense of self is forever crushed under the humiliation he endured as a child. In some versions, Dr.Doom only gains a small scar from the failed experiment at Empire State University, and this small imperfection causes him to voluntarily press his newly-forged, red-hot metal mask onto his own face, making his outside as scarred as his inside.
Im not too sure whether Feathers McGraw was a joke or not, but i actually do think he's a good villain As far as a mute penguin can be anyway. Scar and the Joker from The Dark Knight are gread villains i agree with as well Often these days i see that many people are obsessed with saying villains should be "grey" characters, who arent just truly evil, and that its their internal conflicts that make them a good villain. I personally would disagree - most of the time i prefer a villain who is bad, enjoys being bad, and remains bad to the end One villain that springs to mind (also from a film) is Edward Longshanks in Braveheart - he is simply so ruthless he is hilarious. Cant think of any one villain i really like from books though
I totally agree those disturbed, good-but-also-bad, grey area, "I'm-evil-but-have-sympathy-for-me" villains are lovable but are becoming cliche; Making the true black-hearted villains more original. I'd don't care if the villain is avenging his dead son, I care that he's keeping the good-guy from finding that frog that will save the world. I other worlds I've felt sympathy for bad guys for too long, a true evil mastermind is a breath of fresh air for me. As for my favorites, definately the Disney ones mentioned above, as well as Alex from Golden Sun (video Game) and Maester Seymore from Final Fantasy X, and Dr. House
Hmmm... Well, Dr. Horrible from Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog is my favorite villain... but he's not really a villain in the traditional sense. I can't really think of one specific villain I really like though. A lot of times, the villain just moves the plot along and I'm not too attached to them. Actually, from the book The Golden Hills of Westria, there was a particularly good villain, called the Mother (or something like that). Her conviction and zealotry actually was transfered into strength, and she could perform miracles. It was loosely based off that guy Jim Jones, who led his cult from California to South America. Eventually, he fed them all poisoned kool aid.
Light Yagami from Death Note (a manga/anime) was an insanely awesome villian, because he was trying to make the world a better place by killing all the "evil" people. The Joker from The Dark Knight was creepy; he's an insane, psycopathic killer with no backstory or reason for his crimes. He just kills. Voldemort from Harry Potter, and Darth Vader from Star wars.
My favorite villian is ALWAYS the 'justified' villan- the one who you (or rather, I) can't help but somewhat feel sorry for, because s/he is evil for all the right reasons, or at least they have some sort of reason for doing what they do. Callisto from Xena: Warrior Princess, and Vincent from the Cowboy Bebop movie are two good examples. Also most of the villans from Kenshin- Shishio and Sojiro in particular. For some reason I can't think of any from books- I guess I'm in an anime mood tonight. I also like it when there is no true 'villan,' such as in Peacemaker Kurogane (well, there sort of is, but...), and even Samurai X is sort of like that. Each side is fighting for a good reason, and the idea of who is antag/protag totally depends on which side you are on. I guess the idea of a villan being evil just because s/he is evil is just too simplistic/boring for me. I like it when you can have a good debate about something (Is Callisto's wrath justified? Does Ares act out of frustration because he loves Xena and wants her attention?) rather than just nod and accept everything (Alti is selfish, Hope (Gabby's daughter) is a b****.).
Thanks everybody! I'd forgotten about some of these villians and hadn't even really considered the whole 'road-to-hell' villian vs. 'prince-of-hell' villian. Ungood--thanks for the offer, but I'd rather just have an outpouring of ideas for me to bounce around, without any prejudice. If the situation gets desperate, though, I'll give more details.
Have you seen the movie, Sweeney Todd? Sweeney Todd started life as Benjamin Barker. He was a simple barber who had a beautiful young wife. An unscrupulous judge lusted after this woman, so he trumped up charges against Benjamin and had him deported. He then sexually assaulted the wife. Years later, Benjamin returned to London as Sweeney Todd. The pleasant and carefree man was gone ... replaced by a serial killer bent upon revenge. To slake his anger, he killed innocent people ... cutting the throat of men in his barber's chair. After killing each customer, the seat would tilt up and back and drop the body down a slide chute into the basement ... where Mrs. Lovett would chop them up to cook in her hot meat pies. The thing I liked about this movie is that you start off with a lot of sympathy for Benjamin. As the story progresses, this sympathy turns into a horrified fascination because it shows how good people can become so twisted by hate that they can rationalize doing anything in the name of revenge.
'road-to-hell' villian vs. 'prince-of-hell' villian. I like that, as for your villain, I would love to see a guy I like because they are evil not because they have to be evil. See the difference? Also, details would work well because it will give some insight on what personalities will do your villain justice.
