One of my favorite villians is Sylar from Heroes. I think he's the scariest bad guy on tv. He looks too much like the guy next door and he's disturbed in a way that humanizes him. My vote definitely goes to Sylar. ~S
Sylar from Heroes, because he's a man who at first believed that he was just a part of 'them' and that he had no purpose. Not because of his utter failure at some sort of purpose, but because no one can validate it for him. But then the professor comes and Sylar realizes that he's gifted and should be the only one who has powers, because he believes in the wrong hands, powers can corrupt. Sylar's just a man who thinks he's the only sane person around, which is why I love him. He's also my avatar, btw. ALSO: T3H J0K3R!! One of the most cunning villains I have seen from any movie. Believes in anarchy, eh? Lastly... Zant from Twilight Princess. I want to say stuff about him but I could go on and on...
My list of favorite villains are: The Joker: A psychodic clown with zero apathy who's sole purpose is to drive Batman off the edge. A villain without a motivation other than to cause chaos is a truly evil villain in my book and the Joker will always be first place. Kefka Palazzo: Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII may be a fallen hero and a badass but Kefka from Final Fantasy VI was the one that truly raised the bar for villains of the franchise. Sure if you think about it he seems like a knock-off of the Joker but he really isn't. He served as a general for Emperor Gestahl's army until he eventually overthrows him and tears the world apart with his Light of Judgement. While Sephiroth was cold and ruthless, Kefka was loud, short-tempered, maniacal and destructive with a sadistic sense of humor and, unlike other villains in the FF franchise, Kefka actually did the job of nearly destroying the whole planet. Darcia:Lord Darcia the Third is from the anime Wolf's Rain and is a member of a family of Nobles cursed and descended from wolves who's wife is plagued by Paradise sickness. He sought to use the flower girl Cheze to bring his wife out of her coma but after she dies his plans change as he is driven mad and seeks revenge. After doing so he discards his love for his wife and becomes a giant wolf and killed off the all but one of the main characters. As much as I sometimes hate the fallen hero, I put Darcia in my book because he actually accomplished something and made me cry. Darth Vader: The only fallen hero I'll ever truly appreciate and sympathize with. Anakin Skywalker was the most powerful Jedi ever, but had a major hamarsha about his character that ultimately turned him to the dark side of the force and steered him away from his original noble intentions. Anakin Skywalker was no more as his body and soul were cast away and he from then on became the dark lord of the sith and the symbol of fear in the Galactic Empire, Darth Vader. Light Yagami: A high school kid suddenly given what is called a Death Note who can kill anyone with the flick of a pen who decides he wants to become a god of a new world without sinners. Someone with that kind of power who acts with noble intentions for all the wrong reasons is just awesome. Ishamael: A Forsaken from the Wheel of Time series by Rober Jordan. Unlike most sinister villains, Ishamael is a thinker who wisely experimented with darkness to become the most powerful of the Dark One's chosen. His pursuit of darkness may have driven him somewhat insane in that he sometimes believe he is the Dark One himself, and he may have died in the 3rd book, but he later came back like a badass and now wields a stronger magic than he used to have. I call that power.
I agree that kefka really raised the bar for villians of the Final Fantasy. He is probably my fourth favorite villian of the series. Behind Sephiroth, Kuja, and Seymour.
My favorite villains have to be: The Forsaken:From Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books . The Forsaken are a group of 13 highly powerful mages who are in the league with the Dark One. All of them have distinct personalities and different motives for what they do. My favorite is Graendal , Ishamael , and Lanfear. Jaime Lannister:From George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. I love him because he has a great sardonic personality. He has lots of good points to his personality and lots of bad points as well. In the later books we hear from his point of view and understand why he did some of the things he did. Melisande:From Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. Who could pass up a cruel beautiful bisexual dominatrix trying to take over the kingdom? Jarlaxle BaenreFrom R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books . Super suave and not quite evil but not quite good either , he is the flamboyantly dressed and intensely sarcastic leader of a band of mercenaries. The Drow :The Drow from the D&D Forgotten Realms setting are super awesome. Most (not all ) are evil and they live their lives plotting against each other and murdering without remorse. They have a dark beauty that intrigues me for some reason. I guess its just a break from the usual light elves who are always so full of goodness.
A faverourite Villian of mine is a Primarch called Fulgrim simply because he's not a Villian in the litteral sense but more he was decieved and didn't realise until the last minute. And what a menacing Villian he was. The books called Fulgrim and is set in the Horus Heresy Era. Fulgrim was a character of pride and honour and glory and his descent was just beautifully written. And another Villian is a guy called Anakin Skywalker if you don't know who he is go check out the Star Wars website. Anakin makes a really good villian and once he becomes the guy named Darth Vader well as a small kid thats a menacing first appearance as he steps onto the rebel shuttle for the first time in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Sometimes the classics are the best. ~Raven.
I like when authors take an abstract concept of the villain in a production. In Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude the villain is Time. I think making time a villain is an amazing concept. Of course, I like Tyler Durden from Fight Club, too.
I'd also have to say Sepiroth. He was both intelligent and insane, powerful, and graceful at the same time. It was amazing when he killed Aerith (The statute of limitations for FFVII spoilers is officially over. If you don't know that Aerith died by now, you're never going to play the game anyways.) And he had a freaking huge sword. I don't know if it qualifies as a villian, or just a monster, but I always thought the Balrog was cool.
If I was to name a type of villain that I prefer as opposed to a *specific* villain, I supposed I'd have to say the ones who are almost a hero in their own right. The ones that you can understand their motivation but are still distant enough to criticize their actions. Its a very difficult character to write because if you have a villain more likable than the hero, your story just may take a turn for the worst. So its all about balance, really.
Video Games: Bowser - Mario games. (Well he's the villain in most of them). Melbu Frahma - Legend of Dragoon. Albedo - Xenosaga. This is by far my favorite series of video games. More villains come along, but Albedo remains the most memorable for me. Movies: Jack Nicholson as Joker - Tim Burton's Batman (1989). I like my Batman old school . Although I have to admit that Ledger did a great job as the Joker in the new Batman movie. Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier - The Prestige. Although this could be argued that both magicians were in fierce competition, I believe that Angier was more a villain role. McDonald's - Supersize Me. I know this may sound a bit silly, but if you really think about it, fast food is poisoning a lot of people nowadays. Books: Gorgrael - The Axis Trilogy. These are the villains I prefer from my favorite books, video games and movies. I find it hard to just pick one when they are so many great villains out there!
There've been some great villains mentioned so far. Im also a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyl's Professor Moriarte. The Forsaken from The Wheel of Time are some pretty interesting bad guys too. I think I'm gonna give my vote, though, to the evil mage, Raistlin Majere. I'm not normally a huge fan of D&D and the Drangon Lance books, but for some reason I was totally fascinated with this character. He made me keep reading even though the plot of the books themselves bored me.
I'm going to have to say that now my favorite villian by far is the Joker in The Dark Knight played by Heath Ledger. Either that or Scar...from The Lion King.
