Top 10 Villans of all time (all formats, possible spoilers)

[Mr. Friendly]

From all formats, who are the 10 greatest villains to you, in each of the following catagories:

(*Villains can also include an antagonist in a story, despite not truly being a "villain" per se. This is especially important in stories of shads of grey..)


Literature
Film
Television
Anime/Cartoons
Comic Books
Video Games


Literature:
Artemis Entreri Drizzt saga
Cyric Forgotten Realms, various
Cercei Lannister Song of Fire and Ice saga
Tywin Lannister Song of Fire and Ice saga
Sauron/Ring-Wraiths LotR saga
Yyrkoon Elric saga
Nyarlhotep Cthulhu mythos
Lord Soth Dragonlance
Grand Admiral Thrawn Dark Empire Cycle
Dracula


Film:

Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) Star Wars Ep. 4-6
Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) The Matrix series
T-1000 (Robert Patrick) Terminator 2
Sheriff Herod (Gene Hackman) Quick and the Dead
King Edward the First (Patrick McGoohan) Braveheart
Col. von Scherbach (Otto Preminger) Stalag 17
Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman) The Professional
The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) Serenity
Kaiser Soeze (Kevin Spacey) The Usual Suspects
Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) Unbreakable


Television:

Mr. Morden/The Shadows Babylon 5
Gul Dukat Deep Space Nine
Smoking Man X-Files
Ares Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Wo Fat Hawaii Five-O
The Cylons Battlestar Galactica
Chigs Space: Above and Beyond
Cain First Wave
Q Star Trek
T.H.R.U.S.H. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.



Anime/Cartoons:

Vegeta Dragonball-Z
Darkseid Superman
Slade Teen Titans
The Brain Teen Titans
Lust/Envy/Sloth/etc. Full Metal Alchemist
Vicious Cowboy Bebop
Orochimaru Naruto
Dilandeu/Zaibach Escaflowne
Naraku InuYasha
Paladin Alexander Hellsing



Comic Books:
Magneto
The Joker
Venom
Stryfe
Apocalypse
Dr. Doom
Mr. Sinister
Bane
Carnage
Omega Red



Gaming:

Sephiroth
Kefka

I can't think of anymore.

[valadil]

Farscape - Scorpius
Half-Life - G-Man
Lost - Ben and the rest of the Others, Sawyer (he rarely plays the part of the villain, but he's still that type of character)
Silence of the Lambs - Hannibal Lecter
Fushigi Yuugi - Nakago

Apparently I really like the magnificent bastard type of villain. They're much more interesting to me than megalomaniacal ones.

[Shishnarfne]

Honorable mention to Khan, from old the Star Trek movie (much better than the original episode), who probably merits a mention next to Q as Star Trek villains.

Literature: Iago, from Shakespeare's Othello.

Because the villain no one suspects always is the most successful, and I have to defer to a classic.

[Telonius]

Film:
1. Darth Vader
2. Grand Moff Tarkin
3. Commodus (Gladiator)
4. Simon Gruber (Die Hard With a Vengeance)
5. Magneto (X-Men)
6. Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)

Literature:
1. Lucifer, Paradise Lost.
2. Doctor Faustus.
3. Hagen von Troneg (Nibelungen saga).
4. Feanor.
5. R.F. (Various Stephen King books)

Cartoons:
1. Xanatos (Gargoyles).
2. Cobra Commander (GI Joe).
3. Slade (Teen Titans).
4. Skullmaster (Mighty Max).
5. Elmer Fudd. (Yeah, Elmer. He'll be remembered as the bad guy forever.)

[Closet_Skeleton]

3. Hagen von Troneg (Nibelungen saga).

Funny, I prefer my villains to be evil and powerful in a confident way. Backstabbing jealous jerks aren't great villains in my opinion.


Cartoons:
1. Xanatos (Gargoyles).
2. Cobra Commander (GI Joe).
3. Slade (Teen Titans).
4. Skullmaster (Mighty Max).
5. Elmer Fudd. (Yeah, Elmer. He'll be remembered as the bad guy forever.)

These are more awesome :smallbiggrin:

[Nerd-o-rama]

My top fives:

Literature:
1. Iago (Othello)
2. Mr. Teatime (Hogfather)
3. The Party (1984)
4. Zedar the Apostate (The Belgariad) (Honorable mention to his brother from another series, Sir Martel)
5. MacBeth (MacBeth) (Villain protagonist)

Film:
1. Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs only)
2. Darth Vader (Original Trilogy only)
3. HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)
4. Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek II, again, only)
5. The Operative (Serenity)

Live Action Television:
1. Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) (Though he makes a good hero too).
2. Mayor Richard Wilkins "III" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
3. Jubal Early (Firefly)
4. Baal (Stargate SG-1)
5. The Master (Doctor Who New Season 3. Pending review of older series to rank previous incarnations).

Animation:
1. The Joker (DC Animated Universe) (okay, I cheated a little to fill this and the Comics list evenly)
2. Princess Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
3. Char Aznable (Mobile Suit Gundam Universal Century continuity)
4. The Brainspawn (Futurama)
5. Ryoko Asakura (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)

Comics: I don't read mainstream comics, so I'm throwing in non-mainstream and webcomics here.
1. Lex Luthor (DC Comics Universe) (I read a little mainstream comics)
2. Adrian "Ozymandias" Veidt (Watchmen)
3. Alter Tse'elon (Y: The Last Man)
4. Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (Girl Genius)
5. Xykon (The Order of the Stick)

Video games:
1. Revolver Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid)
2. Shalashaska (Metal Gear Solid 2)
3. Agent ADAM (Metal Gear Solid 3)
4. Kefka (Final Fantasy VI)
5. GLaDOS (Portal)

[Project_Mayhem]

OK people, as far as Shakespeare villains go, Aaron from Titus is about a million times more evil than Iago. Sure, Iago's got the whole machevielian thing going on, which is all well and cool, but come on - Aaron digs up dead people, carves poetry into their flesh and leaves them outside their friends houses. He tricks Titus into needlessly cutting his own hand off, and then sends it back to him. He casually murders old ladies. He's eeeevvil.

I'll probably do an actual list though in a min

[SpoonlessJedi]

Literature: Delores Umbridge

Stephen King himself said she was the "greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter..."

Never have I felt so... infuriated. But infuriated is not the correct word. There is no word for the hatred she invokes in me. This is what literature is about.

[Duke Malagigi]

I second Delores Umbridge. She's the kind of person you wouldn't mind seeing killed by a Dalek.

[comicshorse]

Speaking of which I vote Daleks for greatest T.V. villain

[Talkkno]

Don't you mean Heir to the Empire for Thrawn? Reborn Papaltine is for Dark Empire.

[Dhavaer]

I agree about Umbridge. The film version was the same.

I nominate Hal Bolingbroke from The Crucible.

[RandomFellow]

Literature:
Darken Rahl (He's a loon...but unlike 99% of villains...he only made one mistake. And that was out of ignorance.)


I'm only making one nomination...most of the other's I'd pick are already posted.

[Toastkart]

These aren't numbered in order

Literature
1. Melina Shield (Firekeeper Saga by Jane Lindskold)
2. The Mule (Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov)
3. General Woundwort (Watership Down by Richard Adams)
4. Baron Harkonen (Dune by Frank Herbert)


Movies/ tv shows
1. Simon Gruber (Die Hard with a Vengeance)
2. Vincent (Collateral)
3. Darth Vader (Star Wars)
4. The Operative (Serenity)
5. The Zentraedi (Robotech Macross)
6. Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves)
7. Two by two, hands of blue (Firefly)

Video Games
1. The covenant (Halo series)
2. Wiegraf (Final Fantasy Tactics)
3. The Vizier (Prince of Persia series)
4. Nicolai Conrad (Shadow Hearts: Covenant)
5. The Ten Wise Men (Star Ocean: Second Story)
6. Flower General Milich Oppenheimer (Suikoden)
7. The Transcendent One (Planescape: Torment)

[SurlySeraph]

I'm glad to see Iago and Randall Flagg have been mentioned in the literature lists. However, the video game villain lists have been shamefully deficient so far.

"Arise, my child. Arise, my daughter. Arise... Kerrigan."

[....]

5. R.F. (Various Stephen King books)


Winner.....

[Raiser Blade]

No love for sylar?

[HealthKit]

Speaking of which I vote Daleks for greatest T.V. villain

I think The Master would be more appropriate.

[Nerd-o-rama]

No love for sylar?
No. white text

[Cubey]

"Arise, my child. Arise, my daughter. Arise... Kerrigan."

You're nominating the Overmind, or Kerrigan?
Both do not deserve to be here. Overmind is bland and doesn't really do anything aside from unleashing the hordes of Zerg upon its enemies and capturing Kerrigan.

Kerrigan thinks she's a clever, manipulative b*tch, but she managed to do anything right only because Blizzard guys are total Zerg fanbois, and:
1. No matter what happens, Zerg will come out on top.
2. Each time Kerrigan tries to manipulate someone with one of her VERY OBVIOUS schemes, they hand that guy (didn't happen to a woman yet, as far as I remember) the Idiot Ball (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IdiotBall).

In other words: Inconvinging in her scheming and fanboyish in general, to the point of someone's Perverse Sexual Lust. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PerverseSexualLust) That someone probably being the Blizzard developers themselves.

[SurlySeraph]

@^: Kerrigan. I admit that her schemes tend to be obvious, but the developers are trying to make most of them obvious. For example, note the conversation with Duran at the start of the Brood War Zerg campaign and her overemphasizing the word "allow" when she said "I'll allow her [Raszagal] to return to you"

Yes, anyone older than 14 will probably pick up on her plans. But in the game universe, she is very smart and very good at manipulating people. The standards of how obvious manipulation should be vary widely in books targeted to different audiences. Liars in a Tom Clancy novel are going to be easier for most readers to spot than liars in a well-written murder mystery.

Besides, the Zerg definitely don't always come out on top. They looked pretty thoroughly defeated at the end of Starcraft I.

[warty goblin]

Literature:
1) Sauron. Hey, its in my contract, signed in blood and everything... honestly if I don't say it, plague locusts will consume this fragile meatsack of a body and leave me a desecated husk knowing only pain.
2) Raistlin Majere
3) Morgoth. Again, those pesky contractual obligations...
4) Jamie Lannister.

Games: Hmm, most of the games I play don't really have villians per say...
1) Sareth, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, depending on the ending.
2) That one wood elf dude in the fighter's guild quest line from Oblivion. Man, I hated him so much I killed him with my bare hands, then reloaded the game and did it again, this time discharging enough magic into him to light him like a Christmas tree.
3) Jyggilag, Oblivion, Shivering Isles.
4) The Nazis. Come on, the only things that get shot more than them are zombies/aliens, and even that's debatable.
5) Sauron. Contract again. Has to make every list of villiany, although he can get this low slot since none of the games are canon.
6) Lord Inioch/the other undead leader, Age of Wonders.


Movies:
1) Sauron.
2) The Operative, Serenity.
3) Darth Vader
4) Father, Equilibrium.

TV:
1) The Shadows, Babylon 5.
2) President Clark, Babylon 5.
3) Saur... wait, he's not in any TV show... I can't fulfill my con- aARRGH!! THE PAIN! THE BITING! NOOOO!

[Cubey]

Yes, anyone older than 14 will probably pick up on her plans. But in the game universe, she is very smart and very good at manipulating people.
I don't buy it. I want to see that a character is cunning, and not to be told that the character is supposed to be cunning. Doubly grating because the people she deals with are actually smart and good tacticians (and it's a real ability, not just an "informed" one) - but suddenly when she contacts them, they act like utter idiots.



Besides, the Zerg definitely don't always come out on top. They looked pretty thoroughly defeated at the end of Starcraft I.

They looked defeated - but they came out on top. You didn't refute my argument, you reinforced it.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

In no particular order...

Literature
#1. Satan (The Bible... I mean, duh. )
#2. Great Emptiness (Flinx series)
#3. Macrobes (That Hideous Strength)
#4. Cthuhulu (Cthulhu Mythos)
#5. Auditors (Discworld series)
#6. Sauron (Lord of the Rings)
#7. Pitar (Dirge)
#8. Baron Harkonnen (Dune)
#9. Achilles (Ender's Shadow split-off)
#10. Dracula (Dracula)

Television
#1. Callisto (Xena/Hercules)
#2. Sylar (Heroes)
#3. Yellow-Eyes (Supernatural)
#4. Lionel Luther (Smallville)
#5. Q (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
#6. Borg (Star Trek: TNG/Voyager)
#7. The Founders (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
#8. Lex Luther (any)
#9. Najara (Xena)
#10. Frank Burns (M*A*S*H)

Film
#1. Freddy Kruger (Nightmare on Elm Street)
#2. Agent Smith (Matrix)
#3. Khan Noonien Singh (The Wrath of Khan)
#4. Darth Vader (Star Wars)
#5. Davey Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean)
#6. Evil effing room (1408)
#7.
#8.
#9.
#10. Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)

Ok, for some reason my mind goes blank for movie villains.

[The Extinguisher]

Not in any particular order. Also, since I can't be bothered to find ones from certian categories, I'll just jumble them together.

Iago from Othello
Hao from Shaman King
Lavos from Chrono Trigger
Kuja from Final Fantasy IX
Kerrigan from Starcraft
The Devil from Reaper
Derek Leech from The Quorum
Mysterio from Spider-man
Megatron from Beast Wars

[TheElfLord]

I don't buy it. I want to see that a character is cunning, and not to be told that the character is supposed to be cunning. Doubly grating because the people she deals with are actually smart and good tacticians (and it's a real ability, not just an "informed" one) - but suddenly when she contacts them, they act like utter idiots.



They looked defeated - but they came out on top. You didn't refute my argument, you reinforced it.

I would put Kerigan on the list because of the hateability. She is the kind of villian you just love to hate, and will spend years waiting for SC2 in the hopes of seeing Jimmy send her where she belongs (A very hot place with lots of pitchforks).

And its not her fault that Blizzard follows the pattern of having the bad guys lose the original game and then lose the expansion. Not only does it cater to all the people who love to see bad guys win, but it infuriates the rest of us into hopefully buying the sequal to set things right.

[Gungnir]

Azula from Avatar. I swear, if she didn't have to keep it PG... Oh the carnage she would unleash. She probably would have taken over the world by age 12.

[Haruki-kun]

Not very organized or well-thought out, but I think these are mine:

Literature
Voldemort
Sauron
The White Witch
The Queen of Hearts
The Wicked Witch of the West (It WAS the west, right? :smallconfused: )
Captain Hook

Film (I'm sorry, but some Disney villains deserve a place here......)
Maleficent
The Queen from Snow White
Ursula

Television
(empty, I can't think of many)

Anime/Cartoons
Dante
Orochimaru
Fei Wong
Barassuishou
(The one from Bleach, but I think saying his name might be a bit of a Spoiler)

Comic Books
The Joker
Lex Luthor
Venom/Carnage (gretest Spider-an Villains, I think....)
Magneto


Video Games
Bowser (I mean, come on!)
Ganondorf
Sephiroth
Lord Yggdrassil (Tales of Symphonia)
Organization XIII
Malpercio

[sun_tzu]

Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Raito Yagami ("Death Note"). Just about the ultimate schemer.
Doctor Doom.
Lex Luthor.
Joker.
Kaito Kid ("Detective Conan"). The ultimate phantom thief.
Nemesis ("City of Heroes"). Centuries-old steampunk supergenius for the win.
Head Alien ("It's Walky"). Sadistic mind-games taken to truly impressive levels.
The Sovereign of Sorrow ("Captain SNES"). A well-intentioned, yet truly terrifying cosmic entity.
J.Saint Gideon ("Tex Murpy: Overseer"). I just love that guy.

[Tweekinator]

Come on, people, Simon Gruber? No love for Hans? The guy whose plan only failed because of the barest, unforeseeable, circumstance that could not be anticipated?

[Hazkali]

Literature:
Darken Rahl (He's a loon...but unlike 99% of villains...he only made one mistake. And that was out of ignorance.)

Yup, I so totally agree. Of course, some of the things that he does goes beyond PG/12 rated evil, but even if we took a stratified depravity scale he'd still come out highly.

As for Umbridge, I like her character because it is just nasty. She isn't particularly evil, in the way Voldemort is evil, she's just a petty, bureaucratic, and power-obsessed. Hers is an evil much easier to comprehend and to see in our everyday lives, hence all the more chilling.

[Stijl]

What, no love for the Core and the Shrike from Hyperion?

I'm disappointed.

[ALOR]

i think rather than breaking them into categories i'm just going to tell you my top 10 villians

1. Darth Vader
2. Micheal Corleon (godfather, no way was this guy not a villian)
3. Dr Doom (not the movie Doom, he was horrible. Bow to Doom!!!!!)
4. Sauron
5. Kefka (FF3 or what ever japanese number it is now VI maybe)
6. Tyler Durdon (Fight club)
7. Cobra Comander
8. Apocolypse
9. Megatron
10. Syler (heroes)

[Smeik]

1. Phistomefel Smeik from Walter Moers' "City of Dreaming Books"
2. The Saint Of Killers (Preacher)
3. Lucifer, The Morningstar (The Bible)
4. The Werewolf Gmork(Michael Ende's Neverending Story)
5. Melkor/Morgoth (Tolkien's Silmarillion)
6. Mephistopheles (Goethe's Faust)
7. The Auditors of Reality (Terry Pratchett's Discworld)
8. Sylar (Heroes)
9. The Zamomim, on par with the rest of the family Smeik.(Walter Moers, the 13 1/2 Life of Captain Bluebear)
10. Darth Vader

[Telonius]

No love for sylar?

Not yet. He has potential; a lot of potential, actually. He could be one of the greats. But I'm reserving judgment until after the Writers' Strike ends, and I see where the series goes.

[Dancing_Zephyr]

Littlefinger (Song of Ice and Fire)
The rest have been posted. Also Cercei Lannister is the most inept villain in SoIsF.

[thorgrim29]

Wow.... maybe I'm blind, but I dont see Littlefinger as a villain.... a ruthless manipulative jerk yes, a the most magnificent magnificent bastard in a series that has quite a lot of them, but not a villain per se. Because nearly every character in these books has done things that justifies him or her being called a villain in nearly every other 'verse, including young children. Oh and Cercei is a pathetic scheming bitch who will reap what her stupidity sowed soon enough, its just too bad for Tommen and Myrcella, they seem like nice kids. For me, the true villains in the books are:
-Mellisandre (not sure if she's misguided or willingly evil though)
-Ser Gregor the Mountain (though he had a couple of awesome lines while subverting the inigo montoya, he's still a monster, a rabid dog) and his men
-The brave companions
-The alchemist (once again, no motivation given, but he stole a guys life, thats pretty evil)
-And a couple of support characters, like the traitor crows, a couple of wildlings, etc...

jaime does'nt qualify, he was misguided, but honestly his only crime was having a relation with his sister.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I think watching the Hogfather made-for-TV just now might have knocked Teatime down a notch on my literature list...

Nah, I'll just go read the book to remind myself of how awesome he is when you have to imagine him.

[Shosuro Ishii]

"Oh, yes! fill the churches with dirty thoughts! Introduce honesty to the white house! Write letters in dead languages to people you've never met! Paint filthy words on the foreheads of children! Burn your credit cards and wear high heels! Asylum doors stand open! Fill the suburbs with murder and rape! Divine madness! Let there be ecstacy, ecstacy in the streets! Laugh and the world laughs with you!"

Read that and tell me the Joker is not the best insane villian in the world. Never have I ever read a villian who makes me feel as scared as him.

"When villians want to scare each other...they tell Joker stories"

Even the otehr villainst are scared of him. He is simply a fantastic character. I would love to rate the #2-10 villians, but that would imply that any of them even compare to the Joker.

/fanboyism

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

I definitely agree with Nerd about Dr. Lecter. he's one of the all time greatest villains on any medium. What I don't agree about that statement, is SOTL only. Yes Hannibal took away the psychological factor, but in Red Dragon, while Lecter isn't the main villian, he's still quite the villain. I haven't seen Hannibal Rising so I won't comment.

@ Mr. Friendly
I don't quite agree with you on the Song of Ice and Fire characters. There's a tremendous amount of gray area in the story, and it's truly not a black vs. white, affair. While the characters you mentioned may be instigators, and I don't really believe anyone thinks the Lannisters are good people, I'm not sure you can call them villains in the true sense of the word.

[Alex Knight]

Xanatos has got to be up there on the villain chart. He avoids most of the "evil overlord" screwups, and manages to win even when the heroes beat him most of the time.

Demona's not bad either. You can't kill her, she's out to destroy humanity to protect her race, and she's clearly insane. But she's not stupid.

[The_Snark]

As for Umbridge, I like her character because it is just nasty. She isn't particularly evil, in the way Voldemort is evil, she's just a petty, bureaucratic, and power-obsessed. Hers is an evil much easier to comprehend and to see in our everyday lives, hence all the more chilling.

Really? I mean, I agreed that she was nasty, and I hated her too, but she was one-dimensional. She was as unpleasant and nasty as she could possibly manage to be, and had not one redeeming feature. I found it easy to sympathize with Voldemort, and even he wasn't really ever shown to have had a nice side.

She just didn't strike me as realistic, at all. Real people have motivations. The film version was interestingly creepy, though, and one of the better-done characters in the films.

Literature:
1. Sauron (Lord of the Rings)
2. The Party (1984)
3. Lilith (Lilith)
4. Saruman (Lord of the Rings)
5. The Elves (Discworld)


Film:
1. Darth Vader (Star Wars)
2. Captain Vidal (Pan's Labyrinth)
3. HAL 9000 (2001)
4. Magneto (X-Men)
5. The Pirates (Pirates of Penzance)

Video Games:
1. HK-47 (Knights of the Old Republic)
2. Andrew Ryan (Bioshock)

Picking out villains from literature is tough, but Sauron has to be in there simply because he's one of the archetypal Dark Lords. Saruman is up there because persuasive villains are scary—and because of his spiteful refusal to admit he was wrong even after he'd conclusively lost. I particularly like his speech deriding the hobbits for believing that they could ruin him and turn him out from his fortress, and still expect their homes to remain unscathed.

The Elves are undeniably nasty, and Lilith receives credit for the scene in which she kills her own daughter. The Party isn't a villain in the same sense as the others, but it has to be included. Tt's as impossible to face or defeat in its own world as Lovecraft's entities are in theirs.

Vader is from the original three only, naturally. (I usually like villains I can understand, but I preferred Vader when all we knew about him was that he expressed a sort of fatalistic resignation in Return of the Jedi.) Magneto can likewise ignore the third X-Men movie, because he seems to have forgotten that he had a goal other than to blow things up in that one. HAL was very striking. Captain Vidal, though... that guy was creepy. Edged out HAL for second, and nearly displaced Vader.

(The Pirates of Penzance get a place on the list because, well, sometimes you need to watch someone singing loudly about how quiet they're being. Mostly, I wanted to work Gilbert and Sullivan in here.)

Andrew Ryan was impressive, even when he was clearly insane (maybe more so then, actually), and I haven't even played the game through myself. And lastly... well, technically, HK-47 was a protagonist, but he was pretty villainous. If you insist on being picky, the HK-50 versions from the sequel were great as well.

[Pronounceable]

I'll make it Top20, and won't break it into categories.


1) Inner Party Member O'Brien (1984): It should actually be the Party in this spot, but O'Brien is its face we can see. The fact that a human (the writer) could imagine and write about such evil brings my esteem of humanity a notch lower. (but Orwell is a magnificient writer)

2) Joker: Come on, no need to explain that.

3) Drip (from webcomic Jack): A serial rapist and murderer in life, punished to become the embodiment of the sin lust in hell. He's EVIL.

4) Tommy DeVito (Good Fellas): Seldom have I hated a character more.

5) Darth Vader (original): Yes.

6) Tony Montana: A better villain than Micheal Corleone (who was much cooler though). I hated the bastard throughout the movie and was very glad when he kicked the bucket. Was there a single character he didn't eventually betray?

7) Alex DeLarge (Clockwork Orange): Now there is a magnificient bastard who knows how to impress.

8) Magneto: Again yes.

9) The Transcended One (Torment): Yet another extremely impressive villain with a great backstory. Go play the game if you haven't already.

10) HK47 (Knights of the Old Republic): A hillarious pile of junk with a sharp, er... speaker? And also a bloodthirsty sociopathic assasin droid. What more could one ask for?

...

I could go on. Seeing no reason why I shouldn't, I do:

11) Hannibal Lecter: He deserves a mention, even in spite of me not liking him much. He's fabulous of course, him being 11th greatest IMO is a testament to that.

12) Xykon (guess where's that from?): see "The Bouncy Ball of Insanity".

13) Him (Powerpuff Girls): Really, who isn't scared of Him?

14) Necrons (WH40K): An undead race in a scifi environment bent on eradication of all life. Undead with lasers! Whee! (well gauss actually, but you get the point)

15) The Big Cheese (Secret Service Dentists, a Monty Python sketch): OK, he's not exactly a villain, but he is exceedingly memorable. Isn't he, Tipsy? ...

16) Elves (Discworld): Ahem;
Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake...
Nobody said elves were nice.
Elves are bad.

17) Auditors of Reality (Discworld): Damned blighters.

18) Richard (webcomic Looking for Group): Look up "Slaughter Your World" from youtube.

19) Frank Horrigan (Fallout 2): It's a rare bad guy who gets an irritated scream from me. STOP KILLING EVERY GODDAMNED NPC I'VE RAN ACROSS!

20) Quan Chi (Mortal Kombat games): I like this guy. It's something instinctual taking a liking to bald guys who can kick ass. (Other such bald guys are Riddick, Mace Windu and Minsc)

[hyperfreak497]

12) Xykon (guess where's that from?): see "The Bouncy Ball of Insanity".

Seconded. I truly wanted Miko to just run in and kick Xykon's ass. That ball was the only thing I have ever actually gotten angry about in OotS.

Yes, I will be using it in my career as a DM.

EDIT: Oh, and Goblinslayer (I think...), the ranger from Goblins. I'm gonna go check the name.

[Shadowblade89]

My top ten list on any platform:

1. Adrian Veidt, Watchmen
"I did it thrity-five minutes ago"
The primary example that if you plan long and hard enoguh, even a bad guy can get away with it. Plus, his motives may be twisted, but to him they are pure.

2. The Operative, Serenity
"Do you know what your sin is?"
A man who realizes that what he is doing is despicable and yet does it anyway, damning himself for people he will never meet.

3. Scar, Fullmetal Alchemist
"Yet another soul who departs from God's path. Death will be swift."
Just a fascinating and likeable villain. Doesn't mean he wasn't still wrong of course.

4. Francis Urquhart, House of Cards (TV)
"You may very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment"
Everything you would expect a ruthless politician to be. And then he exceeds your expectations.

5. John Doe, Se7en
"Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you'll notice you've got their strict attention."
This is a villain with patience, and he has no problems with dying simply to prove a point.

6. Eric Cartman, South Park
"Yes! Yes! Oh let me taste your tears, Scott! Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness! My-yummy! My-yummy, you guys!"
Yes, he's a villain. Just because he may not have technically committed any felonies does not change that fact (and I'm not even sure about that). This is a ten-year old who has manipulated his enemy into eating his own parents, has repeated planned and attempted to carry out genocide, and is the most virilent anti-semite on television.

7. Agent Smith The Matrix
"We're not here because we're free; we're here because we're not free. There's no escaping reason, no denying purpose, because as we know, without purpose, we would not exist."
The last movie was only watchable because of him. (As an aside, I was unable to take Elrond seriously throughout the entire trilogy).

8. Jules Winnfield, Pulp Fiction
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration? Oh, you were done? Well, allow me to retort!"
Jules may be the least villainous person on this list, and by the film's end he appears to be sincere at wanting to reform. However, he is still one of the most memorable characters in recent cinema (for the Brett converstaion alone) and deserves a place on this list.

9. Mr. Teatime, Hogfather
"I suppose I just look at things differently than other people."
One of the most psycotic characters outside of The Joker. Which leads us to...

10. The Joker
No one quote can even begin to do him justice. This is the villain that comics were created for.

[Zenos]

Unordered:

Vetinari(discworld) (C'mon, he even wants people to view him as a villain, he may not be an antagonist but...)
Sauron(LOTR)
Darth Varder and Palpatine(Star Wars)
Ganondorf(Legend of Zelda games)
Smaug (The Hobbit)
Queen Jennesta (the Orcs novels by Stan Nichols)
The high Lords of Terra (Warhammer 40k)

[Sir_Norbert]

OK people, as far as Shakespeare villains go, Aaron from Titus is about a million times more evil than Iago. Sure, Iago's got the whole machevielian thing going on, which is all well and cool, but come on - Aaron digs up dead people, carves poetry into their flesh and leaves them outside their friends houses. He tricks Titus into needlessly cutting his own hand off, and then sends it back to him. He casually murders old ladies. He's eeeevvil.
I think that is the reason he's less memorable as a villain -- he's too over-the-top. Iago is frightening because you can understand what it's like to be him... and he can destroy a man from the inside, which is a lot more terrible than getting them to cut off their hand.

My list -- this is not in any particular order, just a list of ten:

Iago. For reasons already stated.

Saruman (LotR). I know Sauron is the Evil Overlord, but he ain't the villain. He makes only one appearance in the entire novel, and that's in the Palantir. It's the characters you get to see that really affect the reader's emotions.

Denethor (LotR). I count him as a villain, and why not? He casually tries to send Faramir to his death and would have given up the city if the heroes hadn't stopped him. He's frightening because you just can't argue with him.

Tywin Lannister (Song of Ice and Fire). I know, there are no clear-cut roles of hero and villain in this series, but Tywin has done some of the most evil things of any character in any book I've read, and I was cheering like anything when he got his come-uppance.

Kuja (Final Fantasy 9). He wants to destroy the world because he can't bear to lose his sense of self-importance, and he spouts bad poetry.

Kunzite (Sailor Moon). Another depressive poetic type. And he has one of the best last moments of anyone on my list.

Palpatine (Revenge of the Sith). Another villain of the Iago type, awesome because of his skill in exploiting his victims' weaknesses.

Xykon (Start of Darkness, especially). I don't think I need to explain.

Rachel (Proust, Remembrance of Things Past). Quite possibly the nasiest female character I've encountered, several leagues above Umbridge. She destroys other people's lives out of sheer spite.

Count Olaf (A Series of Unfortunate Events). I'm ashamed to say, he completely forgot him when I was compiling this list originally. He starts out as just a pantomime villain, but he turns into something much more. By the last book, we're even moved by him. Or at least I was.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Kuja (Final Fantasy 9). He wants to destroy the world because he can't bear to lose his sense of self-importance, and he spouts bad poetry.
Oh my God.

Kuja's a Vogon!

[Lord of the Helms]

I don't really want to do a top ten because I find them both tiring and hard to determine who's which number, so just a few stray thoughts from me:

I concur with Morgoth, who I found greater even than Sauron. Sauron himself is fairly brilliant if you do take the entire second age and third age into account rather than just his role in Lord of the Rings.

When I think of the best villain of Babylon Five - well, Mr. Morden is admittedly very good and the Shadows have the scariest ships I've ever seen anyone invent ("Torn from nightmares" indeed), but Alfred Bester has them beat in terms of scheming, smugness and getting away with it on top. His big Gambit - damn, that one was masterfully planned and executed.

From Firefly - I did have a soft spot for Niska, but the nastiest and scariest there was has to be Early with his determination, craziness and existential musings.

On the Dresden Files, I enjoyed Nicodemus for his sheer professionalism and Lara Raith for the scheming back-stabbity type villain.

Darth Vader is just Darth Vader, and there's not a damn thing even Hayden Christensen could do to ruin that. Vader is just too badass to be doubted.

Xanatos from Gargoyles is probably my favorite Cartoon villain. Professional, ambitious, constantly scheming AND with brawns to back it up.



Tywin Lannister (Song of Ice and Fire). I know, there are no clear-cut roles of hero and villain in this series, but Tywin has done some of the most evil things of any character in any book I've read, and I was cheering like anything when he got his come-uppance.


You mean, no clear-cut villains except Cersei, Joffrey, the Boltons, Viserys (complete, utter and total failure, admittedly), the Others, the slavers, Gregor Clegane, the Bloody Mummers, Janos Slynt, the "Late Lord Frey", and Dio only knows who I'm forgetting? :smallconfused:

Tywin is certainly the most magnificent of the rather villainous characters in the series (Tyrion is even more magnificent than him, but he falls fairly well onto the heroic and sympathtic side of things as this series goes). He's one of the more believable, greyer villains in the series, though. Nowhere near as bad as any of the above.

[Nerd-o-rama]

You know, the more I re-watch the "Voodoo Child" scene from Doctor Who, the more I want to put The Master on this list. Destroying humanity to inappropriate pop music has long been a favorite of mine (and is incidentally one of the things that makes me able to enjoy End of Evangelion), and Mister Obvious Anagram does it...masterfully.

Wait, I have an open spot on my live action TV list. So let's go with

5. The Master (Doctor Who New Season 3. Pending review of older series for previous incarnations).

[Shraik]

You forgot someone important on the list of Comics...
LEX LUTHOR. You can't really top him when it comes to good villains. He is so smart that is human max intelligence was 18 he would have a 24

[Dwarkanath]

(Regarding Sylar from Heroes)
Not yet. He has potential; a lot of potential, actually. He could be one of the greats. But I'm reserving judgment until after the Writers' Strike ends, and I see where the series goes.
Eh, maybe. Really all he's been is a greedy murderer, more of a thug than a real villain in my book. Robert "Bob" Bishop (and formerly Linderman) are far more villainous in their actions.

-- Dave

[captain_decadence]

I think that Cersei Lannister is one of the best villains I know of. Not because she does things that are worse than anybody else, she's actually rather bad at being a villain in the truest sense of the word but because I can understand her. Everything she does is a result of the different powerful pulls on her psyche.

1. She loves and wants to protect her children.
2. She wants to prove that she is just as capable as any man.
3. She is sure that people are out to get her, especially when they aren't.

All of these things are understandable and they blend to create an incompetent evil woman that makes me loathe her with all of my might.

As for other villains, I've never liked most of the standards. Sauron is okay. Darth Vader is not so bad. Most of the standard villians just don't do much for me. I have to feel something toward them, either a kinship or a revulsion.

Which is why I have to nominate Gerald Tarrant. Yeah, he may help the good guys but he is unashamedly, fully and completely evil. He has things that he holds onto from his original life and things that he still cares about. He is not willing to have the world subjugated by an alien force that seeks to crush most humans but this does not in any way make him less evil.

[Sir_Norbert]

You mean, no clear-cut villains except Cersei, Joffrey, the Boltons, Viserys (complete, utter and total failure, admittedly), the Others, the slavers, Gregor Clegane, the Bloody Mummers, Janos Slynt, the "Late Lord Frey", and Dio only knows who I'm forgetting? :smallconfused:
What I said was "no clear-cut roles of hero and villain". The role of a villain is that of a plot antagonist, not just "someone who does bad things in general". The people you mention are all nasty pieces of work, but what if in the next book some of them are fighting each other -- who's the hero and who's the villain then? How can you tell? What if some of them become POV characters and become more sympathetic just because we see their point of view? If you'd been compiling this list after reading just the first two books, you'd have put Jaime on it, but you could hardly class him as a "villain" now. That's all I meant.

[Abjurer]

Redcloak is a better villain than Xykon. Emotions and everything.
Xykon has his moments, though. Just... less frequently.

Morgoth (Tolkien) needs to be added. Sauron is a sissy in comparison.

I mean, we've all seen that bloody massive flaming ram Sauron & co. uses to bash up Minas Tirith in RotK (Grond!! Grond!! Grond!! ...boom!), and during the Battle of Innumerable Tears (Children of Hurin/Silmarillion), Melkor uses it as a warhammer. He's, like, bashing holes in the ground and stuff. I think the hammer's called Grond. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Anywho, he comes up with creative ways of being evil and likes to taunt his foes, so I'm all over him.

And my personal favorite video-game villains are from Chrono Trigger.
Queen Zeal is good. Magus is awesome. Especially with the whole time-travel thing. There's something about stopping a sorcerer from destroying the world, meeting him as a little boy (along with his sister) in a futuristic cloud-based city, and then running in to him tens of thousands of years earlier. In that order.

Back to Tolkien. Let's see who else is better than Sauron. Namely, Saruman. Sure, he's not as big and bad, but he's got style. He gets the medal for coolest villain in the trilogy, if you ask me. Sauron's just the generic god-descended invulnerable super-wizard (with one conveniently misplaced weakness) on a quest for nothing other than world domination.

Of course, I'm not saying that Sauron is a lame villain, but he's certainly not as intense as Saruman. I mean, suggestion! Kudos to the chap with the mind-dominating monotone.

And speaking of invulnerable godbloods on quests for world domination, I'm a complete fan of Neverwinter Nights' Hordes of the Underdark. They did a jolly good job with Mephistopheles. The dark elf whatserface, not so much. I have a problem with dark elves, or elves of any kind, really. They are cliche to the breaking point, and yet they haven't stopped leading off just about any fantasy RPG you can find.

Anywho, that's my two cents.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Can't believe there's been little mention to comedic villains (The Evil, Crazy, Brutal, and Incredible lists are pretty much mapped out), so let's include THE example of one: Doctor Evil. What's not to like about sharks with lasers and easily escapable deathtraps?

[Ishmael]

In regards to ASoIaF, I would definitely place Littlefinger in the 'villain' category. Yeah, he's pretty blurry when it comes to motivation, but really, just look at the extent of the problems that he caused. I mean, he practically plotted the entire War of the Five Kings, in a loose sense.

I wouldn't classify Denethor as a villain too quickly. Osgiliath wasn't completely lost by the time that Faramir was ordered to make his stupid attack. There was some chance of success--far more, at least, than the movie made it seem like.

I really like the Creature, from Frankenstein. Shelley made him amazing. You felt so sorry for him, and wanted to pity it--yet at the same time it invoked horror and disgust. Truly, an amazing character. "All men hate the wretched; how then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us"

[Shadow of the Sun]

Aha, I'm disappointed. Not one of you has mentioned my favourite comic villain of all time...

Johan from Monster.

He is mostly indescribable. Evil, to be sure, but he might be the Antichrist.

[Wardog]

No love for Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate II?

"Silence, dog. You have no purpose but to die by my hand."

[NoDot]

Raito Yagami ("Death Note"). Just about the ultimate schemer.A schemer with a notebook that kills you in 40 seconds! Go Yagami Light!

I'd like to add the Miko of Code Geass, Kururugi Suzaku. I hope he dies in season two!

[Xuincherguixe]

Orochimaru from Naruto. Normally feminine male villains piss me off. But the guy pulls it off so well. He's creepy, he's smart, he's charismatic. He doesn't just use people, he makes people want to be used by him. A lot of the power he holds is because he uses weird techniques.

There are a few others, but Orochimaru is the one that really jumps out for me.

[Ominous]

Games:

10. Alma - Japanese Horror themed evil little girls can make truly freaky villains.
9. Maester Seymour - Nothing like a bad guy who wants to help the world by destroying it.
8. Arthas - The Darth Vader of the video game world, only more kick***.
7. The Flood - Like the Zerg only creepier.
6. Kefka - He laughed while poisoning a town, he successfully destroyed the world, and he's a clown. Need I say more?
5. Bowser - He's a lovable villain that is a part of many people's childhoods.
4. Duran - Who is he and what he's planning nobody knows, but he beats everyone at their own game in Starcraft: Brood War like a drum.
3. SHODAN - Nothing else needs to be said.
2. The Virindi (my avatar) - For those of you who know nothing of Asheron's Call, think of the Auditors from Discworld only without any humorous qualities (except having French names).
1. The Pit - Oh how many times have I died from falling into a bottomless/lava-filled/spike-filled/really deep/etc. pit? The Pit is the greatest villain of all time.

[Xerillum]

Just top villains


The devil
Baron Harkonnen
Bender, fot the funny villain
Emperor Palpatine
Darth Vader
Moff Tarkin
Kefka
Judge of Wings (FF XII RW)
A Tonberry
Sephiroth
Ganon
Bowser

[Arameus]

Pyramid Head should be on more poeple's lists. He's a terror!

[Setra]

Judge of Wings (FF XII RW)

What's he like?

In terms of overall evilness my list is something like this..

1. Kefka (Game: FFVI)
2. Lucifer (Biblical)
3. Luca Blight (Game: Suikoden II)
4. Hitler (Historical)
5. Palpatine (Movies: Star Wars)
6. Sauron (Books: Lord of the Rings)
7.My friend Jeff
8.????
9.PROFIT
10. Children
11. The people who talk on their cellphone during a movie or brings in a baby or somesuch

[MostlyHarmless]

From combined genres, here I go in no particular order:

1. Sauron
2. The Master (classic or modern Doctor Who)
3. Gollum (c'mon, give the corrupted hobbit his props)
4. What's his name the Minister of Magic from Harry Potter, who, for not being evil, sure makes Harry's life difficult.
5. The Smoking/Cancer Man (X-Files)
6. The liquid metal Terminator in T2.
7. The White Witch (Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe)
8. Darth Vader
9. Adam (Heroes for only having one power, I think he's far more insidious than Sylar, but much remains to be seen)
10. Ben (Lost)

[twerk_face]

No. white text

AAAAHAHAHA funny.

But seriously, I freakin' love Heroes, but...

I don't like what they've done with him....too soon, too soon....

DAMN YOU WRITERS STRIKE!!!

no, but i know it's necesary, keep it up.


As for my favorites....well, Umbridge, duh. But also...hm a few i can think of offhand are Jarlaxle (from the Drizzt saga), Magneto, and Linderman. now THERES a Heroes villain with some substance.

EDIT: WTF was I thinking??? Lord Asriel from His Dark Materials, if you could really call him a villain. I guess he's not...but he kinda is....ooo i love those books.:smallbiggrin:

[ArtifexFelicis]

Just a list really. No real order should these be taken in.

1. The Headcrabs
2. GlaDOS
3. Alex de Large
4. Darth Vader
5. The xenomorphs
6. The "end" in the Watchmen. ((You know what I mean))
7. Desire (The Sandman)
8. The Government of 1984
9. Kefka
10. The player character of FFTA
11. All of the respective villains in Ogre Battle 64
12. Zim
13. Hitler/Nazis
14. Nightmare Fuel
15. About half of Battle Royale. Kirayama I think was the big one.
16. Flagg
17. The Crimson King
18. Giant Spider
19. zombies
20. Dogs
21. Giant zombie spider dogs.
22. Birds
23. Man.
24. Hannibal Lecter.
25. Jaws (Shark or Bond Villain)
26. Superman
27. Doomsday.
28. The Adversary from Fables
29. the Snow Queen is about every incarnation of her.
30. Barlow of Salems' Lot.
31. Frank Horrigan
32. Mid-Boss
33. Fontaine and Andrew Ryan
34. Porn.

I have more, but I just wanted to do a Rule 34 joke before bed.