Good villians

[thelastone]

Is a villain or antagonist better when they are ignored? Sauron, Ganondorf (zelda), Tash (narnia), the machine central bosses from the Matrix, etc

Or is a villian better when they are seen in relation to others but never focused on by an author/director? Voldemort, Palpatine, Saruman, etc

Or better when they are given the reins of a story for a bit? Snape, Agent Smith, and their ilk.

I tried to think of examples a wide range of people would recognize, so please don't judge my tastes, as they are not being represented.

[rainfall]

Depends on what you're trying to do with your good villain. For instance dr. Lecter is made out to be a good guy later on in the saga, so that we like him even more. Some very hungry opportunists ate his sister, you see, forever scarring and transforming him into a heartless killing/eating machine, and so he isn't just plain born a bad guy, but rather guided into that direction. Perhaps if nothing happened to him, he would not eat uncouth men for fun.

Am I making any sense?

[Xenolith]

An example of what I see as a good villain would be Vincent in the movie Collateral.

[Faust06]

A good villain is one that isn't so one dimensional/black and white, I think. You've gotta like him to some extent. Some people don't seem to like villains being portrayed in any amount of good light, which I don't understand. They're human.

[rainfall]

A good villain is one that isn't so one dimensional/black and white, I think. You've gotta like him to some extent. Some people don't seem to like villains being portrayed in any amount of good light, which I don't understand. They're human.

If you make them too human then there's no longer evil/good separation. You're then entering areas of moral ambiguity, and our feeble brains can't handle that. We need a definitely good guy, and a definitely bad guy, or we can't handle it.

[SilentlyHonest]

Actually My favorite villains were never the ones who sat on there ass in the shadows while there minions bickered among themselves, My favorite villains are the ones who were completely uninhibited, and would take the more straight path to a goal, eg. The Joker, Doomsday, and Agent Smith in reloaded and revolution (not so much in the original).

I never cared for someone who beat down the protagonist but instead of finishing the job would opt to place them into a trap that anyone with half a brain could get out of. Why? Why threaten to hurt his loved ones? Be like Sephiroth, stab them. If you don't believe the villain would kill the protagonist without thinking, he's no villain.

[Faust06]

If you make them too human then there's no longer evil/good separation. You're then entering areas of moral ambiguity, and our feeble brains can't handle that. We need a definitely good guy, and a definitely bad guy, or we can't handle it.

They should clearly be on one end of the spectrum if you're going to call them good guys or bad guys. But they can be somewhere down the middle and be pretty interesting characters regardless... like say one perspective versus another instead of just good versus bad.

[LongSilence]

The best villians are the ones that have character, be it one-dimensional or not. After all, sometimes those one-dimensional villians still end up being mighty cool. In the end, they should just have an effect on us- whether it is one that compels us to respect, fear or revile them or simply just grabs our attention.

[HappyNoodleBoy]

There are many ways too make a "good" villian. One that doesn't get much attention is simply making us want to punch them in the face. Like that woman who wore all pink in the latest harry potter movie.

[ataronchronon]

I like villains to have some hold on the story. Of course, I like to be able to sympathize with the villain some, kinda like Dr. Evil in Austin Powers. Agent Smith is my favorite actual villain though.

[thelastone]

If you don't believe the villain would kill the protagonist without thinking, he's no villain.

I have to give serious props for this one. This statement makes total sense to me. I'm going to go write this down.

Keep 'em coming, I would love to hear more on this topic.

[Krill]

I never cared for someone who beat down the protagonist but instead of finishing the job would opt to place them into a trap that anyone with half a brain could get out of. Why? Why threaten to hurt his loved ones? Be like Sephiroth, stab them. If you don't believe the villain would kill the protagonist without thinking, he's no villain.

Unless the villain has an in-character reason to not want to kill them. It's rare to see this done well though.

Ruthlessness and determination as well as calm make the best villains. I also like villains who display a knack for being in control, and whose motivations are not entirely clear (at first).

I.E. Sephiroth/Jenova, Johan Liebert, Manfred von Karma

[rainfall]

I never cared for someone who beat down the protagonist but instead of finishing the job would opt to place them into a trap that anyone with half a brain could get out of. Why

Ever seen madness cartoons on the newgrounds? The evil clown keeps resurrecting the hero, hank, over and over, just because he likes fighting hank. Hank, however, is getting strong. Imagine you were evilest, smartest bad guy out there. Kill the goodest, smarters guy out there, and it gets boring. There's no one fight anymore. Some villains just like the challenge.