Will have to put mine in here:

 

Movie: Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones owned Conan)

 

Book: Grand Admiral Thrawn

 

Game: (I know I'll get heat for it...but...) The Lich King

 

T.V.: Breetai from Robotech

The Joker.

Sure!

 

I would first start with their motivations. Like many people have already said in this thread, some of the best villains are characters who start off with good intentions, but their execution is what makes them "evil." A character's motivation, particularly the villain's, is what often drives the plot forward.

 

Once you have their motivations, start to sculpt the finer details of the character - mainly their back story and personality quirks. A great exercise is to literally write out what an average daily schedule would look like for that character. None of this needs to be in your final story, but it helps to make that character seem more realistic and three dimensional, which is especially important for a villain, who might not actually see a lot of page time.

 

I personally think that appearance is secondary, unless it affects the character's motivation. It's much more important to figure out the inner workings of a villain before focusing on the outward shell.

 

Hope that helps!

 

So going by the first paragraph here, you would agree with the many people who have called Bioware or EA "evil". While some of the cartel and other things implemented to the game are with some of the best intentions, the execution of some of these updates/items/fixes have been deemed "evil". While I totally disagree

 

 

Favorite Villain : Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey

 

get at me

Edited July 1, 2013 by iimagiicii

I have to say Khan and Hannibal Lector were especially good ones.

 

It's hard to pin down a favorite favorite, but I adore complicated characters that could easily fall to hero or villain - the ones that live on the knife's edge of good and bad. Take (Fight Club spoilers)

I think the thing that I love most about those characters is that they are living by their own code, and although it may drive them to villainious acts, there is often something to be respected about them.

 

Honorable mentions in the villain category: Grand Admiral Thrawn, Bill (Kill Bill), Loki (The Avengers), The Goblin King.

Ooooh so many villains....

Print: Lex Luthor, or Count Veritgo.. or Poison Ivy... any DC villain really

Movie: Khan in Into Darkness - The faceeee and he's pretty cool with his headsmashing and what not

Game: Team Rocket - Nothing said XD

SWTOR: Kilran - He's so fine

This is definitely a difficult one.... so many choices!

 

Book: Jagang from the Sword of Truth series. Quite ruthless and unforgiving, and he invades dreams.

Movie: the ultimate villain?? Why, the Vacuum of space! Unbeatable more-or-less

Video game: Sephiroth, no question there. A singularly focused bundle of walking genocide due to Mommy issues.

T.V. Series: Joe Carroll of "The Following". Chilling, devious, and completely cold.

Hmm, let's see. My list would look something like this:

 

 

1. Daytime TV: Lara Parker as the witch Angelique Bourcharde in the original Dark Shadows. They say Hell has no fury like a woman scorned and this character tormented her ex for 175+ years. First by turning him into a vampire and then showing back up repeatedly to make his unlife miserable during his trips through time and parallel dimensions.
   
2. Nighttime TV: Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing in Dallas. He made being a smug, manipulative S.O.B. look fun with that smirk and ten-gallon hat of his.
   
3. Movies: Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Ricardo Montalban quoting Shakespeare and Moby Dick at William Shatner throughout the course of the greatest Trek film ever was just breathtakingly epic.
   
4. Video Games: Hmm. That's a tough one. I think I'll go with Lord Nemesis from City of Heroes. Three loading screen quotes come to mind here. "Everything is a Nemesis Plot." "Not everything is a Nemesis Plot." "If it's not a Nemesis Plot, you can make it one in the Mission Architect."
   
5. Books: *gurgle* I've read so many books over the years that it's darned near impossible to pick just one. But if I really, really have to, then I'll pick Ishamael/Ba'alzamon as presented in the first couple Wheel of Time books. Someone who had been manipulating events since the downfall of the previous Age all in order to bring about the final downfall of the world in the current Age.
   
6. Comic Books: I'm gonna pick two here. Firstly, the Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne) as presented when he
   killed Iris West Allen and then came back years later to try to kill Barry's new fiancee only to get his neck snapped.
   The other one would be the Anti-Monitor as seen in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.
   

Principal Ed Rooney - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

 

Mostly because he is a hilarious bumbling fool, but at the same time you sympathize with him because he is only trying to do what is best and get the kids in school where they should be.

I'll have to go with Harbinger from the mass effect series

Hey everyone,

 

Thought I would pop in here and contribute to the land of off-topicness. As some of you may or may not know, my major in college was "Villainy in literature, film, and other media." I spent four years reading/watching/playing different mediums and focusing on the villains in those mediums - everything from Iago to Voldemort.

 

So my question to you is do you have a favorite villain? If so, what do you think makes them a great villain?

 

Firstly, love the question. You villainous swine, you!

 

As for your quetion, I do have an answer.

 

Dr Hannibal Lecter!

 

Such a smooth talker. It's amazing how much damage he can cause while still being in a max security cell.

 

FYI, read the book, Hannibal to find the true ending. Self sacrifice of his hand, not likely!!!

 

Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming........

Edited July 2, 2013 by chimex

TV: Benjamin Linus, Number Six

Movies: Darth Vader

Games: Oscelot, Darth Malak, Kreia

Books: Grand Admiral Thrawn, Ozymandias, Jacen Solo

Hmm...

Eric of Amber, from the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. He's a very conflicted character who has a complicated enmity with his brother Corwin (the protagonist).

Angellus, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He makes sadism an art form, really.

I know there are a few other villains I consider truly masterful...can't remember them off the top of my head.

Hmm, not awake enough to take a full trip down memorylane - so I'll just go with some recent ones that I really liked (and a classic that immediately comes to mind).

 

Movies/Series: Malcolm Merlyn from Arrow comes to mind.

 

 

My classic is of course Vader, the great hero that's fallen from grace - and yet in the end he still fulfils the "prophecy".

(as much as anyone ever can in the Star Wars universe! )

 

Games: I also liked SWTOR's very own Hunter, from the Imperial Agent storyline.

 

 

Loghain from Dragon Age: Origins, especially after reading the books - the why is very close to the above mentioned reasons, basically another fallen hero.

He also plays his villain role quite well, considering I always want to smack him.

 

Books: Artemis Entreri from RA Salvatore's Drizzt novels - he is basically the protagonist's mirror image, the "what could have been", provided the hero had made some choices differently (or had them made for him with no way to escape his fate).

Jaime Lannister, that poor misguided fool - he did it all in the name of love, and look where it got him.

 

And a classic that fits into both books and movies: Dr Frankenstein, his obsession with defeating death leads him to create a monster.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Callaron

Kefka from Final Fantasy VI (III on the Super NES)

 

No tragic background or any rationalization for why he wants to destroy everything. And not only is he manipulative but he's willing to get his own hands covered in blood. Plus he has an infectious laugh.

 

I have a preference to villains that aren't really humanized and whose motivations aren't really rationalized. They are just evil because that's the way they are. I also prefer the villains that just don't sit back and play puppet master but actually get their hands dirty.

 

 

Books: Artemis Entreri from RA Salvatore's Drizzt novels - he is basically the protagonist's mirror image, the "what could have been", provided the hero had made some choices differently (or had them made for him with no way to escape his fate).

 

I'm also a fan of Artemis. His complex relationship with Drizzt is very intriguing.

You know who surprised me was Darth Baras.

 

I hated him and based off general chat, seemed like everyone hated him. Now, I'm not saying he was written with some likeable qualities, but I wanted to share this:

 

 

 

So, I suppose on that criteria, well done on Baras.

Television: Sylar from Heroes. That or Rod Serling from Twilight Zone - dude messed with everyone in some pretty screwy ways.

Movie: Phantom from Phantom of the Opera

Book: Visser 3 from Animorphs (odd and childish choice, I know)

Video Game: Edea from FFVIII (Sorry KOTOR)

Well then...

 

Movies: Darth Vader, The Joker (Heath Ledger), Gollum

TV: Queen Cersei (every moment she's not dead I burst a blood vessel:mad:)

Literature: Queen Cersei:mad:, Darth Bane, Oceania (1984), Admiral Danar Nickabar (Saints of the Sword)

Games: Darth Malak, Saren Arterius, Mercer Frey (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), Elenwen (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)

My favourite villain at the moment is 'The Governor' from 'The Walking Dead'.

While he comes across as an out-right psychopath in the original graphic novels it is interesting to read the path he took to reach that position in 'The Rise of the Governor' tie in novel, and David Morrissey gives a chilling portrayal of the Governor in the TV series.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Vhaegrant

S.H.O.D.A.N. from the System Shock series.

 

Gaming's modern update to HAL and Bigger Badder sister of GLaDOS, she embodies the true horror of all encompassing power in the hands of the psychotic and megalomaniacal. I think Clarke and Kubrik would have approved ^^

There was a great interview I once read with Willem Dafoe (which I'm sure I'm going to paraphrase horribly) where he was asked how he felt about playing "good" characters compared to "evil" characters. Dafoe said something like "It doesn't matter. Everybody thinks they're righteous." And that's really stuck with me.

One simply cannot go wrong in taking a page from the Willem Dafoe School of Overracting.

Norman Stansfield

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1qiDrNHjXI

@Courtney : Thank you !

Agent Smith, Hannibal Lector and for the comic benefit: Yzma (and Krunk). Bonus points, because she's already wearing a Sith Inquisitor-like outfit.

Kefka from Final Fantasy VI.

 

Don't know if I've ever been as pissed at some one that destroyed the entire world. Don't worry, I got him back. A few times.