Irredeemable, aye that was what I meant. I've gotten very tired of the fallen good guy stereotype, or the bad guy gone good. It seems most times these days to be truly evil in the fantasy genre, you must be inhuman, because if you are human, the potential for redemption is inherent. Probably a christian redemption value worked into our culture.
But really, I much prefer villians who feel like villians, not decent fellows gone bad. Obmi was a good example of a truely wicked individual, as was Iuz's mother the witchhag (not even gonna TRY and spell that name without it in front of me).
In my experience pyhrric victories are often some of the best in a story, and most memorable endings if handled well. Most early adventures, and just the feel and style of DnD reflected that well, but a tendency toward happier endings has gradually seeped into the genre. Not suprising considering how much investment good characters recieve, and how distraught some can get over the loss, but none the less it seems a sacrafice of story-telling to cater to feelings, which is a questionable trade in my book.
So since we've got you going on about the old days here, how about telling us about one of your favorite characters on the side of "good", or at least not one of the villians?