Greatest Villian of All Time (You Decide)
- Thread starter Valicor
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Armand du Plessis, duc et cardinal de Richelieu
G'day
My favourite villain of all time is Cardinal Richelieu, as portrayed in Alexandre Dumas (pere)'s The Three Musketeers. This is probably for the reason that his goals are so fathomable that even the heroes share them.
My second-favourite villain is Count Jasper of Souvenir (out of The Black Riders, a 'young adult' novel by Violet Needham), whom I like because he is exactly the reverse of Richelieu.
Regards,
Agback.
G'day
My favourite villain of all time is Cardinal Richelieu, as portrayed in Alexandre Dumas (pere)'s The Three Musketeers. This is probably for the reason that his goals are so fathomable that even the heroes share them.
My second-favourite villain is Count Jasper of Souvenir (out of The Black Riders, a 'young adult' novel by Violet Needham), whom I like because he is exactly the reverse of Richelieu.
Regards,
Agback.
SableWyvern
Cruel Despot
The Grumpy Celt said:
There have already been five.
1. Michael Prowse (or was it David? or am I not even thinking of Darth, but the guy who played Chewie? I dunno. But there was someone in the suit, anyway
): Eps IV - VI2. The guy who played Anakin at the end of Jedi.
3. James Earl Jones: Voice from Eps IV - VI
4. The Kid from Ep I.
5. The other kid from Ep 2.
Greatest Villian from fiction.
Alfred Bester from Babylon 5, if I could kill any fictional character it would be him, especially after what he did to Garibaldi
And none of it was his fualt. He was just following the beliefs instilled into him in his childhood.
Read the Psi Corp trilogy by J. Gregory Keyes to see just what a truely evil bastard he is.
Alfred Bester from Babylon 5, if I could kill any fictional character it would be him, especially after what he did to Garibaldi
And none of it was his fualt. He was just following the beliefs instilled into him in his childhood.
Read the Psi Corp trilogy by J. Gregory Keyes to see just what a truely evil bastard he is.
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
My vote is for Victor Von Doom, with Thanos as a close second. I'm hard pushed to think of villans with richer character development than these two.
Paul_Klein
Explorer
Other ... Richard III (Iago as a close 2nd)
Tratyn Runewind
First Post
Hello!
Hmm, into the third page of a "Greatest Villain of All Time" thread on a D&D Messageboard, and no one's mentioned Lorraine Williams yet. Perhaps her image is slowly being rehabilitated...
Lots of other nice suggestions, though. Richelieu, Moriarty, the Great Old Ones, Morgoth, Dr. Doom, Vader...
Some of the more recent historical figures start to get a bit political. Hopefully no one will take it to the point of annoying the mods, especially after the recent dust-ups in other threads.
Mordred hasn't been mentioned yet. Set into motion the events leading to the destruction of Camelot.
Some of the less sane Roman Emperors might also be in the running. Nero and Caligula would seem to top that list.
Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice, is probably my top European pick from the Crusading period. You know his Diplomacy and Bluff Skills were maxed - he was able to divert a Christian crusading army, whose aid was badly needed in the Holy Land, from seizing the lands of their Muslim enemies to seizing the lands of his Christian neighbors, the Byzantines. What they did to the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, was the biggest looting-and-pillaging session of the entire Crusading era, and maybe of history.
The Mongols score very well in the overall body count department, though this was spread out over several generations of rulers and generals branching down from the greatest of them, Genghis Khan.
Baybars al-Bunduqdari is probably the top Middle Easterner in the running; he was the only one to beat the Mongols in open battle, and demonstrated a villainous enough streak in his treatment of Antioch and his gloating letter to its exiled ruler afterwards. His end could have come out of an gaming session, too - attempting to poison an up-and-coming young rival, getting the cups mixed up, and poisoning himself...
Machiavelli and his Borgia idols rank high in the "evil plotters and intriguers" listings.
Long John Silver is another classic Swashbuckling-adventure villain.
Dr. Doom has been mentioned, and is certainly worthy of consideration; his closest DC rivals would probably be Darkseid or maybe Trigon when they were at their coolest. Joker was psychotic enough but somewhat small-time (at his best, about on Lecter's level), and Luthor went downhill fast when he abandoned his super-science to be a Kingpin clone.
The premiere Cold-War spy-fiction villain, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, rates at least an honorable mention (as does his parody, that mojo-stealing Springer guest and scourge of International Men of Mystery everywhere...DR. EVIL!)
The Eddoreans from the "Lensman" books probably rank up there in terms of sheer power and scale. They've certainly got the over-the-top Epic Level Psionics... To bring about their ultimate defeat, the Arisians literally spent millions of years subtly guiding the path of evolution on planets throughout the Galaxy, employing their own vast psionic power simply to stay carefully hidden so that by the time the Eddoreans realize what is happening, it should be too late to stop the chain of events that will lead to their destruction.
And as far as D&D Villains go, I'll toss the name of the Immortal Rad into the ring. He started the rebellion that led to the cataclysmic events in Mystara known as "The Wrath of the Immortals". His followers' policy of burning all clerics at the stake was none too humanitarian, either.
So, there are a few more names to kick around. Have fun with them!
Hmm, into the third page of a "Greatest Villain of All Time" thread on a D&D Messageboard, and no one's mentioned Lorraine Williams yet. Perhaps her image is slowly being rehabilitated...
Lots of other nice suggestions, though. Richelieu, Moriarty, the Great Old Ones, Morgoth, Dr. Doom, Vader...
Some of the more recent historical figures start to get a bit political. Hopefully no one will take it to the point of annoying the mods, especially after the recent dust-ups in other threads.
Mordred hasn't been mentioned yet. Set into motion the events leading to the destruction of Camelot.
Some of the less sane Roman Emperors might also be in the running. Nero and Caligula would seem to top that list.
Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice, is probably my top European pick from the Crusading period. You know his Diplomacy and Bluff Skills were maxed - he was able to divert a Christian crusading army, whose aid was badly needed in the Holy Land, from seizing the lands of their Muslim enemies to seizing the lands of his Christian neighbors, the Byzantines. What they did to the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, was the biggest looting-and-pillaging session of the entire Crusading era, and maybe of history.
The Mongols score very well in the overall body count department, though this was spread out over several generations of rulers and generals branching down from the greatest of them, Genghis Khan.
Baybars al-Bunduqdari is probably the top Middle Easterner in the running; he was the only one to beat the Mongols in open battle, and demonstrated a villainous enough streak in his treatment of Antioch and his gloating letter to its exiled ruler afterwards. His end could have come out of an gaming session, too - attempting to poison an up-and-coming young rival, getting the cups mixed up, and poisoning himself...
Machiavelli and his Borgia idols rank high in the "evil plotters and intriguers" listings.
Long John Silver is another classic Swashbuckling-adventure villain.
Dr. Doom has been mentioned, and is certainly worthy of consideration; his closest DC rivals would probably be Darkseid or maybe Trigon when they were at their coolest. Joker was psychotic enough but somewhat small-time (at his best, about on Lecter's level), and Luthor went downhill fast when he abandoned his super-science to be a Kingpin clone.
The premiere Cold-War spy-fiction villain, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, rates at least an honorable mention (as does his parody, that mojo-stealing Springer guest and scourge of International Men of Mystery everywhere...DR. EVIL!)
The Eddoreans from the "Lensman" books probably rank up there in terms of sheer power and scale. They've certainly got the over-the-top Epic Level Psionics...
To bring about their ultimate defeat, the Arisians literally spent millions of years subtly guiding the path of evolution on planets throughout the Galaxy, employing their own vast psionic power simply to stay carefully hidden so that by the time the Eddoreans realize what is happening, it should be too late to stop the chain of events that will lead to their destruction.And as far as D&D Villains go, I'll toss the name of the Immortal Rad into the ring. He started the rebellion that led to the cataclysmic events in Mystara known as "The Wrath of the Immortals". His followers' policy of burning all clerics at the stake was none too humanitarian, either.
So, there are a few more names to kick around. Have fun with them!
The Joker: I don't think villainy always about how hi-tech a character is. The Joker is among the most perfect of villains because he is the near perfect antithesis of the hero. In virtually every way, he is The Batman's opposite. And, he's accomplished some pretty terrible things against The Batman. He got rid of the first Robin (shot him through the arm which forced Batman to dump him), crippled Batgirl (The Killing Joke) , murdered the second Robin (A Death in the Family), almost destroys Gotham City (the Robin miniseries), and routinely proves that he can't be stopped by anyone save Batman. Additionally, most writers don't try to apologize for his actions. Unlike many other villains in comics who tend to have complex backgrounds that explain their villainy (Magneto, Dr. Doom, Two-Face, etc.), the Joker's background is nebulous at best (multiple choice), and his actions seem to have no rationale other than to cause pain and torment. I think it's necessary to have a villain who is plain and simply evil, and the Joker is that through and through.
Iago: While Richard III is close behind him, Iago did what he did out of pure malice and hate. Richard III did what he did because he wanted power. Iago didn't get anything but the satisfaction that he destroyed two lives... and one was completely innocent.
Moriarty: He's up there with The Joker in that he's the perfect antithesis of the hero.
Darth Vader: This is Lawful Evil to the extreme. Darth Vader supported an oppressive, sinister regime through any means necessary. He employed torture, murder, subterfuge, and plain old "beat their @$$" to promote The Empire. Despite this, there was always something noble about him unlike his really villainous boss...
The Emperor: Now this is a villain. The personification of Neutral Evil. He ruled not because he wanted order, and not because he wanted regulation. He ruled because he wanted to. He ruled because others needed to serve him. There was not one redeemable quality about this bastard and I think he's the closest thing to a satanic character we've seen in movies in a long time.
Lucifer (Milton's Paradise Lost): I've always wondered about those Romantic period philosphes and poets who perceived Milton's Lucifer as some kind of anti-hero. They liked to argue that he was fighting against an oppressive dictator that stifled self-promotion and so-on (of course, their perspective was in the context of the numerous socio-political upheavals of the time, but I digress). But they all conveniently forget that Lucifer was willing to damn completely innocent creatures because he was ticked off at his own "oppressor." That's both petty, sadistic, and completely evil.
Maleficent: Look... anyone who curses a baby out of spite is evil as all Hell. This %itch not only was evil, but she was undeniable cool (she turned into one of the coolest dragons on film). I put the Wicked Witch of the West in the same category as Maleficent.
That's my vote.
Iago: While Richard III is close behind him, Iago did what he did out of pure malice and hate. Richard III did what he did because he wanted power. Iago didn't get anything but the satisfaction that he destroyed two lives... and one was completely innocent.
Moriarty: He's up there with The Joker in that he's the perfect antithesis of the hero.
Darth Vader: This is Lawful Evil to the extreme. Darth Vader supported an oppressive, sinister regime through any means necessary. He employed torture, murder, subterfuge, and plain old "beat their @$$" to promote The Empire. Despite this, there was always something noble about him unlike his really villainous boss...
The Emperor: Now this is a villain. The personification of Neutral Evil. He ruled not because he wanted order, and not because he wanted regulation. He ruled because he wanted to. He ruled because others needed to serve him. There was not one redeemable quality about this bastard and I think he's the closest thing to a satanic character we've seen in movies in a long time.
Lucifer (Milton's Paradise Lost): I've always wondered about those Romantic period philosphes and poets who perceived Milton's Lucifer as some kind of anti-hero. They liked to argue that he was fighting against an oppressive dictator that stifled self-promotion and so-on (of course, their perspective was in the context of the numerous socio-political upheavals of the time, but I digress). But they all conveniently forget that Lucifer was willing to damn completely innocent creatures because he was ticked off at his own "oppressor." That's both petty, sadistic, and completely evil.
Maleficent: Look... anyone who curses a baby out of spite is evil as all Hell. This %itch not only was evil, but she was undeniable cool (she turned into one of the coolest dragons on film). I put the Wicked Witch of the West in the same category as Maleficent.
That's my vote.
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