Who's the first to come to mind when I say - Villain?

[Ray Zdybrow]

I've always thought Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter is tremendously effective because we've all encountered her sort of petty villainy in our lives. The large-scale villains are easier to distance from, but she has a believable immediacy that hits very close to home.

True, we all know a Dolores Umbridge! The fictional embodiment of Arendt's "Banality of evil".

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

Frank Cornelius.

 

[BAYLOR]

Dark Helmut

 

[Vladd67]

If only because I am rewatching Babylon 5 at the moment.

 

[BAYLOR]

If only because I am rewatching Babylon 5 at the moment.
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Walter Koenig play Bester to the hilt and played him brilliantly ! His chapter was named Alfred Bester as homage to the science fiction who wrote The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination.

 

[BAYLOR]

Yosemite Sam
Boris Badenov
Mojo Jojo
Snidely Whipflash

 

[Magic_Muscle]

The Emperor, Darth Sideous.

A true villain, who always seems to actually enjoy what he does. I swear he is possibly one of the happiest villains. Evil is a fun career choice.

 

[atsouthorn]

The Emperor, Darth Sideous.

A true villain, who always seems to actually enjoy what he does. I swear he is possibly one of the happiest villains. Evil is a fun career choice.
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This.

Am I the only one that wants a spin-off show - "The adventures of Papa Palpatine"?

 

[BAYLOR]

Professor Know it All and his inept assistant Twisty .

 

[Flaviosky]

Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII is quite a good villain to me. Evil born from a scarred mind is interesting

 

[BAYLOR]

The Emperor, Darth Sideous.

A true villain, who always seems to actually enjoy what he does. I swear he is possibly one of the happiest villains. Evil is a fun career choice.
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Palpatine is so 1990's A wardrobe makeover would be helpful here . Perhaps something in a pinstripe executive business suite and a pair of designer sun glasses ?

 

[BAYLOR]

This.

Am I the only one that wants a spin-off show - "The adventures of Papa Palpatine"?

Or All In the Sith Family .

 

[Guttersnipe]

Darth Vader as well

 

[BlueDragonSapphire]

I'm thinking up Villain archetypes and wondered - who's the first Villain that comes to mind when you hear that word. If we get enough, perhaps we can see any commonalities amongst Chroners.


Important: If you need to think more than a second then you're not in the spirit of the request.

What comes to mind first is a character that's highlighted as the 'problem' of the story and is most likely misunderstood and completely right and justified in the end.
Villains are so fun to write about because you get to put all your dislikes from people in your life onto one character, at least that's what I do, it makes the character more realistic if they have a real-life base.
I can't think of any specific Villain but I can't help but imagine multiple Disney Villains, they are a great reference.
Good Luck with your story!

 

[Alextrax52]

The Shredder from TMNT. Pure evil he was

 

[BAYLOR]

The Shredder from TMNT. Pure evil he was

You might want th check checkout the film Batman vs Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles. In that film you have the cap Crusade slugging it out with Shredder . Its cool to watch and the film itself quite good.

 

[Boaz]

Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life.

Annie Wilkes in Misery.

Villains don’t have to be political leaders to try and threaten all of existence. They don’t need to be on the level of Hitler nor Thanos. I think they need to know right from wrong and choose to do wrong using the little bit of power they have in the universe.

When I was five years old, the wicked witch of the west terrified me. I am not a superhero, nor a super spy, trying to save the world. I have nothing in common with those heroes, nor their villains. As an adult, neither Darth Vader, nor Sauron Scare me. I don’t really find them interesting either.

As for interesting authoritative villains, I basically have to go with my favorite actors. Gene Hackman as Little Bill in unforgiven. Joaquin Phoenix as emperor Commodus in gladiator. James Earl Jones as Thulsa doom in Conan the barbarian. Gary Oldman as zorg in the fifth element. Alan Rickman, as the sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, and especially as Hans Gruber in die hard.

And let me give one more villain…

Hopelessness in Rocky. Apollo creed is not the villain. He is an obstacle for Rocky. But he’s just another fighter doing rock he does. The villain of the movie is despair, and sorrow, and the urge to quit. It sucks at Rocky. It gnaws on him. his fight with creed only shows us in physical terms, the emotional battle that he’s been going through his entire life.

 

[MemoryTale]

Flowey

But all he wants to do is spread love

 

[Swank]

Vader popped before anyone, but the Baron Harkonnen after that.

 

[farntfar]

The word villain, for me, says more about how he (*) looks than what he's done.
So the candidates have to have that look.


Of those mentioned so far Terry thomas has it a bit, and his cartoon counterpart Dick Dastardly. Donald Pleasance has it as Blowfeld. But the runaway winner is Alan Rickman, as Snape, but even more so as Obadiah Slope in the BBC series , The Barchester Chronicles.

It's the utter disdain for everyone else than counts.

* or she. But very few women have pulled it off other than Servalan.