The best kind of Villan

What kind of villan do you consider to be the best? I've noticed that my story doesn't really have an antagonist (both so far are dead) and I was wondering what you think would be a good arch-nemesis.
Smart, cold, calculating?
Mad scientist?
Overlord?
Comically inept?

or any other ideas you might have. I generally have problems writing in evil characters, and your idea may help others, too.

My kind of villain is the smart, cold, calculating type, especially when that is combined with the overlord. My other kind of villain is the one that starts out good but some traumatic event turns them against the ones they love or they see the potential a certain science experiment could bring and seek to expand on it.

I think a good villain needs to be smart, manipulating and calculating, but I also think that its important that they completely (maybe even fanatically) believe in their goal. There is nothing more dangerous than a villain who truly believes that he/she is doing what is right, or is for the greater good, because it is then becomes impossible to reason with them. They don't necessarily need to be "evil", just completely willing to do anything , or hurt anyone, to achieve their goal. It probably doesnt hurt for them to be slightly derranged or ruthless either. I also think that really compelling villains are complex characters with some redeeming values (kindness, honor, values, etc.) to balance out their..."evilness" (for lack of a better word). A truly good complelling villain is someone that you can sort of sympathize with and relate too in some way.

I also think that a good villain is one of the most important parts of a good story (without a villain, there can be no heroes).

I'm with 19 up there. A villain seems so much harder to beat when they truly believe in their cause.

Especially if it's some type of "humans are imperfect" scheme and they plan to wipe them all out to start over. That scheme really gets used alot.

Dean Koontz portrayed that scheme really well, in my opinion.

This is ENTIRELY dependant on the story in question.

Kim Possible is awsome because it has a comically inept mad scientist, while Flash Gordon is cool because of Ming's massive empire contrasting with Flash's relative mundanity.

You just can't pick one as the best type overall. It's insane.

The Only thing i can think of that pure 110% Evil Doing is A Bad Guy That Eats Kittens i mean cmon



Who Can Bear To Eat Sumthing This Cute...Someones Whos 110% evil Thats Who!

Well, I think the best kind of villain is the type that readers just hates him because he's a real motherfucker. My villain is a genius, he's powerful and he does everything out of boredom. He doesn't care about his hench-men, nor about anybody as long as they can entertain him, they are all replaceable. He makes very complicated plots and they always have a chance to be countered on purpose, just to make it more entertaining when there's a twist. That's only my opinion.

The Best kind of villain is the comical one that never wins, butn0o matter how hard you try, they never really die/ stop trying to take over the world XD

togaoki wrote:

The Best kind of villain is the comical one that never wins, butn0o matter how hard you try, they never really die/ stop trying to take over the world XD

I actually hate that kind of villain. They are fun for a while, but soon you fall in a routine and becomes boring.

Oh, but then coems the really evil guy that's serious; the super-powerful one that the comical villain teams up with in order to win...and he gets the boot XP
so, you have to work with the comical villain in order to beat the serious villain, and it turns out tat the comical villain isn't really that bad of a guy..if only they used thir power for good....
but, ho well; the next day, your back to kickin his but ^^'''

Well, I think you refer to Gilgamesh in Final Fantasy V. But, those used as a comedic relief aren't usually main villains since they are more of a nuisance to the protagonist than a real threat.

Not unless you're in a fun show (by fun I mean insane...Bobobo bo bobobo?)

Villains who are only such due to the way the story is seen are pretty high up on my list: Konrad Curze, Dagoth Ur, Jon Irenicus, each are among my favorite villains.

Also, villains who are smart (And not just in theory) are pretty high up on my favor list.

What I hate are villains who are 'evil' for no reason, are horribly incompetant, have no right to even exist, etc. Natural selection is oh-so-rarely successful in too many fictions.

i still say a kitten eater is worse...

I'm right, you're all wrong. How DARE you not agree with me!

You don't need to like a villain or to hate them. I love Dr. D, but I hate Dellman.

It is ENTIRELY dependant on the story itself. You can't establish any sort of "best type" of villain.

Stop disagreeing with me!

*Disagrees With GREGOLE*

ConnorKCM wrote:

*Disagrees With GREGOLE*

Not a very wise idea, unless you want a visit from *gasp* Ryla!

dlausactor6373 wrote:

ConnorKCM wrote:

*Disagrees With GREGOLE*

Not a very wise idea, unless you want a visit from *gasp* Ryla!

Who cares, I got PK Starstorm. You don't wanna mess with PK Starstorm. Anyway, everyone has its own opinions, so yes, we can disagree with someone, GREGOLE included.

Quote :

Who cares, I got PK Starstorm. You don't wanna
mess with PK Starstorm. Anyway, everyone has its own opinions, so yes,
we can disagree with someone, GREGOLE included.

You can disagree with me all you want, but as my signature assures, you'll just be wrong.

GREGOLE wrote:

Quote :

Who cares, I got PK Starstorm. You don't wanna
mess with PK Starstorm. Anyway, everyone has its own opinions, so yes,
we can disagree with someone, GREGOLE included.

You can disagree with me all you want, but as my signature assures, you'll just be wrong.

That's what I love about opinions.

GREGOLE wrote:

Quote :

Who cares, I got PK Starstorm. You don't wanna
mess with PK Starstorm. Anyway, everyone has its own opinions, so yes,
we can disagree with someone, GREGOLE included.

You can disagree with me all you want, but as my signature assures, you'll just be wrong.

Well, I'm not gonna rant on that one, but like I said once, it was very common on another forum and that's just my point, that quote was nothing more than give you a boost to your ego. The only time I like that kind of policy is when the guy is actually funny, which isn't the case as this place doesn't have the diversity of big a big community yet. So anyway, the whole point is that you are pretty good at debates, but you're pretty hostile and you seems more like "My opinion's right because I said so." which is one error of debating, instead of "My opinion's right because there's a flaw in yours."

Since we're going off topic, I agree with you about one point, the best kind is villain is relevant to the type of story, as nothing's absolute.

I'm gonna disagree with Gregole on the basis of his point, yet agree with him on his other point.

Whether this contradicts itself, or whether it causes a time paradox, you know there shall always be one ultimate villain. The villain in Pong,

Right, so first off I agree with Gregole. Okay, now with that out of the way, let me go on to express my potentially differing opinion.

First off, kittens are delicious.

Secondly, the pong villian is a silent badass mofo who doesn't take crap from no one. But outside of table tennis, not too frightening.

Really, for me, there is one common villian in all the Felarya stories. And that is Felarya itself. Remember in school where they listed all the possible antogonists? Person vs. person, person vs community, person vs. self, person vs. nature? Well, in Felarya, vs. nature actually makes sense. Sure there can be more normal villians, and it's always good to have them with redeeming qualities, but it's important to remember. Felarya likely doesn't care if your character lives or dies. In fact, it probably wants them dead.

(I'm assuming you mean recurring villains here...) Personally, I'd say that it all depends. A villain doesn't have to be hated, comical, effective, intelligent, witty, calculating, Machiavellian, cool, stupid, bleak, inept, or even necessarily evil. If a villain was all of these things, it'd be outright ridiculous (not to mention nigh-impossible). However, a proper villain needs to be drastically different from the hero in at least one manner.