Favourite Villains

linaerys asked about these. Let's see, and start by excluding specimens. For example, morally ambigous trickster types who spend most of their time helping the protagonist (Methos on Highlander would be a good example) do not count as villains, even if they turn out to have a villainous past. Similarly, monsters are a category of their own (and I already did that meme) - for example, the Gentlemen in Hush (BTVS) or the Angels in Blink (DW). One episode scary creatures out of fairy tales, not interacting on a longer basis with the regular lot of characters; different category. Also, no characters whose fate and hero-or-villanhood is still undecided (looking at you, Snape, and you, Abigail Brand).

Another thing in advance: Villain love usually does not mean for me that I want these characters to win, though I most often want them to survive (that would be where the "favourite" part comes in) . Also, it it doesn't mean I dislike the heroes of whatever book/movie/tv show they happen to come from, because if I find a primary text where I can like only the villains, I give up on the text. (This happened to me with Earth: Final Conflict.)

There are two categories for me: villains I love, villains I love to hate (different thing), and villains I neither love or hate but find so interesting that they are listed here anyway.

So, most loved villains:

Servalan (Blake's 7). Best Evil Overlady ever. Had one of the best "why am I surrounded by idiots?" looks, managed to play mind games even when chained against a wall, and was the origin of that line recently stolen by G. Martin, originally written for her by Tanith Lee: "Come on, a woman like you?" "There are no women like me." No one said it with her panache.

Darla (BTVS/AtS). My favourite of the Fanged Four, my favourite AtS character, and my favourite vampire, full stop, though I love her no less when she's human. See also: lots of fanfic and roleplay.

Scorpius (Farscape). Is that rarity, a villain who gets a happy end in his primary text without this feeling wrong. Which caught me by surprise, and a very pleasant one it was, given I had other issues about The Peacekeeper Wars. As opposed to the two ladies mentioned above, Scorpius is a great example of the "villain as hero in his own story" type, given that he's absolutely convinced he's working for the greater good (in addition to personal revenge) here. Which brings me to:

Alfred Bester (Babylon 5). Who has the same idea, sans personal revenge. It's significant that one of the worst things Bester does from the pov of the shows heroes' is actually not about said heroes at all (he couldn't care less what happens to Sheridan, good or bad, in Face of the Enemy; it's all about saving "my telepaths"; whether the emphasis is on "my" or on "telepaths" is the dilemma of Bester's life).

Arvin Sloane (Alias). One of my all time favourite characters, villains or heroes or ambiguous types all included. I'll be lazy and just link my essay about him when it comes to the reasons.

Livia Drusilla (I, Claudius). Here's a woman who manipulates, schemes, kills, outlives most of her family and victims (frequently the same thing) and is absolutely convincing when she says she did it for Rome. (Incidentally, whether or not she did is another question, but you believe she believes it.) She's ruthless, she's relentlessly witty and she gets the hero to make her a goddess after death. Who can beat that?

Winn Adami (Star Trek: DS9). Not Kai Winn, alas, but she's great with the manipulation and the scheming as well, and you know, she's also convinced she does it for Bajor (with her as the best thing for Bajor, naturally). Winn is the female version of a Renaissance Cardinal, and her fall-out with her gods, the Prophets had me rooting for her all the way (but then I always loathed the Prophets). I think it was deborah_judge who once said that Laura Roslin is Winn witten as the hero, and the reverse is somewhat true as well: Winn is Roslin written as the villain of the story.

Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto (X-Men movieverse and 616 verse, but not Ultimate): And another "I'm doing this for the greater good" villain with a tragic background. Though alas, he's subjected to the whims of various writers in several of his incarnations, which makes him at times too monomanic. In fine form, however, Magneto is for the win.

Lucas Buck (American Gothic): Now here's a man (? actually, for all we know he's a different entity altogether) who's intriguingly limited in his ambitions for a Luciferian villain. Lucas isn't interested in what goes on beyond Trinity (small fictional town in South Carolina), and he definitely doesn't want to rule the world or lead any group to victory, but within Trinity, you tend to end up mad, bad, or dead if you don't do exactly what he wants you to. He has a number of supernatural tricks at his disposal, but mostly succeeds via sheer manipulativeness.


Most love to hate villains:

Mr. Morden (Babylon 5): Because even Wolfram and Hart lawyers have nothing on him when it comes to evil smarminess. Enjoyed every one of his appearances, did not feel sorry a bit for him when he finally was dispatched with (by My Darling Londo, in style).

Emperor Cartagia (Babylon 5) and Caligula (I, Claudius): Basically the same character, only one has sci-fi tech at his disposal. When it comes to crazy cruel lunatics in power who are at the same time far from stupid, these two can't be bettered. Also, they're along just long enough - if either was around any longer, the genuine horror they inspired would have faded.

Palpatine (Star Wars prequels): Was necessary but somewhat dull in the OT as the Emperor, but creepily good in the prequels. No one says "I love democray, I love the Republic" the way Ian McDiarmid does. (Definitely not certain current politicians...)


Most interesting but not loved or hated villains:

Warren Mears (BTVS): as with many other aspects of season 6, the decision to make the Trio the seasonal villains until Willow takes over in the finale is controversial. Some people thought three geeks Buffy went to school with weren't threatening enough, some people felt betrayed by the fact they were geeks and portrayed in a negative manner. To me, Warren was the most interesting villain since the Mayor, and actually more interesting than Angelus (Angelus solely in his function as villain, not as a part of Angel). Precisely because he wasn't a monster, and was a fanboy gone bad. If you think that can't happen, you're lucky in the types you've met. My Warren interest led me to lengthy fanfic, which basically sums up why he fascinated me on the show.

(Sidenote: it also occured to me that if Winn and Roslin are versions of each other written as hero and villain respectively, then Owen Harper on Torchwood is Warren written as one of the heroes, which is probably why Owen is the most interesting character on that show to me.)

Daniel Holtz (AtS): arguably the most complex of the AtS villains. I admire the way the show on the one hand never made it look as if Holtz' hatred towards Angel wasn't entirely justified but on the other made it equally clear that the actions this hatred caused were beyond the pale.

The Operative (Serenity): another entry in the "villains convinced of working for the greater good" club; if he had been on the show (Firefly, that is) instead of only appearing in the movie, he might have made it into the loved category. As it is, I found him fascinating, and he was the element of the film I thought most worthy of exploration.

The Female Founder (Star Trek: DS9): actually, as with all the Founders, we don't know whether she's female, but the form she chooses to appear in was. In many ways the embodiment of the Great Link, and a great mixture of serene, creepy and alien. I very much enjoyed each of her appearances on the show.

Through a glass darkly (1/3) (Fanfiction, Heroes)

Title: Through a glass darkly (1/3)

Disclaimer: Characters and situations owned by NBC.

Summary: After the first season finale, Nathan finds himself in the Five Years Goneverse.

Characters: Nathan Petrelli, Peter Petrelli, Niki Sanders

Rating: PG 13 for now.

Thanks to: wychwood for beta-reading.

Author's note: The result of being hunted down by a plot bunny that insisted on being an epic hare. Will either be a two or a three parter.


( Part I )