Saruman — While Sauron remains this powerful demonic force (giant eye or not), Saruman displays the corruptibility of power and knowledge (also played on by Tolkien in Gollum and Denethor). Saruman's pride simply gets the better of him, and for a time it works, before he gets his come-uppance. He's the force of modernity (destroying landscape in both Isengard and the Shire), trying to "improve" what doesn't improving (the Uruk-hai), and he even thinks he can play Sauron and get the Ring for himself. The irony is that, in his role as the head of the Istari, he was more powerful and influential than than anything he had the prospect of becoming, and his entire arc is a downward one.
Thanos — While usually dismissed as a Darkseid rip-off, Thanos brings his own value to the table. A nihilist who worships Death and seeks her love, Thanos can play the long game, and even act as an ally of "good" (as against the Magus) when it serves his purpose. There was a great meta-arc crafted for him some years back about his how his own mortal foibles and fundamental sense of unworthiness always sabotaged his plans, at which point of epiphany, he settled down and became a farmer. Alas, like Magneto and Galactus, he's been battered and revised and replayed with so often than it's difficult to see anything coherent about him any more.
Loki — In the myths he was Coyote, the mischief-bringer who could be a great ally or a bitter foe. In the comics, he started off as the standard Lee/Kirby arch-fiend, but in the last decade or so has become much more of a — well, occasionally sympathetic character, whether in the glorious Rob Rodi / Esad Ribic Loki miniseries, or in Tom Hiddleston's splendid portrayal on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Khan Noonian Singh — And here I'm talking Montalban, not Cumberbatch (though the latter's pretty keen). An amazing case where a movie potrayal actually matches or surpasses the TV original a decade and a half later, Montalban's Khan starts as a smug, smooth, highly charismatic leader of men, ruthless in the desire for power but almost sympathetic as a giant among mortals (and, as Kirk notes, just as prone to fatal human flaws as lesser beings). In the movie, bitter madness has taken him over, corrupting even his desire for power into a desire for revenge. Montalban succeeds in doing something no other Kirk villain has done — out-chew Shatner viz the scenery, and he does it with Melvillean perfection.
"Q" — A brilliant character created with the return of Star Trek in "Next Generation," Q epitomizes and satirizes the nigh-omniscient asshats that Kirk kept running into in TOS. He's the opposite of deus ex machina, a way for the writers to get the crew into trouble with the snap of a finger. More importantly, he's the perfect foil for politically correct, stick-up-his-ass, genteel Jean-Luc Picard, challenging his (and the Federation's) assumptions, challenging his successes, and clarifying his character. Triffic stuff, only abetted by the novels Peter David wrote later using the character.
Severus Snape — It's difficult to disengage the character in the book from the character in the movies, so I won't even try. Snape starts off the Harry Potter series as the sneering professorial bully, but ultimately turns out to be a hero (and, well, yeah, still a bully), a tragic one at that. His hatred of Harry and his fierce (if sometimes twisted) protection of him stem from childhood pain, redeemed (and trusted) by Dumbledore in a terrible long game against Voldemort. He remains a villain, but one with a weeping heart of gold.
Reshared post from +Isaac Sher
Threat Or Menace returns from its thanksgiving break with a new installment of "Fav Five Fridays" — this time, we each give a list of our favorite villains from genre media! Is your favorite on any of our lists? Which five would YOU have picked? Come take a look, and tell us about your own list!
And on a side note, Happy Birthday to +Topher Gerkey!
Fav Five Fridays: Our Favorite Villains
We’re back from Thanksgiving break, and what better way to commemorate the new winter holiday season than with a celebration of deliciously evil badguys, the ones who are so wonderfully wicked that…
Thanos for the win! Loki and Q make 2nd place a tough choice. If not for the new movies, I'd vote Loki.
LOTR: In some ways, Denethor is the more interesting villain, especially since he's effectively contrasted with Theoden. Through the eyes of the respective Hobbits, you see how the two react to evil influences, and either overcome them or are overcome by them.
But even if there were no palantir in Minas Tirith, Denethor's story is fascinating because of his stewardship, and therefore the conflict with Thorongil, also known as Aragorn, also known as…Elessar? (But he's an uncouth Northerner anyway, and way below the dignity of a Steward of Gondor.)
I almost included Q on my list, but upon considering, he seemed to be more of a plot device than a direct antagonist to me — and I liked my other choices more. 🙂 Good list here, though.
+John E. Bredehoft I seriously considered Denethor (and am still ticked off that Jackson left out the Palantir connection from the movies). The dynamics behind his actions are very interesting, and you could do a whole novel series (or soap opera) around Gondorian politics under the Last Steward.
Frankly, LotR is full of great villains, from Smeagol to Denethor to Saruman to (arguably) Boromir.
+Dominic Phillips It says something that I like what Jim Starlin did with his greatest villain (Thanos) than with his counterpart hero (Warlock).
Agreed on the Thanos stuff. The arc of Thanos' resurrection and then ending with him as a farmer at the end of the Infinity Gauntlet was amazing stuff. I don't think he's been used nearly as well since, sadly.
Also, I completely agree that Thanos was FAR more interesting than Warlock in all respects.
+Isaac Sher He's definitely that, but his relationship with humanity (even as diluted across multiple writers) remains a fascinating one. Arguably, most villains are simply plot devices to pull their counterpart heroes way from the TV set; Q is at least an interesting one (and has the only lines worth a damn in the original TNG episode).
+Isaac Sher Fact is, I always liked Warlock better when he was turning into the Magus. The rest of the time he's either a cryptic asshole or a whiny emo goth.
No Darth Vader (disregarding the prequels' origin story) or Emperor Palpatine? What about the Green Goblin or Dr. Octopus? Or the Joker (at his worst, in, say, The Killing Joke). I half expected Dave to pick the Mule.
There were a fwe villains that the Threat Or Menace crew deliberately avoided picking, if for no other reason than it seems like EVERYONE picks them for such lists. Darth Vader, The Joker, and Maleficient were specifically referenced in that context. All great villains, but we wanted to shine the spotlight on some other favorites that don't get talked about as much.
+Scott Randel I actually seriously did consider the Mule. Almost …
Hmmm. Belloq (since Indiana Jones is in the news). And, I realized from some rewatching last night, Mr. Morden (from B5) (unless you want to consider Londo as a very, very tragic villain, which I would totally go along with).
Londo is absolutely a tragic villain.