I want to hold my hand up and say I love villains. In practically any storytelling medium, the villain, if done well, always steals the show, and the heroes are often a little bland in comparison. So, the point of this thread (based heavily on the other thread about people who you admire) is to mention your favourite baddies, say why you like them, and if possible find a nice picture!
I've also put this in the General Chat section, so you don't have to limit yourself to just literary ne'er-do-wells!
Inspector Javert (Les Misérables)
I love Javert... even in a cast of very powerful characters, the force of his personality is capable of exerting its shadow over the whole novel. He is also simultaneously a very complex character, and a very simple one in terms of motivation.
Milday de Winter (The Three Musketeers)
I really like her for being an extremely capable woman in male-orientated world. Her villainy seems to know no bounds, particularly her final evil act which is so wonderfully twisted and yet completely unnecessary. She is, in many respects, completely free in a way that no one else in the novel manages.
Mephistopheles (Doctor Faustus)
Faustus as a play is entirely a double-act, and in the figure of Mephistopheles you have the source of all the power in the play. He is highly intelligent, devious, manipulative, and he carefully controls his emotions. He is, without a doubt, Marlowe's greatest creation.
Loki (Old Norse literature in general)
Yes, it was always a forgone conclusion that this particular fellow would end up on my list. And what's not to love? He is easily 10 times more intelligent than any other god, he has a very loose definition of personal shape and gender, he's incredibly witty, he's a powerful wizard and warrior, he revels in all forms of anarchy and destruction, and his betrayal leads to the destruction of heaven itself... what a guy!
Mr Saxon (Doctor Who)
My one concession to telly-land. Mr Saxon is basically a modern Loki... he climbs up a pile of bodies to become Prime Minister of Great Britain, then slaughters his Cabinet and has the President of the US assasinated as a prelude to his enslavment of humanity. And all the while he displays this wonderful, manic energy, bouncing around making wise-cracks and awsome one-liners.
So, what about you?
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Originally Posted by Lokasenna
