What about villains

[mtpspur]

I was thinking of Loki, God of Evil from the Norse myths if I may recommend one. Pretty much brought on the twilight of the gods.

[librarius_qui]

I vaguely remember a Charmides person, out of a play by a Roman author called Maccius Plautus, the play's title is "Rudens", in Latin. if you google it, you'll find it easy translated versions to English.

This made me think that probably Shakespeare has villains? (I don't recollect, cause I haven't read much of Shakespeare yet. There will be the day. Someone might help, and give an idea?)

There's Gollum (The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings) as one sort of villain. Gollum is one sort of villain that is quite interesting, because it's a villain "with reason" (or with a story). He isn't simply evil. He's corrupted by many a circumstance.

(Which is what George Lucas tried to make with Darth Vader. In movies, there are Darth Vader, the best villain ever!, and there's Cap. Barbossa, and Davy Jones, in Pirates of the Caribbean, but it isn't common literature ... It's cinema.)

There's -- what is common in literature -- the "unknown villain", that is, the villain in mystery books, which are only discovered in the end. (That is the case of common detective novels, but of U. Eco's The Name of the Rose, as well ...)

I hope you can have some ideas from this, as well as other people share what come to their minds instantly, as well

Good luck!~

[amarna]

Raskolnikov in Dostoyewsky's "Crime and Punishment" and Stavrogin in "The Possessed", misled by nihilism and arbitrarily killing people.

[kelby_lake]

Read Othello

[PoeticPassions]

Yes, Othello is great.

Iago is one of the best villains... his motivations are always unclear, or ambiguous. I used to despise Iago in every way (after reading Othello several times and all that) until I saw a play done by a Shakespeare company called "Othello: An Erotic Thriller." The actor who played Iago stole the show... he was sooooo terriffic that in the end I discovered something new about Iago. Everything seemed to make sense. His motivations became more clear, and he seemed so much more human.

I also love Milton's Satan. I see him more as the hero (or anti-hero if you will), but he is definitely one of the most eloquent and poetic of villains.

[BienvenuJDC]

Javert (of Les Miserables by Hugo) is an excellent antagonist...but since he is a part of the system, he is the symbol of legalistic "virtue". He is against grace and compassion, but the "law" which is to bring about justice...therefore, Justice becomes villainous.

[Quagmire]

Great villains guys, I have most of those on my list to try to include into my paper.
Heres one that I'm surprised no one has said yet, Hannibal Lecter. One thing though, I havent read the book so I cant say too much about him =[

[Mr Endon]

Many of the villains that have been mentioned here are actually anti-heros, which I think it's quite different.
You should probably address that issue in your paper as well.

[PeterL]

If you will be mentioning Hannibal Lector, you might also want to mention Rudy von Sternberg.

[Quagmire]

evil villain

[Dark Muse]

There has been a lot of talk about Heroes around here lately, but one of the things which makes heroes so interesting is their adversaries, so what about showing some villain love?

Who are your favorite villains from either mythology, or a work of literature of any type (epic, novel, play etc..) or any time period?

By "favorite" I am breaking this up into two different categories.

Category A is for those villains whom even though you know they are supposed to be the bad guy, you can't help liking them anyway, and perhaps being sympathetic towards them.

Category B is for villains who are just so brilliantly evil and loathsome they make your skin crawl.

Though not necessary a brief explanation for your choice would be appreciated, also it would be appreciated if you do include the name of the work they came from.

[lichtrausch]

I'm gonna go with Darth Vader, from the modern myth called Star Wars.

[clguerra]

From Category A the monster from Watchers by Dean Koontz because of how you perceive its feelings

from Category B it would be President Snow from the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

[Dark Muse]

For me Category A might prove to be quite extensive, yes it is true I do have a tendency towards villains, but I will keep it, to those which first and foremost come to mind. Though I may add to it as I proceed.

First and foremost for me is Medusa from Greek Mythology. She is supposed to be this terrifying horrible monster, but I feel she was unjustly treated and I have always sympathized with her and felt there was no just cause for her slaying which was done purely for Peruses' own self-serving desires.

Next is Clytemnestra from Orestes, though classically she is meant to be the villain of the story, I personally see her as more of a tragic hero figure. I could not help but to find her an extremely powerful woman and living in such a patriarchal age, in spite of the questionable morals of killing her husband, I admired her strength and making a stand for herself against the social norms which oppressed her, and recognizing the double standards.

And of course Dracula from Bram Stoker's Dracula, though of course I knew that the good guys would win in the end, I admit that I found it a bit sad when Dracula was eventually killed. Yeah I just have a thing for vampires.

Ahh, I almost forget, Rebecca, from du Maurier's Rebecca, though we only see her though the eyes of others, and perhaps because of the fact that we only see her though the eyes of others, as well perhaps because I found the narrator of the story to be quite annoying, I began to feel a certain sympathy for her. I think part of the reason I am drawn to her is because in the fact that she is already dead, and cannot speak for herself, she does become a sort of underdog and we only see her though the eyes of those biased against her.

For Category B:

The first name which jumped into my head was Milady from The Three Musketeers. Through the whole story I just wanted her to die, I thought she was completely horrid and I could not withstand her. She was truly a vile woman. And of course going along with that, is her son from Twenty Years After.

[sixsmith]

Category A:

Iago: Othello - Bill Shakespeare
Aaron: Titus Andronicus - Bill Shakespeare
The Judge: Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Steerpike: Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake

Category B:

O'Brien: 1984 - George Orwell
Bill Sikes: Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
Lee Harvey Oswald: Libra - Don De Lillo
Kurtz: Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
Marlowe Stanfield: The Wire