Villains and Consequences.

[Arsen]

Name a villain that you believe had a reason or a circumstance that in many ways justified their actions in a way.

Magento from X-Men. This guy was in the Holocaust. In some aspect he's a hypocritical character, yet otherwise he is genuinely justified due to what he experienced.

Walter O' Dim/Randall Flagg from many Stephen King works -

Spoiler

Turns out the guy who is a villian in multiple storylines was in a fact an abused child who was raped as he ran away from home. In the end he turned to necromancy. Made you feel sorry for him in regards to his relationship with Roland's mother.

Many characters from Final Fantasy Tactics. I loved the circumstances and intertwined stories which set this work aside from many others.

Mordred. The son of King Arthur. Seriously... the guy was a part of an incestous relationship. That had to mess with your head.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I've always considered Jowy Atreides from Suikoden 2 to be a fantastic villain, with excellent motivation. He wants to bring peace to the land... he does so through some very dark means but in the end succeeds.

Also Vayne Solidor from Final Fantasy XII is one of my favorite villains... trying to free mankind from the influence of the gods is a fairly noble goal... he just happens to be an ambitious Imperator at the same time.

 

[Ultimathul]

The helghan soldiers in killzone 2.

There fighting to survive rather than to invade. i actually feel kinda sad when i shoot them, i want to shoot the other dudes instead. hell, even in killzone i wanted to fight on the helghan side, they feel more like they have actual reason to fight rather than those other dudes. i forgot their names.

 

[ZerOmega]

Dr. Boardshoulders from Zebra Girl (zebragirl.keenspot.com)
He's a man that knows what has to be done. A very complex character. Go read it. now.

 

[APPCRASH]

Saruman. All he was trying to do was industrialize and modernize a primitive medieval setting. He was the Henry Ford of the LOTR series.

 

[Kuliani]

While I'm not sure if anything actually justifies a wrongful action, a lot of villains have understandable reasons for the actions they take.

Kane from the C&C series... he is just a religious fanatical that believed that GDI needed to stop oppressing him and do the "right" thing.

 

[Abedeus]

Aizen from Bleach.

He wants to rule the Soul Society, overthrow the King and kill everyone who opposes him. I say he's pretty sane.

And insanely powerful, but that's on a side.

 

[Jumping_Over_Fences]

All villains, no matter how insane are will find a way to justify their actions. In fact, that is truly what makes them insane. They want people to understand that what they are doing is a completely sane and justifiable thing. It makes sense to them.

 

[dwightsteel]

All villains, no matter how insane are will find a way to justify their actions. In fact, that is truly what makes them insane. They want people to understand that what they are doing is a completely sane and justifiable thing. It makes sense to them.

That's not true. As a matter of fact, it's the villains that are evil for the sake of evil that tend to be the scariest.

Look at the Joker. Read "Arkham Asylum" or "the Killing Joke". He doesn't seek justification for his actions. He has none. He knows that he's evil. He basks in it. Batman is the joke, and he's the punchline, plain and simple. Thats what makes him such a terrifying villain. All the villains who seek validation in their actions, at the end of the day, have a conscience. But villains like the Joker seek chaos.

Look at half the villains in the book "Wanted". Even the main character, was pillaging, plundering, and raping because he could. He straight up says he has no motive other than being a villain.

 

[Abedeus]

But villains like the Joker seek chaos.

Pretty much the worst type of a villain. Because he's impossible to read, chaotic, unstoppable. And unpredictable.

Even the aforementioned Magneto has rules. He even cooperated with his rival, Charles Xavier, despite contradicting views about mutants and the world. Joker? He'll kill or harm anyone he wants.

 

[zauxz]

Hitler. I dont say that he was right, but he thought that he is the HERO. The perfect villain.

 

[asmondaus]

zombies...they are just like animals, hunting for food. they arent evil, just hungry

 

[neuromasser]

Aizen from Bleach.

He wants to rule the Soul Society, overthrow the King and kill everyone who opposes him. I say he's pretty sane.

And insanely powerful, but that's on a side.

Not said, but King is equivalent of God

 

[Inverse Skies]

Light Yagami from Deathnote. He wanted to create the perfect society, but simply went about it in the wrong way, using fear to rule through murdering those he deemed worthy of killing, which is not a utopia but a stagnating and overly controlled society. His downfall was his wish to be god, and no man can emulate god.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Honestly? Adolph Hitler.
And before you flame the hell out of me, hear me out.

After World War One, the Treaty of Versailles saddled Germany with full blame for the Ottoman Empire's actions, and forced all of the responsibility for reparations upon Germany.

Just read this: http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/germanyversailles.htm
It's concise and factually correct.

I believe that Adolph Hitler was what Germany needed at the time. Their economy was completely in ruins, their military disarmed, and they were pretty much the designated whipping boy of the League of Nations. Hitler was the rallying cry for Germany to make itself a respectable nation, as it once was. His motives may have been fucked, and his actions abominable, but I believe that he prevented Germany from permanently becoming one of the most disenfranchised European nations in modern times.

So, justified? No, he was an evil shit, but an entire nation (of human beings that, for the most part, did NOT share his mindset) benefited from his leadership in the long run, so he gets an honorable mention.

Dubious disclaimer: Ethnic cleansing is horrible, and I'm not a neo-Nazi. Hell, I'm not even remotely Teutonic, so there's no national bias, either.

 

[cainx10a]

Aizen from Bleach.

He wants to rule the Soul Society, overthrow the King and kill everyone who opposes him. I say he's pretty sane.

And insanely powerful, but that's on a side.

There's little we know about Aizen at this point in Bleach though. But really, he has yet to actually kill someone in the cast ;p

And he is nothing compared to ... say ... this guy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffith_(Berserk)].

 

[Nmil-ek]

Honestly? Adolph Hitler.
And before you flame the hell out of me, hear me out.

After World War One, the Treaty of Versailles saddled Germany with full blame for the Ottoman Empire's actions, and forced all of the responsibility for reparations upon Germany.

Just read this: http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/germanyversailles.htm
It's concise and factually correct.

I believe that Adolph Hitler was what Germany needed at the time. Their economy was completely in ruins, their military disarmed, and they were pretty much the designated whipping boy of the League of Nations. Hitler was the rallying cry for Germany to make itself a respectable nation, as it once was. His motives may have been fucked, and his actions abominable, but I believe that he prevented Germany from permanently becoming one of the most disenfranchised European nations in modern times.

So, justified? No, he was an evil shit, but an entire nation (of human beings that, for the most part, did NOT share his mindset) benefited from his leadership in the long run, so he gets an honorable mention.

Dubious disclaimer: Ethnic cleansing is horrible, and I'm not a neo-Nazi. Hell, I'm not even remotely Teutonic, so there's no national bias, either.

I think he was completley insaine myself and i dont mean in a metaphorical sense, the man survived WWI as a relay mesanger who knows what he saw but it probably damaged him. Hell read Mein Kampf the guy must have been over the edge already.

 

[Arsen]

On a related note half of Hitler's mind wasn't working, so he was technically insane.

 

[LockHeart]

To go with the X-Men thing - Mystique, after the poor girl was cast out and completely ostracised by society, not to mention her family and friends. Probably wouldn't leave you liking humans very much...

 

[Jumping_Over_Fences]

All villains, no matter how insane are will find a way to justify their actions. In fact, that is truly what makes them insane. They want people to understand that what they are doing is a completely sane and justifiable thing. It makes sense to them.

That's not true. As a matter of fact, it's the villains that are evil for the sake of evil that tend to be the scariest.

Look at the Joker. Read "Arkham Asylum" or "the Killing Joke". He doesn't seek justification for his actions. He has none. He knows that he's evil. He basks in it. Batman is the joke, and he's the punchline, plain and simple. Thats what makes him such a terrifying villain. All the villains who seek validation in their actions, at the end of the day, have a conscience. But villains like the Joker seek chaos.

Look at half the villains in the book "Wanted". Even the main character, was pillaging, plundering, and raping because he could. He straight up says he has no motive other than being a villain.

Just because he seeks chaos, doesn't mean that the Joker is not seeking justification for his actions. He is constantly explaining why he is doing things. He wants his plots to make some sense, explaining the meaning that he understands, but we may not. With that being the case you have to understand, that being insane, his justifications are not exactly what we would expect them to be. They may not make sense to us. So, they just seem as if they are only for the sake of evil, but they do have reasons behind them. "Killing Joke" was all about seeing how far you would have to push a person in order to make them go insane. It was, in many ways, an experiment, granted a crazy one, but still one none the less.

I have no rebuttal towards Wanted for I have never read it, but I am sure it is there somewhere.