What Makes a Great Villain?

[spikespiegel]

There are two types of good villains:

1: The type that is just evil trough and trough. No symathy whatsoever to noone. No remorse, just plain bad ass son of a *****. He doesn't have to be strong(often they become), some times they are the ones behind the scene pulling the strings (kefka FF6 anyone?)

2: The tragic villain. Often good guy turned victim turned twisted bad guy. See "two face" in batman, Sepiroth in FF7. You feel for them, though they sometimes cross the line into nr 1.
These are often under the "love to hate" sticker

actually, you have the mix as well. Spandam in one piece is a brilliant villain, because he is just such an annoying fuck-head that doesn't care about anyone but himself, but still quite deviouse and evil.

 

[boyitsme95]

A COMPELING REASON (One that seems relistic, not evil because they want to, use Joker as base)
Personality
Look the part

 

[Limos]

I think the best villains are the ones who challenge the Heroe's convictions. This is especially true if the hero is one of those My country tis of thee patriotic dickheads doing unspeakable acts in the name of hearth and home.

This usually only happens early on because once the hero finds out he's actually working for the real villain he usually defects to the opposite side. But in the meantime whoever you were fighting before seems to be evil, is usually powerful, competent and knows that he is right. Only the hero refuses to see it.

Whenever you kill a villain and then later go "Oh shit, he was the good guy." that is a majorly sweet villain.

EDIT: Oh oh, just remembered. I'm not sure what it was from but I remember somewhere facing a very polite and apologetic killing machine. It was big, it was cruel, it was undeniably evil. But it was just doing it's job and was really very sorry about the bother. If a villain apologizes about having to kill you but then tears you limb from limb anyway that is pretty sweet.

 

[Imperator_2]

"It's for your own good..."
Heheheheh...

 

[dreamofobscurity]

What makes a great villain to me is if the character has motivations as to why he would do what he is doing, no matter how sick and twisted he is, i just want a three dimensional character(look at The Joker in The Dark Knight). Opposed to "the bad guy," who you are meant to hate, but all you know about him is that he is evil and must die, the one with no motivations or intentions other than "destroy" and "kill the hero".(Like most other villians.)

 

[Molten Discharge]

Either they need facial hair or to light up a cig whenever they're about to say something really evil...

 

[Imperator_2]

The quiet villain is always the most dangerous one...

 

[luccide]

i think they need good motivation and just a slight bit of mental instability to make them completely unpredictable

 

[bassie302]

first of all any self-respecting villain should get himself a ten year old associate to test every plan, scheme and death trap before unfolding his evil plans, mainly to ensure the hero isn't getting away so ridiculously easy.

Next up would be a sense of simplicity when it comes to capturing the hero. How you get your hands on him is not very important, but when you do manage to get him in your control there are always two things that need fixing:
-do NOT tell aforementioned hero your evil dark plan
-do NOT set up any excessive death traps or perilous situations for the hero, just grab the nearest weapon and kill him now that you have him.

Furthermore, if you're planning on using a doomsday device with a timer or just a big bomb, ensure to make it detonate at 0:02 rather then 0, so our hero, if not dead yet, should be fooled into thinking he can get a last second save.

Lastly, capture the hero's girlfriend, as his love for her will give you a great amount of control over the hero, making it much easier to get rid of him.

In every step make sure all actions are tested and approved by your ten year old associate and there ya go, world domination is within reach...

 

[Sarciss]

A great villain needs to be confident but silent. Conceiled in a long coat with a mask/hat that covers some of his face whilst leaving his mouth open. Doesn't come out with a speech to everything the protagonist says, but something like a small smirk. Power too, so that he doesn't do things himself, he just flicks a finger and his goons jump in as he slowly walks away into darkness.