Who is your favorite antagonist?

[bluerocker]

I would say that my favorite antagonist is Toguro, from Yu Yu Hakusho. He's a fairly complex and interesting character that is almost a perfect foil to the protagonist, Yusuke Urameshi.

And that's all I can really say because I have something that I really need to be doing.

Really? I found Sensui to be more of a foil to Yusuke...

Sensui is more of a "I'm similar to you except I'm evil" sort of bad guy. I guess both of them could be foils, I just see Toguro's Lawful Evil [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LawfulEvil] personality and Yusuke's Chaotic Good [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChaoticGood] attitude quite the opposite of each other.

For that matter, both of them are pretty much the embodiment of those respective alignments. You don't get much more lawful evil or chaotic good than either of them.*

It doesn't hurt that I thought the whole Chapter Black saga wasn't so great. It was interesting at first, but by the end it had outlasted its interest. Far too many new ideas were introduced, territories especially - I had never heard of them before and their rules seemed flexible depending on what the plot needed.

To be honest with you, I really can't argue this one right now. I have not watched Yu Yu Hakusho in a while, although I would like to do a rewatch pretty soon. Still, from what I remember this could be quite a discussion topic.

*Note that I've never touched a DND board in my life. I've just visited TVTropes far too much.

Well, I have noticed a few tropers on these boards, and I'm happy to say that I am one as well. However, I have started playing DnD as well as having read the pages on the alignments. Similar interests aside, I suppose I used the term incorrectly. I was thinking foil along the terms of Naruto and Gaara. They had similar pasts, but turned out in vastly different ways. Gaara became a psycopath and Naruto became a troublemaker. Sensui and Yusuke follow said model almost to the Tee. However, I found that the comparison between the two was interesting one though...

 

[DarkRyter]

Sasuke Uchiha. I know alot of people would use their final breaths to curse his name, but in terms of a character, I feel he adds alot to the story. He exemplifies key themes (revenge is like super bad, man) and acts as a perfect counterpart to the protagonist, in both ability and character arc.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

hmm... Dovahkiin.
what, he's genocidal, probably a criminal and has no morals of his own.
dick.

or the Riddler. he's just... FUN!

 

[Jakub324]

The Joker, but only the Dark Knight incarnation. He was unpredictable, psychotic and brilliantly portrayed.

 

[Palademon]

Antagonists who aren't actually evil. Light from Death Note.

Light is the protagonist.
L is his antagonist.

I was going to say L for this thread.

See, that's exactly why Death Note was so good (at least for the first third) - whom we feel is the antagonist is completely different.

Yes, I agree about that appraisal of Death Note if saying "good guy" and "bad guy".
BUT
Protagonist means main character.
Antagonist means the character trying to stop the goals of the main character.

Your idea actually confuses me. If Light isn't evil by your view, then what makes him the antagonist?

 

[Kynreave]

Suzaku from Code Geass, i hate his self righteous, hypocritical guts but damn he's a good antagonist.

I second this and...

The L/Light combo from Death Note, it's particularily interesting because you really can choose who to root for (Although technically L is the antagonist).

 

[Garyn Dakari]

The Joker, from the Arkham games.
Gman, from Half-Life.
GlaDOS, from Portal.
Dr. Breen, from Half-Life 2.
Saren, from Mass Effect.
Darth Sion, from Knights of the Old Republic II.

The Joker because he's unpredictable, evil, and the voice acting was superb.

Gman because he's interesting, and you never know what side he's on.

GlaDOS because...Well, just play Portal

Dr. Breen because he's not the typical "I'll shoot you in the face" villain, or even the typical businessman villain. He's calm, and tries to look like he's in control.

Saren and Darth Sion are actually pretty similar characters, and I really like them both. Neither are completely evil, even though it may seem that way at first, and both would rather work with you instead of fight you.

 

[Slowpool]

Hummm.

I like Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2. He is so easy to hate, and yet some small part of me almost feels sorry for him (even though he caused his own downfall).

As for character's I enjoy hating completely, anything from Phoenix Wright, One Piece and Fairy Tail. They are very VERY good at making me actually grate my teeth in smoldering fury. I often think of exactly what I would say to them were I in the protagonists' places.

 

[babinro]

"Brigadier General Francis X Hummel...Out" - I love villains that are not really villains.

From gaming it would either be Kefka (FF6) or Salazar (RE4) because both of them did a fantastic job of wanting me to kill them.

 

[Busdriver580]

I'm a sucker for Artificial Intelligences, HAL and Shodan are my two favorites. I suppose I don't really know why, considering they're very different characters. I liked GlaDOS too, but she's really just an incompetent Shodan played for laughs.

 

[Richardplex]

Antagonists who aren't actually evil. Light from Death Note.

Light is the protagonist.
L is his antagonist.

I was going to say L for this thread.

See, that's exactly why Death Note was so good (at least for the first third) - whom we feel is the antagonist is completely different.

Yes, I agree about that appraisal of Death Note if saying "good guy" and "bad guy".
BUT
Protagonist means main character.
Antagonist means the character trying to stop the goals of the main character.

Your idea actually confuses me. If Light isn't evil by your view, then what makes him the antagonist?

Well, L just wants to stop criminals because he's bored. Light wants to get rid of all the criminals and become a god - he goes mad with power. It's chaotic good vs lawful evil I guess. But I don't really believe in evil - you either have a reason, or you're a sociopath/psychopath. Though I guess those who want to watch the world burn would count. But I digress. I don't see either really as the pro/antagonist, just that... I don't know... Light fits the idea of an antagonist better with his deciding to become god? Rather than a guy who does good, but just because he's bored, that wouldn't make him an antagonist for me.

Or maybe the answer is less convoluted: Light's colour is red, so clearly he's evil.

 

[Skillswords]

Dr facilier From the princess and the frog, i don't care how girly that movie is i grab my niece and watch the whole thing with her again to see the crazy witch docter.

 

[bluerocker]

Antagonists who aren't actually evil. Light from Death Note.

Light is the protagonist.
L is his antagonist.

I was going to say L for this thread.

See, that's exactly why Death Note was so good (at least for the first third) - whom we feel is the antagonist is completely different.

Yes, I agree about that appraisal of Death Note if saying "good guy" and "bad guy".
BUT
Protagonist means main character.
Antagonist means the character trying to stop the goals of the main character.

Your idea actually confuses me. If Light isn't evil by your view, then what makes him the antagonist?

Well, L just wants to stop criminals because he's bored. Light wants to get rid of all the criminals and become a god - he goes mad with power. It's chaotic good vs lawful evil I guess. But I don't really believe in evil - you either have a reason, or you're a sociopath/psychopath. Though I guess those who want to watch the world burn would count. But I digress. I don't see either really as the pro/antagonist, just that... I don't know... Light fits the idea of an antagonist better with his deciding to become god? Rather than a guy who does good, but just because he's bored, that wouldn't make him an antagonist for me.

Or maybe the answer is less convoluted: Light's colour is red, so clearly he's evil.

[http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/171527-objection--2]

[HEADING=3] Red is an equal opportunity color for both heroes and villains, as is the color blue. Plenty of heroes wear/associate with the color red, examples being: [/HEADING]

Spoiler: Red heroes

[http://viewtifuljoe.wikia.com/index.php?title=Viewtiful_Joe&image=Viewtiful-Joe-jpg]

[HEADING=2] Viewtiful Joe - "Viewtiful Joe" series [/HEADING]

[http://okami.wikia.com/index.php?title=Amaterasu&image=Ammy_3-png]

[HEADING=2] Amaterasu - "Okami" series [/HEADING]

[http://sailormoonenglishanime.wikia.com/index.php?title=Sailor_Mars&image=SailorMars45-gif]

[HEADING=2] Sailor Mars aka Rei/Raye Hino - "Sailor Moon" [/HEADING]

[HEADING=2] Raphael - "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" [/HEADING]

[HEADING=2] Optimus Prime - "Transformers" series [/HEADING]

[HEADING=2] Dave Strider - "Homestuck" [/HEADING]

 

[ConstantErasing]

I sure do like me my villains so this ones pretty hard. I don't think I have a single favorite so lets go with:
Kefka (FFVI), The Major (Hellsing Ultimate), Accelerator (To Aru Majutsu no Index), Sho Minamimoto (The World Ends With You (this one should have been obvious)), and probably more but those are the ones that come to me off the top of my head.

 

[ElectroJosh]

I would say Iago from Othello

Good choice - I'll second that one. And, since we are being literary, Big Brother from 1984.

A lot of games have memorable antagonists:

GlaDos and Shodan are both excellent examples

John Irenicus is a personal favourite as well.

 

[deathbydeath]

wallace green from hl2, because he isn't evil
omen dang, henry leland, and konstantin brayko, all from alpha protocol
walton simons from de1, because of his sexy voice
the gnomes from puzzle agent 1 (less so in 2)
Gunther hermann (also from de1), sexy accent and he vants orange

but wait, there's more!



actually wait a while, it'll take me a long time to do the rest of this list

 

[Sammyjb17]

Teryn Loghain

 

[octafish]

I would say Iago from Othello and kreia from Kotor 2. I love manipulative bastards

EDIT: I also have to say tyrion Lanister if he can be considered an antagonist

Edit 2: and every manipulative bastard in the song of fire and ice

I do like Iago, but I like Richard III more. Oh and Steerpike.

 

[MetaMuffin]

Heith Ledger's Joker was pretty incredible. I saw The Dark Knight at the midnight release and remember being blown away. A fantastic last performance, would of loved to see what Ledger could have done with his acting.

 

[AD-Stu]

I'm not actually sure whether Vincent Hanna or Neil McCauley was the antagonist in Heat, so is it cheating to say both of them?