Top 25
Some of them are refromed or simply played an antagonistic role but are not super evil. Won't state which ones are reformed because spoilers.
1. Azula (Avatar)
2. Regina Mills (Once Upon A Time)
3. Bellatrix Lestrange (Harry Potter)
4. Nerissa (W.i.t.c.h)
5. Icy (Winx)
6. Isabella Gisborne (BBC's Robin Hood)
7. Kuvira (Korra)
8. Lust (Full Metal Alchemist)
9. Morgause (BBC's Merlin
10. Ming Hua (Korra)
11. Beatrice (Umineko)
12. Nehelenia (Sailor Moon)
13. Jadis (Narnia)
14. James Sawyer (Lost)
15. Zuko (Avatar)
16. Envy (Full Metal Alchemist)
17. Dracula (Van Helsing)
18. Lucius (Harry Potter)
19. Juvia (Fairy Tail)
20. Ultear (Fairy Tail)
21. Deidara (Naruto)
22. Zancrow (Fairy Tail)
23. Cora (Once Upon A Time)
24. Zelena (Once Upon a Time)
25. Phobos (W.i.t.c.h.)
The Why's
First and foremost I feel like 9/10 times, at least for me personally, the villains are always the most interesting and intriguing characters in the show/movie/book or wherever other medium you're looking at. For me they are the life blood of the show really.
But where does this allure come from? For me it comes in that fictional villains offer a look at the darkest side of human nature. They can get away with such despicable acts that people would never normally condone. Not only can they get away with it, but some people actually enjoy these heinous acts committed with in the world of fiction. For example; *Spoiler* Bellatrix killing Sirius and skipping away in song. People (who weren't fans of Sirius) *End of spoiler* laughed at her little song.
Hell, I'd say for some people liking villains can even a release. I myself am a very quite, keeps-to-myself kind of person if you don't know me. Which is why strangers are surprised to hear me announce in class that I tend to like the antagonists. I feel as though me liking the baddies is a sort of expression of my dark side in a sense. And I feel like that's much healthier than embracing my dark side in other ways.
Going back to Bellatrix's method of killing Sirius, evil characters seem to offer so much room for a different kind of creativity. A twisted kind of creativity. Bella is a grown woman who acts like a child and practically sees murder as a game. How about the Saw movies. There are just so many ways to kill off a character and it's darkly fascinating to see what the author can come up with; how he/she molds his or her character to fit the types of crimes he/she is committing.
So then we come to motives. It's also loads of fun to see the villains' motives. What makes him or her tick? *Spoiler* Jigsaw was a man with a terminal illness, one that caused him to attempt suicide, which caused him to become fascinated with the human survival instinct. He wanted people to learn to not take life for granted. *End of Spoiler This creates for a very insanely cool motive. What about Voldemort, a man who believed that purging all muggle borns & half bloods was the way to go despite being one himself. Or the kind of villain that truly believes that he/she is in the right like Kuvira who simply didn't want her people to feel abandoned like she was. There are just so many possible motivations to work with and it's pleasurable to see how a good motivation with a terrifying execution method or the other way around, plays out. It's fun to see what kind of motivations can come into play and how the villain goes about achieving his or her desire.
This line of thought ties very easily into the sympathy aspect. Some bad guys just have/had it so rough you can't not feel a little bad. Take Regina for instance; *Spoiler* all this woman wanted was her true love. But because she saved little Snow White, her mother ripped her lover's heart out and crushed it. It was all down hill from there and she went on a vengeance spree that lasted well over 28 years. *End of Spoilers Or how about Azula and Zuko. Both of the royal siblings were royally screwed over by their parents in one way or another. Zuko was physically abused and Azula--sucked dry of all normal social functioning--was pretty much turned into a weapon/political tool for her father to use at his disposal. Or Isabella who was more spoilers sold by her brother, Guy, to a man who abused her physically and sexually. *End of Spoiler* All the woman wanted was an apology she never got. That not sympathetic enough? Morgause is an example of a villainess who thought she was in the right; in a land where her kind (the magical beings) were being persecuted *Spoiler* (she was ordered to be killed off as an infant) *is done spoiling* she wanted to kill the man doing the persecuting. Basically she just wanted to protect what remained of her kin. Frankly I thought the good guys behaved more like the bad guys in BBC's Merlin.
Anyhow, examples aside, villains are perhaps the most sympathetic characters. And for that they really draw me in.
This kind of sympathy makes the evil guys and gals complex. And of curse is just one of many ways of creating a complex villain. But that's the next point; for me the baddies are always the most complex characters. And complexity and depth are super important in a character. Because of the vast many motivations and the sympathy and the rest, there is just so much room to craft up such a well-built character.
But what about the villains that don't have elaborate back stories or motivations? Can they still be cool? I'd say of course. Bellatrix doesn't really have much of a backstory but her dark humor and quirky personality makes her a villain that is still just as enjoyable as the well-rounded characters like Regina and Azula.
With characters like, Icy it's fun to make up stories and fanfictions explaining why she does the evil she does since the creator doesn't really give her any back story or motivations. But if you're not a fan of doing that can a character like Icy be enjoyable? Again, I'd say yes. Sometimes it's just fun to watch a character who is an asshole (and let's face it, Icy's an asshole...so is Sawyer but that's getting off topic) just to be an asshole. Which for me plays back into the release of one's inner darkness.
So again, referencing back to Bellatrix and her dark humor; that's another reason why I tend to prefer the evil characters. They own the gallows humor. Minus Deadpool (if you can even call him one), heroes can't work that dark humor in quite the way that villains do. I mean we wouldn't laugh if Harry dropped a 'dead Sirius' joke (we'd probably think he's heartless), but Bellatrix could get away with it because she's Bellatrix. Sweeny Todd & Nellie Lovett are two more villains offer some dark humor. I mean we have a woman singing about cooking people into pies and a man calling his razors 'my friends'. And musically so. Only in theater does murder get musical. Only in fiction are we allowed to laugh at it. This dark humor can also help viewers cope with unpleasant situations by helping them poke fun at the situation itself.
On the other end you can have humor villains like Kronk from the Emperor's New Groove or Team Rocket from Pokemon. The kind of bad guys that make you laugh but not necessarily with gallows humor. Like when Kronk begins to speak squirrel. That's genuinely fun and light-hearted humor. Except it's from a villain, which makes it all the funnier. These kinds of villains prove that an author doesn't have to go full on 100% dark to create a likable villain.
How about the good guys who turn bad or the bad guys who turn good. It's simply interesting to watch them evolve and transform. Spoiler Take Isabella for example, she went from good to bad then to a more neutral postion and then bad again. End of spoilers That was a real adventure IMO. What about characters like Nerissa who turned bad before her series began. That's also a fun one because you get to try to figure out the why's before they are answered in canon. Any time you get to see a character develop is neat.
And finally the villains hold the plot together. Even if you are an avid villain hater you gotta give kudos to them for allowing the series to happen. I mean what's the point of Harry Potter if Voldemort isn't trying to murder him? Sure a view of his wizarding world is fun for a while but I wouldn't read 7 books on just a boy attending a magical school with no problems. What's the point of watching The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe if the witch is missing? Then it's just a lion and a wardrobe and a lamp. The villains give the plot action, love them or hate them, they keep the plot moving and the shows/books you love alive.
So there ya have it people a list of terrible people, like actual trash, that I happen to love and the reasons why I tend to obsess over those assholes. :D
