Princess Evil

fannish5 of the week: Name your five favorite evil characters.

1. X-Men: Magneto. There's something ludicrous and yet elegant about a villain who's simultaneously tragic and sympathetic, as well as a cackling, finger-steepling, gaudy-helmet-wearing overlord. FCOL, he founded a society called the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. But he's brilliant and filled with righteous rage, and underneath the trappings of comic book villainy there's a kind of disastrous misdirected fear that strikes true.


2. BtVS: The Mayor. Villains are so often weighted down with all sorts of pointless shorthand characteristics, it's still hilarious to see an ultra-wholesome teetotaler plot doom and destruction. Seeing him become a father figure to his sword-arm is downright touching. And still, sufficiently easy to hate.


3. Order of the Stick: Redcloak. I haven't even read the prequel (yet!) but Redcloak is a perfect counterpoint to the joke-cracking pile-o-bones he reluctantly calls boss. He's evil, but he's doing it for a cause, but he's definitely not just "technically" evil, and he's definitely dangerous. The idea that he might change alignment and find himself on the side of the heroes (for the right reward) is simultaneously impossible and highly appealing. If I were a different sort of fan, I'd probably be fighting tooth and claw to say he's not really evil, and he must be redeemed.


4. AtLA: Azula. Many people two many terrible things throughout the series. Azula is the scariest, I think, even though Ozai is technically more dangerous. She's validated by being considered a success by her father, and by her obvious talent, intelligence and skill. It's the idea that she's a winner, that she's the hero of the story, that makes her so dangerous. Depite being terrifying (to me) and not at all sympathetic (again, YMMV), redeeming her is tempting just because it's such a waste.


5. Probably most animated Disney villains could go here, but let's go with Ursula the sea witch. Sea witches are cool, dammit. Maleficent could work also, she's equally hammy and she's a freaking dragon.

I have weird definitions of things like "villain" and "evil" and so my list is a little weird, and actually neglects a lot of my favorite villains. I mean, the original post said "evil" and most of my favorite villains (or antagonists) are not really evil. Actually, I don't really believe in evil, I think. I definitely don't think I could ever write a really evil character. I used to have a bunch back when I role played a lot. I quite liked a lot of them, but nowadays, I don't think I'm up to it.

Maybe evil TS3 Sims count. I have a family of four that's evil, so maybe they count.