Top 5 Villains of All Time

[Atzar]

That’s right. Top five villains of all time. I’d prefer to keep real figures out of it – so no Adolf Hitler or Genghis Khan. Aside from that, all media is fair game – movies, books, games, comics, anime, anything. Feel free to use any criteria you wish to validate your claims. For my list, I’m using fame, success, and simple, general badassery.

My own list:

5) Voldemort – The most powerful people in the world are afraid to say his name. Think about that for a moment.

4) Skar – Consider this a shoutout to my youth, back when Disney was still great. Movies like Jungle Book, Lion King, and Hercules are integral parts of my generation’s collective childhood. Skar is the most memorable of the bunch, and therefore deserves this spot on my list.

3) Magneto – To make it clear, I’ve never been much of a comic book guy. I know a lot of names and generally the series with which they’re connected, but that’s about it. Magneto, however, defies my ignorance. He can control metal, and the variety of uses he derives from this simple power is impressive. Unlike many villains, Magneto gains points for having understandable motives – in some cases, it’s easier to follow what’s driving him than it is the X-Men themselves.

2) Darth Vader – Vader may well be the single most famous villain in history. He was a pioneer of silver screen villainy. There is only one thing that keeps him from taking the top spot on my list: for all of his atrocities and memorable moments, he was still only a sidekick.

1) Bowser – Famous? Check. Badass? Check. Now let’s talk about success for a moment. Bowser faces his inevitable ruin at the end of nearly every Mario adventure, right? True. But admire his persistence, for coming back for more time after time. Admire his efficiency – when he puts his mind to it, he’s proven that he can capture the Princess whenever he wants with minimal difficulty. And also, remember this: for every one time Bowser has been taken down, Mario is killed dozens of times. If it takes our hero fifty lives to even have a shot at stopping you, then I’d say you’re doing pretty good.

Honorable Mentions: Lex Luthor, Ganondorf, Alonzo Harris (Training Day), Dr. Wily, Joker

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let me hear your thoughts – and your own list – right here!

[Hysteria]

I've only got three, I'll have to think about it some more :p

1. The Joker
He has always been a favorite, even before the Heath Ledger version. In the animated move, Under the Red Hood (imdb link) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1569923/) he is amazingly ruthless. In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (Imdb again) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0233298/) you see quite graphic violence by joker against a trapped Robin, as well as intense psychological torture. Then of course there is the Ledger version, which is true to series in its representation.

2. The Emperor
White Darth Vader's storyline was excellent, and portrayed extremely well, he lacks the cold calculating evil of the Emperor. This is a man who is willing to sacrifice everyone and everything for power. He is going to let his most trusted subordinate Vader die at the hands of his own son in order to get a more powerful minion. He sacrifices countless lives in order to crush the rebels, and (although they were kinda sucky) he plays the galactic representatives like a fine piano. He has so many strings that even when one of his plans is foiled he barely stops for a quick breather.

3. The World Nobles
In One Piece they are truly terrifying, with so much power and so little regard for the inhabitants of the world they paint a horrifying portrayal of royalty. While they do not seek to be evil, their belief that they are so much better than all those around them causes them to do evil. To quote one of the most ruthless pirates in the series:
"World Nobles... Slaves... Human shops... Against the "purity" of these "upper classes", the villains of the world look positively humane in comparison."- Eustass Kid.

I'd also throw up Hannibal Lecter, although I am not really a fan of the movies... he is still pretty villainous.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I got a few. In no particular order, because my list fluctuates constantly:

Gary Oak/Blue - Let's face it, the guy is straight baller. Bratty descendant of Professor "Gramps" Oak, he won ten of Kanto's eight gym badges, was constantly one step ahead of you in your journey to be the very best like no one ever was, and stomped Lance to become Pokemon League Champion just before you could. And once you finally beat him once and for all, he went on to become a gym leader while you climbed to the top of a mountain and stood in constant hailstorms for three years. So who truly won out in the end?

Kefka - Dat laugh. It's my text tone right now. Video games have had their fair share of memorable villains; but FF6's Kefka Palazzo reigns supreme in my eyes. It's not often that a villain comes around that makes you laugh at his antics one second, then cringe the next when he, say, poisoned an entire kingdom. He's a dick; but a very entertaining, likable one. Plus--he managed to destroy the world. Not many villains see their end game come into fruition in video games. And "Dancing Mad" will always beat out "One-Winged Angel" as far as final boss themes go.

Kazuo Kiriyama, Boy #6 - The main villain of "Battle Royale" was easily the most frightening thing about the book. A complete, emotionless psycho who managed to kill a fourth of his class without remorse during the course of the game. Whenever you saw him pop up in a chapter, you knew someone was going to die.

The Joker - I shouldn't have to explain this. Batman wouldn't be nearly as popular as he is without The Man Who Laughs and their eternal struggle.

[absentwizard]

The criterion to be a villain: commits crimes or wickedness
The additional criteria to be a great villain are: effective, wide-reaching
The additional criteria to be a great story villain are: memorable, thought-provoking

A personal addendum of mine to this list is that villain must be a sort of guile villain. It is easy to write a great villain because he's very strong and overpowering. However, it is not very interesting if the main challenge that the villain poses is because he can punch holes in everything. That said, my list:

5. [Discworld] Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. Claim to crime: A tyrannical dictator in the Greek sense who legalized all crimes except street miming. From the perspective of outside nations, he's a great criminal who's always imposing the Ankh-Morpork way of life on them and often standing in the way of their objectives. He plots against everyone, plays people against each other, and he manipulates people into doing exactly what he wants, and always gets away with it. His influence manifests all over the world in subtle yet inexorable ways.

4. [Middle-Earth] Sauron, the Lord of the Rings. Claim to crime: engineered the fall of Númenor from within, created much of the evil things in the world, turned angel-equivalents and loyal stewards with words in preparation to march over the world with his army of darkness. Even as a lieutenant of Morgoth, he was the one running the schemes within schemes within schemes.

3. [Young Wizards] The Lone Power, Eldest, Fairest and Fallen. Claim to crime: To the other Powers That Be of the universe, the Lone Power is the only one who stands apart, kicked out for inventing entropy and death. All other villains answer to It in some way or another and it is responsible for all the evil in the universe. Its victory is as inevitable as the entropic death death of the universe. It most often spreads evil by going from place to place offering its Gift to targets from individuals to entire races, usually disguised as something or someone innoculous; those who accept are eventually corrupted but still think that they're doing what's right.

2. [Abrahamism] God, God. Claim to crime: Ultimately responsible for all the evil in existence, by either having caused it or caused the agents that caused it. Created the universe and set in motion everything in it. He is jealous and proud of it. He is a petty, unjust, unforgiving, totalitarian, vindictive, bloodthirsty, ethnic cleansing, mysogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilental, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capricious, and malevolent bully. He also has millions of people believing that he loves them and needs money.

1. [Video Games] You. Sometimes.

[Skie and Avery]

So, my list is primarily villains from my childhood, because they had a big influence on my imagination and also if I tried to make a list of five from every piece of media I've ever consumed, we'd be here forever. TT___TT

5. Overdog
From Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. This is an 80's sci fi movie with Peter Strauss and Molly Ringwald that I watched obsessively with my grandmother, who was a HUGE NERD. Overdog was a warlord who sucked the life out of people in order to give himself energy. For someone who was pretty much stuck in one place by a bunch of tubes and wires, he had an entire planet in his fist. His favorite prey was either supple young women or people strong enough to make it through the deadly obstacle maze he forced them to make it through. The premise was that all the people put through the maze were slaves and if they could make it through alive, he'd let them go free. Psyche! Nope, now you get to stand in a tube and have your life sucked out! He was so creepy, unapologetically amoral, and an overall great villain. There was never a question that this guy was completely evil.

4. Queen Beryl
From Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. My mom used to hate that I was more into comic books than fashion, but when I was in middle school she came across some magazine article, probably in fucking Redbook or some shit, about how there were comic books for giiiirrrllls! She went out and in an offering of peace, grabbed up some Sailor Moon manga for me. My everlasting hatred for Queen Beryl and understanding of her true despicable nature didn't come to a head until some time later in my fangirlism that I came across the fact that Naoko Takeuchi (the artist and creator of the manga) had played around with having a backstory pairing of the senshi with shitennou together as they had been guardians to King Endymion (Tuxedo Mask's past life). I still have the art book with this image (http://www.soul-hunter.com/sailormoon/galleryartbooks/1/022.jpg) in it. And once I found that out, it became headcannon even though the pairings were never put into the manga storyline. So knowing that, Beryl not only took Endymion's guardians and twisted them into her generals to take down the senshi, but she also caused them to betray their lovers. In a series about the lasting power of love between friends and lovers, to completely eradicate love and twist it into such a hate that the shitennou gave their lives trying to take down their enemies, that's pretty evil.

3. Sea Witch
From Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. We're not talking the Disneyfied version here, even though Ursula was awesome. The version I watched was this one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen%27s_The_Little_Mermaid). This bitch was influencing everyone though. She made a deal with the mermaid that she was pretty sure the mermaid would lose, for no real goddamn reason. What would it have cost her for Marina to live happily ever after with the prince? She was jealous of her voice, but she GOT her voice. Still, she put the outlier on the deal that if Marina can't get the prince to fall in love with her and marry her, she'll die and turn to sea foam. Even though Marina and the prince become close, there's an arranged marriage put together by his parents, which he's cool with because it's with this princess that he thinks is the one who had saved his life when he almost drowned and Marina helped him to shore. So now she's going to die. Her sisters go to the sea witch and beg for her life, and the sea witch takes their hair to turn into a dagger with which Marina must use to kill the prince if she wants to be a mermaid again and rejoin her family and her old life. Marina can't do it, so instead she sacrifices herself and turns to foam. Meanwhile, the witch is sitting pretty with some nice hair for extensions, a gorgeous voice, and people are miserable and dead.

2. Nosferatu
From Nosferatu. Now, Zook and I argue about the merit and horror of this movie all the time. Max Schreck as Count Orlock was brilliant. His withered, twisted visage, wide eyes. It's so perfect. He creeps and crawls, has been slaughtering villagers. His performance is what shaped my entire expectation of what a vampire should be. Don't get me wrong, Bella Lugosi as Dracula was fantastic, but the vampire shown as a clear and unquestionable monster is a theme that resonates very strongly with me because of this movie.

1. Anakin Skywalker
From Star Wars, of course. Yet more sci-fi that my grandmother would spend the weekends watching with me. :) The Emperor was of course the one with all the influence and I guess you could say that Vader was his sidekick, but is there any more iconic movie villain? What I really like about Vader as a villain is his origin as Anakin, the child who would be a Jedi. How could someone so good go so wrong? That's the best part - Anakin's fall is facilitated by good intentions. In his desperate bid to save the woman he loves, following his heart, he's pulled into darkness. Yes, the Emperor is the one pulling those strings, but I honestly feel that the full corruption and lack of humanity makes Palpatine the worse villain. With his story, you root for Anakin, your heart breaks over his pain, and even as you're screaming at the screen, knowing that his actions are fucking all the shit up, you know that it is the only path that his heart will let him take. He is the hero fallen, which I think makes him the greatest villain of all.

Edit: absentwizard, I wanted to say that I'm really amused that you listed the Patrician. I've always found him to be a very likable hero. :D

[Zook Murnig]

In no particular order:

Nicodemus Archleone (Dresden Files)- As in "seeking whom he may devour," Nicodemus is the only Denarian whose Fallen form we never see. He never seems to need it, as he is dangerous enough as a human. He oozes style, elegance, and charm, all while keeping you on edge as to which direction he's trying to trick you into. His Fallen, Anduriel, works side-by-side with him (one of the only Fallen/Denarian duos to have that kind of relationship) and he has complete control of his shadow. Shit, the damn thing even chokes people at times. Finally, there is a strong connection between him and Judas, between the 30 pieces of silver that the Fallen were bound to and the simple noose that Nicodemus wears around his neck as a tie. And that very same noose is both his greatest strength and his only weakness, as it protects him from all harm except from itself.

Adam Young (Good Omens)- Adam is an interesting one, as Good Omens has no actual direct villain, but Adam's wishes for a better world being channeled through his identity as the Antichrist actually throw the Earth into full on Armageddon mode. At the same time, Adam is trying like hell to save the world from his own psyche. Even the angels (excluding Aziraphale) want the end of the world, citing the ineffable plan of God. But one thirteen year old boy who happens to be the son of the Beast himself races to take on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, followed by Beelzebub and the Metatron. I list him here because of the unique circumstance of being both the hero and the villain in his own story.

Lady Erandis d'Vol (Eberron)- One of the few examples in Eberron of a single villain leading an entire organization, Lady Vol is a relic from another age. Born to the dragonmarked Vol family of elves (of the Mark of Death) and the daughter of a green dragon, her parents had hoped that she would be a symbol for a new age of peace between elves and dragons. Instead, her birth led to House Vol's destruction, as both elf and dragon united in their hatred of the half-dragon-half-elven abomination. Fleeing to the budding continent of Khorvaire, Erandis grew her power in magic and mastery of her Mark of Death, eventually transcending death as a lich. Unfortunately for her, however, her dragonmark could only be used in life, and her dead and reanimated flesh could not activate it's archaic powers, and she could no longer bear children that would carry on the mark. So the half-dragon lich hatched a plan to manipulate elven bloodlines and politics throughout Aerenal and Khorvaire through a shadowy organization and false religion known as the Blood of Vol. This church preached on the power of the self, and how divinity lurked within each of its followers. It's highest ranking members were vampires and lichs themselves, and through the Blood of Vol and its militant branch, the Order of the Emerald Claw, Lady Vol works to resurrect the extinct Mark of Death, with herself heading the House.

Mr. Teatime (The Hogfather [Discworld])- The most disturbing of the assassins, even to the distinguished mind of an assassin, Mr. Teatime (it's tee-ah-tih-may) had a curious combination of insane skill, and no conscience. When he is contracted to assassinate Death, his odd mind hatches a plan that almost cannot fail, using the Hogfather (read pig themed Santa Claus) as a proof of concept. He nearly succeeds, as well, but for the intervention of Susan, Death's granddaughter.

Aurora, the Summer Lady (Dresden Files)- The least of the queens of the Summer Court of the Sidhe, Aurora saw the suffering of mortals caused by the constant struggles between Summer and Winter and decided to end that suffering by ending the Sidhe. Some say she went mad, but for whatever reason, she killed her own knight, bestowed his mantle of power upon a young changeling model and turned her to stone. The ensuing imbalance of power between the courts brought about an investigation from both sides, using mortal Emissaries, including Harry Dresden himself working for Queen Mab of Winter. As the summer solstice approached, tensions mounted, until finally at midnight she planned to sacrifice the changeling on the Stone Table, transferring the power of the Summer Knight's mantle forever to Winter, permanently destroying the balance between the courts. Had she succeeded, Aurora would have brought about the next ice age, followed by a period of exponential growth for the Earth, including bacteria, that would wipe out humanity as we know it.

[Resolve]

I agree with Hannibal Lecter and Sauron.

Honorable mention: Hexxus from Ferngully. That bastard gave me wicked nightmares as a kid.

And, of course, there's always Norman Bates from Psycho.

[hoytti]

Cluny the Scourge(Redwall) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lE2ecsU4EI Go to 4:20 to see Cluny The Scourge
Orochimaru(Naruto / Naruto Shippuden) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQpYRMUG0nQ
Sauron (Lord of the Rings) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knDknKW8pLY
President John Quincy Eden (Fallout 3) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWVvJ0awR8Q&feature=bf_prev&list=PLB8353B80D82A94CA
The Sech Empire (Rune Factory) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C47RL1p5aYw&feature=relmfu


It is in order

[Hysteria]

Mr. Teatime (The Hogfather [Discworld])- The most disturbing of the assassins, even to the distinguished mind of an assassin, Mr. Teatime (it's tee-ah-tih-may) had a curious combination of insane skill, and no conscience. When he is contracted to assassinate Death, his odd mind hatches a plan that almost cannot fail, using the Hogfather (read pig themed Santa Claus) as a proof of concept. He nearly succeeds, as well, but for the intervention of Susan, Death's granddaughter.

Hmm, I nearly put him up. Although I have only seen the movie version of the Hogfather (so far). He was pretty well represented in the movie.

[Amber Eyes]

I know it was suppose to be 5, but I couldn't help myself.

10. President Coin from the Hunger Games Series

9. Claudius- Hamlet

8. Mary Shaw

7. Annie Wilkes

6. Bellatrix Lestrange- Harry Potter.

5. The Master- Dr. Who

4. The Joker- Batman

3 Magneto

2. Rumpelstiltskin- Once Upon a Time

1. Ra's A Ghul

[Atzar]

The Joker, The Emperor/Darth Sidious, and Hannibal Lecter are all good answers that I considered myself. Bellatrix is a cool pick, mostly because Helena Bonham Carter nailed that role in the movies.

Why Sauron, though? I mean, I know he was technically the Big Bad from perhaps the most famous fantasy series ever, but he just didn't do anything. And this is what kept Sidious off of my list too, by the way (based on the original Star Wars trilogy, at least). Sauron just sat in Mordor and... was an eye. He died having done little to nothing over the course of the three novels. If I were going to take somebody from LotR for my list, I'd sooner take Saruman or maybe the Witch King.

General Thade from The Planet of the Apes is one that I wish I'd thought of earlier. The 2001 remake was possibly the only Tim Burton-directed movie I've ever liked, and Thade was badass. Apophis from Stargate SG-1 and Khan from Star Trek are also strong candidates, if you enjoy the Sci-Fi genre. Also, Terminator.

[Duffy]

For me, it's a Top Five, though in no particular order:

The Kurgaan, from Highlander.
The Witch King of Angmar (though this is more a title for the Ringwraiths on the whole - mortifying when I was a kid).
The Ice Queen (Narnia).
Sephiroth (undoubtedly a contender for my number one).
Ozymandias comes to the forefront of my mind for superhero/comic book villains, though I dare-say Magneto comes second.

[Warpath]

Alright alright alright. I've been thinking about the villains you guys are missing here.

Ben Linus from Lost. Seriously, Ben is fucking awesome.

Iago from Othello. He's like the original Magnificent Bastard because he makes his bastardy so intriguing and then, just to cement how much of a bastard he is, he refuses to tell you why he's such a bastard. You can say he's racist or whatever all you want, but the fact is that nobody knows why Iago was such a bastard. He's just good at it.

Bane from Batman. Okay yeah Joker is iconic, but he's never really done it for me. When Joker is done right, he presents an incredible antithesis to Batman, and that's an intriguing story, sure. But Bane has always been cooler to me because of how he compares to Batman. I mean, think about it: nobody beats Batman. Nobody. He's smarter than you, period. Maybe you one-up him if you're lucky and insanely intelligent, but Batman's going to figure it out and he's going to kick your ass. Because with a very select few exceptions, Batman is stronger than you, too. And hell, let's throw in the off chance that you're smart and you've got some muscle, great. Batman is still going to win, because he flat out wants it more.

...unless you're Bane. Bane is stronger than Batman, he's smarter than Batman, and in terms of willpower he's right up there with him. Sure, they dropped the ball immediately after introducing Bane and have right up until The Dark Knight Rises (I think Nolan created the quintessential Bane), but when he broke the Bat, Bane cemented himself as a historic comic book figure. People like to say "oh, he came out of nowhere, he's just a plot device, not a true member of the rogue's gallery," but fuck those people that's not true. Doomsday was a plot device when DC killed Superman, Bane was our generation's best contribution to DC comics.

What blows my mind is that nobody has yet mentioned the most iconic villain comic books supplied to pop culture: Doctor Doom.

Without Doctor Doom, there's no Darth Vader, period. Doom predates Magneto and was the original Magnificent Bastard. Hell, Iron Man essentially started out as a good Doctor Doom. Yeah, The Joker and Magneto are important, huge-name comic book villains, but they're nothing against the pop-culture legacy of Doctor Doom.

Also Dracula. I don't know if anybody mentioned Dracula but come on, Dracula. I mean, the word "vampire" has taken on an entirely different connotation in modern pop culture, but originally? He was a sexy zombie crossed with the devil, and no matter how much she hated herself for it, your girlfriend would totally cheat on you with him. Like in a second. She'll say she won't but she'll totally do it, she can't help herself.

Super Honorable Mention goes to Kain from Legacy of Kain. It doesn't matter that the story is about him or that he's sympathetic, Kain is the villain, and he's the greatest Magnificent Bastard in video games so far. Yes, better than Sephiroth, Kefka, and even GLaDOS. No, you're wrong. Kain.

Shit, honorable mention to GLaDOS though. Almost forgot about GLaDOS.

[Max Dirks]

Here's a few:

(5) Wicked Witch of the West -- The Wizard of Oz might be a family movie, but the Wicked Witch still gives me chills. She has a clear motive of revenge (Dorothy did, after all, murder her sister when she arrived in Oz), and executes it flawlessly by employing evil flying monkeys. What's most disturbing about the Wicked Witch? The idea that your next door neighbor (Ms. Gulch in this case) might be the most evil person on the planet.

(4) Albert Wesker -- Resident Evil is full of baddies, but Wesker is by far the most bad ass. Wesker starts as a double agent--an Umbrella agent masquerading as a member of the S.T.A.R.S. When Chris and Jill foil his plot in the first game, Wesker infects himself with the T-Virus and orchestrates the hostile takeover of Umbrella as a superhuman. This makes him either the prime villain, or responsible for the prime villain in almost ever subsequent Resident Evil game. What's most disturbing about Albert Wesker? He exemplifies the underlying instinct in all of us to survive and thrive at any cost.

(3) Lex Luthor -- In the Superman movies, Lex Luthor is portrayed as a wise cracking gangster obsessed with real estate, but the man portrayed in the comics is actually evil Batman. Luthor's motive is simple, use technology to take over the world. To do so, he must defeat the only person on earth who can defy advanced technology: Superman. What's the most disturbing about Lex Luthor? The 1940's message about man conquering (or destroying) the world through technology is more relevant (and possible) now more than ever.

(2) Patrick Bateman --American Psycho, both the book and the movie, are designed to be the confession of deranged murder. Bateman's line at the end of the movie explains his place on my list. "This confession has meant nothing." It almost doesn't get any more evil than that. What's most disturbing about Bateman? He lives under the guise of a successful businessman. Movies like American Psycho and Eyes Wide Shut really make the common man wonder exactly what happens amongst the world's top 1%.

(1) Me/You -- Sandbox video games like Fallout, GTA4, and Skyrim have made us into the greatest villains ever. What's our motive? Some days we just want stuff and it's far easier simply to kill someone than to pickpocket him. Other days we wonder what it would be like to be the only person alive in the world. Whatever the motive, you simply can't stop us. The Brotherhood of Steel, the police, and the Imperials are simply no match. What's most disturbing about this concept? Real people (like myself) are legitimately laughing while they do these things in the games.

[Hysteria]

(2) Patrick Bateman --American Psycho, both the book and the movie, are designed to be the confession of deranged murder. Bateman's line at the end of the movie explains his place on my list. "This confession has meant nothing." It almost doesn't get any more evil than that. What's most disturbing about Bateman? He lives under the guise of a successful businessman. Movies like American Psycho and Eyes Wide Shut really make the common man wonder exactly what happens amongst the world's top 1%.

Probably just America's 1%, anyone who earns around 70k a year is in the top 1% of the world, hell earning 25k a year puts you into the top 10% easily.

I'll heartily agree with the last villain, I'll save a game and then spend the next 10min slaughtering an entire town for shiggles.

[Liliana Ambria]

5) Revolver Ocelot - Metal Gear Solid - Ocelot is just the one guy you can't kill. The best you manage is to have someone else cut off his hand, he's always one step ahead. He always knows what you're thinking before you do. You can't win against Ocelot, only delay the inevitable. Your best bet is to just lay out an offer and hope his greedy nature will allow him to take it.

4) Jigsaw - Saw - Lets sit down and think for a moment. A guy comes to the conclusion that everyone is wasting their life away and that he needs to cure this american epidemic. Some people write a self help course, this guy creates death traps that teach you the very lesson you need to get through life. If you were blind to everything around you, you'll have to figure out how to see your way out. If you were a recluse, you're gonna have to escape your way through. A villain that has your best interest at heart. That is a unique problem.

3) The Illusive Man - Mass Effect Series - Always in the background this dick hole is nothing but a pain in your ass, second guessing you every step of the way. Even when you're forced to work beside him he could not have been a worse guy to have the misfortune of working alongside. Always supporting the human agenda, he has a decidedly racist "humans first" code of ethics. When he finally does get his comeuppance, it just couldn't come fast enough.

2) Lara Raith - Dresden Files - Lara Raith is everything you hate in a villian. Helpful friendly, and a psychopathic Soul Sucking Vampire. This girl is the epitome of her race, half demon half human phages running about the planet in the guise of civility called vampires only loosely. They are more akin to the succubi of ancient myths, and they are adept at making sure that no one realizes they exist. Fond of using cats paws to a fault Lara Raith is incredibly gifted at getting what she wants out of the protagonist of the book series. The scariest thing is that when she kills her victims beg for her to do it. The only character that is scarier than Lara Raith would have to be...

1) Nicodemus Archilone - Dresden Files - This man could teach Lara Raith a thing or two about manipulation. The man is incapable of telling you anything that is 100% truth. In fact, he is prone to setting up his incredibly destructive gambits such that even if the short term goal is done, he still gets a consolation prize. He is quoted as saying "The apocalypse isn't a singular event, you're thinking to small. The apocalypse is a mindset, if you fail this time you keep trying, because the world can only hold off so many attempts before you finally succeed."

[Ashla]

(Please keep in mind that I haven't watched too many TV Shows similar to Lord of the Rings or Star Wars... so some people may not agree with this list)

5.) Darth Vader (Star Wars): Vader is really good; it's sad though: he was once an innocent young boy, enslaved on a planet. He was innocent, but things happened to him that caused him to fall to the Dark Side years later...
4.) The White Witch (Narnia): Yes, she's very cruel... But she's still pretty cool.
3.) Darth Maul (Star Wars/ Star Wars, the Clone Wars): Darth Maul is also very cool. I didn't know what to think of him coming back in Season 4 (and now Season 5) for the Clone Wars, but now I think he's pretty awesome!
2.) Lurtz (Lord of the Rings): Lurtz was awesome, but he died too soon (along with some other LOTR villains)
1.) Cad Bane (Star Wars, the Clone Wars): Cad Bane is so awesome! My number 1 Bounty Hunter of Star Wars! "I hate it when someone else does my job..."