Villain
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One popular concept of the "villain", meant to mimic the purposely distinctive visage of villains from silent films of the early 20th century. The expression on his face is associated with insanity. |
A
villain is an "
evil" character in a story, whether an
historical narrative or, especially, a work of
fiction. The villains are the
bad guys, the characters who strive against the
hero. Female villains are sometimes called
villainesses.
It is the unmitigated evil nature which distinguishes the villain from an
antagonist, like Javert in
Les Miserables — a character who opposes the hero, but by such means or reasons as not to become entirely odious, and who may be even repent, be redeemed, or become a "good guy" in the end. The villain is also distinguished from an
anti-hero — a character who violates the law or the prevailing social standards, but who nevertheless has the audience's sympathy, and is therefore the real hero of the story.
In spite of being the target of the audience's hatred, the villain is an almost inevitable
plot device and often — perhaps more than the hero — the central theme of the
plot. The best interpretation of the villian's role in a story was said by the "Magic Mirror" in a Disney special "Without the villian where would the story be?"
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French villains in the 15th century. |
The
etymology of the word is probably
Middle English villein from
Old French vilain, in turn from Late
Latin villanus, meaning
serf or
peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a
villa, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a
plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul.
Consequently, it meant a person of less than knightly status, and so came to mean a person who was not
chivalrous.
The physical attributes of the villain vary according to the culture and epoch, and are often a fairly straightforward reflection of that culture's current prejudices — racial, political, religious, or otherwise. Just as a hero is often a paragon of the prevailing beauty ideal, a villain often has some physical deformity — perhaps to suggest an equally deformed mind (as in the case of
Freddy Krueger), or a rough and violent background (as in the case of
Peter Pan's
Captain Hook or
Treasure Island's
Long John Silver).
Sometimes even mere violations of the prevailing dress code are enough to label the villain of the story. In fact, the villain is often impeccably dressed, but in a style that deviates somehow from the norm, perhaps only for being
too impeccable — like the
mafioso in a very expensive suit, or the
knight in an overdecorated
armor.
A typical cartoon villain of the 1970s in
American culture is pictured at the top of this article. Note the formal black clothes, exquisitely neat
facial hair, sharp facial features, and
maniacal demeanour. This cliché was also very common in silent
motion pictures, when villains had to
look sinister for easy recognition. The
Rocky and Bullwinkle characters
Boris Badenov,
Natasha Fatale, and
Snidely Whiplash, as well as the
Hanna-Barbera character
Dick Dastardly, are well known parodies of this cliché. Sound movies later added to their villain cliché the "
evil laughter" and a snooty or smarmy voice.
In
opera and
musical theater, the villain/villainess is played usually by a
baritone/
contralto.
Overacting is often used by actors portraying the character to stress particular evils.
While the stereotypical physical attributes may help
identify the villain, it is the psychological and moral attributes who
make that role. Even harming the hero, or killing his/her beloved ones, will not make a character into a villain — unless it is clear that the act had "evil" motives.
A common psychological feature of the movie villain is a haughty overconfidence that leads to the
unnecessary explanation of one's sinister plans — which is sometimes just a cheap
plot device used by the author to explain to the audience details which he/she could not express by more natural narrative means. (And of course, those "perfect" sinister plans invariably fail, in part because the villians never manage to take any of the precautions described in e.g. the
Evil Overlord List.)
Another preeminent feature of the villain's evil character is a tendency to abuse his own
accomplices, blame them for his/her own failure, and punish them harshly, even for trivial faults.
Are villains inherently more interesting than the heroes who oppose them? They are at least as indispensable to the stories they appear in, probably more so. Those who stand on the side of righteousness and goodness seldom have much choice but to respond, and little choice in how; for villains, all paths are wide open. Many believe that
Satan, for
Christians perhaps the ultimate villain, is the most interesting character in
John Milton's
Paradise Lost, for all that he is the embodiment of
evil. Perhaps in the nefarious acts of many villains there is more than a hint of wish-fulfilment
fantasy, which makes some people identify with them as characters more strongly than they do the heroes. Still, the
writer's task in creating a villain is not an easy or a trivial one; a convincing villain must be given a
characterization that makes his
motive for doing wrong convincing. As put by film critic
Roger Ebert: "Each film is only as good as its villain. Since the heroes and the gimmicks tend to repeat from film to film, only a great villain can transform a good try into a triumph."
[Review of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by Roger Ebert. From Wikiquote]Villains can be brilliant (for example, the highly intelligent
Hannibal Lecter), insane (an example being the self-proclaimed Clown Prince of Crime
the Joker), power-mad (such as the
Decepticon leader
Megatron, who seeks to rule the universe) or noble (
Count Dooku). They may be driven by any number of forces, ranging from greed (
Mr. Potter in
It's a Wonderful Life and many others, especially
criminal) to revenge (
Magneto and his vendetta with humanity) and even a noble goal twisted by nefarious forces or tragedy (
Darth Vader sought power to save his wife, but indirectly killed her instead). Truly, villains are a mixed bag.
However, not all villains are as awe-inspiring as the tall, black-clad Vader or as twisted as the cackling Joker. The character of Man in
Bambi was noted as one of the top 100 villains of movie history [
1], an impressive feat considering he himself was not completely seen on-screen.
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Heel – the villain in a match of professional wrestling
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Supervillain – a villain who displays special powers, skills or equipment powerful enough to be a typically serious challenge to a
superhero.
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Dark Lord or
Evil Overlord – a villain of near-omnipotence in his realm, who seeks to utterly dominate that realm with the help of devoted followers and "Legions of Doom", and whose very name is usually anathema to the lips of the innocent.
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Mad scientist – a scientist-villain or villain-scientist
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Evil genius – a character of great intelligence who chooses to use their knowledge for antisocial ends.
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Femme fatale – usually a villainous woman who uses the malign power of sexuality in order to ensnare the hapless hero.
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Archenemy – the main and greatest foe of the hero who is the most difficult to defeat; archenemies come with a variety of origins, reasons for their actions, etc. although their plots are often threatening to destroy or control a large amount of land, such as the world, galaxy, or universe.
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List of villains*
List of historical people portrayed as villains*
List of James Bond villains*
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
