The Yin/Yang of a Beloved Villain Character?

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What makes for a great villain that you can't help but love? Who is/are your favorite villain(s) that you feel guilty if they existed in real life but you know that you would drink beer with at the bar? Villains that you actually root for to win whatever goal they're reaching for?

Hitler is a great villain (rightfully so), no one loves him. Fictional versions of Hitler may make for great challenges for the film's protagonist but you don't care for them. Not asking about those villains.

Lots of people (especially woman), love and adore the current Marvel villain, Loki (Thor's adopted brother).

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[+3] - Roberta - 05/16/2017Tony Soprano. Villainous for sure. A monster in many ways. But I think there was something sympathetic about him. Maybe seeing his mother made me sympathetic to him.

Omg!! It seems like I'm always attracted to the bad boy. I definitely don't do it on purpose, but after 50 or so years, I have to cop to it.

Some bad boys I winced at admiring (or getting a little turned on by.)

Walter White
Ramsey Bolton (Game of Thrones)
Tywin Lannister (GOT)
The husband dude on The Americans
Rust Cohle

I'm sure there are a zillion more.

Haven't seen the Loki movie...

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@Lash,

Lash wrote:

The husband dude on The Americans

The Jennings family are the protagonists, though, not the villains.

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Magneto is a favorite. I love the scene in X-Men 2, where he recruits Pyro to the dark side.

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The way Tsar worded the OP, it seemed to me that she meant evil-doer, rather than a secondary character.

Several of the characters I consider villains are also protagonists. I'll wait to see exactly what criteria Tsar is looking for.

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@Kolyo,

They are quite villainous to me.

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I don't know how many people know this villian, but there was a Canadian show, Forever Knight, which was also shown in the US. The hero was a guilty vampire who wanted to turn mortal again, and LaCroix was the was the vampire who "turned" him hundreds of years ago. LaCroix was forever defeating the hero's plans to save someone, gave him upper-class medeival pep talks about embracing what he is. When the show went off, I missed LaCroix.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/9b/02/1b/9b021b298f896cb8788da2481a46a48e.jpg

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Tony Soprano. Villainous for sure. A monster in many ways. But I think there was something sympathetic about him. Maybe seeing his mother made me sympathetic to him.

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@tsarstepan,

lotsa yin, not much yang for me. I find them interesting as characters but hope for their demise. I dont think Ive ever associated or been empathetic to them. Tont Soprano, was pure evil and a sociopath, bordering on a psychopath.I never "loved him: but, like a huge car wreck on a foggy California Freeway, I am drawn in to watch these evil clowns.

Walter White-Ditto. I watched him ascend in his evil. As he said'I am that guy outside who is here to kill you"

Billy Bob Thornton's character in the first Fargo TV season. He revealed his evil like peeling the skin of an onion. His evil kept showing us new layers till he was taken out by the poor schmuck who was in the way.

Blue Duck, the Sine criminal who used savagery and disdain for life to show us that he hd NO redeeming features.

Michael Corlione, pure evil, although Michael dipped his toe into the family business to help the family. He discovered he liked it and became the monster.

Car wrecks all, interesting characters, many were complex and highly watchable, but beloved?? Naaah.

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@tsarstepan,

The thing is, in real life, to know any of these guys puts a target on your head from their sciopathy . If you have a beer with em, they feel entitled to add you to their "convenient schmuck list"

Late in college yars, I used to do airbrushed helmets and fat bob tanks for biker gang members. Once I accepted my first cash payment, It was hard maintaining a distance because you became a "go to" guy and they expected you to drop everything and do their jobs first. I missed many a vital chem test because I had a "deadline" over my head that, were I to miss , I may have an accident .

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Bernie Gunther is more of an anti hero than a villain. Ex policeman pressganged into joining the SS/Gestapo by the Nazi establishment, but he's very much in my top ten literary characters. A survivor who tries to do the right thing but is constantly compromised by events.

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@Blickers,

Blickers wrote:

I don't know how many people know this villian, but there was a Canadian show, Forever Knight, which was also shown in the US. The hero was a guilty vampire who wanted to turn mortal again, and LaCroix was the was the vampire who "turned" him hundreds of years ago. LaCroix was forever defeating the hero's plans to save someone, gave him upper-class medeival pep talks about embracing what he is. When the show went off, I missed LaCroix.

The way they ended that show was a crime.

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

What makes for a great villain that you can't help but love? Who is/are your favorite villain(s) that you feel guilty if they existed in real life but you know that you would drink beer with at the bar? Villains that you actually root for to win whatever goal they're reaching for?

Arthas Menethil, Illidan Stormrage, and my leader herself, Sylvanas Windrunner.

http://media.blizzard.com/wow/media/fanart/fanart-1227-full.jpg

Let none survive!

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@Lash,

Lash wrote:

The way Tsar worded the OP, it seemed to me that she meant evil-doer, rather than a secondary character.

Several of the characters I consider villains are also protagonists. I'll wait to see exactly what criteria Tsar is looking for.

You're right. I'm not concerned about a characters position in a given story (protagonist, antihero, janitor in single scene sweeping up the body parts after James Bond has blown through a villain's headquarters, etc...).

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https://ultimatejamesbond.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/lucianapaluzzi.jpg?w=450

Fiona Volpe, first of the "bad" Bond girls.

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I can't really get behind any of the "realistic" villains you see in movies.

Their baldfaced lies are just too much.

I guess Thomas Cromwell from A Man for All Seasons was alright. He had a philosophy, and he basically stuck with it, without stooping to outright perjury like Richard Rich.

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@tsarstepan,

This is not exactly what you're looking for but I think this is a good place to bring it up.
Osama Bin Laden.
Not for his politics or religion, for that I revile him.
I admire him for his audacity and persistence and for his total commitment to his beliefs.

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Michael Ehrmantraut from "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul!

He's so ruthless and so bored by it all and there's no doubt he just does it for the money but still, he's very lovable.

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Alice Morgan from Luther.

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

Michael Ehrmantraut from "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul!

He's so ruthless and so bored by it all and there's no doubt he just does it for the money but still, he's very lovable.

Yes, this might be his best role ever.

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The Yin/Yang of a Beloved Villain Character?

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