#'what's the diff between villain and antagonist alyson?' i can hear you ask

[bam-monsterhospital]

I guess I'm gonna talk about villains (part 1?)

What people love to forget about villains is that, moreso than heroes (because heroes have become synchronous with 'protagonist' despite not necessarily being the same thing, but that's a different convo), villains serve a role in a story. And that role is the most important thing about them. Villains are (for the most part, again, not getting into that) antagonists. Not all antagonists are villains, but villains almost always make antagonists. AKA: villains are your obstacle, your boss fights, your challenge, your conflict. Villains get the ball rolling.

That's it. Obviously well-written/'good' villains also tie into some aspect of the themes or ideas of the story. Ideally they also open up aspects of the protagonist to view, not taking away from the protagonist but instead supplementing them, highlighting their character by existing/interacting. Kinda like a foil, y'know?

So with all that said, what's my miniscule list of all-time favourite villains that is apparently less than 10 entries long? Well, I don't know what tiny sketchbook I started writing it down in, and I've changed computers multiple times, so I guess I have to work off the top of my head...

in no particular order, this is just what i can think of:

maverick, from tiger&bunny

jack winters & mr sinister (i lump them together because they serve the same role and themes, just the mundane vs fantastical versions) from xmen comics that remember they're quintessential to scott summers' backstory and character. ALSO, the idea of mr sinister is better than most of his writing, so take him with a grain of salt here.

verner vogel, from frogwares' 'chapter one' continuity of sherlock holmes games.

the queen of maggots (only in the cat lady game though, rather than when she appears in havester games' other titles)

that's all i can remember right now.

Keep in mind, these are all-time fav villains: I'm looking at narrative role, themes, how they tie to who they prey on, etc. If you know these characters, you'll notice some commonalities here: personal ties to their protagonists, competent manipulation that has consequences on their victims, full of personality/character etc. These are the villains I think about when I want to make up my own villain characters. HOWEVER, this is by no means any condemnation of more simplistic villains: I too love me a good fun "black and white" villain.

Maybe in another post I'll talk about those fun villains that don't need to be complicated and the ones I personally enjoy. But for now I need a break from this thought-train, because i forget where i was going with this other than "NO, VILLAINS ARE JUST TOOLS, NOTHING MORE, GAH STOPIT".