Villains you love to hate

[Capt. Fargus]

Villains you live to hate...

Used to be tops on that list for me were Ephidel and Sonia, but damned if Valter didnt just hike to the top of the list. Nothin would give me greater pleasure than to put a 5.56 NATO round through that arragant MF’ers forehead

 

[Original Alear]

I like Caellach (sp?), and I like it even more when Jyosua hates Caellach in Eirika's route.

I guess the worst villains are the Begnion senators. Thoroughly dislikeable.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Original Alear

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Sacred Stones is the sweet spot baby

[Lemmy]

Hans might be my favorite villain in the franchise, and it's refreshing to get to know him over a few chapters, and after each one, you hate him slightly more.

[Morgan--Grandmaster]

I presume this is the place for the Arvises, Narcians, Walharts, Metodeys, and Death Knights of the series.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Izuka! He's so slimy and evil, but you still have to work with him to save Daein. And his way of speaking is just so snivellingly conceited! Tauroneo said it best: "Gods, that man could try the patience of a stone."

[Shadow Mir]

Count Varley. It's extremely telling that (A) not even his own allies like him, especially Hubert and Bernadetta, and it's also implied Edelgard promoted him to his position to make his life hell, and (B) depending on the route, one of two things is the case: when the game tasks you with helping him late in the game, it's possible to deliberately leave him to his fate, and not only does it not give you a game over, Bernadetta and Hubert don't give a shit if he dies. OR you get to off him yourself. All of which I am VERY thankful to the devs for.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Izuka! He's so slimy and evil, but you still have to work with him to save Daein. And his way of speaking is just so snivellingly conceited! Tauroneo said it best: "Gods, that man could try the patience of a stone."

I wouldn't consider it "working with him" when the one time he tries to "help", Micaiah shoots him down without a second thought. The best thing I can say about him? His Karma Houdini Warranty expires in Radiant Dawn.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Shadow Mir

[lenticular]

My favourite villain in the franchise is Ludveck. He's a nasty piece of work and a complete slimeball, but he's not just mustache-twirlingly evil for the sake of being evil. There's a logic and a consistency to his position, and sometimes it seems like he almost actually has a point. And then his actions actually mesh with his philosophy. He says that Elincia is too weak-willed to be an effective queen, and he's actually smart in trying to exploit that perceived weakness. He relies on the fact that the heroes have to be heroic as a way of manoeuvring for position. And I really want to beat him, not just because he's awful, but because if he wins then that will be vindication for his dreadful worldview.

[FlamesOfRagnell]

2 hours ago, Morgan--Grandmaster said:

I presume this is the place for the Arvises, Narcians, Walharts, Metodeys, and Death Knights of the series.

I know the latter three, and they are "loveable to hate" in completely different ways, haha. Except, I do think Metodey is simply lame. He's almost on the same level as Pallardó to me; just a "bleh" unlikeable dude they throw in when they want a semi-recognizable face among the hordes of nameless thieves or other scum. Walhart, on the other hand, is pretty badass I'd say, doesn't take shit from anyone, and doesn't squirm when put on the ropes a bit. The Death Knight is as hilarious as he is intimidating, what with his sadism and masochism in equal measure, and his crazed mutterings that he makes (basically to himself) as he fights do instill some nervousness in me...

[Armagon]

27 minutes ago, lenticular said:

My favourite villain in the franchise is Ludveck. He's a nasty piece of work and a complete slimeball, but he's not just mustache-twirlingly evil for the sake of being evil. There's a logic and a consistency to his position, and sometimes it seems like he almost actually has a point. And then his actions actually mesh with his philosophy. He says that Elincia is too weak-willed to be an effective queen, and he's actually smart in trying to exploit that perceived weakness. He relies on the fact that the heroes have to be heroic as a way of manoeuvring for position. And I really want to beat him, not just because he's awful, but because if he wins then that will be vindication for his dreadful worldview.

Yeah i think out of all the villains, Ludveck was the one who i wanted him to eat shit the most.

Spoiler

And i'm so mad we were denied the satisfaction of seeing him react at his plans failing. Last we see of him is him going "hahaha Elincia you have to watch your friend die, i've won". Wish we had a scene of him breaking down upon learning (or even seeing) Ike save Lucia.

 

[Morgan--Grandmaster]

9 minutes ago, FlamesOfRagnell said:

I know the latter three, and they are "loveable to hate" in completely different ways, haha. Except, I do think Metodey is simply lame. He's almost on the same level as Pallardó to me; just a "bleh" unlikeable dude they throw in when they want a semi-recognizable face among the hordes of nameless thieves or other scum. Walhart, on the other hand, is pretty badass I'd say, doesn't take from anyone, and doesn't squirm when put on the ropes a bit. The Death Knight is as hilarious as he is intimidating, what with his sadism and masochism in equal measure, and his crazed mutterings that he makes (basically to himself) as he fights do instill some nervousness in me...

The main reasons I mentioned Metodey are his comically impossibly large ego, unapologetically evil eye shadowing, and of course,Todd Haberkorn's delivery.

[FlamesOfRagnell]

24 minutes ago, Morgan--Grandmaster said:

The main reasons I mentioned Metodey are his comically impossibly large ego, unapologetically evil eye shadowing, and of course,Todd Haberkorn's delivery.

If there's one thing I can grant Metodey, it's that the voice actor had a lot of fun! Respect!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

I wouldn't consider it "working with him" when the one time he tries to "help", Micaiah shoots him down without a second thought. The best thing I can say about him? His Karma Houdini Warranty expires in Radiant Dawn.

We're still working with him, because Izuka and Prince Pelleas are something of a "package deal" in Part I. We have to put up with him, if we want to keep using Pelleas as a contender for the throne.

2 hours ago, lenticular said:

My favourite villain in the franchise is Ludveck. He's a nasty piece of work and a complete slimeball, but he's not just mustache-twirlingly evil for the sake of being evil. There's a logic and a consistency to his position, and sometimes it seems like he almost actually has a point. And then his actions actually mesh with his philosophy. He says that Elincia is too weak-willed to be an effective queen, and he's actually smart in trying to exploit that perceived weakness. He relies on the fact that the heroes have to be heroic as a way of manoeuvring for position. And I really want to beat him, not just because he's awful, but because if he wins then that will be vindication for his dreadful worldview.

I appreciate Ludveck's design. It's... exceedingly normal. Modestly handsome, even. He's not old, or wrinkly, or pallid, or dour, or deranged, or... any of the other visual cues the games usually use as "bad guy flags". I think that lends itself to the point you made, about his words and actions. The game has to make his personality, morals, and ideals the problem - it needs to make a case that he's in the wrong, rather than letting the player assume as much by default. And it does so quite effectively, in just five short chapters (four, if we consider that II-Prologue has nothing to do with him, personally).

[Capt. Fargus]

18 hours ago, lenticular said:

My favourite villain in the franchise is Ludveck. He's a nasty piece of work and a complete slimeball, but he's not just mustache-twirlingly evil for the sake of being evil. There's a logic and a consistency to his position, and sometimes it seems like he almost actually has a point. And then his actions actually mesh with his philosophy. He says that Elincia is too weak-willed to be an effective queen, and he's actually smart in trying to exploit that perceived weakness. He relies on the fact that the heroes have to be heroic as a way of manoeuvring for position. And I really want to beat him, not just because he's awful, but because if he wins then that will be vindication for his dreadful worldview.

Logic and consistency are one thing. For some those qualities might be halfway respectable. Even Sir Galle from FE6 I thought was only misguided and probably coulda made a great ally to team up with Melady and Zeiss. But the things that really grind my gears are the ones that seem to get off of attacking the helpless and brag about it later. They the ones that I truly enjoy killing when its time

[Etrurian emperor]

I think the important aspects of making you love to hate a villain are charm and skill. Izuka for example constantly makes a spectacle of himself while doing the most horrible things possible. He has tons of fun doing what he does, and this makes him fun to see in action. But despite being a freak with questionable competence Izuka is very dangerous and at least skilled at doing harm. He's never unfunny, but its very clear he's way too dangerous to be a joke.

The same thing goes for Lekain. He's got a very theatrical cheer while gloating about his evil deeds, always letting out a ''Tahaha! I fooled you!'' which is often fairly deserved because Lekain really does have the upper hand for most of the game.

In comparison this is where Valtome stumbles because while he too makes a spectacle of himself he's just too incompetent to really be a compelling villain in his own right.

Its also where a lot of newer villains stumble. Garon and Thales always intensely boring while carying out evil deeds, and the likes of Validar or Iago are too incompetent to really enjoy. 

 

[Cantabile_style]

I think my favourite villain is Petrine from Path of Radiance! She feels like a Saturday morning cartoon villain to me in the way she's always ordering her minions around whilst not actually being very good at her job seemingly. She feels adjacent to the version of Robotnik from the old sonic cartoon, haha

[Fabulously Olivier]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:44 PM, lenticular said:

My favourite villain in the franchise is Ludveck. He's a nasty piece of work and a complete slimeball, but he's not just mustache-twirlingly evil for the sake of being evil. There's a logic and a consistency to his position, and sometimes it seems like he almost actually has a point. And then his actions actually mesh with his philosophy. He says that Elincia is too weak-willed to be an effective queen, and he's actually smart in trying to exploit that perceived weakness. He relies on the fact that the heroes have to be heroic as a way of manoeuvring for position. And I really want to beat him, not just because he's awful, but because if he wins then that will be vindication for his dreadful worldview.

Very well said.

 

Also, he gave us one of the best/most iconic maps in the franchise and graduated Elincia from last minute Est to full blown co-lord, so I salute him.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Fabulously Olivier