Villains

>>7392114
comic nerds seem to love dr doom cause he is a well written villain or some bullshit, idk never read it but you might want to check it out.

Blood Meridian has a good villain imo. The ending was meh, but throughout the rest of the story i enjoyed how The Judge was written. He always had a strong presence and everything he did held an aura of mystery around it.

For shit villains, try ASOIAF. Tywin Lannister is quite obviously modeled after whatever Chad F. Normal called GRRM fat in middle school

>>7392114
>>What makes a great villain?

same thing that makes a great character

>>Who is the single greatest villain in literature, in your opinion?

iago. or cordelia. YEAH I SAID IT.

>>7392122
Cheers for the recommendations lad

>>7392124
>same thing that makes a great character
True. What is it though about villains which make them so appealing, often more so than the hero? It's fair to say most people prefer the Joker to Batman, Iago to Othello, etc

Watchmen has a good play on this if you haven't read it

>>7392142
>True. What is it though about villains which make them so appealing, often more so than the hero? It's fair to say most people prefer the Joker to Batman, Iago to Othello, etc

adam kostko wrote a book about it.

also, the psychology of the villain is the strange one-- most people think of themselves as 'fundanmentally' good so they can imagine themselves in the shoes of othello, and such familiarity can lead to dismissal.

>>7392114
I recommend you zoom way in and take a much more specific topic than just villains.

Like: authorial strategies for revealing villainy in [such and such subcategory of literature]: review and analysis.

Or, The Rhetoric of Hatred, an Examination of Villainous Linguistics in Golden Era Comic Books. Boom now there's a dissertation nigga. I expect a credit to anon at the end of your paper

There is no such thing as a villian, it is nothing but a spook.

>>7392302
Also I rec Foucault's Pendulum, Catch-22 and The Master and Margarita.

God in Paradise Lost.

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>>7392313
>God

The best villain is the kind who can effectively convince people around him or her that evil is the nature of man.

>>7392325
Hitler?

>>7392325
that's p good anon

>>7392337
You're thinking of Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and The Jews.

For me, the best villains are those who are trying to do something they perceive as just - in an incorrect way. A villain who you can sympathise with to some extent.

>>7392325
william golding?

>>7392337
exact opposite of hitler

>>7392114
the understanding that they aren't a villian; it's merely your point of view and subjective code of morality and reality that has them warped as if they are evil, when they're doing what they believe is right for whomever they care about. Often the "villian" is the anti-utilitarian, simply trying to care for specific people, and villians are those trying to take care of as many as possible if at a lesser cost

try that shit on

>>7392114

T-1000

>>7392302

What if a novel reveals nothing of the characters and it is up to you to determine what they are.

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Diamonda in Black $ Blue. A terrifying case of Borderline Personality Disorder painted eerily in JaQuavis Coleman's rap-athons and the climactic drug fueled blueberry-inflating orgy-turned-multiple-homicide/suicide. If you live/work in NYC check it out, it's $2 at the street lit curb vendors.

>>7392426
What about sociopath villains who just like killing puppies for fun?

>>7392457
Use some utilitarian justification.

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>>7392457
In American Blueberry, Patrick Blueman squishes a puppy that had morphed into a blueberry. It's one of the first of many disgusting scenes in the novel. Pic related, it's his secretary Jean who is in love with him.

>>7392457
well depending on the viewer, one could just see that character as exerting their free will on the universe and allowing nothing to stop them. FUK SPOOKS KILL SHIT DO WHAT I WANT

to some people that's a hero

I know it's a cliche but my favorite villain is a version of Lucifer who, while evil beyond a doubt, is very relatable to and the reader can't help but agree to some of his ideology. It's kind of like
>>7392325
If you want to go another route, just leave the villain mysterious and not fully explainable, as he would be too sinister or terrifying to fully know

>>7392465

Give us the original man

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Historical Richard III versus the man Shakespeare elevates to Lady Macbeth and Iago levels of deliciousness. Not from the UK or anything, but it seems like the play is sometimes almost regarded as a primary source in popular imagination.

>>7392318
That is the most perfect fedora-tipping gif I have ever seen.

>>7392114
I've never read it, but I've been told that Barabas, in Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, is supposed to be the ultimate hate-filled and hate-fueled villain.

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Seconding Watchmen.

>>7392114
Villains, like any character, need clear motivation and consistent logic to achieve a goal that they perceive to be good.
Selfish villains, who want power or wealth or whatever can be "Fun" but I wouldn't consider them great. Great villains should challenge the morals of the heroes and talk enough sense to make the audience sympathize with their desired goal, but still be "wrong" enough in their means of going about it or the desirability of such a goal in the first place that the heroes have a logical reason to fight him in the first place.
>inb4 HUR COMIC BOOKS
I'm a fan of guys like Mr. Freeze, he doesn't want to be evil, but the one goal of saving his wife drives him to do anything for her. This shows the audience that even though he does those horrible things he still has human emotion and love, and humanizing a villain goes a long way.
Also, read Watchmen, it'll help you with this a lot.

Christ what a sophomoric topic, just go full fedora and tell him villain is only a label for those who oppose the values of the majority. This no doubt women is aching for the striking contradiction her husband won't give her

It's not literature, but Big Boss and ocelot from the metal gear games is the best villains ever.

>>7392114
>>Who is the single greatest villain in literature, in your opinion?

Pyotr Stepanovich from Demons. He strikes a perfect balance between pathetic and sinister.