/lit/ - Literature

I'd like to create a character as larger than life and epic as Heath Ledger's Joker or Judge Holden. A true sublime villain. A baddie whose charisma reaches even his enemies and detractors. The philosopher AS villain

Heath Ledger's joker for example manages to be both sagacious and uncouth. He manages to say things like
>“Their morals, their code; it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. You'll see- I'll show you. When the chips are down these, uh, civilized people? They'll eat each other. See I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve.”
And
"“If You’re Good At Something, Never Do It For Free.”
He manages to make you think while still coming off as menacing. To me nothing gives me a better thrill in literature or film than a compelling villain. Someone who goes beyond good and evil, who defies moral codes and lives by their own. This is contrasted with a poorly conceived villain, who merely exists as a foil for the hero and as a a generic stand in for moral wrongdoing. A villain with dimensionality is brilliant because it causes positive emotions in an otherwise negative frame, which is what causes the audience to doubt their assumptions and see beyond simplistic moral binaries.
Holden achieves much of the same effect as a philosopher villain. He is not just the most evil, but the most wise.