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/lit/ - Literature

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3128294 No.3128294 [Reply] [Original]

/lit/, who is the greatest villain of all time? I was pondering on this, and it seems to me that villains are much more prominent in film than in literature. Do you agree?

>> No.3128321

because a film has less time.

plots and characters are more simple and archetypal, so everything is more prominent, especially villains

>> No.3128317

villains are a social construct

>> No.3128326

>>3128294
Richard III

>> No.3128352

lucifer

>> No.3128359

Machiavelli

>> No.3128360

>>3128352
Villain, not antihero.

>> No.3128364

>>3128352
Whose lucifer? Paradise Lost?

>> No.3128366

Holden Caulfield

>> No.3128404

Inspector Javert

>> No.3128440

Inspector Gadget

>> No.3128471

Thomas Sutpen

>> No.3128502

Iago, and you know it to be true.

>> No.3128510

>>3128326
This or Heathcliff
I love villains that can still make you laugh and almost admire even when they're being so thoroughly evil

>> No.3128514

Ayn Rand or possibly Dawkins.


They are qually vile; corrupting the mind of teenagers and ignorance all over the world.

>> No.3128515

>>3128502
Cry stop blackamoor and halt your progress,
You did but visitate on that location, 'swounds?
'Tis true Iago is a beast blacker than thy skin
But within he bleeds the same colour as do we all

Turn then back your mind to the war of roses
White and Red upon a field of glory
And which dark bastard through windows crept
To murder sleeping innocent princes?

>> No.3128521

Clay Davis

>> No.3128527

>>3128515

Not sure if that's an agreement/disagreement, or just quoting shakespeare...

But in all seriousness, Iago brought the death of a General, and several others without doing much himself. Beats some violent cunt.

>> No.3128542

Dunno about villain, but the most despicable character in literature is Paris of Troy.

>> No.3128544

>>3128527
>Not sure if that's an agreement/disagreement, or just quoting shakespeare...
I am saddened at your reading comprehension.

>> No.3128551

Long John Silver has gotta be on the list of badass litterature antagonists.

>> No.3128572

Iago

>> No.3128595

Iago, because his evil isn't motivated, passionate, or purposeful.

He is not driven to do evil, he just does it- with remarkable nonchalance. He's an enigma among villains: his "motiveless malignancy" confounds our sense of what makes a villain a villain.

>> No.3128596

YHWH

>> No.3128605

Das Es.

>> No.3128606

Napoleon Bonaparte. Villain, Saint, Madman, Revolutionary, Conqueror, Monster, etc.

Or Alexander the Great.

>> No.3128608

Society.

>> No.3128614

>>3128595
>his "motiveless malignancy" confounds our sense of what makes a villain a villain.
Actually in most pre-Shakespearean fiction the villain was 'motivelessly malignant', and it's Shakespeare's villains that DO have justification and internal conflict, rather than just do it because 'lol why not' that challenged the preconceptions about what a villain is.

>> No.3128615

The windmill.

>> No.3128616

>>3128608

EDGY

>> No.3128617

No mention of Judge Holden yet? Much surprise.

>> No.3128619

Javert

>> No.3128623

Finnegan from Finnegan's Wake

>> No.3128629
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3128629

fate

>> No.3128648

>>3128572
>>3128527
>>3128502
>>3128595


>Iago
>Not Edmund

He manipulated the banishment of his brother and the torture and blinding of his father, and was instrumental in the overthrowing of a King, because of petty filial jealousy.

>> No.3128654

>>3128623
James Joyce from Finnegan's Wake

>> No.3128668

>>3128364

This; Satan has to be the arch-villain of all literature.

>> No.3128673

I am.

>> No.3128704

It.

Ergo, your memories.

>> No.3128713

>>3128606
>Napoleon
>Alexander the Great

I think you meant "heroes".

>> No.3128732

>>3128614
>Actually in most pre-Shakespearean fiction the villain was 'motivelessly malignant',

Can you offer any examples to support this ridiculous assertion?

>> No.3129933

>>3128732
Grendel.

>> No.3129953

>>3128732
>every morality play
>the bible and all stories (aka all stories in the christian world) inspired by it

Not true for the classical world really but by Shakespeare's time familiarity with classical stories/theater was still relatively low.

>> No.3129986

God.

>inb4 edgy, 2deep4u, etc etc

He really is.

>> No.3130003

>Paradise Lost
>God
>Satan
>Pick one, they're both enormous bastards

>> No.3130016

>>3128510
Heathcliff has reasons to be evil. Does Richard?

>> No.3130040

Edmund from King Lear. Not the most evil but one of the greatest imo.

>> No.3130111

Caligula

>> No.3130127

No Catiline?

>> No.3130157

Char Aznable.

That, or Heathcliff.

>> No.3130160

not of all time but... Joffrey Baratheon/Lannister

>> No.3130183

>>3128404

Not a villain. The only named character who can be considered a villain in the book is Thernardier.

>> No.3130238

>>3128713
If we take villain to mean 'antagonist,' then I'd argue that the Napoleon of War and Peace is one of the best antagonists of all time.

>> No.3130240

>>3130160
pleb
>>3130127
yes

>> No.3130252

the heart of darkness, from Heart of Darkness.

I'm not even going to bother sorting through all the fantasy warlords listed in this thread.

>> No.3130562

The Jews

>> No.3130566

Ourselves.

>> No.3130635

Jamf from Gravity's Rainbow

>> No.3130662

>>3130240
>pleb
>>>/mu/

>> No.3130696

>>3128596
>>3129986
this

>> No.3130709

AM from I have no mouth, and I must scream.

>> No.3130712
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3130712

>>3130662
>2012
>still thinking of pleb as a /mu/ meme
>not acknowledging the cultural relevance of the term
>not proudly portraying its significance as a sign of distinction

Shiggity doo

>> No.3130726

Dracula of course. He's been used the most in film.

And what is a man?

>> No.3130732

>>3130712
You are on a literature board so here are people who like to read normal sentences. If you are not able to write them get the fuck out.

>> No.3130733

>>3130712
Nobody thinks "pleb" is a /mu/ meme. We just think a literature board should be slightly more articulate in forming its insults, and not stoop to the level of /mu/ and mindlessly parrot boring words because other people seem to be doing it.

>> No.3130741

the Jew

>> No.3130757

>>3130732
Your a pleb.
>>3130733
I do see your point, and applaud your rejection to gregarism. However, I believe we shouldn't disregard an entire word with all its meanings just because some other faggy board uses it indistinctively.

>> No.3130775

>>3130757
>and applaud your rejection to gregarism

Did you mean 'your rejection of gregariousness/objection to gregariousness'?

>> No.3130777

Skynet

>> No.3130786
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3130786

>> No.3130789

John Calvin.

>> No.3130794

>>3130732
Ah! So this is a board about reading AND writing after all.