Best Villains for Every Tier 2

[Wokistan]

Continued from here.

Similar to just about every other "for Every Tier" list that we have. Pick a villain for each tier who is, in your opinion, the best villain for their tier.

Preferably to avoid "my villain is better because I say so", judge your choices based on the following.

• Motivations: What are their motivations, and how well are they handled?
• Presence: How much is their presence felt within their story and setting?
• Threat Level: How much of a threat are they to the main character(s) of their story? Or, in the case of wider-spanning verses like Marvel and DC, how well are they portrayed as being a threat to the major players of the setting?
• Personality: How complex is the character?
• Entertainment Factor: At the end of the day, how entertaining is this villain to see on-screen/on-panel?

Also, villain protagonists are allowed, although a clear distinction should be made between "villain protagonists" and "anti-heroes". (Light Yagami and Lucifer Morningstar would be the former, Alucard and Riddick would be the latter.)

Without further ado:

Tier 0: (drawing a blank)

1-A: Nyarlathotep (Cthulhu Mythos), Lucifer Morningstar (DC Comics)

High 1-B:

1-B:

High 1-C:

1-C:

Low 1-C:

High 2-A: Darkseid

2-A: Thanos (Marvel Comics)

2-B:

2-C: Vecna, Oersted

Low 2-C: Dagoth Ur

High 3-A:

3-A: Frieza

3-B:

3-C:

4-A: Galactus (Marvel Comics)

4-B:

High 4-C: Bowser

4-C:

Low 4-C:

High 5-A: Ahzek Ahrima

5-A: Thanos (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

5-B: Doctor Doom

Low 5-B: Yüki Terumi

5-C: Oryx, the Taken King

High 6-A: Garou

6-A:

High 6-B:

6-B: Sauro

Low 6-B: Shao Kah

High 6-C:

6-C:

High 7-A:

7-A: Donquixote Doflamingo, Mab

7-B:

Low 7-B: Strahd von Zarovich

High 7-C: Darth Vader

7-C:

Low 7-C: Viktor (League of Legends)

8-A:

8-B: Griffith

High 8-C:

8-C: Dio Brando

9-A: The Joker (DCAU)

9-B:

9-C:

10-A: Yoshikage Kira, Light Yagami

10-B: Samuel T. Owe, Johan Liebert

10-C: Thrax

11-A: Bill Cipher

11-B:

11-C:

Unknown: GLaDOS

Varies:

There are three spots available for each tier. Additionally, to avoid redundancy, multiple characters from the same verse aren't allowed to occupy the same tier.

 

[GyroNutz]

Garou for High 6-A, he had quite a bit of support last thread

 

[JooCipher]

Bill Cipher for 11-A, as he had a ton of support on the last thread

 

[Insecurity97]

Just gonna repost this

10-C: Mr. Burns, Sheldon J. Plankto

10-B: Big Smoke

High 8-C: Doctor Doofenshmirtz

8-A: Eustace Bagge

6-B: Aku

All of them are entertaining

 

[Wokistan]

Those aren't exactly non competitive tiers. You're gonna have to explain or copy over reasonings for them beyond just "I enjoy".

 

[EMagoIorSouI]

Discord for 4-C

 

[Arrogant_Schmuck]

Is Eustace a villain? I very rarely watched Courage so Idk for sure but I thought he was just a cranky guy

 

[Wokistan]

Don't really know about MLP but 4-C includes Great Lord Gwy and when I make the file will probably include Skolas, Kell of Kells (Other Destiny villain, he and Oryx are probably the only ones I would really suggest here), so posting an explanation would be nice. I can do the same for my characters too, gonna go see if I can grab what I typed about Skolas before.

 

[Arrogant_Schmuck]

Victor is no longer 5-B btw

 

[Wokistan]

Now, the following post is mostly about the Fallen as a race but has a lot on Skolas due to who he was. He was a guy who tried to rally all the Fallen under one banner to go crush humanity. Read more here.

Fallen and Skolas

The Fallen are a dying race of space pirates in present. Their society is plagued by backstabbing, hierarchy, starvation, etc. The biggest and strongest Fallen take up a majority of their sustenance, and leave little for the others, and they still starve themselves. Lesser fallen have their arms amputated to cement their lowly nature. Clearly the weakest of the factions that could not hope to compare to the blessed might of the Guardians, or the dark magics and Gods of the Hive, or the reality infecting science of the Vex, or even the sheer military power of the Imperium of Cabal. They survive for scrounging for supplies and the meager reserves of their precious Ether, which Fallen physiology is dependent on for survival. Now, this would be bad on its own. But the thing is, to the Fallen it is far worse than just that. You see, they used to have the same blessings of the Traveler now possessed by Humanity, and you can see just how powerful that made us. They were better than us in fact, with Fallen biology being superior to regular humans, more advanced technology, far more unity than humanity could ever hope to achieve, the strongest of the Fallen could have been be considered outright gods, just as the strongest Guardians can. So what changed? Simple. The Darkness showed up, and the Traveler abandoned the Fallen like it had abandoned so many species prior. Without their blessings, the Darkness made short work of their species and they only even still exist in their tortured state as what amounts to an open threat to Humanity by the Darkness. Their pathetic existence is allowed to continue because that's basically the Darkness's way of saying "I've met with species that had the same blessings of the same God as you guys. Look how they're doing now". In fact, the only reason that this didn't happen to Humanity was because Rasputin, an ancient human built Warmind, figured out what was going to happen and crippled the Traveller to force it to put faith in Humanity as its last resort. Yeah, we're only around because one of our forgotten superweapons crippled God. Imagine being a Fallen, having your God bail on you, being allowed to survive as a shell of your former glory only as a taunt to another species, and to watch them flourish and develop with the might you just had. Wouldn't it make you seethe with rage? Well, a bunch of other things humans do to the Fallen would too. The Fallen are not only under attack by the races they steal from to survive, but also directly by Humanity. You see, Humanity knows of the Fallen's potential to uplift themselves, to rise up once again. And it terrifies us. As such, we run operations to cripple their Ether supply, (which means that the PC literally starves children but muh protagonist centered morality), kill their leaders, and outright commit genocide to stop their ascent. Three times there have been major Fallen ascencions, and all three times they are ruthlessly culled by The Guardian. The first instance was with Skolas, an ambitious Fallen who aimed to unify his race, become the Kell of Kells, and lead the Fallen into a new prosperous age where no longer do they have to starve, no longer do they have to wallow in the refuse and shadows of others. Skolas is a boss. The man broke into the Vault of Glass (a location where a Vex can decide you aren't real on a whim and from that you'd get retroactively EE'd) and stole tech from the Vex, even briefly usurping their power over their own space. That is literally a perfect example of that Fallen pragmaticism and cunningness that allows them to survive even while crippled. Skolas was bringing the other Kells under his banner too, and most of them did so voluntarily. So obviously this is an issue for humanity, the Fallen getting uppity again. We chase him around the solar system, he gets sent to the Prison of Elders, an absolute hellhole, to say the least, then you break into the Prison of Elders to murder him. Damn, that's cold. You get the excuse that Skolas is a butcher or war criminal or some shit, but even if that's true Humanity shouldn't really be one to judge, what with their genocidal crusades against this race. Who can really blame Skolas for brutality against those that oppress his people, that would rather see them all starve slowly than cede any amount of power? By what right should the Guardians claim the moral high ground here? What doesn't help is that Skolas, as the prophesized Kell of Kells, is essentially a messianic figure. He easily unites his people, and even while crippled is enough of a threat that he and his skills in this area are comparable to a Hive God. Skolas was celebrated even in the Fallen culture of backstabbing and not wanting to give up any power, and due to being too dangerous in this regard he was hunted down and killed by the very people the traveler abandoned the Fallen for. The second example of this is when the Fallen discovered SIVA, some ancient human technology that theoretically can do just about anything. Some fallen integrate it into their biology and amazingly, it works. One basically becomes a machine God, and even basic SIVA fallen are beyond the need for Ether. Think about the implications like that. Maybe with some guidance a resolution could be reached between the Fallen and Humanity, as the Fallen no longer need to raid Human resources to live. Obviously there's going to be hostility and tension, but maybe an alliance against the much greater foe could be procured. At the very least, the Fallen wouldn't be a species facing starvation and extinction any more. They could be free of their limits. But of course powerful Fallen is too dangerous to humanity so lets commit more genocide. And so we do. While SIVA on its own is horrifically dangerous, it's not absolutely uncontrollable. Rasputin manipulates it with ease (though after all that's happened, he's more nominally on the side of humanity than anything else), and Banshee-44 and Shiro-4 figured out how to greatly enhance weapons using it. SIVA wasn't designed to be a machine plague, it was designed to do whatever the programmer does. But alas, it was not meant to be. The third example is of the Forsaken, who are essentially zombie Fallen banded together behind Awoken Prince Uldren Sov. The Forsaken have entirely transcended traditional death itself, with one of the Barons even becoming a Hive God by force. The Forsaken don't need ether either, and as a society are beyond the trappings of backstabbing and hierarchy that plagued the Fallen so. However, the Forsaken, being allied with Uldren, killed Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6, so of course the PC goes on a revenge quest against them, wiping out their leadership and huge swaths of their numbers. To make matters worse, Uldren was only manipulating them for his own benefit. Uldren was being manipulated by Riven, who was being manipulated by Savathun, Oryx's sister. The Forsaken aspirations of greatness were ultimately for naught, as they all were just pawns to a far higher power. Everyone in the Forsaken DLC was basically strung along by Savathun the whole time, and nobody even knew until it was far too late. The worst part about this is that from a human perspective, this is easily justified seriously by the reasons that I kinda mocked above. A unified Fallen are simply far too dangerous and hold far too much hatred for us to be allowed to exist. It's less a matter of morality and more a matter of survival on the part of both species, which is sad. There is some hope though, with one particular Fallen captain who the Guardian canonically spares later being integrated into the City and eventually becoming a Guardian himself, hinting at a possible Fallen alliance, but I wouldn't hold my breath. TLR, The Fallen used to be Humanity+, now get genocided by Humanity while we basically flex their own stuff on them and watch over them to make sure they don't stop starving. Edit: Oh yeah, as an added bonus. Their Ether is actually synthetic Light. You know, the same Light that makes Humanity so strong and once made the Fallen so strong. Their biology was altered in a way that they become dependent on the Light, and they would flat out die without it. This cheap substitute is the best they can get, and we still go and sabotage it. This has some implications about Humanity and our possible developing dependence.

I really like this speech he gives. Just imagine something like this from a human perspective, it'd be outright heroic.

Skolas Speech

Ask them our name. Ask your masters what they call you. Ask the hollow, the hateful, the Awoken with alien dreams encysted in them! Ask them our name! Fallen. They name us Fallen. Listen to me, Wolf-born! Heed me, Whirlwind-scattered! I am the ghost of Cybele, the cunning claw of Iris, betrayed, chained, encrypted by the Queen, sent back from the Darkness to save us all! The days of Kell and House end now. The calendar of slavery and abasement goes to the fire. We are a new calendar! We are an age of beginnings! Each of us is a day! I am the first, Kell of Kells, and I am the last, the Dreg of Dregs. I have conquered and been conquered. I am all of us and all of us are I. In the shape of my life I bind up all of us, all of our fury, all of our grief, all the lives we have wasted against each other. Together we speak our new name. Remember the hope that brought us here. Remember the age before the Whirlwind, when ether ran free, when we ruled ourselves and our futures as kings. We wanted more than glimmer and glints and herealways. Always remember that we came to this star in hope. And remember that we were denied! Remember the City of the Death of Children, the City That Docks, which claimed for itself the Great Machine that might have saved us. Remember the City that even now sends its ghouls to murder our Primes, starve our ether, and leave our young to die gasping. Curse that City and its name. The curse is just. We gathered to take that City and save ourselves from extinction, saying to each other, we must be a storm, a Whirlwind, a darkness, for it is said that only pain may be stolen from the dark, and we can let no more be stolen from us. We gathered to fight against our twilight, King and Devil and Winter, all of us but us, the Wolves. Why? What kept us from the Gap? The Reef. The Queen. The slavers who played us against each other and docked us into subservience. These sly sterile un-people, these mirages with cold minds twinned to their own, these Carybdis butchers, they set us against each other. She played us. She made herself our Kell. We were fools, o children of the Whirlwind. We fought each other when we most needed unity. I fought my rivals when I should have fought the Queen. But I remember now, my dregs, my captains, my Kells, each of us is all of us and I remember: we are a people of resilience. I am the Kell of Kells because I want what we have lost. I am the Dreg of Dregs because I remember that a dreg will grow back what is lost to him. Ask them my name! Ask them with the shock blade and the shrapnel launcher! Ask them with the skiff and the ketch! Ask your masters by what right they master you, you who have been hardened by centuries of flight, you who inherit the Whirlwind! Ask the Queen for her throne! Ask them our name. Let them answer: you are Skolas, Kell of Kells. You are Fallen no more.

In all fairness I probably shouldn't reserve spots for profiles I haven't even made yet, but I can see about typing stuff for Gwyn in a little bit to stall for time

 

[Azathoth_the_Abyssal_Idiot]

Discord for 4-C

Discord is one of the most entertaining characters in the show, but I really don't think he's a great "villain". He's spent far more time as a minorly antagonistic but ultimately neutral/good force than he has as a villain. Hell, in his second outing as a "villain", he was just kind of manipulated by someone actually evil into doing his bidding until he became useless and was discarded.

His first outing was pretty effective, but everything after that? Not so much.

 

[Andytrenom]

From the previous thread:

Also, if the one character per tier rule has been done with I have a suggestion for 9-A

Prometheus (CW)

Motivations: His main motivation is to get revenge for his father, whom the main character, Oliver, killed 5 years ago as part of a mission to rid his city of corruption. At least that's what it seemed like. With the plot moving forward it seemed less like it was love for his father that was driving him and more like it was an obsession with Oliver. He views Oliver as a false hero who hides the terrible man he is inside by wearing the mask of a saviour. Prometheus goes to every possible length to break down his enemy and force him to accept this.

There was a scene where he lured Oliver into the same building where he killed his father after Mowing through his guards. And when Oliver arrived there he found a pile of dead bodies arranged exactly like how he had killed those guards five years ago. This is just one of the moments that highlights how deep his fixation with Oliver was.

Presence: Prometheus was a great puppetmaster throughout the entire season and set up a large number of events that would force Oliver through emotional turmoil. His grudge with Oliver was entirely personal but he was not above threatening innocents to get Oliver's attention and make him aware of the game they were playing. He had sent his affiliate to become part of Oliver's team of vigilantes and he himself was the district attorney often working side by side with Oliver who was the mayor. He thus infiltrated both sides of Oliver's life. It didn't take long for Oliver to single him out as the top priority threat he has to deal with while protecting the city

Threat Level: Prometheus was playing everyone like a puppet. Every step Oliver took he had anticipated and there were few if any secrets of Oliver that were safe from him. He didn't have a wealth of resources or a large group of subordinates to do his bidding, but he made up for it by knowing exactly how his enemies acted, how to keep himself out of their reach and what weakness they had which he could exploit.

He was an exact equal of Oliver in terms of combat prowess, but it wasn't his physical threat that made him such a dangerous opponent. It was his intelligence and determination to break Oliver emotionally that posed the biggest threat of all. He even briefly succeeded by torturing Oliver and making him confess that he killed people for satisfaction rather than justice. He was ready to give up on being a vigilante altogether after this, though he would eventually change his mind.

Personality: He is twisted, merciless and uncomfortably fixated in his goals. He never shows any signs of being threatened by the heroes if they confront him and constantly taunts them for their helplessness against him when he meets them as civilians.

None of his evil tendencies feel artificial or exaggerated to me despite how extreme it often gets which goes a long way in making him a good and engaging "pure evil" villain. He doesn't have the most fleshed out backstory and his personal beliefs also don't get explored. But I honestly think it's perfect that way. He is an insane individual who you can't really understand but also can't help but try to and if we were given an actual explanation on how he thinks and acts deep down, I don't think this would work as well.

Entertainment Factor: His actor just really hits it home with the performance and as he gets more and more light shed on him and his plans, he just gets more and more exciting to watch. He is often regarded as one of the two best villains in the Arrowverse and it's not hard to see why.

 

[Amelia_Lonelyheart]

The new comic even retcons Discord as ''ever'' being a villain by making him a heroic puppy dog who just ''wanted to have fun..''

 

[The_Wright_Way]

I nominate Evil Cole MacGrath for High 6-C for the following reasons.

Motivations: Cole's primary motivations are made clear at the very beginning, as soon as the very first "Evil" karma choice can be made. Only he and the people he cares about matter, everyone else can shove it. Even before the events of the game his loyalty to the people he cares about is evident, as when a teacher started mistreating a friend of his, he dropped out on the spot. Sure, stealing food will mean lots of people will starve, but he and his friends will have food for weeks. Sure, zapping those cops will start a riot, but it'll make it easier for him and Zeke to slip by. It's a life or death situation, civilization has gone to hell and it's everyone for themselves. Not to mention, everyone immediately blaming Cole for all their problems once word started spreading that he was the one who caused the Ray Sphere Blast didn't earn them any sympathy points. Even when he saves a train full of hostages, the people still try to attack him in retaliation. Meaning Cole's not exactly to big on sympathy for the people of Empire City, he's just doing what he needs to. Slowly but surely this "I'm only gonna look out for me and my loved ones because it's the only way we'll survive" mentality morphs into "only me and the people I like matter, screw everyone else. I'm the one strong enough to enforce my will anyways, so everyone else just needs to deal" as Cole becomes more and more of a selfish monster. Even as Trish becomes increasingly disgusted with what he's becoming, Cole stays loyal to her, tries to save her, and swears to avenge her. Even after she curses him for the demon hes become with her dying breath, he swears to avenge her. As he activates the Ray Sphere and kills thousands of more people, he sites Trish's death as his motive. If he'd been stronger, faster, more powerful, he could've stopped her death. And if he was the strongest one around, he'd never lose anyone he cared about again. By the end of the first game, his "only me and my friends matter" turns into "only I matter" as he's the only person he has left at the end thanks to Trish's death and Zeke's betrayal. He announces his new found philosophy with a sense of relish. "In a world with no law, the strong do as they want and the weak are their slaves, and no one is stronger than me."

Cue second game, Cole decides he needs to level up to take on The Beast, as even though he doesn't put much stock in the whole "greater good" thing that Kessler preached, an omnicidal monster still seemed like a problem he should deal with. Plus it involved getting more power, so win-win in his eyes. So when the Beast does show up, Cole thinks he's ready. But then he loses. All the power he gained, all the strength he gathered, it meant nothing. Ever he worked for in Empire City meant nothing as it was blown away like dust in the wind.

The Beast had proven himself stronger, so Cole decided to close that gap. He would ho to New Marias, get his power back, become stronger than the Beast, and take his title as strongest back. He sees people who sympathize with Bertrand's beliefs as idiots. Conduits like him are humanity's natural conclusion, humanity's inevitable perfection. But in spite of how little he thinks of normal people, he sees himself coming to respect Zeke. Zeke constantly proves himself useful, tries to make amends. Zeke joins him for a drink after tough days, actively tries to contribute to the teams efforts and actually manages to help almost more so than Cole's Conduit friends. In spite of Zeke's betrayal in the previous game and him not being a conduit, the camaraderie between the two old friends was slowly being repared. After Zeke manages to save Cole's life, Cole genuinely apologizes for how much crap he'd been giving Zeke. Not long after, the two friends drink themselves under while watching westerns and later do cheers to an old saying. "Half as long, twice as bright."

And then things get complicated. The Beast isn't just a mindless monster. He's a person Cole used to know and he has a reason for all this destruction. He's actively killing thousands of people, so that a few may live. Humanity is dying of a plague that no one can cure, but Conduits are immune to it. The Beast is turning people into Conduits so that they can survive. And here Cole is left with a dilemma. He could activate the RFI, killing the Beast and all Conduits, so that 90% of the world MIGHT survive. Or he could betray his newfound friendship in Zeke, destroy humanity, and allow 10% of humanity to ASSUREDLY survive, without a doubt. Cole makes, what in his mind, the only possible choice. Abd stranding on the roof of an old church, ready to face him down for the sake of humanity is the only normal person still alive that Cole cares about. After Zeke's dead body hits the floor, Cole just sits there for awhile before lowering his head in shame. Ultimately, he'd killed one of his last friends. The RFI is destroyed, humanity is doomed. But The Beast can't take it any more. He's tired. Tired of the death, the killing, the tragedy, the sorrow. He's tired and he needs to rest. So he gives his power to the one person he trusts to finish his mission. So Cole takes his newfound power and finishes his mission, his humanity is dead and the species itself would soon follow. Replaced by what he'd come to view as its evolution. He says it himself. "I was meant to save the world, but now I stand at its center. I have become the Beast."

Presence: Every action Cole takes has an effect on the world around him. With every crime, Empire City seemed to get sicker and the people of New Marias more terrified. People run, scream, and hide at the sight of him. The bravest few would choose to cast stones, usually at the expense of their lives. His friends would either get corrupted by him or grow terrified and disgusted of him as he slowly evolves from lowly bike courier to the Beast that would destroy the world. He somes it up himself pretty well. "I've taken this city down notch by notch and it's never getting up again."

Threat level: Cole is the absolute strongest being on the Evil Karma timeline, in the entire inFAMOUS multiverse he's matched only by his heroic counterpart and The Beast from Kessler's timeline. He passively expels dangerous radiation, can tear thinks apart on a sub-atomic level with black holes, and regenerate from a single atom. Once he set his sights on conquering the world, humanity never stood a chance.

Personality: Widely explained above, but I'll go into a bit more detail. Cole's a bitter, cynical bike courier turned bitter cynical supervillain, with a personality to match and a ****** streak a mile wide. He usually isn't the funniest of people, but one or two of his lines can get a chuckle.

Cole: You okay?

Zeke: Fit as a fiddle.

Cole: That's a bigass fiddle.

He's also surprisingly immature.

Kuo: It's in the Penal Code.

Cole: Heh, Penal Code.

Entertainment Factor: Cole's the player character, so he's naturally pretty fun to play as, especially in the late game where he can throw around tornadoes and thunderstorms. It's always a blast going on huge rampages across town while raining harsh electric judgement on everyone and everything in your path. Also, both his voice actors are pretty dang good and the acting done in the scene where he kills Zeke is gut wrenching. The one wordless scream conveys the despair of a man whose own vices lead him to killing his best friend, freaking outstanding.

 

[Wokistan]

Especially in game 2, Evil Cole ends up more representing pragnaticism as opposed to some moustache twirling villain, culminating in the whole "kill billions to definitely save millions" thing.

 

[Mr. Bambu]

Discord seems to mostly be a Mister Mxy type character

not a real villain

anyhoo, some Die Zwierge characters for your consideration.

Nudin the Knowledge-Lusty
Motivations: Originally, his motivations were twofold- the continued protection of the country of Girdlegard from an unknown threat in the Outer Lands (basically everything outside of Girdlegard, often called the "Land of Demons" because people who go there don't really come back). His second motivation is the attainment of knowledge (hence his name- it sounds better in German, where it translates to "The Curious"). Nudin sought to know more than all others to satiate his curiosity, and use this knowledge as he saw fit to defend his homeland. What he thought was the threat came to him and offered him the power and knowledge to defend his homeland and attain knowledge beyond his wildest dreams. So this fit well for him and he allowed himself to be tempted.

Later, as the Spirit of the Perished Land (Perished Land is a plague of the earth that captures the souls of those who die on the land and make immortal certain servants), his goal is to survive and battle the other "evil" rulers of Girdlegard (spoiler alert: Girdlegard loses, remaining characters die or flee to Outer Lands, more happens afterwards but ye). He possesses people of power and seeks to root out these enemies. It is literally never made clear if he was right or wrong about the dangers and needing his help to destroy them, but uh... well Girdlegard didn't do so well on its own.

His explanation for the rampant slaughter was explained by the Spirit of the Perished Land itself- it needed the "strength" of every living being in order to save Girdlegard, and used the agents of Tion (evil god) as an easily abusable source of soldiers. After the threat had passed and Girdlegard was saved, it promised all souls would be returned to their gods. How true this is, we dunno.

Presence: He is the only antagonist to be present in every book to some extent, and is the major facilitator of the events of the entire series (five books spanning 2003-2018 in publications with presumably more on the way, not to mention the dozen off-books he also affects). He's also one of the main antagonists of the video game AFAIK.

Threat Level: ENORMOUS. In-verse Nudin was practically impossible to quell- allow me to explain it this way. The magi of Girdlegard were by far the most powerful beings there, they had spent nearly thousands of years battling the Perished Land since it first entered the country 1100 years prior to the first book. These characters could crumble mountains and slaughter armies- their power was so great that no kingdom even bothered to politely say no when they just took over huge swathes of land for their own realms.

Nudin killed or incapacitated every single other magi and all of their students and proceeded to absorb their power. With this he very nearly slaughtered every single living thing in Girdlegard until a legendary weapon specifically targetting his weaknesses was forged- he literally couldn't die to the point of people cutting him to small bits, reducing him to a puddle, or spells that left nothing left of his body at all just meant he re-appeared a moment later. Nudin was an unkillable magi hell-bent on collecting souls of everyone. He was also the last magic user in Girldegard functioning (later one of the magi is revealed to have survived with only lethal wounds but they can heal themselves so yeet). Even then, Nudin was the most powerful being in the country and all he wanted was everyone dead.

Personality: While one could say "he just wanted muh power", this isn't exactly true. Even after he got the power of the Perished Land his goals were mainly to reconcile the Perished Land with his friends and get them the same knowledge he now possessed. He talked to them first but they aggressively rejected. Nudin, knowing the importance of his mission, had to kill them and all of his students as well as theirs to get all possible power to save everyone.

Nudin wasn't exactly evil- he was saddened by his actions but viewed them as neccessity. Even later when he possesses various magic users, he makes his appearance to them only when the state of Girdlegard is in extreme danger- when he possessed Narmora, the Eoil threatened to destroy the entire country. When he possessed Lot-Ionan after his resurrection, it was to confront Nagsor Inaste and the next flooding of monsters into the country. Nudin believes what he does is good and even if he's a bit pompous and driven to follow knowledge over goodness, he does strive to follow what his distorted view of goodness is.

Entertainment Factor: It's pretty neat to see Nudin if only because he just gets hinted at like "the mage thought his eyes deceived him- he saw his old friend, beckoning to him, in the dark shadows of the tavern corner". Nudin is never gone. Even after he's technically dead people keep hallucinating him or viewing his spectre when they are possessed. It's a recurring joke and antagonist- the second Nudin appears you wait for the other boot to drop because bad things are about to happen.

I was entertained, at least. Now for the next guy.

Nagsor Inaste
Motivations: Nagsor is, by all rights, evil by human standards. A statement from one Alf explains why the Alf are nearly universally evil- he states the bridge between humans and alfar is unreconcilable because they cannot see the beauty in the macabre, in blood, bones, and death. Alfar are natural artists who pursue most adventures purely to continue their arts- such arts as slaughtering an entire city of 40,000 people just to turn it into an enormous crimson canvas of strung up hearts and baby skulls (real thing btw). This is the general Alfar motivation- to find beauty, however grim.

Nagsor is a tad above that, however. In his tower of bones made from the elves, their good-aligned relatives, he wishes for the "ultimate beauty". A child, perfect and powerful enough to bring ruin to those that defy him (the worst part of this is that this is with his sister-bride-demigoddess, Nagsar). He protects his sister from all harm and forms an empire to ensure what he believes is perfect beauty will prosper.

Eventually, vengeance is added into this goal. After an encounter with the Eoil, he and his sisters bodies are annihilated and it takes some time for them to regenerate. After awakening he finds his sister in comatose having been raped by orcs (dark times ye) whom he slaughters. Unable to get her out of a coma, he steals powerful magic to heal her and just before she awakens, she gets beheaded and her existence destroyed. After that he merely wishes to destroy everyone- including the bastard children that were born from his sister earlier.

Presence: He is present in two of the books though his singular surviving child goes on to be one of the major evil rulers of Girdlegard (which is strange because originally the child refused to take part in his atrocities). In the first book he is referenced in, it's merely as passing legends of the Alfar and their immortal demigod rulers. Then he appears in earnest with terrifying legends surrounding them (all of which are true) that they are so beautiful that viewing them would literally drive you insane and kill you to the point of utter annihilation of the soul. The image on the profile isn't even Nagsor, it's just an alf since no image of the Immortal Siblings can possibly exist.

He is a central antagonist of any book with the Alfar, who are considered the most skilled stealth assassins and warriors in all of Girdlegard with the only other contender being Dwarves. Even the Alfar fear and respect Nagsor (also don't worry, all of his servants have their eyes gouged out to ensure no soulripgg happens).

Threat Level: Massive. Nagsor is intelligent and while his unkillable nature is inferior to Nudin's speed of Regenerationn, Nagsor is arguably the most skilled fighter in the world (this is acknowledging that at least one other lesser alf was capable of backflipping into a wall run around a crowded basement and swinging his sword so accurately at no less than ten people without nicking a single bone to ensure his art would be saved) and his scheming nearly destroyed every member of Girdlegard agai. His bastard children individually slaughtered thousands of soldiers each, killing armies of them in the process of hunting down the final sources of magic in order to revive his bride.

Personality: He's arrogant and passionate to put it simply. To get more in-depth, he essentially seeks a third-reich type deal where he wants to create a world of his perfect beings. That sense of poetry, beauty, and raw pomposity/superiority mixes well.

Entertainment Factor: I enjoyed him, if for nothing other than his elaborate speeches to his victims about how they're going to die. Each Alf does this, creating something like a poem for those they are about to kill. Nagsor with his coldness and arrogance makes this pretty fun to see. It's also just entertaining to hear all the creative ways Markus Heitz (author) thought up ways for Nagsor to kill people- I unironically could probably dig up about two hundred different kill-methods he's used for Nagsor and other Alfar.

 

[TriforcePower1]

Reposting this

Ganondorf for High 5-A because Frieza is going to take the 3-A spot.

• Motivations: What are their motivations, and how well are they handled?

He wanted to obtain the Triforce, the absolute power of the verse with really good RWing powers via granting wishes, in order to better the conditions of his own people, as Ganondorf is the king of the Gerudos, a race of thieves that lived in the desert. Living in the desert wasn't pleasant. After he managed to get the Triforce of Power (one of the 3 pieces of the Triforce), he got blinded by power and became dead set in obtaining the other pieces in order to conquer every world of the Zeldaverse. One of the many 2 moral lessons in Zelda, after all, is that power blinds people and makes them desire more power even if their original motives were actually sincere. That's something that happened way too often in history.

• Presence: How much is their presence felt within their story and setting?

I don't think it's possible to underestimate Ganon's presence within the games. A prophecy about Ganon returning after 10000 years when he was considered just considered Fairy Tale was enough to move the entire kingdom in a massive preparation for his return by escalating a mechanical army and four powerful and massive machines across Hyrule. And every time he appears onscreen, you can basically touch his massive presence.

• Threat Level: How much of a threat are they to the main character(s) of their story? Or, in the case of wider-spanning verses like Marvel and DC, how well are they portrayed as being a threat to the major players of the setting?

He's the incarnation of the Demon King's hatred, cursed to forever come back and bring darkness to the world. The Triforce of Power isn't called this way for no reason, too. Invulnerable to nearly everything in the verse except holy and Light stuff, extremely powerful physical abilities, tons of haxes and Low-Godly Regenerationn, Ganondorf is an extremely big threat to the entire Zelda verse.

• Personality: How complex is the character?

He's cocky and arrogant in OoT, as even before getting the ToP or becoming the Demon King, he was already one of the most powerful person at the time. ToP simply amplified that. Because OoT didn't happen for time sheningans in the timeline leading to Twilight Princess, he still maintains most of his OoT personality but never bothered to learn how to play an orga. Wind Waker is completely different, though, as he apparently learnt his lesson after failing in OoT. His personality is much better, but I think I'll expand on it later.

• Entertainment Factor: At the end of the day, how entertaining is this villain to see on-screen/on-panel?

Defeat Ganondorf, The Great King of Evil in Ocarina of Time by deflecting his attacks with a normal bottle. This should be the new "try to not laugh" challenge ovo

 

[Ogbunabali]

Maybe I'll have more luck here Kars for the 8-A spot.

Kars is an overpowered perfect archetype done right. He strived towards progression, evolution, betterment for, not because of selfish reasons for himself but, his race. His race, the Pillar man, were an immortal powerful race of beings in ancient times, but with immortality comes apathy and stasis. They were numb and dull, not caring about anything that was happening around them, a member of their race could have been killed in front of them and wouldn't even blink. But when, Kars, the genius child was born, he was different, he didn't want to just exist, he want to evolve, become great and be remembered in history. The Pillar man had a great weakness, that was the sun, and in order to better his race, Kars set out to do various experiments to conquer it. He eventually manages to create a mask that had the potential of "unlocking" the hidden powers of the brains of the Pillar man. And when it was time to test if the mask works, Kars doesn't test it on anyone first, he puts it on himself, which is a very important character moment for him, because if it failed he would've surely died. And because of his experiments, which were done for the sole purpose of bettering his people, he was ostracized and hunter for it. This great betrayal, which result in Kars having to kill off his entire race, was a lesson for Kars, he learned that those who won't change, and evolve would be better of dead, he took Nietzsche's philosophy to the logical conclusion, which resulted in him becoming the "Ubermensch" later on. During the arc Kars's ideals are constantly challenged, he doesn't step on animals and plants, both figuratively and literally, because he doesn't assume he is better than them, and instead acts on humans who do. Because of this Kars has respect for humans who fight for their lives and try to better themselves, kinda similar to Alucard now that I think about it, and he gains respect for Joseph when he defeats Wamuu. In his battle with Joseph, he utilizes Joseph's own tactics, using trickery and deceit, against him, because those who do not evolve are better off dead. But loses his last shred of respect he had for humanity when Joseph acts hypocritical calls him out on it. At that point he goes all out and takes on the veil of being the villain Joseph claims he was, because in his eyes victory is all that matters. Rather ironically, through trickery he manages to use the super Aja on the mask and becomes the Ultimate Lifeform. His first act is testing his new found powers, he sees not only can he do what every lifeform can do, he can do it better. And symbolically, like an act of God, when he tries out his Hamon, his greatest enemy and biggest weakness, the sun rises and he bathes in sunlight. But when he became the Ultimate Lifeform he threw away his core principles that made him all powerful in the first place. He starts acting cocky and with one last trick Joseph manages to use Kars's extremely powerful Hamon against him, which results in Kars being thrown into space. And the genius child, that always thinking and outsmarting his opponents, as he was drifting in space unable to die, stops thinking.

 

[Ciruno_Fortes]

Didn't we agree that these placements could be handled by two I think?

 

[MYHERO]

Where the heck is Meruem?

I don't even need to explain how good he is as a villain. Unless none of you guys watched Hunter x Hunter and in which case you guys are missing out. I don't have time to explain so I will just post this video here. Put him there for 7-B.


Meruem's Character Journey (Hunter X Hunter) (Part 1 of 2)-1555374023

 

[Spider_Kaiju]

Queen Bavmorda for 9-B, if she stays in that tier and doesn't get an upgrade.

 

[Wokistan]

Being on phone makes this thread annoying to add stuff to

9-B's got some competition, so you may wish to elaborate.

 

[Andytrenom]

Bumping Prometheus for 9-A

<Snip>

 

[JooCipher]

bumping Cell for 4-B/High 4-C

 

[Spider_Kaiju]

Being on phone makes this thread annoying to add stuff to

9-B's got some competition, so you may wish to elaborate.

Motivations: She wants to curse a baby and send it to the Netherworld. She handles it well enough with her vast resources of magic and military power.

Presence: This is a very strong benefit for her. Her presence is strong, dangerous and demanding. No one wants to make her angry! She can turn you into a possum, or pig, and has done so to entire armies.

Threat Level: She's as powerful as a demigod, capable of putting crippling curses on entire nations. At the end of Willow, she's only defeated in a very unconventional way.

Personality: This is where she loses points, she's evil because she's evil on screen, but it's a strong, confident wickedness that makes her on screen performance memorable.

Entertainment Factor: Jean Marsh does an excellent job portraying Queen Bavmorda. I really hate her!

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Queen_Bavmorda_(Willow)

Okay, I found another article confirming that Tir Asleen, the location Queen Bavmorda froze into quartz crystal was at least small country sized. https://willowufgood.fandom.com/wiki/Tir_Aslee Tir Asleen was considered the greatest of all kingdoms on Andowyne, dotted by beautiful and inspiring castles on its highest hills. Rulers maintained control for nearly a thousand years magically creating an environment in which the natives lived in peace and harmony. Other buildings housed immense libraries, where sorcerers and philosophers studied side-by-side. The core of the castle was the royal tower around which component fortifications were arrayed. Below the Royal suites was a whole floor for the royal bedrooms. The peace came to an end when Bavmorda rose to power and froze Tir Alseen in stasis, sealing it off from outsiders and forcing its inhabitants into a state of suspended animation. Queen Bavmorda also caused a storm in this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm-ECrDiaqM&list=FLOrwLWeEmlBon3dgg6C0G6g&index=5&t=0s

Go to 7:32-7:35 to see the storm that Bavmorda conjures. . . I'm just asking, does this change Bavmorda's tier from 9-B to some higher tier?

In short, Bavmorda is a very strong, powerful presence on screen and she's easily my favorite fairy tale villain, yes over Maleficent and the Evil Queen from Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.

 

[ZacharyGrossman273]

Wilfre for 2-C

Motivations: Wilfre literally wants to end the "tyranny" of a character who is meant to be the Abrahamic god and wilfre himself is based on Lucifer, so... ye...

Presence: Wilfre makes his presence felt from the beginning of the story to the end, quite literally every single level has his presence noticed.

Threat Level: Wilfre fights on equal terms with the creator and no one else could even slow him down

Personality: Wilfre has a well written backstory and has both an actually evil side and a side simply wanting free will. It's an interesting perspective.

Entertainment Factor: Wilfre isn't exceptionally funny, but when is, he is in a "Bill Cipher" sense. So, kinda good on this.

 

[Andytrenom]

Bumping Prometheus for 9-A

BUMP!

 

[ZacharyGrossman273]

Geh for Low 2-C

• Motivations: Gehn, despite being half-human, believes non-d'ni are inferior to d'ni, and furthermore, wants to worshipped as a literal god. Not toooo original, basically just hitler, but passable
• Presence: Very good, throughout the entirety of the game riven Gehn ******* around with everything is made apparent in extremely subtle ways
• Threat Level: Gehn isn't a threat to the god tiers of the verse technically, but he is a threat to dozens of civilizations and has even accidentally caused timelines to collapse
• Personality: Gehn has a ******* amazingly written personality and backstory, being able to both sympathize with his intentions while hate him as a character at the same time
• Entertainment Factor: Gehn is usually a serious character but he does occasionally mock others in well done ways

 

[DragonEmperor23]

Geh for Low 2-C

Could you elaborate?