FIRE PRINCE ZUKO
Honestly, he had me at Agni-Kai.
Runner-up villains include:
- Darth Vader
- The Operative
- Lord Ruler
- And climbing the charts for me is Jaime Lannister, but it remains to be seen how sympathetic he will become (before George Martin kills him).
So who's your favorite villain?
ZUKO!!
ReplyDeleteI love him.
Last year, I wrote a long blog post about him.
*SPOILER ALERT* (to those who did't watch the series) And I love that in the end, he is one of the good guys too ...
Btw, love that you're always posting about them ... I didn't begin to watch Legend of Korra yet, but, oh, I will ;)
You've already named most of the best, but I would add: Severus Snape, Sandor Clegane, and Gollum/Smeagol.
ReplyDeleteAnne Rice's LeStat de Lioncourt. He was so -- human.
ReplyDeleteI have to second Severus Snape and Smeagol.
For comedic effect: The water ninjas that keep losing to Naruto, specifically Oboro who always says "Lucky". They're like the Team Rocket of Naruto.
ReplyDeleteBecause he's a dragon: Smaug.
Redemptive villains not named yet that I love: Piccolo and Vegeta
My personal favorite villain: Venom. I honestly have no idea why, he's just always been my favorite. He also becomes an anti-hero, so that's probably part of it...
Oh, man, how could I forget about Venom! For me, I like him because his only goal is destroying Spider-Man. He doesn't want to steal money or rule the world or anything else. The storylines where Spider-Man is forced to team up with him are the best.
DeleteI couldn't agree with you more. Zuko is definitely one of the best things about the entire series. I also liked Loki from the Thor movie as well as Prince Nuada from Hellboy: The Golden Army.
ReplyDeleteHands down, Heinz Doofenshmirtz.
ReplyDeleteMadame Mim from Disney's Sword in the Stone!
ReplyDeleteI'm a HUGE Zuko fan. Great post.
ReplyDeleteSo you don't think Tyrion is a villain? Interesting...
ReplyDeleteBecause you couldn't possibly think that Jaime is a more interesting character than Tyrion, could you? COULD YOU?!
These are all really great villains (including a few I wouldn't have thought of -- Madame Mim is pretty great).
ReplyDeleteMatty, the only reason I chose Jaime over Tyrion is cuz Tyrion is just so...creepy. But yeah, I stood up and cheered at the end of Storm of Swords, for sure.
Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight. It was insanely perfect!
ReplyDeletei love Zuko so much that i can't even consider him a villain. I never thought he was a bad guy, even in the earlier episodes.
ReplyDeleteGOD I LOVE THAT SHOW!!!
I would have to go with Snape also.
ReplyDeleteAnd Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He always had great redemptive potential and proved it in the end :)
The fight between Zuko and Azula in the second to last episode is one of my all-time favorite TV moments ever.
ReplyDeleteIroh is my favorite character. Love that guy!
Avatar kills other animated shows because it had true character development. And a story. Sort of important. Maybe makers of other animated programs should take note.
When you mentioned redemptive villains, Jaime came to mind. Not sure who else, but Schwartzenegger in T2 was good.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet another Mistborn rave. Patrick Rothfuss just mentioned Alloy of Law on his blog.
Hans Gruber... all others can be silent now.
ReplyDeleteI agree 110% with Zuko as a BRILLIANT villain. And I also agree with the commenter Matt: the final confrontation between Zuko and Azula absolutely blew my mind.
ReplyDeleteAAAAHHHH, Jaime died??!1
ReplyDeleteThe Butcher in
ReplyDeleteThe Killer - Jack Elgos
Wow, what a character he is, just finished the book.
The Butcher rules
Tony Florida