Top Six Favorite Villains

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New 'top six' list of the week!  Villains... my other favorite type of character.  Antiheroes and villains are the best.  I like them so much that sometimes my sisters tease me for being one.  They're wrong, of course; just because I love to get into the character of my villains, and enjoy thinking up evil schemes to inflict upon my heroes, and identify the most with the villains from the shows I watch doesn't mean that I'm actually like them!  Although, I have to admit, I have scared myself occasionally with my naturally evil-sounding laughter.  But that's hardly my fault... is it?

At any rate, whether I'm like the villains or not, here is my list of my top six favorite villains!  If there is anyone you'd like to see added to the list, please let me know in the comments.  :D

And now, let us begin.  Villains, proceed!

WARNING:  Spoilers ahead.

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#1:  Amon

Story:  The Legend of Korra

Amon is the mysterious, charismatic leader of the Equalists, an anti-bending terrorist organization bent on eliminating all people with the ability to bend any of the four elements:  Water, Earth, Fire, and Air.  

As impossible as it seems to the people of the Avatar world, Amon has the ability to actually take away a person's bending abilities permanently.  This, coupled with his incredible fighting skills, tactical brilliance, and persuasive and inspiring mannerisms, makes him a terrifying threat to benders worldwide.  

And yet, as terrifying as he can be, Amon also seems to have a sense of honor.  He isn't just evil for the sake of evil; he seems to believe in what he says- that bending is the source of all evil in the world, and that it has been the cause of all the wars of the world.  He promises that in the new world that he forsees, all people will be equal.  There will be no tyranny, no oppression, and no cruel violence.  This makes him all the more dangerous.

However, as dedicated as he may seem, the character Tarrlok reveals a deep, dark secret about him toward the end.  The truth is that Amon himself is a bender!  He uses bloodbending (a form of waterbending) to take away a person's ability to bend.  Everything he told the people about his past, his convictions, and his agenda, was a lie.

#2:  Darth Vader

Story:  Star Wars

I realize that I included Darth Vader in my list of antiheroes.  But he also qualifies as a villain- and a scary one at that.

Darth Vader is the right-hand man of Emperor Sideous, the evil ruler of the galaxy.  Vader's face is never seen (until the very end), and he is clothed all over in a tight black suit.  His trademark raspy breathing is the result of the prosthetic respiration apparatus.  

Everyone fears Darth Vader, even the most powerful commanders of the Empire's army.  When he strides through the halls, or across the bridge of the great Imperial Star Destroyers, everyone stiffens, straightens, and makes sure that their performance is absolutely flawless.  The reason is that when you cross Darth Vader, you can pretty much guarantee that you'll meet your death by his infamous Force-Choke-Hold.

Sometimes, people tend to forget that he made a complete turn-around in the end, saving the life of his son and ultimately restoring peace to the galaxy.  However, over the years, he has become an icon of evil in popular culture, thus making it to my list of favorite villains.

#3:  Pitch  (Kozmotis Pitchiner)

Story:  The Guardians (Not to be confused with the 'Pitch' from the new movie, Rise of the Guardians)

Pitch, the dark king of all Nightmares, is one scary person.  He is gigantic, and the great black cape that he wears makes him seem even bigger.  He commands an army of Fearlings, shadow-like beings who are nothing but pure evil.  He is bent on destroying the peaceful, innocent, and hopeful nature of the children of the world, and destroy their dreams, turning them into creatures of darkness like himself.  He seems to take sadistic pleasure in tormenting any who stand in his way.

However, despite what you may think at first, Pitch was not always this way.  He was once known as General Kozmotis Pitchiner, a great hero in the Golden Age.  He was a brave, steadfast man who led his armies in a triumphant fight agains the Fearlings and their evil.  Together with the alliance of of beings across the galaxy, he drove them away and imprisoned them within the darkest reaches of a large prison planet. 

However, while he guarded them, they would call through the door, whispering to him, tormenting him with their constant evil.  Often, he would draw out a locket from beneath his clothes and stare into the face of his young daughter: his only hope and light during his strenuous duties.

Unfortunately, one day, the Fearlings caught on to his longing for his daughter and used it to manipulate him, hypnotizing him into opening the doors and setting them free.  They used their evil to corrupt him, thus turning him into the horror we know today as... the Boogieman.  

(Those of us who are fans of the book series, however, hope for his possible restoration to his former personality, as he has shown evidences of still loving his daughter.)

#4:  Lord Ombra

Story:  Peter and the Shadow Thieves (The Starcatcher sereies)

The main villain from the Starcatcher Seriers, Lord Ombra is PURE EVIL.  LITERALLY.  He is a creature unlike any on this earth.  He thrives in darkness, and has no particular form.  He clothes himself inside a drooping black robe, and snakes through the shadows like some horrendous phantom.  He has the ability to steal a person's shadow- or psyche.  By doing this, he can control their actions, read their thoughts, steal informaton, inhabit their bodies, and... possibly even kill them.  And all he has to do is touch your shadow.  He is the stuff of nightmares, and is almost unstoppable.

The only reason he ranked number four on this list, instead of three, is that over time, I felt that he was over-used.  In every book, Peter and Molly would find some way to vanquish him, yet in the next book, he'd find some way to return.  Eventually his scariness wore off, leaving you thinking about how predictable his actions were.

Nonetheless, Ombra scared me enough so that if I had been any younger when I read the series, I would have been scared of the dark for weeks!  0_0

#5:  Loki

Story:  The Avengers

Like Darth Vader, Loki was also on my list of antiheroes... but that was mostly for his part during the events of Thor.  In The Avengers, however, he has made the journey from antihero to full-fledged, demented villain.  He tries to take over earth, killing well over eighty people in two days.  He hates his brother, Thor, passionately, and treats all humankind with contempt and disdain.  At one point, he is seen commititng a terrible, awful, cruel act, and smiling like he enjoyed it!  He threatens to make Hawkeye (who is under his control) torture Black Widow in all the ways that she fears, just because he can.

He claims to be a god, declares himself the rightful ruler of all earth, and superior to all human life.  However, at the end, he gets his just reward, and is soundly smashed by Hulk.  XD  It was rather hilarious.  

#6:  Rigoud

Story:  Little Dorrit  (BBC miniseries)  

(Forgive me if I'm spelling his name wrong.  This is the spelling I found online, but it could be wrong.)

Rigoud, played brilliantly by Andy Serkis, is a terrifying murderer.  At the beginning of the show, he is in jail, awaiting what will most likely be a death sentence for the murder of his wife.  However, he proudly tells his cell mate that he did not murder her for her money... he murdered her just for the fun of it.  He confidently boasts that the authorities will not find enough evidence to convict him.  And, when a guard comes down to fetch him, he is proved right.  He is set free, and quickly makes his way to England, as France has become to hot for him.

Along the way, he murders several more people, and takes joy in tormenting his previous cell mate with ominous threats.  He acquires a box of documents detailing the scandal behind the birth of Arthur Clenam, as well as a dark secret involving young Amy Dorrit, thus becoming entangled in the mystery that connects both of them.  

Rigoud is a dark, scary villain, who is made all the more eerie by that disconcertingly cheerful song he sings and whistles while performing his murders.

-Rayne Speryll