So everyone, who is your favorite antagonist (Villain, Evil Character) in literature and/or gaming?
My favorite in literature is Murtagh from the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, he's such a badass! He turns out good in the end and somewhat neutral when he first met, but nonetheless he is an antagonist or at the very least an anti-hero in my eyes.
My favorite in gaming has to be, without a single shadow of a doubt, Miraak, again, the guy is an absolute badass. If he himself wasn't epic enough then fighting him at the highest peak in the realm of a demon-god with three dragons certainly makes it all the more epic. To me he represents your evil counterpart, what you could have become if you took a different path, or darker, he represents what you will become.
Anyway, I got sidetracked there, go on, tell me...
does comic books count? if so I do like Ultron, since I was a child and had the figure of him. that and did research on the guy, he is one of the coolest bad guys and he has one of the most funniest weakness in one of the comics. another one I do like for being a baddie is Grendel's Mother from Beowulf, she is the matriarch that brought us Grendel and she was played by Angelina Jolie in the CGI film.
I have top 5 in games
here is my list, some are most common answers and some aren't..
I tend to like villains who are not completely evil (or not at all). Don't know if manga is ok, but my absolute number one is (and, it seems, will always be) Uchiha Itachi, he is not only my favorite villain, but one of my favorite characters in general. As for the games it would be Alma Wade from F.E.A.R. And from the books, I think, Sauron the ever unseen Lord of the Rings))
Hmm....antagonists, antagonists. Much ado about antagonists. That's something I rarely ask myself, to be honest. Most of my favorite anythings in fiction depend heavily on their visual appeal, but to go deeper into the question, I have done that not. But let's have a go at it.
I'm going to be frank with you all, I rarely ever read classic works of fiction with clear-cut protagonists and antagonists these days. School, man. But I'm going out on a limb and assume that manga counts as literature, so I cite President Funny Valentine from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure as my favorite literary villain. In Part VII: Steel Ball Run, Funny is the 23rd President of the United States and he is a shining example of how even the allure of absolute power can corrupt absolutely. He attempts to use the power of the Corpse Parts (can't really explain that in a nutshell) to garner authority and superiority for both his country and himself. I like him as an antagonist because his goal can't really be seen as 'evil'. In fact, it could be the goal of a hero given the appropriate angle. Patriotism as an antagonist is seldom done well and this Prez nails it, because he makes even our resident hero Johnny Joestar seem like a terrorist. That is amazing.
In gaming, there's really no question to it. I absolutely adore Giovanni of Team Rocket. A suave crime boss, he fits the bill for a cunning underworld kingpin even in a saccharine Pokemon game. I can't even explain it better, he just is my favorite.
And Sauron's predcessor Melkor was more of a badass...
What?
Melkor has my sympathy as a character, but I wouldn't say he's more of a badass. Sauron did what he does through an immense amount of wit and guile and subtlety with a clear cut reason for everything he did.
Melkor was driven made by God and sunk into his own despair and malice to the point of nihilism. His goal was to destroy the world. Just destroy everything, end this trapped existence where God was the jailor and the rest his amusement.
Melkor was greater in power, which let him do great things. Sauron was significantly weaker, but managed to do incredibly things by being smart.
Never did focus much on antagonists in literature (since I mostly read WWII novels) but for gaming I would think Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2 (and the Pre-Sequel).
P.S may contain spoilers...
First,he thinks he's doing a noble cause by wiping out the bandits in Pandora but sometimes goes too far till he kills women and children regardless if their bandits or not.To most people,he's a monster and the main bad guy but to some including me he's just misunderstood.
If you watch Mat Pat's theory about Handsome Jack you'll see that as a young boy, Jack was abused by his (psycho) grandmother leading him to have "Borderline Personality Disorder".Also he got betrayed by the Meriff who Jack spared only to kill him when he tries to shoot Jack and by Roland,Lilith and Moxxi near the end which caused Jack to become the megalomaniacal,cold-hearted guy we all hate/love in Borderlands 2.
Bottom of the line is that what makes Handsome Jack such a good villain is not his personality and hatred towards bandits (I admit hearing him talk about strangulation and killing a guy with a spoon is kinda funny) but his story on how he became a villain.It also kinda made his death a bit sweater except for his "I'm the Hero" rant.
Would Handsome Jack be the villain we know today if Roland,Lilith and Moxxi didn't betray him? Maybe or maybe not...
For manga, Doji from Beyblade. He disappeared after being beaten for the third season in a row, and reappeared in the last season to destroy the world in robot form. For comics, I would go with the Anti-Monitor from Green Lantern. And for games, probably the Archdemon of Dragon Age: Origins.
As far as manga/anime goes, I'm a big fan of Fujino Asagami from Kara no Kyoukai. She's probably the most powerful psychic in the entire series (albeit with a lot of that potential remaining untapped) and completely misguided to boot. Giselle Gewelle from Bleach, Naruto's Tayuya and Overlord's Clementine are also completely badass.
In video games, no one can beat Father Elijah as far as I'm concerned. Probably the most evil bastard in the entire Fallout series (though Ulysses and Horrigan round out that top 3), and still I can't help but like the old man. Miraak, Queen Potema and Lady Yunalesca also rank high in that regard, as do Hanne Lichthammer (Jericho) and Elizabeth Greene (Prototype). I may or may not have a thing for psychotic women murdering at will.
In literature I would have to go with Roger, the psychotic kid from Lord of the Flies. So we're all stuck on an island, and what do you do? That's right, build a gigantic catapult so you can waste the other kids on the island with massive boulders!
And my favorite movie antagonist is a toss-up between Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill and Battle Royale's Mitsuko Souma. Murderous schoolgirls are the tops.
It seems like people who have read the Inheritance cycle are all over the internet (Including me :D) I liked Murtagh, but couldn't really list him as my top antagonist. From literature, my favorite is.... um.... I can't really decide. I have yet to read a book where a bad guy really sticks out at me, stays in my memory. From games, Glados, (Ignoring the crazy capitilaziton you have to do in her name) is the one that I think wins, in my mind at least. If movies were a category, Jar-Jar-Binks is the most evil character I have ever seen.