2 Types of Villains

[scarybunny97]

So. In Buffy and Angel there are Villains that are more funny than they are dark (though being villains they are all dark by nature). And Villains that are full of complexity and interesting layers to dig through.

Take The Mayor on Buffy. Sure he wanted to become a demon and eat people, but most of his dialog was very funny. And he's not very complicated. Made deal for power. Want more power. Want be demon.

Then there's Holtz on Angel. He becomes consumed with hate and the need for revenge. And that makes him a monster. But Angelus broke the neck of his infant child. Even if Angel is totally determined to fight for good, his hands are still technically the same ones that slaughtered Holtz's family. So his need to make Angel suffer is easy to comprehend.

So, who do you think was the most "entertaining" villain from either or both shows, and who do you think was the most complex, and why?

 

[UlaGan]

Yeah, The Mayor was the most entertaining. Besides his obsession with the Ascension, he was quite educated and polite man. Always witty, always trying to calm people down. Yet he remained evil to his bones.
I guess, "Dart Willow" was the most complex villain on the show. I mean with all her issues, she did possessed certain depth of the character - first, she's seemingly nice and sweet girl, but we get to see that there was darkness growing within her - we can judge by her abuse of the magic, using it in own sake, thus deliberately breaking the Wicca's "laws" of do no harm and by her dream in the 'Restless', and when she fully surrenders to 'Dark Side', the good girl hid inside, only to play it's part later. All messed up, torn apart between revenge and love of her friends, ain't that enough for complexity?

 

[The Arcane]

Technically I'd have to go with Spike but if we aren't including the "bad guys that later become good guys" section then it's the Mayor all the way for me. The guy was priceless and one of the highlights of the entire Buffyverse, in my opinion.

It's rare that you can be aware that a character is absolutely evil and is planning on slaughtering an entire town to ascend into a demon form and yet still actually kinda root for him. You know you should hate him but then he hands out cookies! Very clever way to write a character and one of the truly brilliant creations of Joss' writing.

 

[palabravampiress]

I gotta agree with most of you on this one. Loved the mayor. I was also quite touched by the mayor/Faith relationship. It was squicky and wrong, but so so brilliant to mirror the Buffy/Giles father-daughter bond on the "evil" side, as well.

Aside from the mayor, I also loved Drusilla. Due to her madness, I felt a lot of sympathy for her character.




I'm also gonna do a write-in for Indra. She's not really part of the Buffyverse. She's just part of the RPG on this site. But I loooove writing her because she's so complex. Because she comes from a different culture and has a different way of looking at the world, (and had a different introduction to the concept of "slayerness") she really doesn't realize that she's a villain. That makes her tons of fun to write. I'm really going to enjoy taking her through the transition in which she realizes that maybe she's on the wrong side, too.
🙂

 

[DarklyDreamingDrusilla]

I have to go with Drusilla and the rest of the Fanged Four. Spike, Angel, Dru, and Darla are amazing. I love watching the flash backs of them all together. They are funny, crazy, in love, and just entertaining I loved watching them.

 

[eunsoma]

Darla I think was an entertaining villain. She had many layers. In a sense, yes you could argue that she was just 'free range evil', but I think her character was very deep. I always kinda felt bad for her, because even tho she was evil, I believe she loved Angelus, and on BTVS and on AtS all she did was work to get her lover back. I think she was more lonely than anything, and she wanted her companion back. Also, the arc with her human stint and illness etc was really good, it made me feel really sorry for her when she got re-vamped, because she'd only really just found redemption.

Also, Faith and the Mayor, they were both lonely. I heard on one of the commentaries one of the writers was saying that they tried to develope villains that the audience would be able to relate to after season one (pffft... who can relate to the master - seriously lol), which is why Spike and Dru were so in love at the beginning of s2, and they went thru a lot as a couple - so that the audience could relate. I think that, other than The Master, The Beast was the only big bad without many layers.

I have to say, I really liked Lilah, she was fun, and towards the end of s3 and most of s4 I felt really sorry for her. After she gave Wes that talk about "There's not just black and white, there's grey, and no matter how much white you try to add to it, all your ever gonna get is grey." - The way Wes left her was harsh I think. I mean, who knows if she would have ever become "Good", but I think it had become obvious that she'd changed a bit. Oh well, I think Wes too redeemed himself to her when he tried to burn her contract in 'Home'.

 

[anyatara]

I always liked Glory; she was funny and evil at the same time, and even seemed pretty innocent since she just wanted to go home. But yeah, I always liked her, she had the funny and evil factor. But if we're going for the humour factor; The Trio all the way...!