Ya Gotta love the Bad Boys! My top five favorite fictional Villains.

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~Villain~

“A composer and/or performer of menacing riddums and soul poisoning madness. A true Villain considers nothing taboo and will penetrate the heart and mind of all mankind in an effort to enlighten or destroy.

Urban Dictionary

Everyone loves the good guy/girl who comes in and saves the day on a white horse and slays the villain…Or do we? I personally am more interested in the villain who’s complex, interesting and often more charismatic than the typical hero. It’s not that I don’t like the hero/heroine, but the villain, well, let’s say I have a fondness in my heart for them if they’re portrayed well. (The villains below are not listed in any specific order.)

So, here are my top five favorite television, book and movie villains.

1) I think Christian Bale as “Batman” is amazing, both as an actor and the character. He’s broody, mysterious, internally tortured and ridiculously good looking, but when I saw Heath Ledger in the movie “The Dark Knight” as “The Joker“, well, I kind of lost interest in our hero, Batman. The Joker’s character is a sociopathic, homicidal maniac with no redeeming qualities of any type. BUT, the background of the character actually made me sympathize with him. The Joker had a brutal father who constantly tormented his son to such an emotionally high degree and then tragedy strikes the Joker’s ex-wife, well, he snaps.

In real life, I would be mortified, scared of, disgusted and appalled with such a person, but I couldn’t help but love Ledger as The Joker. He’s fascinating, witty, intelligent, and while not the prettiest to look at (to say the least) I couldn’t take my eyes off of him and kind of wanted him to win the fight against Batman. I never thought I’d be laughing at jokes made by someone so evil, but the acting of Ledger demonstrated why The Jokers character was so aptly named.

I was so glad when Ledger posthumously won the Academy Award for this role. You could tell the insight and interest that Ledger had for his character, making him one of the best actors ever as well as creating an unforgettable villain.

My favorite Joker line from the movie “The Dark Knight”:

Batman: Then why do you want to kill me?

Joker: I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, NO! No. You… you… complete me.

Batman: You’re garbage who kills for money.

Joker: Don’t talk like one of them. You’re not! Even if you’d like to be. To them, you’re just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. I’ll show you. When the chips are down, these… these civilized people, they’ll eat each other. See, I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.

 

2) “Clarice…” How many of you saw the movie; “The Silence of the Lambs” and locked all your doors at night and had to sleep with all the lights on after seeing that movie? I know I took extra safety precautions during both the day and night when I was in my house after seeing the movie. I have never been so scared from seeing such an evil killer portrayed anywhere as I was from seeing Anthony Hopkins as “Dr. Hannibal Lecter.” <shuddering>. I read the brilliant books by Thomas Harris who created Lecter, but how Hopkins brought Lecter’s character to live in “Silence of the Lambs” brought it home for me.

Like, Heath Ledger’s character as “The Joker,” Hannibal Lecter has to be one of the most interesting and disturbingly charismatic villains that I’ve ever seen. I mean besides the fact that he likes to dine on mortal flesh with his favorite fava beans and I would be scared shi*less in real life if I met him, I’d still want to talk to him, while he was “safely” behind bars.

There’s something to be said for such an heinous person who can intuitively assess all your darkest fears and then almost seduce you into believing that he’s actually on your side. As I said, I am not attracted or never will be to any type of murderer in real life, Lecter had me kind of rooting for him, which shows how hypnotic and enthralling he was.

Favorite movie line by Hannibal Lecter from “The Silence of the Lambs”:

“A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.”

 

3) O.k. my next three favorite villains aren’t as terrifying or as deranged as the previous two, but they’re still villainous enough for me to add them to my favorite villain list. I’m also going to admit now I have a mad crush on the actor, Jason Isaacs, so any character he portrays, I’m going to be captivated by.

I was actually named after the character “Wendy” from the book “Peter and Wendy” written by J.M. Barrie. So, Peter Pan played largely in my dreams and my psyche holding a very special place in my heart. Captain Hook was the “bad guy” who was always trying to defeat Peter and therefore I didn’t like him at all and certainly didn’t fantasize about him, UNTIL I saw Isaacs play “Hook” in the movie “Peter Pan” and then all of a sudden, my interest in Peter waned and Hook became my new fantasy.

It’s not that I didn’t like the actor, Jeremy Sumpter, who portrayed “Pan.” He’s been my favorite “Peter Pan” yet, with his vulnerability, bravado and magickal personality, but HELLO Hook, and move over Pan. Isaacs’ “Hook” swagger, style and cockiness had me well, hooked…(I know bad pun.)

Isaacs certainly didn’t come off as any type of hero, his morality certainly was questionable as he tried to lure “Wendy” away from Pan which is creepy as “Wendy” is just a young girl. But, this adult Wendy, would have happily become Hook’s first mate any day! Even the character of “Wendy” in the movie, was slightly intrigued by Hook even though of course her true love was Peter. Still…

Favorite “Hook” movie line:

Captain Hook: She was leaving you, Pan! Your Wendy was leaving you. Why should she stay? What have you to offer? You are incomplete. Let us now take a peep into the future, shall we?

[Hook and Peter start to fight again]

Captain Hook: ‘Tis the fair Wendy. She’s in her nursery. The window is shut.

Peter: I’ll open it.

Captain Hook: I’m afraid the window is barred.

Peter: I’ll call out her name!

Captain Hook: She can’t hear you…

Peter: No!

Captain Hook: She can’t see you.

Peter: Wendy!

Captain Hook: She’s forgotten all about you.

Peter: Stop! Please! Stop it!

4) There has been at least six movie versions of the character “Robin Hood” and at least three television series about him. Enough already, is what I say! And my least favorite version of “Robin Hood” had the actor, Kevin Costner portraying him from the movie; “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.” The saving grace of the last movie, was Alan Rickman as the “Sheriff of Nottingham.” As is the case with the actor, Jason Isaacs, I’m crazy about Alan Rickman. Any movie he’s in, I’ll see it, even if it stinks, (in my opinion) like the movie “Robin Hood…”

Rickman has the ability to make any “villain” not only likable but charming and irresistible in his own twisted way (including his portrayal of “Professor Snape” from the movie series of “Harry Potter, but I’ll save that for another post.) In “Robin Hood…” I saw Costner as this boring, weak and bland white-bread type of guy, whereas Rickman’s “Nottingham” was wonderfully campy, sardonic, and hilarious. Uh, I’ll take the Sheriff of Nottingham over Robin Hood. Wait, isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

The raise of an eyebrow, the piercing gaze and out and out arrogance of Rickman’s Nottingham, left me wanting more and more and I could have cared less about the holier-than-thou Robin Hood. So, the movie is worth seeing, if you haven’t already, just for Rickman, making him one of my favorite quintessential “villains” of all times.

Favorite Sheriff of Notthingham Lines:

Sheriff of Nottingham: Locksley! I’m gonna cut your heart out with a spoon.

Robin Hood: Then it begins.

Guy of Gisbourne: Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?

Sheriff of Nottingham: Because it’s dull, you twit! It’ll hurt more!

5) And finally, the knight who is a “white knight” but with a dark heart, “Jaime Lannister“. I first was introduced to the character of Lannister last year when I read, (my now favorite book series of all times), “A Game of Thrones,” book one of “A Song of Ice and Fire” series by the author George R.R. Martin. (A must read if you liked, “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” books, but far more interesting in my opinion.) Martin writes the most rich and complex characters I’ve ever read. Each “bad guy/girl” has redeeming qualities and the supposed hero/heroine has a lot of baggage and shadows that keep them from being too sanctimonious.

Jaime’s character is also known as the “Kingslayer” for murdering the king he was supposed to protect and guard earning him the corrupt nickname. He has an incestuous relationship with his sister the queen, Cersei, he cares nothing about the heroic qualities a knight is supposed to have and his most malevolent act is when he lets a sweetly mischievous seven year old boy, Bran, fall to the ground below when he catches Bran innocently looking in through the window as Jamie and his sister are having sex.

So, why do I like Jaime? I knew he was supposed to be good looking in the book of “A Game of Thrones” but when I saw the actor, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as “Jaime,” he definitely became one of my favorite villains (I know a bit superficial, but I’ve never claimed to be that deep.) In the books, we see Jaime actually becoming a hero of a sorts with a very interesting moral code and integrity. As I said before, there are no black-or-white characters in “A Song of Ice and Fire.) Coster-Waldau I know will nail (no pun intended) Jaime’s character and has proved it just by watching the first episode of “A Game of Thrones” on HBO.

Even if you don’t get the HBO Channel, check out the books and then you can disagree with me if Jaime Lannister isn’t the most perfect complex and seductive villain ever created.

Favorite Jaime quote from the television series, “A Game of Thrones,” so far:

“The things I do for love” – (after he pushes Bran Stark out the castle window)

So there you have my five favorite fictional villains. I realize I didn’t include any villainesses, so I’ll pay homage to them in a future post as well as my favorite hero/heroines.

Who are YOUR favorite villains?

Below is a small clip of  Coster-Waldau talking about his character “Jaime Lannister” from “A Game of Throne’s” television series.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13agX-f4MrU[/youtube]

© 2011, Wendy S.. All rights reserved.

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