Oh nothing much, Just a write-up on Villains.

My topics do get stranger and stranger, but I ve been meaning to write this for a while.
Let's get straight to the basics:
Just what is a villain anyway?
Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines a villain as "A cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime;who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot." 

My definition of a villain is an individual who from the reader's point of view , is counter-active to the mission of the plot.
Although, if not by definition, but by thought process, I wouldnt classify the Lannisters (A Song of Ice and Fire) as villains per se, would you?

Fine, that has been taken care of.
I ve been reading up, and I stumbled across the AFI List of 100 greatest villains. It got me thinking. What makes a great villain? Why makes a great villain? ( Oh you know what I mean)

How do you go about becoming one? and how do you kill them?

Firstly, Why? No one is born evil, they have to embrace it.
The largest cause is generally childhood trauma. A burning Vendetta, perhaps?
Then there is greed. Greed transforms people into crazed maniacs. 

What makes a great villain?
A great villain is one who can instill great fear into an individual , but at the same time can be admired by a large portion of the human population.

I dont want to go into major details, merely stating a few observations I have made.

Go through the classifications I ve made below.. Can you classify all the villains you know into these? 

I would say by experience, Villains can be broadly (very broadly, you see, villains are mysterious creatures) classified into three:

1. The Skilled Leader

I would say the most common form of villain: It generally consists of a single individual, who, by virtue of their own abilities ( As they are generally skilled in some form of combat, making

them formidable in themselves, or are just very persuasive) have managed to collect a large number of followers , brainwashed ( or threatened) to join their cause.

Motives: Generally a kingdom, Power, or immortality. This of course, gives these villains a weakness wherein they are afraid for their own lives. They are willing to throw their followers into the fire if it means that their own lives be spared, and seldom like to get their hands dirty. You can guess that makes them quite unpopular. These villains are also weakened by the fact that they usually need their followers to make a dent in the world, but can also take you down in a battle quite easily if they have to. 

Major examples include: Lord Voldemort( Harry Potter), The White Witch (The Chronicles of Narnia) , Dr.Facilier (The Princess and the frog) , Scar (The Lion King) , Pitch (Rise of the Guardians)

And to a certain extent, Loki (Thor).

2. The Mercenary 

This kind of villain is generally focussed on a single goal, and would do anything to achieve it.    

They generally avoid followers, mostly because they would like to do everything on their own, but if an ally brings them closer to the thing they want, they will accept help. 

They are scary because they usually dont let anything get in their way. One-on-one combat can generally prove fatal as well, as they are quite skilled adversaries. 

They usually arent very smart, but there are many exceptions to this rule. 

I have noticed that female villains tend to dominate this category, nothing is more dangerous than a woman on a mission wouldn't you say? 

Motives: Generally, a single, burning passion: Eternal beauty, death of their enemy, the last pizza slice. 

Major examples include: The Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves), Mother Gothel (Tangled) , Ursula (The Little Mermaid), Bane (Batman series), Gaston (Beauty and the Beast) , Bowser(?)(Mario) , Darth Vader (Star Wars) , Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek). 

3. The Psychopath

These are, in my opinion, the most dangerous kind of villains, and also the best liked. These are men (and women) who just do not care what the outcome of their carnage is, or whether it works at all. They dont care if the attempt kills them, as long as they get their job done.
This makes them especially formidable because they dont fear for their lives, and hence would go to extreme lengths to get it done. They may not be very skilled in combat, in fact may have little or no fighting skills.Their weapon is their extreme intelligence, and their sly talking skills.

 But they are feared the most just because there is just no reasoning with them, no bargains, no blackmail. They dont really care for their followers either. Its all part of the fun. 

Motives: Its fun. They are bored, you see, or merely hungry. Anything to make life interesting.

Major examples include: The Joker (Batman series), Jim Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes- I see this more in the BBC version) and of course, Hannibal Lector ( Silence of the Lambs )  

I would classify Loki in here too, but partly. 

I obviously couldn't include all the villains I know, that would just take a bit too long.

Villains are important, they give the protagonist a purpose in our stories, and most protagonists feel incomplete without the good old fashioned villain dont they?
Take the case of Perry and Doofenshmirtz.
But you mustn't judge them too hard, after all,

Villains are people too.