Music for the ArticleAppealing to my better nature? I'm a villain! Here is My Card! "Eve L. Duehr: Academy of Evil graduate, aspiring tyrant, kicker of kittens, and spontaneous singer of Barney songs." I crossed the Line while still in grade school and have never once looked back. And you think you can talk me out of my evil deeds?
Wahahahaha!Villains like this may be greedy, violent, Cool, but most importantly, they are Evil. It's in the job description. They refer to themselves as Evil, with a capital "E". Stretch it out to "Eeeeeevil" for emphasis. (They may even pronounce the "I" with emphasized shortness. Ee-vill. Like the froo-it of the dev-ill.) Terminal cases even require their minions to call them "Your Evilness". In fact, calling them evil, vile, ruthless, or any generally negative epithet will be an Insult Backfire and be taken as the kindest of compliments.
The EVIL Villain demands to be respected and feared and on top of the heap over everyone else because Evil is Cool and Good Is Dumb.
Me: Look buddy anyone is an idiot for trusting you.
Eve L. Duehr: Wahahahaha.........Huh?!
The EVIL Villain demands to be respected and feared and on top of the heap over everyone else because Evil Is Cool and Good Is Dumb.
Thus, they are expected to cause harm. If they acted differently, they'd lose their Evil ranking. Especially ironic if the reason they fell was because they wanted freedom from constraints on their actions. Whatever action they as a good guy wanted to do is considered "bad", so they have to do other bad things as well now. After a while, they usually forget about whatever goal it was that turned them Evil in the first place. So...in a very odd way, they're very much The Fettered; since their actions are bound by the expectation of Evil.
There are, in general, three spheres of their Villainy:
1. Control - the Villain wants to rule; be it a gang, a city, a state, the country, the world, or a similar goal, and have everyone else below them obey their every whim.
2. Corruption - the Villain wants to turn other people Evil. Give in to The Dark Side!
3. Destruction - the Villain wants to destroy for its own sake. Taken to the extreme, the first and second spheres may recognize that this includes them as well, so this often results in Evil Versus Oblivion sometimes the villain teams up with the heroes so they can Take Over the World at a later date. (You can't take over the world if it's not there!)
If not done right (and it is very, very easily done wrong), that is to say, if the card is too serious or obvious, the result can be cheesy, annoying, and stupid. Though, in comedy situations/shows, this fate is usually averted, as it's a humorous thing (and thus right in place).
It can also be used with a darker twist - showing a person so beyond redemption, so beyond what we call usual morality, that he is literally impossible to argue and reason with.
A Famous Darker Example is Angra Mainyu from the anchient Zoroastrian Religion in Iran.
Angra Mainyu is the Evil Twin of creator god Ahura Mazda, A COMPLETE MONSTER and the antithesis of everything good and just. Declaring that "it is not that I cannot make anything good, but that I will not,"
Angra Mainyu sought to prevent Ahura Mazda from creating life in the first place, by slaying the primal bull (his first creation). He seduced the daevas away from Ahura Mazda, transforming them into spiteful beings living only to spread fear and hatred. When Ahura Mazda created sixteen lands, Angra Mainyu responded with sixteen scourges, including old age, disease, war, vice, and death. He created the massive three headed dragon Azi Dahaka, destined to slay one-third of the earth's population, and turned him loose on the entire world with the command to destroy all Human life. He made two separate attempts at destroying the Earth's water supply and leaving all creation to die of dehydration but failed. He made cursed the First Woman so that all women would suffer from pains from their body during birth.
He tried to coerce Zoroaster the founder of the Zoroastrian Religion into coming over to his side, and then set the daevas upon him when he would not. Responsible for the very existence of evil, Angra Mainyu works to seduce men and women away from Ahura Mazda, so they might join his campaign for control of reality. Hating everything good and just, and angry that he is not the one who created everything, Angra Mainyu's ultimate goal is the annihilation of the universe.
Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:36 am
