Favorite villain(s)

Guzma

Guzma

Actually Your Boy Guzma
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So we all have our favorites among the villains of the series. Basically, choose your favorite villain from the core series or the spinoffs and explain why you think they're the best. For me, it's gotta be this creep.
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Ghetsis is a monster - in fact, Smogon calls him a complete monster in one of their "just for fun" articles. He's utterly irredeemable, cruel beyond belief and dangerously genre savvy. He rivals Fire Lord Ozai for the title of worst father in a "family" franchise. This is a guy who took in a kid and lied to him his entire life, emotionally stunting and manipulating him as part of a plan that ALSO required putting a lot of innocent Pokemon through hell just so his "son" would end up hating humanity. Sure, Cyrus wanted to destroy the universe, and Lysandre wanted to commit omnicide, but the things Ghetsis does to achieve his goal make him much, much, MUCH more horrible. I mean, Giovanni was also a shitty father, but the worst he did was abandon his son. N would have been better off as an orphan.

His name, G-Cis, is known as "the devil's tritone." His name seriously means "the devil in music," and it's not the only demonic thing about this bastard. Some descriptions of the anti-christ include a deformed right hand and eye. Ghetsis's right arm is discolored in BW1's intro cutscene, and his eye is either scarred up beyond recognition or flat-out gone. For all intents and purposes, he's the devil. Oh, and his Pokemon - including his signature Hydreigon - HATE this creep, judging by how his Hydreigon has a full-power Frustration in BW2. To contrast, most other villain team leaders have Crobats, which ONLY evolve if they have a strong bond with their trainers, and Archie, Maxie and Lysandre can all Mega evolve their Pokemon, which is said to require a strong bond between the trainer and their Pokemon. Oh, and Ghetsis also tortures a Legendary and tries to use it to flash-freeze a kid, which would result in a slow, painful death by asphyxiation since you can't breathe if you're completely covered in ice. That's not even going into the way he talks to his "son."

There are other truly vile villains in the games - PMD Darkrai, Purple Eyes, and Nascour, Evice and Ein come to mind - but Ghetsis is honestly the only one in the core series. He's scarily competent in BW1 and comes close to winning, which is a scarier thought than a victory for Cyrus or Lysandre - at least their victories would result in a quick death instead of the longtime suffering that would ensue if this creep ruled the world. Ironically, Ghetsis accused N of being the "freak without a human heart," and that phrase describes Ghetsis to a T. I have a deep love for really, really, REALLY evil villains - Scar from The Lion King is my favorite Disney villain, for example - and Ghetsis is pretty much Pokemon's version of Scar. Actually, a better comparison would be Frollo - they both treated a kid they "adopted" like dirt and consider their "sons" to be inhuman freaks.

However, I also like tragic villains, and Lysandre is a good example of that. I felt he was a bit generic until he shed that tear about the fate of all Pokemon. He's legitimately insane - even Cyrus is less crazy than he is - and yet he's the most tragic of any Pokemon villain. I sometimes have a view of humanity that's almost as jaded as Lysandre's, and while I can't excuse his actions, he's the only Pokemon villain I feel legitimately sorry for. I actually would have preferred to see Lysandre carted off to jail instead of dying.

Well, I also feel sorry for N, but he's not really "evil," just very, very, VERY misguided. So, Lysandre comes at a close second to Ghetsis for the title of my favorite Pokemon villain.

Another honorable mention goes to PMD Darkrai, who screwed around with time and space to the point he could have destroyed the entire universe, tortured a child in his nightmares, and tried to trick some other children into committing suicide. The kicker is that he did all that shit just because he could. He's a real piece of work, and his "punishment" was far too lenient. I understand that it was necessary gameplay-wise so you could "catch" him, but still...
 
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Ghetsis, hands-down. He's such a love-to-hate villain... he so passionately craves power and power alone, and there is no filter on his cruelty. The guy is, unlike other Pokémon villains, just straight-up mean. All other villains treat you cordially, but not Ghetsis. He puts on an unassuming front as a mere advisor to the king, but even then, he openly mocks Alder for the death of his Volcarona, and says that he loves to see the look on peoples' faces as they fall into despair. Going back through the game after having played it once amplifies all of this, because then you get to see how he hides his true nature. And of course, once you *do* defeat him, he just goes completely off-rails, berating everything around him. Let alone in B2W2 where he orders Kyurem to use Glaciate on Nate/Rosa (Rated E-speak aside, we all know that they would have died there). There is nothing about Ghetsis to like, but that in itself generates a certain charisma. One of the most fulfilling character moments I have experienced in any media is in B2W2, when you come to discover that he was once again manipulating things from behind the scenes, and he inverts the usual "villain slip-up" that he kept making in BW, where he would say, "Blah blah blah my - I mean, Team Plasma's - plan!" When you meet him in B2W2, he instead says, "blah blah blah Team Plasma's - no, MY plan!" Completely embracing his role as the mastermind and as his only real interest.

He's also difficult as hell. In BW, his Hydreigon is a monster, perfectly set up to sweep most of the Unova Dex. And he's got a really awesome battle theme to go with it. His B2W2 attire is very cool and intimidating, and he has those piercing red eyes.

And yet, there is also something of a layer of mystery to him... we don't know how he incurred the injuries to his face and arm. We don't know why he saved the Shadow Triad or under what circumstances. And he has all of these high-level connections, but who was he before he formed Team Plasma? What is his history like? What could possibly have produced a person so vile as him in the Pokémon world?

Lastly, what I really enjoy about him is that it is actually interesting to contemplate what "his" world would look like. Cyrus and Lysandre's ideal worlds would have been homogenous blurs. Archie and Maxie would have simply added some more ocean/landmass. And Giovanni didn't really have an "ideal world," he just wanted money and influence. But what would things have looked like if Ghetsis had gotten his way? Pretty bleak, I would imagine, but the specifics of what day-to-day life would be like under his rule are less certain, and more interesting to think about.


My runner-up would be Lysandre. I felt like they did some pretty good character work with him. You know how people keep asking to see a Professor turn out to be the villain? Well, Lysandre kind of fulfills that concept, to some degree. At least, in the sense of a trusted ally revealing himself to be the major antagonist. My girlfriend says that Lysandre reminded her of those stories from people who lived next to serial killers, and said that they always seemed to be very level people who weren't capable of such violence. Because Lysandre really is, in some ways, presented as a friend to the player. He treats you very politely, is said to also be studying Mega Evolution under Professor Sycamore's tutelage, and even calls you on the Holo Caster from time to time. But then the time comes, and suddenly he's talking about genocide and wiping out the "unworthy"... and that reveals a nastier layer to him. Because he's actually a shockingly egotistical elitist. (Which was somewhat hinted at early on, during his conversation with Diantha, when he says that as a movie star, she was chosen to remain forever beautiful - he is noticeably bothered by the fact that Diantha doesn't wish to remain young, and insists that it is her duty. To me, this calls to mind the type of sexist Hollywood arrogance that deems women to be undesirable past a certain age.) His core thinking is that the population has grown to a point of instability, and that something should be done to rectify that, but his solution is to build an ark that only the wealthy elite can afford, and then to wipe out the rest of humanity. Which as we can see from the quality of character in the Team Flare members, is neither fair nor particularly well-considered. His backstory garners hims some sympathy, and even the characters remark upon that. But the characters and, hopefully, the players all agree that he went much too far with it. As Sycamore says, Lysandre never managed to put his ego aside. Instead, his belief in "divine right"-esque "chosen ones" (an interesting juxtaposition for a character of royal blood) and what appears to be a belief in a higher power working through the ultimate weapon (according to the report on his desk at Lysandre Labs) warped his view and convinced him that his extreme measures were justified.

Oddly, I'm not so sure that the tears he sheds over the prospective elimination of Pokémon feels earned at that point in the story. Perhaps if they had shown more of his love for Pokémon, it would feel less sudden. In doing so, they could have further emphazised the theme of "bonds" that they were going for, so to me that seems like a bit of a no-brainer.

At any rate, he is also really damn stylish. Perhaps one of the best-dressed Pokémon characters. I love his attire.
 
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I think it was confirmed somewhere that Ghetsis lost his arm and eye in a Pokemon attack. It might explain his view of Pokemon as just "tools" instead of living, breathing creatures, kind of like how Kurata from Digimon Savers wanted to kill all Digimon because he was attacked by one.
 
"The hated boss who beats you down, and beats you down, and never lets up! Yeah! Big bad Guzma's here!"

No doubt, Guzma. Guzma is honestly such a refreshing villain after generations of villains who want to destroy the world or want world domination. Gumza is just a guy who turned to a life of crime for various reasons, one being how society rejected him. Its heavily implied that he was abused by his family and his goal to become a Trial Captain was shot down. On top of that, nobody ever recognized his potential. He had a long way to go, but all he wanted was for someone to recognize his skills. The only person who ever did was Lusamine, so he was more than happy to help her with her schemes. He did't want world domination. He just wanted to cause trouble for a society that rejected him and help the only person who accepted him. In the end, he disbands Team Skull and we see him getting a chance to turn over a new leaf as he goes to train with Kahuna Hala to someday battle against us again and beat the toughest trainer in all of Alola. Redemption is something that most villains rarely get, so its great to see Guzma get a chance to redeem himself. Also, Guzma was just downright entertaining. I just loved his loud and bombastic personality. It was always a joy to see him on screen and read his dialogue. It was chock full of personality. All of this is why Guzma is my favorite villain.
 
Primal Dialga from Explorers of the Sky. So much power and rage built up. He is also tough to beat.
 
Ghetsis, hands down. There has been no act too cruel, no deed too evil, and no heart too pure for him to twist in any shape and form. I would call him a "monster" but I feel like that wold be insulting the Pokemon, who are "pocket monsters". But seriously, this guy was brutal yet brilliant. He was clearly one of the most manipulative, cunning, and downright vile villains Pokemon has ever produced. And he did it with pride. He reminds me a lot of Tarantulus from Beast Wars, who was vile, cunning, manipulative, and outright disgusting in his methods, just like Ghetsis. Not to mention he had probably the two biggest villainous breakdowns the series ever had when his plans got turned upside-down. But even then he remained a potent and vile chessmaster. As much as I could hate N's guts at times, he was nothing more than a pawn to Ghetsis, who purposely crafted N in the most perfect way, which, when the truth was revealed, left N in a broken silence. And it was like nothing could silence N up until that point. Not to mention Ghetsis completely hijacked what would be a traditional endgame and ran it right into the ground. While we never got to see anyone really "liberating" their Pokemon in-game, it was clear Ghetsis had quite an effect on everyone. It felt so satisfying to shut him down both times, sending him into a total mental crash by B2W2, and it was well-deserved. It's reasons like this that I am a firm believer that Gen V was the crowning point of the series.

Second place goes to Cyrus. Team Galactic, I felt, had a much bigger impact during their run than Team Plasma, since you could see the results of Cyrus' plans in plain sight. And let's not forget that Cyrus nearly WON. After all, he captured the 3 Lake Guardians, plus Dialga and/or Palkia (depending on the version), and only really lost due to virtually divine intervention (the 3 Lake Guardians in DP and Giratina in Pt). But he and Team Galactic nearly WON the war, so he gets a special mention. Plus his entire plan could've been prevented if his family didn't neglect him, which his grandfather in Sunnyshore clearly regretted not stepping in when he had the chance. But Cyrus gets second place because his cruelty and mistreatment of others paled compared to Ghetsis, though, again, he came the closest to winning.
 
My favorite antagonist is definitely Colress, but not even the game canon considers him a villain anymore, and this thread seems to be specifically about the evil characters. I can ramble about Col's amiable brand of amorality a different time :p

It's really hard to choose, honestly. Ghetsis had the best fights in the series for sure, and how the plot of Gen V lead up to him as a final challenge was really awesome--and he was actually a challenge to beat! Characterization-wise, my favorite is Guzma. I love his personality: his impulsiveness, his anger, his eagerness to win and his desperation for approval. Most of all, I was incredibly shocked by how much backstory he had and the reasons for his descent into violence and crime. How he was always second or third best, how the games imply his father beat him, and how that mixed with his personality and his signature Pokémon's motifs, move, and ability all combine to suggest that Guzma is a very frightened individual who copes by taking his distress out on himself and others. He also serves as a foil to characters like N, Lillie, and Gladion, who were also victims of abuse or mistreatment--while those characters are depicted as innocent, sometimes misguided but ultimately good, Guzma is a victim who is not innocent. Guzma actively hurts people and remains belligerent and prone to outbursts past the postgame. It's very interesting.

Buuuuut, writing-wise, the overall best in show to me is Lusamine. Lusamine is undeniably awful and unhinged, and her motivations are in my opinion a wonderful homage to some of the schemes the franchise has seen over the years: she grooms and abuses her children like Ghetsis, is beauty-obsessed, vain, and out of her right mind like Lysandre, and wishes to construct or escape to another place/reality purely for her own benefit, in a strange hybrid of Cyrus and the Maqua leaders' motivations. And the thing I love most about Lusamine is that there's enough subtext in-game that I can see her as a person with a thought process, however insane and awful it may be. A brilliant scientist wracked with grief over the death of her husband, a once-loving mother whose obsessive personality and internal conflict made her susceptible to the corruption of actual alien lifeforms from beyond the known dimensions...Lusamine has a lot going on, and what backstory we hear makes her a more believable villain than past masterminds, while retaining that wonderful and ludicrous attitude of "I'm diabolically intelligent and super duper evil, damn it." And she's scary! Both real-world, horrific-child-abuser-using known-abuse-tactics scary, and fantastical-eldritch-alien-horror scary. Her final battle absolutely blew my mind, I couldn't believe what was happening the entire time it was going on. She lies in that rare sweet spot between "You didn't have to be this way and I feel sorry for you" and "This is absolutely inexcusable and I derive pleasure from your defeat and subsequent breakdown." There are some villains who I love to hate, and some that I empathize with and love wholeheartedly. For me, Lusamine is the one who has made me feel both at the same time, and I give her all of my appreciation for making me feel truly conflicted.
 
Ghetsis feels like the true villain of the pokemon series who was clearly acting for the purpose of evil, even going so far as to abusing his son. I don't like what he did but damn the battles against him were really stressful. And like everyone else here, hijacking the traditional endgame was pretty awesome.

My second favorite villain is Colress because he's an unorthodox villain. He wasn't used by Ghetsis; he joined Team Plasma as the second-in-command boss as Ghetsis's friend. However, I'm not sure if he agreed with Ghetsis's goals. Colress wasn't misguided; he was immersed in his research and didn't have any remorse for abusing Kyurem or causing damage to the Unova region. He invented tools that disrupt pokemon's moods and controls them to a certain degree. Yet even as a villain, he's friendly to the player character and even gives away Master Balls and requests battles for more data for his research. He doesn't care about being evil; he doesn't even care what happened to Ghetsis after disbanding Neo Team Plasma. If anything, Colress was taking advantage of Team Plasma's resources (a.k.a., Ghetsis's money) for his own research. I don't know if he even cares about anything else that's not directly related to his interests - he's selfish to the extreme, and yet he's been quite helpful a number of times. It is hard to tell whether he's actually a good guy or a bad guy deep down. He doesn't stand out, which makes him more dangerous because he's usually overlooked.
 
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Going by general antagonists, I'm going to say Mars. Really like her design and stuff, and I like how her character was depicted in the manga Diamond and Pearl Adventure!.

However, as far as main villains go... I'm not sure about a definite favorite, but either Cyrus or Ghetsis is #1.
 
This one is hard...
I'd go with Giovanni but he as well as TR have been used for so many things and times that I'm sick of him and the Rainbow Rocket is simply awful. For wanting to have him return again, I cannot vote for any of the four Admins.
Archie and Maxie are simply extreme environmental activists.
Cyrus tried something on a huge scale but I couldn't care less for it.
Ghetsis...he's sick when taking N just for his advantage when they were almost certainly relatives.
To sum it up, I don't have a favorite villain in the main series but I do love how Societea used the Pkmn Pinchers in Pkmn Ranger: GS and how they portray themselves as nice old people but are villains.
 
Hmmmmm......

The 1-2 punch of Guzma and Lusamine for being more down to earth and committing regular, everyday evil in place of cartoonish supervillainy.

Also have a soft spot for the spin-off villains. They do the same job just as well as the core series teams (sometimes better), but almost everyone ignores them...


And if it's okay, I think I'll leave this here since it comments on them and their plots:
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTCyA5n3LGI&list=FLQq-C0TVcqLEErScLBDLFXw&index=3
 
Giovanni, because he's a simple villain, but also has a lot of influence and power. Ghetsis is close behind because of how despicable and evil he is. Where Giovanni is a bad guy whom you can respect, Ghetsis is a bad guy whom you want to beat down as hard as you can.
 
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