Awesome Antagonists!

Today, I will discuss characters in stories that are often disregarded for what they do. They are evil, crazy, destructive, or sometimes even psychopathic, but without them stories would be boring! I am talking about villains. The people in stories you love to hate and love to watch be destroyed by the hero, who at that point in the story, has either learned a lot or become a lot more powerful. But while villains might not be the nicest people in the world, they serve an important role in the story. without them, the hero of the story would have nothing to do. In fact, they wouldn't be a heros anymore, they would just be bored!


See, villains are important to stories, so this blog is a tribute to them and their hard work of being evil.
To start out, I will Make a list of my top 10 favorite bad guys ever!






#10: Bowser

He's so menacing, but so easy to defeat. He may be a giant, fire-breathing, turtle-dragon, But a chubby plumber can beat the heck out of him by jumping on his head three times! He always captures princess peach, but Mario ALWAYS gets her back. It's the same story EVERY time! But he's so menacing, so persistent, and so lacking in the knowledge of Mario's reputation, you got to love him!

#4: King Galbatorix

Galbatorix is definitely evil. He is power-hungry and cares nothing of his subjects. But, in the books, you don't meet him until the last book in the series, so it's kind of rewarding to meet him and see what he's like. His seemingly invincible power and calm, cool demeanor make him look like a greater opponent than Eragon could handle. Despite Galbatorix's high intelligence, he was unaware of his evil actions and insanity, and also unaware that if enough focus is present, someone can use magic without saying anything. Because of this, Eragon defeated him by using a wordless spell (galbatorix prevented him from saying magic words) that made him realize he did wrong and feel empathy for the all of the people he effected negatively.This made Galbatorix destroy himself. Unlike most villains, Galbatorix is smooth-spoken and clever, which made his dual with Eragon all the more exciting. I loved reading about him being defeated!

#3: Darth Vader


I had to have him in the list! Darth Vader is the most popular villain of all time, and I can see why. He is so menacing with is cape, black robo-suit, insane amount of anger towards everything, awesome theme song, and baritone voice complete with deep breathing, Vader is just asking to be a awesome villain. The only reason he isn't higher on the list is that him and Luke never really had a final, epic dual. In Empire Strikes Back, Vader defeated Luke and chopped off Luke's hand, but Luke didn't ever get revenge. Instead, Vader turned on emperor Palpatine and let the rebels win. Like galbatorix, Vader's realizing of his evil's was fatal, and after saying goodbye to Luke, he killed himself with the knowledge of the wrongs he did. But, his retreating from antagonism just makes me feel better about how I think he's awesome. Darth Vader definitely knows his stuff about being a villain. He is a legend among movie characters.

#2: Ganondorf

I like Ganondorf. He is Link's main target in a number of Zelda games. You only meet him once or twice before you have a final duel with him at the end of the game, but when you do, you think, "Dang, that guy's a jerk!" Not  only that, but he is after the triforce and desperately wants to become a god and rule the world. Between all of this, you end up REALLY wanting to have an epic dual with him and destroy his every hope and dream. Nintendo realizes this, so they don't disappoint you! The very reason Ganondorf is this high on my list of villains is because he provides Link with some seriously epic duels, and unlike duels in books or movies, you fight Ganondorf yourself and experience the awesomness first-hand. The good thing about epic duels in video games is that if the protagonist screws up and almost loses it for everyone, you can't blame anyone but yourself. There is also not the pain of the dramatic irony of knowing that the villain has a trick up his sleeve that the hero doesn't know it and you have to watch in pain as your hero almost loses. In a video game, if a villain like Ganondorf has a trick up his sleeve (like turning into a rampaging, giant boar, for example) you don't know it until the villain deploys it. Anyway, Ganondorf is a master at planning out epic duels, putting him high on my list.

#1: WARIO!!!

(Well, who did you expect it would be?)

Well folks that concludes it. Wario gets the fast-pass to the front of the line, but I think the others are good to. Now there are much more evil and villains much easier to hate, but these villains are so good at doing what they are expected, you got to like 'em! Though next time your protagonist is on a quest, make sure to think about how hard that antagonist is trying to make you hate you hate them and how hard they are trying to stop the hero. As I said, if it wasn't for the antagonists, stories just wouldn't be fun anymore!