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To me, the villain is what truly makes or breaks a role playing game. They don’t need to be bad-ass mofos, or even the final boss, but they need to be interesting. They need to get under your skin. They’re the ones you either want dead or on your side. When you can actually hear the villain’s maniacal laughter in your head, when you lose sleep worrying about what he will do, when you not only hate him but understand him, you have a great villain.

Apart from the plot, the antagonist is what provides flavor to truly great RPGs. It becomes not just a quest to finish the game or to level up and get powerful items. A good villain makes you want to know more about him, makes you want to explore the backstory and ask the question: what went wrong? A great villain demands not your pity or fear, but respect and understanding. The truly great ones let you know where they’re coming from, and are, if not quite sympathetic, then forgivable. These five will almost make you feel sorry you drove that bastard sword through their chests, wishing that there was some other way, but resigned to the fact that there is none.

Warning: Spoliers / plot endings may follow

The Guardian, Ultima VII-IX

Believe me, you would not want to be a thorn in this guy’s side for any amount of time. I first encountered the Guardian playing Ultima VIII: Pagan, where, with his gigantic hand sticking out through a dimensional portal, drops me on a strange ilsand of Pagan. And while you don’t even get to face the SOB until the next game, Ultima IX, you can feel his hand in almost every aspect of the world he left you in. In fact, the sole object of Ultima VIII is to find a way back home so you can kick the red muppet’s rear end, and it’s such a motivational force that even when fighting the game’s villains, the Guardian was still the main focus of my butt-kicking for goodness.

The Enclave, Fallout 2

Not a singular entity per se, the Enclave comprises the remnants of the United States’ government in the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout. Towards the latter part of the game, you discover that this organization has been kidnapping entire villages - one of which is the protagonist’s- to use as test-subjects for the FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus ). The Enclave has created an airborne disease to destroy all living people on Earth, in order to allow Enclave citizens—the only people not mutated at all—to take over the planet.

Well, what can you expect from the United States government?

Darth Revan, Knights of the Old Republic 1

I put off playing Knights of the Old Republic for the longest time because I wasn’t much of a Star Wars fan, and when I started this game, I didn’t feel like I really missed anything. In the game you play a Republic recruit forced to land on a planet newly-conquered by the Sith, led by Darth Malak after Darth Revan’s mysterious disappearance. As the game progresses, you gain access to certain skills, memories and powers that mark you as a force-sensitive, with the possibility of becoming a Jedi. Pretty much what you’d expect.

Then the game throws a curve ball at you: you are Darth Revan, mind-wiped by the Jedi council in the hopes of turning you back to the light side. Pretty neat twist, which actually led me to declare that I was Darth Revan to every NPC I met from then on

Aribeth de Tylmarande, Paladin of Tyr, Neverwinter Nights

Aribeth is the embodiment of the noble hero with a tragic flaw of Shakespearean proportions. A Paladin of Tyr, she is fair of face, pure of heart and strong of will. Until Desther unleashes a plague in Neverwinter that decimates the population, with Fenthick, Aribeth’s lover, as his unwitting ally. Exposed, both are executed by Nasher, Lord of Neverwinter, despite Aribeth’s protestations of Fenthick’s innocence.

Seeing this as proof of Tyr’s callousness, Aribeth slowly turns to evil, becoming a blackguard and betraying Lord Nasher. It’s hard to hate her though, as her character is one of the deepest and most developed I’ve ever seen in an NPC. She’s one of those villains where you totally understand where she’s coming from.

Jonaleth Irenicus, Baldur’s Gate 2

He cannot be caged. He cannot be contained. That’s something you would do well to remember, ever-pathetic, ever-fools. He also has the best voice I have ever heard in any game, strangely reminiscent of Scar from the Lion King. Like Aribeth, Irenicus is almost Shakespearean in his tragedy, and like Othello, he has “loved not wisely, but too well,” this love being the elven Queen Elliseme. Spurned by his love and queen, Irenicus vows revenge along with his siter Bodhi, but both are caught and outcast before they could destroy the ancient tree of Suldenasellar. As further punishment, their souls are banished to hell.

Throughout the story Irenicus is shown as being cruel yet empathic, doing what he does only because he believes he has to. He is not pure evil, but he is no misunderstood sissy either. He knows the depravity of his actions, but circumstances have left him with no other recourse. In the end I felt more anger towards the elves of Suldenasellar for their callousness. Reminds me a lot of Hal Jordan in the Emerald Twilight saga.

Notes

I naturally did not include MMORPGs in the list for consideration because they really don’t have a central villain; by their very nature, MMORPGs are more community based than story driven. I have also not played Planescape: Torment, much to my dismay, although I’e heard it’s a very good game.

So that’s my top five villains; next up, best NPCs!

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