Likeability vs Competency

If you've watched How I Met Your Mother, you presumably have familiarity with the Hot-Crazy Scale. For those of you who haven't, Barney, the show's resident cad, ascribes to a theory that a woman the hotter a woman is, the more crazy she can be and still be dateable.

Although I don't think this is an ideal metric for dating, there is some nugget of wisdom that writers can take away from this. Specifically, that the more competent a character is, the more unlikeable they can get away with being. Competent in this scenario can mean 'really good at evil', I definitely apply it to villains. Conversely, the less competent a character is, the more likeable they must be in order to maintain audience interest or sympathy.

While comedy can support bumbling villains, the rule still applies for the most part. After all, good comedy requires conflict to work. Furthermore, goofy villains require some charm so that they are in fact funny instead of simply annoying. Similarly, a dark anti-hero must be good at what they do, or else they're just obnoxious and mean. So without further ado, I present the 'Likeable-Comepetent' scale.