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Best and Worst Star Wars Villain
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Petter
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Sep 10, 2012 11:00PM
Of all the villains of Star Wars, who is the one that really makes your heart race, and who stops it dead cold? Please elaborate!
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Darth Bane by a mile. He's such a freakin beast, and he changed the Sith so much it's impossible to ignore him. I also love Revan, Scourge, and Maul. Revan is undoubtedly one of the most powerful Sith/Jedi ever, and I just loved how Scourge was like a young punk, but learning at the same time so he wasn't just a foolish young person. And Darth Maul, OH MY GOODNESS! What a bear. But he would be better if he had ambitions of his own, and he wasn't just a mindless soldier. But he was so epic that I can't not love him.I'm not sure if I've ever read about a Sith I actually didn't like, though. I guess I haven't read as many Star Wars books as I should have. :)
Grand Admiral Thrawn is my absolute number 1. Through him, Timothy Zahn really managed to make the Empire and Imperials more interesting and competent, and less plagued by ceaseless Fail.I also like Palpatine, the way he is cast in The Return of the Jedi. He is malicious, manipulative, arrogant, powerful - a truly dignified Villain.
Darth Bane was reeeally freaky. I thought he struck a balance between being deadly and cunning--not just "I'm gonna kill everyone in my path teeheehee, I am so EVUL."As for worst villain, I would vote for Pors Tonith, the "bad guy" from "Jedi Trial". Purple Teeth. That is all.
Mod
Action-wise, though, I'd have to go with General Grievous...
Vader is still my favorite villain, mostly because he is complex and trapped. When he becomes Darth Vader he realizes that his sacrifices and betrayals were in vain to save the one he loved. He can't repent or go back and there is a bitterness there because of it.I would not call him evil.... Palpatine is evil, Vader is ruthless. He is a man who became the monster to do what he thought was necessary.
Xizor was a good villain. He was refined, he enjoyed the finer things in life, he could get any woman he wanted, but that was all a facade cuz he was just a criminal, murdering piece of trash. I think that was a test question for The Most Dangerous Game. Aurra Sing's another good one. I first saw her in "Coruscant Night's" but it turns out she's got quite a history. My least favorite villain? Jar Jar Binks? Hmm, probably that kid from the Side Trip Novella in Tales from the Empire: Stories from Star Wars Adventure Journal who keeps wishing he had a set of Jodo Kast's armor. He was only put in there to show how devious and cold Thrawn could be, though.
It's funny, I don't mean to insult anyone's taste, but Xizor was the first villian I thought of for least favorite villains. For those of you who don't know this is a guy who spends a crazy amount of credits on a machine that develops his muscle tone instead of doing exercise. That just kind of stood out to me among other reasons for being superficial. But, maybe because I dislike him, it means he's a good villain!
Worst villain for me is Darth Maul... I never could get into his mind and thus cannot connect at all. UNLESS we can argue that Jar Jar put Palpatine in power on purpose to the end of destroying the Republic, of course!Best villain... hmm, a difficult choice. I do love Thrawn but I have to say I am partial to Admiral Daala, too. I love the idea of the Lusankya.
Grand Admiral Thrawn is probably my favorite villain ever. He was just so smart that I couldn't help but admire him, while at the same time I didn't want him to win because... well, he was the villain.
Best villain ever has to be "Darth Bane" for sure he was ruthless, and determined to change the ways of the sith. Also liked "Revan"and "Malak" from the old republic, and the Sith Lords "Naga Sadow", "Exar Kun" and "Ulic-Quel Droma".
Lori wrote: "Worst villain for me is Darth Maul... I never could get into his mind and thus cannot connect at all. UNLESS we can argue that Jar Jar put Palpatine in power on purpose to the end of destroying th..."Psh you can't get into his mind because you can't handle the awesome! (Only playful bantering here, don't hurt me!)
Best Villian...The Emperor - So manipulative...kinda like my kids and they scare me :O)Worst Villian...Darth Maul - He got killed off way too quickly for such an intimidating character.
The worst for me was "Lord Skere Kaan" from the Bane trilogy, he thought that his Brotherhood of darkness could actually stop Bane in his attempt to form his own new rule for the dark side of the force!
Hello! GUYS! THE YUZHAAN VONG? C'mon, they wipe out half the galazy, commit genocide innumerable times, kill Anakin, Chewie, Borsk Fey'lya,Ganner and so on. Those were real baddies. Ruthless, murderous, and yet so righteous in their ignorance.
Not to mention that the books could be down right chilling, vicious, graphic, and send chills down your spine. Thanks to them, we met the Ryn, old friends of Solo, and saw some pretty incredible things.
So as a whole, I say them.
But for one person, i must pick Thrawn. I will be honest, if he wasn't evil, i would have been rooting for him.
Worst villain - Gamorrean Guards, haha.But to be honest, i hated Jabba. I do not know why, but i just could not stand him...
Thrawn and Palpaltine are the "best" villains, IMO. Both set you up for failure without you ever knowing, which is pretty scary.But in all fairness, I really haven't read much of the pre-Episode 1 timeline, so I might be missing out on a few.
boba fett is the best villain becuse hes alsome!!!!!!!!
There are a lot of villans that turned to the light side, so I guess those would be considered "Bad Villans"...
I can't think of anyone better than Palpatine, epecially in Revenge of the Sith, otherwise I have to go with Thrawn on this, devastatingly smart, brilliantly diplomatic, and surprisingly honourable, considering Imperial Dogma. And, heck, he single-handedly changed the tide of battle over a whole galaxy, if ever so briefly
For me it was Darth Bane. His quest for knowledge and power, even taking it as far as hunting for immortality if I remember the story correctly. He is always calm, which makes him even more brilliant a villain.
Best Star Wars villain is Palpatine/Sidious. Pretty self-explanatory. Worst...I'm going to go with Darth Vectivus :)
The best is Grand Admiral Thrawn for me (but is he really a villain?). Palpatine is a great choice, too. For the worst, I don't think much of Daala, even though she improves with time in my opinion.
Early on, Thrawn was certainly a villain and a great one. It's interesting how the later stories have shown us the gray side of Thrawn, which certainly adds a lot to his character.
Yeah, I don't think of Daala or Thrawn as villains. They were simply imperial officers. I guess Thrawn having erring underlings killed on the spot is pretty villanous, though, huh? Yeah, screw them, they're imps, they're evil.
Palpatine gave me the creeps from day one. Everyone else was dark or troubled but just not evil on the same level. I always got the impression Vader was trying to fix what he screwed up even from the start and come to find out... that was the case... he did start the rebellion after all. Palpatine though just exuded evil.
Acamal wrote: "The best is Grand Admiral Thrawn for me (but is he really a villain?). Palpatine is a great choice, too. For the worst, I don't think much of Daala, even though she improves with time in my opinion."Like you, Acamal, I question whether Thrawn is in fact a villain. He certainly is an enemy of the main characters and the cause they champion, but does that make him evil per se? To me he is an exceptional military commander, and you will never see one of those during wartime who does not have to make callous decisions, go back on their promises, or play dirty when "necessary". Commanders who don't will LOSE and wind up dead and/or forgotten. Thrawn chose to be merciful on several occasions when many in his position would have chosen to make a bloody example or at least use excessive force. The greatest crimes I would blame him for are his exploitation of the Noghri and the destruction of the Outbound Flight. But how are those actions worse than some of those by the Entente of WW 1, or the Western Allies during WW2 - the supposed good guys as most of history remembers them? War is hell, and I deem that Thrawn was better at limiting collateral damage than most others of the Star Wars setting.
Petter wrote: "Acamal wrote: "The best is Grand Admiral Thrawn for me (but is he really a villain?). Thrawn was meant to be a charismatic villain, and he really is in the Thrawn Trilogy. Some of his actions are indeed questionable – killing underling for failure, planning to use Leia’s children, going on with the exploitation of the Noghri, and such.
He is ruthless and willing to accept sacrifices for a greater goal, but we can see in latter books that his Empire (of the Hand) is quite different of Palpatine’s. The Empire is a tool for him, not a goal in itself – even though he likes power. He has to cope with the Empire as it is, trying to change it would be arduous and surely a waste of resources at this time. He believes in order and a strong government. Naturally, he fights the Rebellion/New Republic.
He is not a bad/dark person. He is a decent man, although cold and demanding. Time and trials seem to have hardened him, though. He is a multi-faceted character and this complexity is part of his charm. Highly intelligent, brilliant strategist, always courteous and in control – but some of his actions and cold blooded decisions are quite disturbing.
My favorite villain is Boba Fett, if you call him a villain. And my least favorite villain is Nute Gunray, I think it would be cool if they had a non Nute Gunray like Nemodian, Gunray's species.
I think there should be a hero (or villain ?)whose more against evil authority, than good or Evil
Emperor Palpatine and Vader (for what Robert said) are the most interesting to me.Count Dooku is my least favorite, and he had a silly name.
My favourite is the Emperor. He is manipulative and get Anakin to join the dark side. He is the Sith Lord behind the Clone Wars all these while. Darth Vader is also my favourite as he is scary enough to be the villain. He is cruel, greedy and corrupted by the dark side. My least favourite villains are mostly the Trade Federation. I think they're lame and they just plan something for the Sith. That's all. They also don't fight.
Exar kun all the way has to be one of the greatest villains in Star Wars history next Marka dragons ...who was so powerful he had a scepter that could imbue people with the force...Exar kuns fall to the dark side was tragic one...being forced into it by the spirit of freedom nadd
I like Darth Maul. Just his appearance stops you in your tracks, then he pulls out his double bladed saber and BAM! wind knocked out of you.
Petter wrote: "Grand Admiral Thrawn is my absolute number 1. Through him, Timothy Zahn really managed to make the Empire and Imperials more interesting and competent, and less plagued by ceaseless Fail.I also l..."
I think one of the reason's Zahn did Thrawn so well is that he admits to modeling Thrawn on Sherlock Holmes.
Dan wrote: "It's funny, I don't mean to insult anyone's taste, but Xizor was the first villian I thought of for least favorite villains. For those of you who don't know this is a guy who spends a crazy amount..."Interesting ideas.
For me, it's a four way tie for best villain. The tie consists of Grand Admiral Thrawn, Darth Revan, Darth Bane and Prince Xizor. Prince Xizor was meant to be the STAR WARS equivalent of Don Corleone from the original Godfather movie.Worst villain for me is also a tie, but this one's only a three way tie: Boba Fet/Natasi Daala and Exar Kun's Force ghost. Why him? He got his spectral ASS beat by a dozen Padawans and a pair of 2-1/2 year old TODDLERS!
Darth Maul is an awesome villain! The makeup is pure evil, he has martial arts style moves and the double-blade light saber. It's too bad he was cut in half in "Phantom......" Of course Expanded Universe fans know he came back with Terminator style cyborg legs. Fans interested in his origins should read "Shadow Hunter". Grand Admiral Thrawn should also get a nod for his logical, tactical strategies and his icy cold demeanor. Too bad he hasn't left the page and landed on the screen......at least not yet.......
Jamie wrote: "Darth Maul is an awesome villain! The makeup is pure evil, he has martial arts style moves and the double-blade light saber. It's too bad he was cut in half in "Phantom......" Of course Expanded Un..."He was so good at it because Zahn has REPEATEDLY admitted that he modeled Thrawn's logic on Sherlock Holmes. IMO I think there's ALSO a bit of Professor Moriarty in him... .
Amber wrote: "For me, it's a four way tie for best villain. The tie consists of Grand Admiral Thrawn, Darth Revan, Darth Bane and Prince Xizor. Prince Xizor was meant to be the STAR WARS equivalent of Don Corl..."I agree with you about Daala and Kun, but basically those two never stood a chance since they in my humble opinion are part of some of the least "believable" and engaging Star Wars that I've ever read. Almost nothing makes sense in those novels at all.
As for Boba Fet and Darth Maul, I must confess that I feel split. All those two do is stand around and look cool until they get into a fight and die without having said more than a word or two and without having developed characters. We the audience have to fill in the blanks ourselves, and that's always fun, of course.
Petter wrote: "Amber wrote: "For me, it's a four way tie for best villain. The tie consists of Grand Admiral Thrawn, Darth Revan, Darth Bane and Prince Xizor. Prince Xizor was meant to be the STAR WARS equivale..."Daala was just plain bitchy... .
Jabba the Hutt. He's the most disgustingly, vibrantly alive being in all of Star Wars, and it's too bad he has such a small role in the series.
So, who's the worst villain, in your opinion, M?
He is not, of course, the worst villain, but for me, Palpatine in Return of the Jedi falls flat; he's too simplistic, cackles too much, etc. I actually like him a lot better in the prequel trilogy, heresy though it may be.
Not to me. He really was better in the prequels.
in the films, Grand Moff Tarkin and Emperor Palpatine are the two best true villains in both of the existing trilogies. Darth Vader, in both A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, is a close second, especially to those of us who watched the original films in 1977 and '80 (before we knew for sure that he WAS Anakin Skywalker).In the Expanded Universe, the best villains are Grand Admiral Thrawn and Joruus C'baoth.
One reason Thrawn is so good at being a villain is that he was modeled on Sherlock Holmes the way Holmes COULD have been if he'd been more like Professor Moriarty.
Darth Vader definitely. He's not only my favorite Star Wars villain but my favorite Star Wars characters. He's basically the Star Wars icon. In the Empire Strikes Back film, he was very intimidating on how he could be ruthless and almost like a monster if he didn't like you or if you kept failing his expectations.
Boba Fett is terrible. Cool design aside, he's usually defeated, cursing and plotting revenge like a DuckTales villain (and this is coming from someone who has 5 different Fett figures). Can't really understand his 'best merc ever' reputation. Darth Maul and Captain Phasma are also well-known alumni of the Fett school of cool looking morons.I agree that Thrawn succeeded in making the Empire actually scary and is a great villain, but not more than Palpatine himself.
The way he manipulated politicians to hand him ultimate power, dismantled the self-righteous Jedi using their own arrogance and managed to unify a good chunk of the galaxy in a plan that spanned dozens of movies, books and games? Wow.
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The Most Dangerous Game (other topics)Tales from the Empire (other topics)
