The 10 Most Evil Villains In Video Games

created by Mr_Vorhias

A brief explanation before we begin. There have already been countless lists of the best villains in video games in the past, and chances are there are no two that are alike, but I like to think that my list is different in some aspects because I haven't let things like popularity of the character or the game it's in influence my decisions.

Here are some stipulations I set:

- The character cannot be evil by any sort of outside forces influencing him. If they had a rough childhood, if they're out for revenge, if they're being forced by a more powerful villain, he's disqualified from being on the list.
- The character cannot at some point have assisted the protagonist.
- The character cannot show any sort of remorse, guilt, shame, or otherwise any sort of human traits towards their misdeeds.
- If the character believes they are doing good, they are off the list. I offer some compromise to that rule with any robotic, or computerized characters, who generally don't believe in good or evil, but "necessity."

So as you can see from these guidelines, I wasn't just looking for evil.

I was looking for EVIL.

Originally this was meant to be a top 20, but since I can't post anymore than 10, here're the runners up:

Chances are you aren't gonna agree with EVERYTHING on the list, but isn't that what makes lists like these great anyway?

Anyway, here's the top 10: Don't agree with the list? Place your vote or if you are a logged in, add a new item for others to vote on.

Vote for The Enemy Paddle (Pong) 1) The Enemy Paddle (Pong)

Pure Evil! It will stop at nothing to crush you!

Althemaster

its more evil that Judge Judy... ok mabye not that evil.

PlayboyX429

Why god? WHY?!?

zack182daley


Vote for Jacqueline Natla (Tomb Raider) 2) Jacqueline Natla (Tomb Raider)

great villain, determined and willing to go over her family gods or even the whole humanity solely to fulfil her will... love her anniversary version... so evil... :D

krycekuva


Vote for Kefka (Final Fantasy 6) 3) Kefka (Final Fantasy 6)

He truly is evil just like joker in the dark knight

philosnav

Are you confused about just how evil a villain could be considered? Look no further than Kefka, because he is one of the pinnacles, one of the standards to which truly evil villains should be measured by. Among other terrible acts, he poisoned the waters of Doma castle and killed everyone inside of it... for FUN.

He doesn’t have a backstory, he isn’t out for revenge, he hasn’t experienced any childhood trauma. He’s just one evil goddamn bastard.


Vote for Gannondorf (Legend of Zelda) 4) Gannondorf (Legend of Zelda)

this guy is a bad-ass and

koolkat


Vote for Hojo (Final Fantasy 7) 5) Hojo (Final Fantasy 7)

Yes, yes, it’s oh-so-obvious to put Sephiroth on this list isn’t it? After all he tops just about every damn evil villain list you can find. Well beans to that, I say. Sephiroth’s not on this list, instead we’ve got the evil scientist responsible for putting that god complex into Sephy’s mind in the first place.

And that’s just the icing on the cake for this guy, not to mention his contempt for his fellow man, (Shrugging off countless Sephiroth clones that killed themselves to make it to the Northern Crater) lack of scientific ethics, (Mercilessly experimenting on Red XIII, attempting at Aeris, and near the end of the game even himself. ) and that creepy slumping forehead of his that makes him look like Mr. Burns.


Vote for GLaDOS (Portal) 6) GLaDOS (Portal)

You know you’ve got cred when Jonathan Coulton writes a song about you.

If I had to guess just what the scientists were thinking when they programmed her, they were thinking of a sort of calm and matronly personae to put the Aperture guinea pigs at ease, and more calm towards their inevitable doom. Instead she is a cold and heartless abberation who casually muses about deadly neurotoxins and nearly tosses you in a furnace. (And we love her for it. )

Her worst crime by far, though? Reneging on a pledge to give the protagonist cake.

Which is BEYOND unacceptable.

Mr_Vorhias


Vote for The Overmind (Starcraft) 7) The Overmind (Starcraft)

It should be enough that the Overmind was once the helm of a race so powerful and bloodthirsty that it took two other races to squash it (And the dramatic death of a beloved character. ) in the first game.

And we shouldn’t even have to mention the evilness in and of itself of a Phalanx-like race that scours the galaxy for species it particularly likes, and assimilates them into themselves, effectively owning them forever, but... well... we just did.

Mr_Vorhias


Vote for Hector LeMans 8) Hector LeMans

It’s one thing to do a lot of deplorable stuff in life, but apparently that wasn’t enough for Grim Fangando’s antagonist, who was based off of Sydney Greenstreet’s character in Casablanca. During one of the final confrontations with Manny, Hector admits that when he was alive he’d been a "Very bad boy. " Which we can only assume means he killed a crapload of people.

It’s later heard that in the afterlife he’s already managed to "sprout" (The equivalent of shooting someone in Grim Fandango, which causes the already dead residents of the Underworld to literally push up daisies. ) over 500 people. As if it wasn’t enough that his master plan was to steal tickets to heaven from otherwise deserving people and sell them to rich people. (Which he still did, even after learning that the tickets wouldn’t work for the rich people. )

Even after death Hector kept on being an evil evil guy... Geez. Isn’t time for a break or something?

Mr_Vorhias


Vote for SHODAN (System Shock) 9) SHODAN (System Shock)

The blueprint of what future villains like GLaDOS would become, SHODAN would torture you before you even get to face her in combat. Taunting you over PA systems, cutting off friendly radio transmissions, and watching you from the computer monitors with a cold, and unfeeling stare.

Oh, yeah... And she hates humans... well not necessarily, being a computer program she’s incapable of real emotion, so she doesn’t necessarily HATE humans... it’s just that her infallible internal can’t comprehend how something so pathetic and worthless can exist.

Mr_Vorhias


Vote for The Elder God (Legacy of Kain) 10) The Elder God (Legacy of Kain)

A nightmarish Cthulhu-like creature, it’s debatable whether the Elder God is in fact a god, but he’s managed to convince a whole lot of people that he is. Whatever the case, he whets his appetite for evil throughout the series by driving the humans and vampires of Nosgoth to war against each other, parasitically feeding off of Nosgoth’s Wheel of Fate, (A supernatural lifecycle) leads the naive protagonist Raziel on every which way, basically sending him after anything that could possibly be forseen as a threat to him...

Pretty much every event that led up to Nosgoth’s downfall into an apocalyptic wasteland can be traced back to the Elder God.

It’s at this point now that I’d like to submit forth my theory that any villain that’s voiced by Tony Jay is a complete badass.

Mr_Vorhias


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Choices Not In The Top Ten

Vote for Smithy (Super Mario RPG) 11) Smithy (Super Mario RPG)

It’s one thing for a person to just want to take over whichever world the video game is set in, (If we were to include every single generic megalomaniacal villain in video gaming on this list, it would stretch for miles. ) but you have to be pretty damn evil to take the pleasant topic of wishes, and want to replace them all with weapons.

There’s no better metaphor for it: It’s akin to setting baskets full of kittens on fire.

Mr_Vorhias

Vote for Sirrus (Myst) 12) Sirrus (Myst)

Vote for Hitler (Wolfenstein 3D) 13) Hitler (Wolfenstein 3D)

Vote for Bowser (Super Mario) 14) Bowser (Super Mario)

Vote for Lavos (Chrono Trigger) 15) Lavos (Chrono Trigger)

Pretty much any villain whose bread and butter is killing entire civilizations to feed their own appetite is a shoe-in for this list. I’ve racked my brain for ways to best describe this spiny interdimensional butcher, and I’ve finally settled on this metaphor:

The Zerg Overmind with a time machine.

Mr_Vorhias

Vote for Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII) 16) Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)

It’s hard to fight someone who wants to destroy the world, yet can’t die.

Vote for Dr. Wily (Mega Man) 17) Dr. Wily (Mega Man)

Vote for M. Bison (Street Fighter 2) 18) M. Bison (Street Fighter 2)

Vote for Mr. Burns (Simpsons Arcade) 19) Mr. Burns (Simpsons Arcade)

Vote for Darth Vader (multiple Star Wars games) 20) Darth Vader (multiple Star Wars games)

Vote for Mortimer McMire (Commander Keen) 21) Mortimer McMire (Commander Keen)

Vote for King K. Rool (Donkey Kong Country) 22) King K. Rool (Donkey Kong Country)

Scary...

Vote for Dr. Cortex (Crash Bandicoot) 23) Dr. Cortex (Crash Bandicoot)

Vote for Volgin (Metal Gear Solid 3) 24) Volgin (Metal Gear Solid 3)

Kuwabara, Kuwabara

Vote for Mileena (Mortal Kombat) 25) Mileena (Mortal Kombat)

Should be in Top3

Vote for Conroy Bumpus (Sam 26) Conroy Bumpus (Sam

Vote for Carmen Sandiego (Carmen Sandiego) 27) Carmen Sandiego (Carmen Sandiego)

Vote for Adrian Ripburger (Full Throttle) 28) Adrian Ripburger (Full Throttle)

Vote for Luca Blight (Suikoden 2) 29) Luca Blight (Suikoden 2)

This guy is pure evil, He kills thousands and starts a war for no reason other than hate, That and he is tough as well.

Vote for Victor Von Doom (Ultimate Alliance) 30) Victor Von Doom (Ultimate Alliance)

He was the hardest dude to beat, it took about 30 hours!

Vote for Al Asad (Call of Duty 4) 31) Al Asad (Call of Duty 4)

Vote for Gene (Metal Gear Solid: Portable OPS) 32) Gene (Metal Gear Solid: Portable OPS)