There always seems to be this strange thing that happens when I get into some new story. I enjoy it, first and foremost, I get into the music, and then I find myself smitten with whatever villain or morally ambiguous character I may have found within it. Then I realize I'm listening to their theme in the soundtrack more than the other songs, and I'm continuing an interesting trend that's been occurring since I was a very young lad.
You see, in my childhood years, on Halloween, I didn't always go as a hero, particularly where Star Wars was concerned. That was a big deal, since Star Wars was huge with me. First I was Darth Vader, then when Episode I came out I was Darth Maul, and when Episode II came out I was Jango Fett, even as Obi-Wan Kenobi became my familiar. By the time Episode III came out, I think I was just about done dressing up for Halloween, but nevertheless, I understood Anakin Skywalker better than most people.
In fact it was not too long beforehand that I created a villain of my own named Saith McIfer. Now, I'd made villains before, certainly, but the difference was the Saith was essentially the main character of his story, and furthermore, he was me. Saith was endowed with the powers of the devil himself, known as the power "to do what ever he wanted." So perhaps more than anything, Saith was just a manifestation of my budding...social repression. Plenty of people have their own Saiths, I'd say, since he was basically a form of me that was bound by neither typical moral values nor the laws of physics. Saith had a weakness though, and it was love, but not in the traditional sense. He gave the girl he loved power, even though she always had power over him, and she ended up betraying him. This is essentially how he lost in the end, since her abandonment of him drove him into seriousness.
He's one of the most endearing characters I've ever created, aside from MageBoy, who's an interesting case. He started out the purest form of hero, but over time grew more and more ambiguous, even not counting the story in which he arbitrarily became evil. Even now it is my desire to portray him as largely neutral instead of inevitably good in the main story I'm working on. Many of my heroes tend to be this way in fact.
What does that say about me then, that I tend to sympathize and side with villains? Could mean I'm destined to be one myself, who knows? I've always had this odd theory that I'm some Chosen One or something, bound to alter the course of the human race, and I've sort of seen it coming together all my life. In truth, if my role in life is to then play the antagonist, I am satisfied doing so. Of course, this is all philosophical blithering nonsense.
It can really be explained with good reasoning. Villains are easy to admire because quite simply there are fewer rules imposed on them, and for the story to have good tension, they must be given the advantage at some point, putting them in a position of some power. Power is something that tempts everyone. In quite a few cases, this power allows the villain to simply have a much better time in their role than their heroic counterparts. Seeing a person uninhibited and having a ball challenging the hero is fun. Even the more serious ones tend to exude an air of cool confidence, which is another quality that is admirable, and well placed if the hero doesn't have some MacGuffin or other.
On a real world level, villains also tend to have cooler, more intricate designs. Armor, spikes, trendy blacks and flowing capes, or suits, on the other hand. When they're not large and in charge, they tend to be cool, suave, attractive people, or truly disheveled individuals who stick out for their pure oddity. On top of this you have the music that follows them. For whatever reason, villainous leitmotifs tend to simply be more awesome. The Imperial March is arguably more well known than the original theme itself. The Pirates of the Caribbean series is a frequent offender with this.
A good story is difficult to make without a villain to twist it and turn it, and they can have a very diverse range of temperments. Is he/she pure chaotic evil bent on ending creation and only stoppable by the proper application of specific force, or is he/she a character that grows and acts as a cool, handsome foil to the hero that is only as dangerous as the hero allows? You could have the same situation, two different villains, and watch the end result be vastly different each time. Granted, heroes work much the same way, since you could easily have one with less than perfect morals. Villains still have the advantage of authority, however. At some point, you can bet they're going to be a threat, and stack all the odds they can against their hero. Though many are destined to lose, it is the implacable power and hopelessness that a villain brings to the table that allows the hero to have a sweet victory in the first place.
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