Who do you consider to be the most terrifyingly relevant fictional villain of our time?
IMO I'd probably have to go with Jimmy from Mouthwashing. I think that he's a very good representation of a very real kind of person. A person who is narcissistic, who is unable to take accountability for his actions, and who refuses to see himself as a monster, even as he continuously does monstrous things. He's basically like a co-worker from hell, which is part of why he's so horrifying.
cfgaussian - 8hr
There is no fictional villain who comes even close to the villains that exist in the real world.
13
Lemmygradwontallowme [he/him, comrade/them] - 4hr
Well, there had to have been a basis for that fictional evil.
2
ghost_of_faso3 - 7hr
western economic system is fiction
9
201dberg - 5hr
This is unbelievably accurate.
4
Marat - 4hr
Moralintern/Mercenaries from Disco Elysium
Edit: Actually scratch the Mercenaries. They're "just" racist murderers. The moralintern, in propagating a murderous system they will defend with nuclear weapons which is slowly but surely destroying the world is much more terrifyingly relevant. Although it's so relevant they might be disqualified from the list for literally just being capitalists
6
haui - 8hr
I havent seen that one but narcissism is a normal and imho inevitable reaction to the disgusting system we live in. It is villified in liberal literature while the contents of narcissism are the exact ones of the system itself. Chauvinism, hypocracy, complete denial of responsibilities is what every smart person will fall into if they dont have strong theory. I've been there and left it behind because I saw that its just me trying to survive in a comletely antisocial system.
To be fair, I will have to reframe most of my movie opinions because of marxism. I think smith from matrix is very fitting and relevant to the current reoccurence of capitalist violence (fascism).
6
Maeve - 21min
Isn't Smith Neo's "shadow" or "asleep" self? I didn't think so when the movie was new, but all these decades later, seeing how we war with ourselves, self-sabotage, self-deceived, etc. And for that matter, The Oracle too, the real self we hide from ourselves so well, that it speaks to us softly in the cryptic way of dreams, or "vibes"/"feelings" etc? Bearing in mind I'm probably old compared to most users here.
1
Large Bullfrog - 3hr
Mr. Krabs
5
La Dame d'Azur - 1hr
It's hard to pick just one but I'll go with one who doesn't get the respect he deserves as a character: Anton Castillo from Far Cry 6.
Say what you will about the game but I was genuinely surprised that the villain was dismissed by so many. Aside from being played by a brilliant actor who delivered a fantastic performance his character is quite honestly one of the best depictions of a fascist dictator I've ever seen in fiction - and especially video games. Whatever other problems the game may have Ubisoft at least got its depiction of fascism very accurate.
Too many attempts at creating fascist-coded villains end up making them too intelligent or too crazy and they become unbelievable archetypes as a consequence. FC6 did not do this with Castillo; he is the perfect example of the kind of populist pseudo-intellectualism the far right loves littered with all the same hypocrisy and ruthlessness that actual fascist leaders have historically had - as well as an appropriate, believable level of cowardice and incompetence while still maintaining the illusion of a charismatic strongman.
I don't know if he's the 'best' Far Cry villain overall but he's definitely the most realistic.
3
sinovictorchan - 4hr
I have no time to come up with a villain for that criteria. However, I will say that the terrifying villain could not rely on plot armor or fictional circumstances to achieve their agenda. They should not be Trump make a slow victimization of privileged groups with advantages to combat the victimization. They should not be like Donald Trump who make overt aggression, picks on the strong countries, made the strong countries suffer from the same US aggression as weak countries, and make gradually increasing aggression that gives the victims' time to properly deal with the tariff.
That mad scientist villain on the M3: The Dark Metal anime can be terrifying for the lack of reliance on overpowered capability. That villain relies more on luck and circumstances for his evil agenda. The Monogatari anime series has a con-man that uses tricks that can work in real life. An example is the decision to spread supernatural rumour in a time at a place when no other supernatural rumour competes with it to ensure effective spread of the desired rumour. The first antagonist of Unbreakable Machine-Doll manga use charismatic charm and fear of overpowered villain in the scapegoating scehem while hiding the role of authority for the serial murder. The evil mastermind in Kubikiri Cycle use the focus on serial murder scheme, savant abilities, and exotic interests to hide a more realistic murder act for more conventional gain.
UminekoEnjoyer in comradeship
Who do you consider to be the most terrifyingly relevant fictional villain of our time?
IMO I'd probably have to go with Jimmy from Mouthwashing. I think that he's a very good representation of a very real kind of person. A person who is narcissistic, who is unable to take accountability for his actions, and who refuses to see himself as a monster, even as he continuously does monstrous things. He's basically like a co-worker from hell, which is part of why he's so horrifying.
There is no fictional villain who comes even close to the villains that exist in the real world.
Well, there had to have been a basis for that fictional evil.
western economic system is fiction
This is unbelievably accurate.
Moralintern/Mercenaries from Disco Elysium
Edit: Actually scratch the Mercenaries. They're "just" racist murderers. The moralintern, in propagating a murderous system they will defend with nuclear weapons which is slowly but surely destroying the world is much more terrifyingly relevant. Although it's so relevant they might be disqualified from the list for literally just being capitalists
I havent seen that one but narcissism is a normal and imho inevitable reaction to the disgusting system we live in. It is villified in liberal literature while the contents of narcissism are the exact ones of the system itself. Chauvinism, hypocracy, complete denial of responsibilities is what every smart person will fall into if they dont have strong theory. I've been there and left it behind because I saw that its just me trying to survive in a comletely antisocial system.
To be fair, I will have to reframe most of my movie opinions because of marxism. I think smith from matrix is very fitting and relevant to the current reoccurence of capitalist violence (fascism).
Isn't Smith Neo's "shadow" or "asleep" self? I didn't think so when the movie was new, but all these decades later, seeing how we war with ourselves, self-sabotage, self-deceived, etc. And for that matter, The Oracle too, the real self we hide from ourselves so well, that it speaks to us softly in the cryptic way of dreams, or "vibes"/"feelings" etc? Bearing in mind I'm probably old compared to most users here.
Mr. Krabs
It's hard to pick just one but I'll go with one who doesn't get the respect he deserves as a character: Anton Castillo from Far Cry 6.
Say what you will about the game but I was genuinely surprised that the villain was dismissed by so many. Aside from being played by a brilliant actor who delivered a fantastic performance his character is quite honestly one of the best depictions of a fascist dictator I've ever seen in fiction - and especially video games. Whatever other problems the game may have Ubisoft at least got its depiction of fascism very accurate.
Too many attempts at creating fascist-coded villains end up making them too intelligent or too crazy and they become unbelievable archetypes as a consequence. FC6 did not do this with Castillo; he is the perfect example of the kind of populist pseudo-intellectualism the far right loves littered with all the same hypocrisy and ruthlessness that actual fascist leaders have historically had - as well as an appropriate, believable level of cowardice and incompetence while still maintaining the illusion of a charismatic strongman.
I don't know if he's the 'best' Far Cry villain overall but he's definitely the most realistic.
I have no time to come up with a villain for that criteria. However, I will say that the terrifying villain could not rely on plot armor or fictional circumstances to achieve their agenda. They should not be Trump make a slow victimization of privileged groups with advantages to combat the victimization. They should not be like Donald Trump who make overt aggression, picks on the strong countries, made the strong countries suffer from the same US aggression as weak countries, and make gradually increasing aggression that gives the victims' time to properly deal with the tariff.
That mad scientist villain on the M3: The Dark Metal anime can be terrifying for the lack of reliance on overpowered capability. That villain relies more on luck and circumstances for his evil agenda. The Monogatari anime series has a con-man that uses tricks that can work in real life. An example is the decision to spread supernatural rumour in a time at a place when no other supernatural rumour competes with it to ensure effective spread of the desired rumour. The first antagonist of Unbreakable Machine-Doll manga use charismatic charm and fear of overpowered villain in the scapegoating scehem while hiding the role of authority for the serial murder. The evil mastermind in Kubikiri Cycle use the focus on serial murder scheme, savant abilities, and exotic interests to hide a more realistic murder act for more conventional gain.