It is known that the best bad guys are mirror reflections of the good guys. Batman and the Joker. Superman and Darkseid. Wonder Woman and Cheetah. Captain Marvel* and Black Adam. I imagine the same holds true with the Marvel heroes, but I’m not very familiar with them. They should make some movies, get some publicity.
The very best villains go beyond the mirror, with goals and dreams all their own, and perhaps knowing them so well, they wouldn’t seem like villains at all. Misguided, but perhaps not beyond redemption.
Today’s Blaugust prompt comes from Naithin of Time to Loot, who prompts:
Tell us about some of your favourite antagonists and explain why.
Is it okay… if I sing about them?
While you’re listening to that (and I hope you are), I have to give my greatest shout outs to the villains of some games from the last couple of years.
Khotun Khan, “Ghost of Tsushima”
Cousin to Kublai Khan, sent to prepare the way for his cousin to extend his empire to Japan. He spent years studying Japan, its language and culture. Scrolls found in various places, written by the Japanese scholar who taught him Japanese and grew to admire the invader, talk of a man who grew up in a violent world, but mastered his mind and his body and never lost control. Though in the end he couldn’t fight a foe who would give up everything to win.
Cliff, “Death Stranding”
When Sam Porter Bridges first meets Cliff in Death Stranding, he is an implacable spirit of vengeance caught in the loop of an ancient war. Through occasional visions given when Sam connects to his Bridge Baby, Sam learns more about Cliff’s life, and Cliff’s connection to BB. By the end of the game, the full scope of Cliff’s love and sacrifice are made plain, and Cliff is finally allowed to rest. Just one of the many, many scenes that had me crying in real life.
Some might contend that Cliff is not the real villain in the game, and the game really never settles on one. Since the reality of the world only becomes clear near the end of the game, the labels of villain and victim could be worn by many of the characters, sometimes both at once. It’s Cliff’s path from villain to hero that earns its place in this post.
Dutch van der Linde, “Red Dead Redemption 2”
It takes protagonist Arthur Morgan half the game to realize that his father figure, Dutch van der Linde, is a murderous psychopath who cares only for himself while glibly convincing others to follow him into hell, but we as players know it from the start (if only because he appears as the villain in the original Red Dead Redemption, of which #2 is the prequel).
Dutch knows there is no place for him in the modern world, but he knows no other way to live. And so he lives in the past, a past where he could go where he wanted, live how he liked, existing in perfect freedom. His belief is so strong that he makes his villainy seem almost noble, a course correction applied to the casual horrors of modern civilization.
In the end, his last appearance in the game, when he has a last chance at revenge over someone he feels has done him wrong, he lays down his guns and walks away.
Constantin, “Greedfall”
It’s been a couple of years. It’s no longer a spoiler who Greedfall’s true villain is, is it?
This cousin to your player character, De Sardet, is your mirror image in the most traditional of ways. Both of you are colonists to the island, and both of you have a mysterious connection to it — your character bears a facial deformity seen only on the native shaman, and Constantin eventually gets one as well.
As you explore the island and learn more of the nations that contend for control of the island, you begin to understand that there is a singular source for most of the troubles on the island — and as becomes clear, many of the troubles off of it as well.
In the end, he offers a terrible choice — join him and save the world (but in the process sacrifice the island), or oppose him and save the island, but destroy the world. Or carefully thread that needle for the best ending…
Constantin was such a sympathetic character for so much of the game that the moment of his ultimate betrayal stings more than I’d have expected.
The Price of Villainy
Bad games have bad villains. Good games have good villains. But great games have great villains. Today’s games have some of the best villains ever. Truly the golden age of gaming.
Excellent picks all-around — a couple were spoilers for me (Dutch and Constantin), but a) I don’t tend to overly mind spoilers anyway, and b) I know I’m super behind! Haha.
Also — by the time I actually get to run through these again, it’s possible I will have forgotten again anyway. 😛
Yeah, I went back and forth on whether or not to talk about recent games, but I really wanted to talk about those villains.