What villains made a memorable impression on you?
I recall an enchanter/slaver from whom the party was trying to rescue a slave. After he had successfully cast mass hold person on the rest of the party he fled the scene, leaving my archer as the only one left nearby who could pursue him. We made it far enough away from the party that the GM had us re-roll initiative and start a new encounter (he thought it might build tension). I had managed to trap the bastard, his back now to a cliff. Either one of us were powerful enough to annihilate the other in a single round. It was a standoff.
He was faster, managing to hit me with a heightened suggestion spell, "suggesting" that I follow his lead, stepping in sync with his movements.
He then slowly walked away from the cliff chuckling aloud as we passed each other by...
Memorable only in D&D? Or can we include other RPG games, TV, movies, and theatre?
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Is a memorable villain in a non-interactive story different from a memorable RPG villain?
I ask because a memorable non-interactive villain needs flair. You have to get a feel for the bad guy, almost like him, but then loathe his activities. Darth Vader's a textbook example.
However, a memorable RPG villain needs a reason to be hated. Usually, that means screwing the PCs over in some way, typically through trickery. Overpowering the PC is bad, but tricking the PC is worse, because you don't trick the PC, you trick the player.
Here are a few villains I've had over the years:
In Shadowrun, there was a Yamatetsu wage mage named Jerome. I described him as a "complete '90s throwback," complete with soul patch and "looking like the lead singer of Everclear." He was usually quite smug, but he backed it up with ruthless efficiency and preparation. What made him an amusing villain was that he wasn't really against the PCs at all, he was just so good at what he did, they realized they could never, ever sneak around him. Although the ridiculous and self-satisfied look of the character made him memorable, it was the ever-so-careful-planning he did that made him famous.
D&D 3.5, Ravenloft adventure. A flamboyant gnome bard named Alekalargo Combledorn, always wearing a leering mask, always dressed in white. I played him as a mixture of Malcolm McDowell, Johnny Depp, and Snoop Dogg. The PCs didn't think much of him, at first, until they captured one of his minions, who had attacked them. The minion wore a mask, too, with a keyhole where his mouth should be, and he couldn't speak because the mask was locked in place. On a search of the minion, though, they found a key. The minion saw the key, and started to freak. The PCs, realizing what they had, held down the thrashing minion, emitting muffled screams, and jammed the key into his mouth, with a click.
The mask exploded.
