Iconic Villains by Genre?


Gamer Life General Discussion


Consider these genres: fantasy, science fiction, western, horror, and high school melodrama. What are the iconic villains for each genre?

Fantasy: black knight
Sci-Fi: HAL
Western: land baron
Horror: serial killer
High School: killjoy teacher

Liberty's Edge

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Fantasy: Crazy wizard.
Sci-Fi: Emperor
Western: Bandit
Horror: Mystic Killer
High School: Popular jerk.


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Fantasy: Dark Wizard/Necromancer
Sci-Fi: Alien invaders (just barely edges out "Rise of the Machines/Skynet")
Western: Bandit/Cattle Rustler
Horror: The "Zombie Murderer" (even if technically they're not zombies)
High School: Cheerleaders/"Popular girls" (you'll notice they're always 100x meaner than any male character)


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Disney: Wicked Stepmother
Comedy: Boss and/or female romantic lead's fiancee
Superhero: Director who wants to make the story appealing to a broader audience, thus changing everything that makes the characters interesting.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

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Fantasy: Dragon or equivalent mystical monster
Sci-fi: The computer.
Western: Injuns.
Horror: Undead of one stripe or another.
High School: The rich and popular cliques.
Disney: The Wicked Witch
Comedy: The lead's equally ranked rival.
Superhero: Supervillian.


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My favorites of the first 4?
Fantasy: Evil Overlord. The mad wizard is his pawn and everything in your way was devised by him. Bonus Points if he has a deep voiced laugh.

Sci-Fi: Imperialist Government. It has an evil leader out to control the world in some fashion, seemingly arbitrary rules for your 'security', and likely a lawful Neutral dragon somewhere in there.

Western: Corrupt Official. The bandits are possibly all his fault, he has plans for going up in the world and getting rich. Oh! And sometimes he has to remind you his name is Hedley.

Horror: Mad Scientist. Its not about killing, its about practice and progress!


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Fantasy: necromancer
Sci-Fi: alien(s)
Western: the "black hat" cowboy
Horror: evil spirit
High School: the "cool" kid

Also,

Disney: witch
Comedy: "the man" (college dean, police captain, high school principal, etc.)
Superhero: evil genius


The Evil Corporation transcends genre. Weyland-Yutani is the first one that comes to mind, but I'm sure you can think of many non sci-fi examples.


Dystopian Science Fiction: Technology

Western: Outlaw gangs

Romantic Comedy: The Ex

Fairy Tales (includes Disney): The evil suitor

Horror: Ancient evil released by an idiot

High School Drama: The popular kids

Other Science Fiction: Alien invaders

Fantasy: The dark horde


Fantasy: The Dying King's Inept Son(TM)

Western: The Desert Itself

Sci-Fi: The Zombie Cyborg Hive Mind

Horror: Guy With Knife Hiding In The Closet

High School: Kids Who Hate Themselves And Who Have Guns

Disney: Walt Disney


Spes Magna Mark wrote:

Consider these genres: fantasy, science fiction, western, horror, and high school melodrama. What are the iconic villains for each genre?

Fantasy: black knight
Sci-Fi: HAL
Western: land baron
Horror: serial killer
High School: killjoy teacher

Just curious, why did you name a specific villain for sci-fi, but a generic one for all the others?

Anyways, my list:

Fantasy: Scheming adviser
Sci-Fi: Invading aliens
Western: Outlaw who wronged the protagonist
Horror: Serial killer, usually with some supernatural twist
High School: Cheerleaders


Fantasy: The Vizier
Sci-Fi: Bugs
Western: Mustache Twirling Railroad Barron
Horror: Your own stupidity
HS melodrama: Football QB


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Ivan Rûski wrote:
Just curious, why did you name a specific villain for sci-fi, but a generic one for all the others?

I think it might be because HAL is the most iconic of the 'crazy computer' type villains, enough so that he has almost become the generic name.

HAL is to crazy computers what Kleenex is to facial tissue.

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