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August 08, 2004

Darth Vader

I was chatting with Dean Esmay last night. After prompting, he told me that he feels Darth Vader is the best fictional villain of all time. As my own pick in that category is of considerably more recent vintage, I can’t fault Dean on newness. However, I can find one major flaw with his pick: Darth Vader is a Tool...

Granted, Vader cuts an imposing figure, wears gothic black, and has James Earl Jones speaking for him. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t be frightened of him personally. See, Vader always has someone holding his leash. Did Vader destroy Alderaan? No. That was Grand Moff Tarkin. When given broader direction, (but still acting on behalf of the Emperor) he fails miserably. Doesn’t destroy the rebellion on Hoth, doesn’t capture Luke, doesn’t, well, do anything right. Fortunately for him, the Emperor is more forgiving of his mistakes than Vader is of the “mistakes” of his subordinates...

He doesn’t even show a spark of independence. When he contemplates betraying Palpantine, he asks Luke to come along. Luke refuses, and Vader gets cold feet. When Vader finally does chuck the Emperor overboard, he does it because Luke asked him to!

Ultimately Vader is nothing more than an unfaithful dog, willing to obey the orders of whoever will give him the most toys...

Question for my readers: Who is the most compelling Fictional Villain of all time? No fair using fictionalizations of biblical characters (Christopher Walken’s Gabriel, for instance.) My own vote is for Mayor Wilkins of the 3rd season of Buffy...

Posted by Andrew at August 8, 2004 11:55 AM

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Comments

Richard Burton as O'Brien in "1984" perfectly displaying "the banality of evil", and on the distaff side Kathleen Turner as Matty Walker in "Body Heat" showing a cobra-like ability to hypnotize her victims.

Posted by: Ayn Clouter at August 11, 2004 07:24 PM

I didn't even see Vader as a villan really (but I'm just twisted that way). I saw him more as a tragic figure, even before the "new" Star Wars movies that show how he got to be the bad guy in the story. I agree that he was just a cog in a big evil machine, so he could hardly be the greatest villan.

I won't call him the greatest exactly, but a more "all-in-one" villan would be Mr. Glass from Unbreakable. He had the depth of being not just an evil person, but the embodiment of the very force of evil itself, to balance the inevitible force of good that the hero would embody. That is perfect villany.

Posted by: Sarah M at August 17, 2004 12:31 PM

OK. How about the ultimate in obscure.

Desslock of Gamilon A.K.A. Deslar Soto - Star Blazers/Uchu Senkan Yamato

http://desslar.granniss.com/index.php
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/8917/

Starts out evil, then turns good, is ambiguously sexual and blue like a smurf. What else could you possibly want?

Posted by: John Foelster at August 17, 2004 11:26 PM

And for good measure, see also:

http://www.desslok.com/desdiary.htm
http://www.desslok.com/desntrvw.htm

And this to explain what the heck I'm talking about.

http://www.desslok.com/

Posted by: John Foelster at August 17, 2004 11:34 PM