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Please tell me who you see as the most interesting Villains in SF/F...


Horatz

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For me, a 'terrible, terrible person' would have to commit their terrible acts for selfish reasons without feeling remorse.

Zakalwe feels remorse to an extreme. It permeates every aspect of his post chair making existence. Yeah he's still a fighter, but he's consciously fighting for causes he hopes are good ones in a lifelong attempt at redemption. He doesn't come across as a sociopathic or even a particularly selfish person. As for the act itself; it's important to acknowledge that we don't have all the information. We don't know what cause he was fighting for. For all we know, his faction could have been the justice pursuing freedom fighters. It is safe to assume that he believed in his particular faction's cause. Combine that with his extreme knack for self-preservation, and you have his justifications. It's not like he did it out of sadism.

I don't sadism is necessary for someone to be a villain, but I agree Zakalwe's not a sadist, it's more that he's extremely ruthless and willing to do anything to achieve his goals. I'm not sure I agree he's such an idealist, though, we may not know why he was fighting on his home planet but during his years working for Special Circumstances he doesn't seem to be a zealot for the Culture's philosophy and at times doesn't even seem sure why they're asking him to do things. He's not like Horza (to pick on another Banks antihero) who does horrible things for the Idirans because some of their aims match his beliefs and prejudices. He might take some comfort from believing that the Culture is genuinely trying to make things better, but I think he primarily does what he does because that's what he's good at, if SC weren't recruiting he'd probably have ended up fighting for someone else, even if they didn't have such a noble cause.

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I don't sadism is necessary for someone to be a villain, but I agree Zakalwe's not a sadist, it's more that he's extremely ruthless and willing to do anything to achieve his goals. I'm not sure I agree he's such an idealist, though, we may not know why he was fighting on his home planet but during his years working for Special Circumstances he doesn't seem to be a zealot for the Culture's philosophy and at times doesn't even seem sure why they're asking him to do things. He's not like Horza (to pick on another Banks antihero) who does horrible things for the Idirans because some of their aims match his beliefs and prejudices. He might take some comfort from believing that the Culture is genuinely trying to make things better, but I think he primarily does what he does because that's what he's good at, if SC weren't recruiting he'd probably have ended up fighting for someone else, even if they didn't have such a noble cause.

I never said sadism is necessary to be a villain, but Zakalwe's lack of it is just one point in his favor. He's also not an idealist, but he likes to fight for causes he thinks are probably just. If I recall correctly, the faction he fought for in that one flashback chapter right before the Culture recruited him was one he singled out for this reason; the first step along his attempt at redemption. It's his overwhelming remorse, the desperate circumstances that led him to play carpenter, and the fact that he doesn't commit any other villainous acts which prevent him from being a proper villain. He's far more ambiguous than that.

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Hm, this definition of evil thing reminds me of another good one, from the First Law trilogy:

Bayaz.

No, not evil in a "force of darkness" way or even in a "sadistic love of torture" way, just evil in the sense that he gives not a single shit about any other human being, other than for how they can be of use to him. Much worse than even Glokta or Logan IMO.

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