A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about the best action sequence, and what made it so amazing; I’ve also put up a graph of different villain types. I’ve wanted for a long time to write an article or make a video about really great villains, but the truth is . . . I’m not particularly interested in most villains.
I don’t mean “great antagonists” here; I mean great villains. I mean a bad guy who is really, irredeemably evil
is still a fascinating character. Interview
with the Vampire managed this somewhat with Lestat (I’m ignoring the travesty of the
sequel ). He was horrible, he loved
being horrible, he was never going to turn good or even all that sympathetic, but
he was still interesting and enjoyable to watch while being completely loathsome. As a character, he was very good.
Contrast this to the cackling big bad, the lip-licking pervert,
or the unkillable killer. They may make good
antagonists, but they’re not great characters. Or compare it to the baddie you can empathize
with because, poor things, they were abused before they became abusers. Those may be great characters, but they’re
not through-and-through villains.
If I ever wrote a post about great villains, I wanted to
have a truly great villain to write about.
I finally found him in Yao Jing Zhong Zhi Shou Ce. That has various translations, from Demon
Spirit Seed Manual to Fairy Seed Planting Manual. It’s a manhwa-turned-donghua
(aka Chinese anime). Yuan Ding, a young
man from our world, is suddenly transported to a fantasy world. There, he finds seeds that, once certain
conditions are fulfilled, can become a plant-based lifeform called demons/fairies. They take the forms of
beautiful women and are extremely powerful.
The better their relationship with him, the more powerful they become.
Also, the opening song is staggeringly beautiful:
Watched it all?
Great! Let’s move on.
So, Yuan Ding successful grows his first fairy, Mo Fei, and she immediately tries to kill him. She is absolutely furious at him, and he has no idea why. In order to improve their relationship, he goes into her past. He interacts with her when she’s a small child, but when she's older, she can't see him, and he can't even touch her. This confuses him deeply, until his fairy planting manual tells him this is because, “In this space and time, you already exist.”
Enter a young man who looks exactly like him (except strangely handsomer):
And yes, behold our villain. He’s handsome, he’s charismatic . . . and he’s playing a romance scam on Mo Fei. Best of all, he never, ever breaks character. No matter what he’s doing. Even while he’s actively revealing his betrayal.
I cannot emphasize this enough. At all times, he is beautiful and he is
charming and he is likeable.
And the moment you start thinking of him that way is the moment
you are totally screwed. And yet you cannot think of him otherwise. I've never come across anything like it.
It’s brilliant.
It’s also brilliant, by the way, that he is a villain, but
he is both is and is not the true antagonist. He lived a thousand years ago, and he is our
protagonist also. They're the same person. So it’s not like
he wants to hurt our protagonist. He talks with our protagonist, but doesn't actively try to make him do anything or believe anything in particular. (Despite them being in different times, he can speak with our protagonist
because they’re the same person.) The
protagonist has other external
antagonists, yes, but more than anything, the
protagonist must fight against the memory of his other self has done—against the
misbeliefs of those who love and hate him for it.
It is an absolutely fascinating dynamic.
We have a protagonist who is prone to being selfish, to objectifying women and going about his own way. Our protagonist is beautiful and he is charming and he is likeable and he is capable of romance scams and he wants power. Now he has to choose how to use his abilities.
And we see him, in his past and present selves, choose both of the two paths before him.
I cannot praise the show highly enough.
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