| A hallmark of a good villain or antagonist for me is when either their cause or actions are sympathetic, or redeem them as characters on the moral spectrum in some way, adding some depth or moral ambiguity to the character. There's nothing worse to me than a villain whose cause or actions are totally unsympathetic, unless that was the intent of the writer, as then I can't really care for the character themselves. Thus, I wanted to make this thread to list villains or antagonists who I think are sympathetic, and or find a path to redemption for themselves. Of course, if a villain or antagonist's identity is a major plot point, I'll put spoiler tags around them, so without further ado: 1) Meruem - Hunter x Hunter (2011)  Meruem's personal conflict, development, and process towards self-discovery in the Chimera Ant arc was awesome to watch, and I really liked his character and process of transformation in the anime, to where in the end he is at least partially redeemed in my view. Definitely one of my favorite villains. 2) Mewtwo - Pokemon: The First Movie (1999)  It may be strange to see a character from Pokemon on this list, but I think Mewtwo from the first movie is a character whose initial choices in the movie are understandable when his backstory comes into view, and he later redeems himself near the end by realizing his warped views and deciding to change. 3) Lust - FMA (2003)  Referring specifically to her 03' incarnation, I think Lust from the original FMA is better written than her Brotherhood counterpart, mostly due to the added backstory in the original that helped flesh her out, along with portraying an overall much more sympathetic, and dare I say partially redeemable character with some of her actions that were absent from Brotherhood. Overall, I think Lust's characterization is one of the few points where the original eclipses Brotherhood. 4) Lordgenome - Gurren Lagann (2009)  The Spiral King from Gurren Lagann, Lordgenome is another villain/antagonist whose cause and motivation are understandable. I just wished he appeared on screen for a longer period of time in the first half, so that the viewer could familiarize themself with him. Spoiler for Yona of the Dawn's antagonist: Spoiler for Kaleido Star's antagonist: Other mentions are the double-agent trio from AoT; they do villainous things in the story, but later, once their motivations are known, they were just pawns in the grand scheme, and victims themselves to a degree. Actually many villains in AoT's world are morally ambiguous. Added spoiler tag to title |
CareBearSep 29, 2020 12:16 AM
| "I saw the Emperor - this soul of the world - go out from the city to survey his reign; it is a truly wonderful sensation to see such an individual, who, concentrating on one point while seated on a horse, stretches over the world and dominates it." |
Here are some villains I found very sympathetic.   |
DrSexySep 25, 2020 3:54 PM
| 한 번만 살지만 제대로 하면 한 번이면 충분해요 |
| Sunako from Shiki. Lucy from Elfen Lied. Scar from FMA. Suigintou from Rozen Maiden. Miyo Takano from Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni. |
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| Not really redeemable, but I really felt for Kariya in Fate Zero. |
   I swear, I don't have a thing for blondes. |
| Seeing Meruem here was completely unexpected. He's the most evil for the sake of nothing villain I know. He has no backstory to justify being evil and just realized his own fault by himself after witnessing sympathy. It is completely unoriginal and laughably stupid overall. There is nothing to like about a garbage like him. |
| I rarely feel sympathy for villains. So far the only villains I actually love are Kuze from Ghost in the Shell and Impmon from Digimon Tamers. Needless to say both show are just that well-written. Hrybami said: Totally agree.Seeing Meruem here was completely unexpected. He's the most evil for the sake of nothing villain I know. He has no backstory to justify being evil and just realized his own fault by himself after witnessing sympathy. It is completely unoriginal and laughably stupid overall. There is nothing to like about a garbage like him. |
EdocchiSep 25, 2020 8:31 PM
| Kira Yoshikage , he could have wholesome family life with Shinobu and Hayato |
| Хайде, хайде, хайде, това е първата зона, брато, първа зона, първа зона, добре, добре, добре, това става тук горе, отива тук горе, само спокойно, само спокойно... Ха, отдясно е, навсякъде отдясно отдясно къде е дясното ти о да добре добре добре тихо мълчаливо не успях да се съсредоточа върху това ЕХ ТЪПАК КОГАТО СИ БАВНО БАВНО ... ой е путката на моето момиче прасе куче, аз Чувствам се добре, о, мамо, *шамар*, какво е това госпожице татко- |
| Well, it'd be more accurate to say I've yet to come across a villain (or any character really) whose perspective I was unwilling or unable to understand or respect, unless the character themselves, any other character, and ultimately the show itself (the writers) just doesn't bother to explain it or tucks in some dumb throwaway line about them just being vicious for the sake of it. I'm not an easily bored person at all and yet malice and cruelty for no logical discernible reason are the most mind-numbingly dull and contrived cop-outs and sad excuses for writing to sit through ever for me. There's always a reason. Sometimes I can very much understand the POV of whoever is supposed to be in the villainous role, but still want to see their aims decisively crushed. Other times though, if not outfight joining them then I definitely wouldn't mind springing their locks or looking the other way while they unfurl their plan or escape. The finest: 1.) Shiki Magata from Subete ga F ni Naru (she's intuitively relatable and even moreso the further her psychology is delved into - I also think she has PDA, if I were to pop psych "diagnose" a character) 2.) Lucy from Elfen Lied 3.) Satou Matsuzaka from Happy Sugar Life 4.) Sunako Kirishiki from Shiki All three of the above could be summed up as wanting to secure a safe place for the existence of your kind and going to extreme lengths to protect an invisible castle around your sacred special feelings to the detriment of all outside parties if need be, so that garners natural sympathy from me. Vampires and mutants especially, because they're not human but still humanoid, are just literary stand-ins for differently abled humans. 5.) I wouldn't have answered this way for this spot if I had just seen season one of the series, but after seeing the latest Made in Abyss 3 film (Dawn of the Deep Soul), honestly, Bondrewd. And it's absolutely impeccable the voice acting behind him which reminds me so very much of Inuyasha's Naraku (also Morikawa; not to mention he also did Griffith in the original Berserk) when the characters have such different backstories but also this commonality in that they both are not content with the mediocrity of being a weak mortal, of being an animal essentially and powerless; they want to transcend the limits of humanity and the flesh. Although in Bondrewd's case, it's actually about the spirit of exploration, discovery, innovation, and the expansion of knowledge, science, and pioneerng development, rather than wanting to acquire an ability to further pursue a personal vendetta. Bondrewd it seems has actually transcended personhood. In a way he's achieved a form of enlightenment. Ironic that to get to that place mentally he had to sacrifice untold numbers of innocent children to excruciating suffering and agony as the victims of gruesome medical experiments (maybe paradoxical and yet necessary?), but he truly is trying to either advance the species collectively or personally go beyond it. |
WatchTillTandavaSep 25, 2020 9:14 PM
| Not redeemable but I feel sympathetic for Isabella from Promised neverland. |
 Scordolo's Recent Reviews To your eternity Vanitas no Karte |
| Raoh did nothing wrong. Despite his extremely violent actions he is undoubtedly a very intelligent and noble person. Even at his last moments he regrets nothing and dies peacefully. Meruem is in my top well written villains list, too. Given such a short lifetime, he still gets a proper coming of age story which ends on such a bitter note. Don't get it wrong. He actually was a protagonist of the first season. He's not a villain at all, he is an antihero. |
Nemo_NiemandSep 26, 2020 9:03 AM
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Hrybami said: Seeing Meruem here was completely unexpected. He's the most evil for the sake of nothing villain I know. He has no backstory to justify being evil and just realized his own fault by himself after witnessing sympathy. It is completely unoriginal and laughably stupid overall. There is nothing to like about a garbage like him. I like his character after his character transformation, or as you put it, after discovering sympathy, to avoid going into spoilers. I don't really carry much weight in whether something has been done many times before, as essentially that's most anime tropes and fictional tropes that recur not only in anime, but also other works of fiction; as long as it's executed well, which it was in my opinion, I'm fine. Criticism about the backstory is legit, and perhaps that could've been addressed by having something which makes his kind inherently evil through the actions of |
| "I saw the Emperor - this soul of the world - go out from the city to survey his reign; it is a truly wonderful sensation to see such an individual, who, concentrating on one point while seated on a horse, stretches over the world and dominates it." |
| Shinsuke Takasugi - The best-written emo edgelord. |
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| I guess Bondrewd and Yoshikage Kira. Bondrewd, he was truly the best dad even though he had questionable motives and actions. He was epic as hell, looks cool as fuck and was a great dad even though he was kinda messed up. Yoshikage Kira. He was just your average office worker who only wanted to live a quiet life and he will do anything to keep it that way. |
| Go check out my latest review: https://myanimelist.net/profile/YeeYeeAss/reviews |
Yeah, I was expecting someone to bring up Askeladd, and as another post here stated, I don't think he's a villain or antagonist even. Sure, he did some evil stuff like most if not all characters in this thread, but narrative wise, his goals were not in opposition with the other main protagonist of the show, thus there's no narrative opposition that would make him a villain or antagonist; his goals for the most part are the same as the other protagonist, with the caveat that the two have a feud between each other, rightfully so. Based on the definitions of narrative devices, I think he rightfully fits under the Antihero label rather than villain or antagonist. |
| "I saw the Emperor - this soul of the world - go out from the city to survey his reign; it is a truly wonderful sensation to see such an individual, who, concentrating on one point while seated on a horse, stretches over the world and dominates it." |
| My boi Reinah deserves some love. He has been through so much. It's hard to call him a villain. |
Anime was it's best 20000 years ago, when cavemen drew art with real depth. Modern anime is all garbage. I miss great old days of anime. |
| Shougo Makishima https://myanimelist.net/character/69725/Shougo_Makishima I found myself rooting for the villain a few times throughout the show, i usually don't like rebellious elements and i prefer law and order but the show's world was so controlling and dystopian that it needs someone like Makishima to bring balance, although he does get a little too nutty in his execution. the lack of Shougo and Kougami in S2 is one of the reasons why i didn't like it that much. Askeladd https://myanimelist.net/character/13020/Askeladd?q=askelad&cat=character Sure he killed the MCs father but they lived in a pretty brutal time and he did greatly respect the MCs father as a warrior, he did plenty of cruel things but he has his reasons for them, he's not some mustache twirling bad guy looking to blow up the moon like some bond villain, i found him more likeable than Thorfinn, but then again, i guess Thorfinn was made to be an angsty emo kid to contrast his character growth later on, which i assume he will. Esdeath https://myanimelist.net/character/65239/Esdeath she probably doesn't fit in this list but i'd add her anyway, i just like her even though she's not redeemable, i just like this crazy lady even though i hate yanderes. Lucy https://myanimelist.net/character/738/Lucy?q=lucy&cat=character she did some pretty horrendous things right from the get go of the show! but after seeing her whole childhood how she's pretty much constantly tortured, experimented on etc. i can see why she'd turn out so messed up like that, it doesn't fully justify her actions but her messed up childhood contributed greatly to her becoming a killer, i'm sure if she'd live a normal life with a loving family then she might not have turned out that way, even just a few days living with a normal college student was enough to give a positive impact to her mental state so she probably wouldn't have used her invisible hands to turn people into corned beef if she never had such a shitty childhood. so her ending which i assume is her death is pretty sad, sure she had to pay for her actions but her turning into that isn't solely her fault. |
The best one is, without doubt, Askeladd from Vinland Saga, he is in general one of the best anime antagonists ever. |
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| 1) Itachi 2) Itachi 3) Itachi 4) Itachi 5) The rest don't matter |
| Honestly, being hated by the people you love and protect is the most tragic shit ever. So Itachi from Naruto, and to a far lesser extent, |
Bladezeranium said: Hrybami said: Seeing Meruem here was completely unexpected. He's the most evil for the sake of nothing villain I know. He has no backstory to justify being evil and just realized his own fault by himself after witnessing sympathy. It is completely unoriginal and laughably stupid overall. There is nothing to like about a garbage like him. I like his character after his character transformation, or as you put it, after discovering sympathy, to avoid going into spoilers. I don't really carry much weight in whether something has been done many times before, as essentially that's most anime tropes and fictional tropes that recur not only in anime, but also other works of fiction; as long as it's executed well, which it was in my opinion, I'm fine. Criticism about the backstory is legit, and perhaps that could've been addressed by having something which makes his kind inherently evil through the actions of If you enjoyed it, good for you. As for me, the anime didn't last me a good impression. The whole climax was anticlimatic since he's just a basic psychopath who was gifted since birth discovering that being evil was wrong. I failed to see anything special in him. He reminded me some Dragon Ball villain, but with even less depth. |
YeeYeeAss said: Bondrewd, he was truly the best dad even though he had questionable motives and actions. He was epic as hell, looks cool as fuck and was a great dad even though he was kinda messed up. Mate, are you out of your damn mind? Bondrewd is the LEAST sympathetic villain I can think of. Even a villain like Lord Daigo from Dororo is more more of a sympathetic villain, and that's saying something because he was pretty much a total shit. |
CallMeHootSep 26, 2020 11:23 AM
   |
Hrybami said: Seeing Meruem here was completely unexpected. He's the most evil for the sake of nothing villain I know. He has no backstory to justify being evil and just realized his own fault by himself after witnessing sympathy. It is completely unoriginal and laughably stupid overall. There is nothing to like about a garbage like him. You must be living under a rock if you're not aware that fans sympathize with Meruem. You're free to criticize the quality of Togashi's writing, but it's obvious the character is MEANT to be sympathetic. I'm not even sure how Meruem is any more embarrassing an answer than Sunako or Bondrewd. |
| その目だれの目？ |
CallMeHoot said: YeeYeeAss said: Bondrewd, he was truly the best dad even though he had questionable motives and actions. He was epic as hell, looks cool as fuck and was a great dad even though he was kinda messed up. Mate, are you out of your damn mind? Bondrewd is the LEAST sympathetic villain I can think of. Even a villain like Lord Daigo from Dororo is more more of a sympathetic villain, and that's saying something because he was pretty much a total shit. Well, yes, but have you seen the new movie tho? There we saw how he was indeed the best dad. In the end he did care about Nanachi and because of him But in the end Bondrewd is my favourite character from Made in Abyss |
| Go check out my latest review: https://myanimelist.net/profile/YeeYeeAss/reviews |
| As some people have mentioned above, papa Bondrewd. Best daddy did nothing wrong at all after all. He's probably the most wholesome characters to grace fiction, even. I would discover the dawn with him anytime. |
 |
Lucifrost said: Hrybami said: Seeing Meruem here was completely unexpected. He's the most evil for the sake of nothing villain I know. He has no backstory to justify being evil and just realized his own fault by himself after witnessing sympathy. It is completely unoriginal and laughably stupid overall. There is nothing to like about a garbage like him. You must be living under a rock if you're not aware that fans sympathize with Meruem. You're free to criticize the quality of Togashi's writing, but it's obvious the character is MEANT to be sympathetic. I'm not even sure how Meruem is any more embarrassing an answer than Sunako or Bondrewd. I heard someone saying that Griffith did nothing wrong, so yes I'm not surprised to see people sympathize with psychopath. I just didn't expect a big picture of a psychopath to be at the top of this thread when I opened it. |
| first thing in my mind is Askeladd from Vinland Saga. |
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| My boy katakuri from one piece. Most respectable antagonist imo |
   |
| Frieza Garou Yoshikage Kira The demons from Kimetsu no Yaiba. Yes, I like their background stories as humans. |
| Imagine how boring this world would be without Japan - a comment at youtube |
| Most of the ones I can think of are already redeemed later in the story, lol. |
| bruh |
CallMeHoot said: YeeYeeAss said: Bondrewd, he was truly the best dad even though he had questionable motives and actions. He was epic as hell, looks cool as fuck and was a great dad even though he was kinda messed up. Mate, are you out of your damn mind? Bondrewd is the LEAST sympathetic villain I can think of. Even a villain like Lord Daigo from Dororo is more more of a sympathetic villain, and that's saying something because he was pretty much a total shit. I agree Bondrewd is completely evil I can’t see one redeeming quality in his character whatsoever. |
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Hrybami said: Lucifrost said: You must be living under a rock if you're not aware that fans sympathize with Meruem. You're free to criticize the quality of Togashi's writing, but it's obvious the character is MEANT to be sympathetic. I'm not even sure how Meruem is any more embarrassing an answer than Sunako or Bondrewd. I heard someone saying that Griffith did nothing wrong, so yes I'm not surprised to see people sympathize with psychopath. I just didn't expect a big picture of a psychopath to be at the top of this thread when I opened it. Isn't "Griffith did nothing wrong" kind of a meme and a joke for Berserk fans? I see it on reddit all the time, at least, and I've only been on the subreddit twice. I don't think anyone seriously believes that...hopefully. Kind of like how they also like to joke that |
  "As promised, all that you seek, all that we desire, is prepared up there. On top of the Tower." |
| Altair from Re:CREATORS Quinella from Sword Art Online: Alicization Askeladd from Vinland Saga Esdeath from Akame ga Kill |
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AllIsManga said: Hrybami said: I heard someone saying that Griffith did nothing wrong, so yes I'm not surprised to see people sympathize with psychopath. I just didn't expect a big picture of a psychopath to be at the top of this thread when I opened it. Isn't "Griffith did nothing wrong" kind of a meme and a joke for Berserk fans? I see it on reddit all the time, at least, and I've only been on the subreddit twice. I don't think anyone seriously believes that...hopefully. Kind of like how they also like to joke that I believe Griffith is a meme, but I believe most of the other replies are serious. I've known for a long time that fans let characters get away with murder. |
| その目だれの目？ |
| Kenny from Attack on Titan. "All of um were a slave to somthin" or however that went. |
| Shogo Makashima - Psycho Pass. Fantastic antagonist. |
| Scar from FMAB The only time they depicted the problems of racism correctly |
| شقایق، اینجا من، خیلی غریبم |
kllu97 said: I don’t know if you would count light yagami from death note as the antagonist but I would. I really loved light because I could see where he’s coming from wanting to have a peaceful world. He’s just going about it the wrong way. yeah but he went mad with power and would do anything to hold onto it. The way he treated Misa and manipulated people. I would say there isn't much redeemable about him. He didn't actually make the world a better place |
I'm level  on mal-badges. View my badges.  |
kllu97 said: I don’t know if you would count light yagami from death note as the antagonist but I would. I really loved light because I could see where he’s coming from wanting to have a peaceful world. He’s just going about it the wrong way. He didn't want a peaceful world, mate. He had a god complex and got off on the power. That was the point. And that's why he was written as a cringing edgelord. Man, I hate that show. Sorry pal, nothing personal, I just have this weird compulsion where I have to shit on Death Note every time I get the chance. Fatephile said: Scar from FMAB Under-rated comment, but he was more like a tritagonist than a true antagonist/villain. |
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AllIsManga said: Hrybami said: I heard someone saying that Griffith did nothing wrong, so yes I'm not surprised to see people sympathize with psychopath. I just didn't expect a big picture of a psychopath to be at the top of this thread when I opened it. Isn't "Griffith did nothing wrong" kind of a meme and a joke for Berserk fans? I see it on reddit all the time, at least, and I've only been on the subreddit twice. I don't think anyone seriously believes that...hopefully. Kind of like how they also like to joke that Is that true? lol I never go on reddit so I couldn't know. But dark humour like that is sometimes really hilarious. I wasn't aware of the meme regarding Berserk. |
| It's the 27th of the ninth month in 2020 year of our Lord. Griffith still hasn't done anything wrong. |
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| Squealer from Shinsekai Yori. What he did was something similar when occupied countries rises and fights for their liberation |
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