One of my favorite villains from my childhood is extremely similar to one of my favorite villains of today.
Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas has a lot in common with Rumpelstiltskin from Once Upon A Time.
Let me list my thoughts:
-Both work toward selfish gains
-Both rarely ever take pity
-Both are obsessed with making deals, bargins and gambles
-Both prefer to hide away from normal society, and selectively interact with it to pursue their own goals (Oogie Boogie with his trick-or-treat crew, Rumpelstiltskin with magic)
-Both seem to take a darker, goldish/brown hue
-Both try their best to make sure the odds are entirely in their favor
If you know Rumpelstiltskin's back story from the show, you may know this wasn't always true, but a good chunk of it is when you first met him.
Now that I type it out it doesn't seem that significant, but it shows in my life I've always had a favor toward certain bad guys. I never could get the whole "I want all the power" or "I'm just merely evil" motives. It just made more sense you would have bad guys who just do stuff for their own gain, and be clever enough to get away with it. I think maybe it was easier to relate to--we've all known someone who likes to make sure they're dealt the best hand in life. And to be honest, who could blame them?
Will have to confirm my hypothesis by watching The Nightmare Before Christmas sometime soon. Halloween is almost around the corner...
I absolutely agree, the most compelling villains are those with highly realistic motivations, not just abstracts of the personification of evil.
ReplyDeleteAnother favourite of mine is the villain that would pretty much be the same as a hero, save for a single factor (commonly greed). The sort that would scheme to end all life on a continent to gain unthinkable riches, but would also unthinkingly stop someone from crossing the street in front of traffic. Not pure evil, just motivated very differently.
And any excuse to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas is a good one.