Lit Best villains from the old EU?

Who were the best villains from the old EU?

Poll included.

Please explain your answer.

Especially if it's "OTHER."










My vote, right now:

Darth Krayt

"I have been through death and conquered it. I have returned with my power multiplied. The dark side of the Force lives and manifests itself through me! I reach into the dark side now and send ripples through it to all who serve it—know that I live!"​

Sorry, this slipped through the cracks. No "favourites" threads, please, as outlined in the Lit forum rules.

 

You got Abeloth on this list but Nil Spar? C'mon, man.

 

Traya for sure. I actually like her as a villain better than Palpatine.

Also Darth Nihilus and Darth Krayt. They may not be the best villains, but they look wickedly cool.

 

This is difficult for me as I was more of a game person, so for a long time all the EU villains I know where Rom Mohc, Jerec and his merry band of Dark Jedi, Dessan, Darth Malak, etc and I still have a soft spot for these.

Going though from what I know of the characters I would say Thrawn is probably the most interesting, being an opponent relies more on smarts than just force ability or force in general. Its a nice contrast to the usual imperial officers who mostly appear incompetent or too arrogant.

Malak was awesome, I mean he even had his own theme tune! That said the KOTOR 2 was also filled with cool villains.Having not played TOR I am not sure how it compares.
Darth Krayt was also cool and his One Sith was an interesting spin on the issue of Sith infighting.
Of course there are lots of other cool dark side villains, Odion and Daiman, the ancient Sith like Ragnos, the EU version of Bane, Freedon Nadd, Tremayne, Blackhole/Shadowspawn, etc

And what about the more gangland characters like Xizor?


But I digress. I would say best Villain Award would be tied between Thrawn and Malak and/or Reven, but that there are lots of good (bad?) villains out there and its hard to find a clear winner.

 

The Yuuzhan Vong as a whole.
Nice change up from the Imperial/Warlord/Dark Force users of the Bantam years and a breath of fresh air after reading the deluge of Sith stories after the NJO series concluded.
Interesting social structure. Interesting technology. Interesting history. New and different ways of ruining planets.
Not afraid of death and willing to sacrifice you to their gods.
Nom Anor, Tsavong Lah, Shimmra, Onimi, Nen Yim, Harrar, Vua Rapuung, Mezhan Kwaad, Shedao Shai. Malik Carr, and so many more.

 

The KOTOR 2 villains were all pretty interesting, and I probably enjoyed them the most. They're veiled in mystery, drawing me even more into the story. Their reliance on the Force to survive was a nice concept, and definitely put a new spin on the whole idea of the Force. Traya was perhaps the most intriguing; she presented some unorthodox ideas on good vs evil, and the progression of her machinations up to her endgame was both frustrating and impressive. All in all, they were a fun group of characters.

 

Traya, Naga Sadow, Freedon Nadd, Exar Kun, Hego Damask

 

Thrawn. He personified what the Empire SHOULD have been. Law. Order. Stability. None of the enslaving of races, destroyer of worlds, fear-mongering...just law and order.

Nom Anor was too far down the totem poll to be considered a 'real' villain...if you have to answer to three or four superiors and end up running for your life, are you really a 'villain'? And if you're written because the author wants to debunk a philosophy that he disagrees with, are you really a villain? (See: Solo, Jacen)

 

Keuller. He was badass

 

Thrawn
Nom Anor
Zsinj
Nil Spar
Xizor

All of them took villainy in different routes than the movies- Thrawn was military and strategic. Nom Anor was guile. Zsinj was technology and secrecy. Spar was political. Xizor was rivalry and third faction.
And none of them were Sith, who are far overdone, and overdone poorly in most cases.

So many interesting major villians are left off of this poll- Xizor, Nil Spar, Ysanne Isard, Demagol, Balancesheet, Thracken Sal Solo in favor of a bunch of Sith, and second rate ones at that- Scion, Nihilus? They were jokes. Traya and Abeloth are interesting concpets done poorly. Where is Exar Kun or Shira Brie or Revan or Vergre or Cronal as interesting Sith?

 

Gallandro--For all the blather about Boba Fett's exploits, Gallandro did it first and better, and he didn't need no stinkin' armor.

 

Nom Anor, for his continued survival despite many encounters with the heroes and opposition from his own people, for actually making sense and giving the impression of having a reasonable mind, for being a non believer amidst a fanatically religious people and getting away with it, and for starting the Shamed One movement which actually turned out to be a positive thing and helped end the war!

Warlord Zsinj for being a realistic, believable villain. He was elusive, hard to pin down, and very dangerous. It took the combined efforts of the New Republic, the Hapans, and the Empire to take him down. He also knew how to use a Super Star Destroyer; the Iron Fist was probably the most troublesome of all Imperial/Warlord SSDs.

Also, Rokur Gepta!

 

How is WARU not on this list? I demand a recount!

 

Depends on which Thrawn you're talking about: the Thrawn of the Thrawn Trilogy or the Thrawn in the other works. Thrawn in the Thrawn Trilogy, IMO, was every bit as ruthless as Tarkin. He continued enslaving the Noghri; threatened to wipe out a Noghri village. The Thrawn of the Thrawn trilogy was not the noble minded, if strict authoritarian, that others painted him out to be. Even Thrawn in Outbound Flight wasn't as ruthless, probably because he wasn't the head of any military at that point.

Now, I know my post may seem ironic given my avatar, but I think Thrawn's reputation has been downplayed a bit post-Thrawn Trilogy. Yes, he was brilliant and innovative, but he was also ruthless.

 

Traya/Kreia is definitely something else, as is Nom Anor. Very unusual characters.

 

For me less has always been more. The bigger the feat of unbridled Force power, the less interesting the villain is.

Thrawn is definitely a favorite of mine and likely a common choice. The idea of the big bad not being a Force user but still being able to be a huge threat to our heroes was a great change after the OT.

Borsk Fey'lya, while not technically a villain, was another great antagonist originated by Zahn.

With respect to how fun folks like Krayt, Nihl and Talon were in Legacy, the single best villain from that series for me was Vul Isen. The idea of using the Force in the construction of genocidal bioweapons that get unleashed on the galaxy is downright scary.

Nom Anor, mostly due to his amazing character journey, is great as well. He had so many different layers but never really stopped serving his own selfish interests.

Ghez Hokan is a great example of a one off villain who uses some very real world motivations for his actions. His desire to ethnically cleanse the Mandalorian culture from the clones which he views as an abomination of his culture is pretty creepy.

Lastly, Ko Sai, is maybe the best villain that never knew she was one. She takes everything that we get to see briefly about the Kaminoans and expands it. She just doesn't understand human moral structure on any level which I think is both very alien and very evil.

I'm sure there are many others skipping my mind right now, but those names are the ones that come to mind for me instantly.

 

I think it has more to do with the fact, that the Thrawn of TTT is actually the end of the line as far as Thrawn's development as a character is concerned. The irony is, that the end of the journey is actually the first we see of Thrawn. If you read the novels with Thrawn in them in their IU-chronological order you will see, that Thrawn becomes more and more ruthless.

Durga is missing on that poll, as is Kar Vastor.

Hego Damask. If Palpatine did one good thing in his live, it was offing his Master.

Also Daala for her entertainment-value (granted it is the equivalent of a train-wreck, but still ... ).

 

Vong. Vong. Vong.

I get why some (many?) people hate the NJO, but dang every interaction with a villain made for some tense reading. Part of it was just the newfound knowledge that our heroes really can die, but everything about the Vong terrified me. I also enjoyed a villain that wasn't Imperial or Dark Side/Sith. Nice change-up. I really enjoyed all the Vong "bosses," so to speak.

 

I took the villains mentioned most in my "coolest EU villains" thread from a couple months ago. And I could only pick 10 for the poll.

 

Nihilus, unchecked, had the potential to consume all life in the galaxy. He's in a differently league than basically anyone on this list.

 

As singular character Traya and Nihilus take the prize. I thought the combination of the physically intimidating Malak, whose still in the shadow of the already gone before the story begins Revan was most effective though.

 

No Ysanne Isard, she was awesome. She left coruscant a mess for the new republic to clean up.

 

I'm a fan of Nom. Sort of like the Skeletor of the EU but maybe with a less annoying voice. But I wouldn't know. It's not like I hear Nom Anor in my sleep. Whispering sweet nothings.

Wow I'm really weirded out now.

My only grievance is that the internetz never stuck him on the motivational quote bandwagon as they did Skelly. That would have been something. He's way more motivating. Look at all the people who followed him! Like... that fat Roman guy... no wait he didn't really know who Nom was. Or that Onimi dude. No wait he was being led by Onimi. Or like in those Force Heretic books the other YV he was crashing with on Coruscant for a while. Those hippie Vong. Or no wait he ditched them too. Let their house burn or something. OK maybe I'm pretty sure I remember he had minions at his beck and call in Traitor.... until Jacen was like "no." And they left. You can't trust sellswords Nom! Geez.

But Nom keeps Vonging on. Nom nom nom.

 

I don't argue that he wasn't ruthless, but he was also an opportunist. He used the Nogrhri because they had already sworn a life-debt to the Empire...in my view, he didn't enslave them so much as let them keep their own delusions.

I agree with Robimus that Fey'lya is a great antagonist. Didn't agree with the Jedi at all, but was also fairly capable as a politician. I think Viqi Shesh deserves a mention, as well. I think that there are more of us than we'd care to admit that would do the same thing in her position.