Villains you felt sympathetic for.

[Tribes of Trusty]

Gigantic spoilers for Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology (watch out if you only beat the original because of the added story content)

Spoiler: The Main Antagonist's Motives

I can only empathize with Heiss's motives throughout the game.

Basically the world is slowly dying because the Ole Empire fucked up big because of the emperor's cruelty, and now there's a big mana-eating monster that cause the world to slowly become a desert.

There's one way to slowing down the desertification and it is for the Royal Family of the actual new kingdom to make a sacrifice : one of the royal children has to sacrifice their brother/sister for it.

Heiss was the late king's brother destined to be sacrificed, he noped the fuck out of it, killed his brother and took his nephew (who was also a potential sacrifice) with him.

Heiss basically wants to destroy the world that wants him and his nephew (the main protagonist) dead. He's angry at the system that allows for others to live on the sacrifice for others and you can't fault him for this.

Granted, Heiss isn't all white : he still killed his brother (that wasn't necessary), the whole group of mercenaries Raynie and Marco were in just because he wanted some pawn/fodder for Stocke, tried to kill Eruca. But the "true" ending has him sacrificing himself to spare Stocked, and he completely follows the heroes when presented with a solution that allows for the desertification to completely stop without having to sacrifice anyone in the "true true" ending.


So yeah he's imho the best villain of JRPG since a while ago

 

[Miniature Kaiju]

Ramsus and, to some extent, Krelian, from Xenogears.

 

[Seth Balmore]

Guy just wanted to have to quit seeing the woman he loved die repeatedly over and over again in an endless cycle.

Click to shrink...

Heh.

Spoiler: Life is Strange

I guess that makes Max Caulfield a villain if you choose the Bae > Bay ending. It's more or less the same situation.

On another note, glad to see the Shadowlord from Nier mentioned. Really, Nier is full of examples of sympathetic "villains".

Spoiler

That's the whole point of route B, after all.

 

[Ivellios]

Luca Blight from Suikoden 2 and Ramirez from Skies of Arcadia.

 

[Horned Reaper]

Marlene from TLOU

She knew exactly how bad what she was doing was, better then almost anyone else. She didn't want to do it.

Yet she was going to do it because it really was the sensible thing to do and she was trying to do it in the gentlest way available to her.

(Also Joel if we're counting him. Depends on your exact definition of villain.)

Click to shrink...

I agree. I hate it when people say Marlene should've given her the choice in the end. Same for people saying Joel should have told her the truth.

Spoiler

As if Ellie could have lived with the guilt of knowing she'd live at the expense of everyone else. Not making her decide was the most gentle option for both.

 

[Keym]

Copy X from Mega Man Zero was a rather sad sight. By all means he did start with pure intentions, i.e keep the humans safe, but held on to that ideology so strongly that he forgot his morals along the way and started eliminating reploids just to keep the humans unaffected by the energy crisis.

He was certainly a 'perfect copy' of X, except for the one integral thing that made X special; his ability to distinguish from right and wrong.

This conversation when he's defeated tells it all

X: "Why.... ..... "
X: "I was supposed to be... a hero..."
Zero: "He wasn't as naive as you are. That's what made him a hero"

The guy considered himself a 'hero' till the bitter end, genuinely not understanding what he'd been doing wrong, and never realizing how far he'd fallen.
Kinda depressing overall.

Click to shrink...

Reminds me of this:

 

[Musubi]

Heh.

Spoiler: Life is Strange

I guess that makes Max Caulfield a villain if you choose the Bae > Bay ending. It's more or less the same situation.

On another note, glad to see the Shadowlord from Nier mentioned. Really, Nier is full of examples of sympathetic "villains".

Spoiler

That's the whole point of route B, after all.

Click to shrink...

Well, she does think Spirits Within is a really good movie so.....

 

[Lurkyseas]

Ganon in Ocarina of Time.

He was simply visiting the king showing his loyalty, then Link and Zelda started being diet racist and got him in trouble.

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Ganondorf was a sneaky, selfish character from Day One, especially as he killed the Deku Tree prior to meeting Link. Zelda always knew what his real intentions were.

There are certain villain characters in Zelda to really have sympathy for, like Hilda & Skull Kid.

 

[Astral]

Brahman from Gravity Rush 2.

Kali too for that matter.

Spoiler

Brahman just wanted to see his daughter again. He learned the hard way that the best way to do that was in death.

 

[Coaster17]

Bowser. The dude just wants some love. And cake.

 

[The Almighty Tria]

Lezard Valeth. I learned how to pick up women from this guy.

 

[BlueManifest]

Jin, xenoblade 2

 

[Trojita]

The funny thing is, technically speaking, if you were to let Magus do his own thing, the plot would resolve itself given that all along his plan was to kill Lavos himself.

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His plan was flawed since he had no way to destroy Lavos. He overestimated how much power he had accrued. His plan would have caused the apocalypse to happen in the middle ages.

 

[The Unsent]

Skullface in MGSV, he may have been a rapist, and massacred a hospital and committed many other crimes against humanity, but he was made that way by colonization and losing his true voice...

Real answer, that miffed guy in TWD where your gang steal his car's food and his family then dies.

 

[Leandras]

Purely from the Final Fantasy series:

Ardyn (Final Fantasy XV)

Spoiler

Basically tasked with absorbing the corruption from others to prevent them from turning into daemons and destined to become the king. When his job was done the gods decided he couldn't rule anymore because he is now corrupted himself. So he gets banished for all eternity while his smug brother and their descendants take the thrown and completely forget about his sacrifices. No question in my mind that he was truly evil in the game however.

Caius (Final Fantasy XIII-2)

Spoiler

Tasked with protecting a girl who is trapped in a cycle of death and rebirth for all eternity. His failure to save her from this continued fate eventually drives him mad. I also feel sorry for him for being caught up in the 13 series because he deserved better.

Zenos (Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood)

Spoiler

Basically the moon to my character's sun. Insane as a bat but somewhat in an endearing way, as if he's the only one that knows what your character must be going through. Ultimately slits his own throat leaving us alone to live through the obnoxious dialogue of Lyse and Alphinaud.

Edit:
Nier Automata Ending C/D:

Spoiler

9S

It was really sad watching 9S basically go down in the deep end after 2B dies and then gets tortured be her copies and his memories of her. That game went incredibly dark on the third play-through compared to the first 2

 

[Blindy]

Persona 5 spoilers

Spoiler

Goro Akechi

- He was abandoned as a child by a piece of shit father and was left as an orphan to fend for his own. No one can blame him for the need to be "wanted" and to feel his life has a purpose after essentially being left to die/fend for themselves. A lot of kids in his shoes would have never made it to be something in life but he became a detective, a position meant to help and discover. He wanted to use the Phantom Thieves to fill the need to be wanted and loved by all to boost his celebrity status. He was a character that had to work his way to get to his position, even if it meant going to extreme measures in doing such. He had no filter and he truly believed in his own "justice" and he went down in believing in that virtue. He went after power hungry/evil tyrants universally throughout the game, he just took it to the extreme by killing a few, including Haru's dad and the school's principal. For the very brief time you had him, he was a good party member and was insanely useful in the Sae Casino world and shit he even goes out on his terms by helping the phantom thieves by going after his doppelganger in his dad's universe.

He had full intentions of destroying his father both physically and mentally by allowing his father to reach the top of his goal only to take it away and destroy him as a means of hatred fueled payback he just never got his way because the protagonists stopped him. He lost himself in his hatred and anger and refused to let it go that he was cast aside and was forced to mature and grow up earlier than most kids would. He needed help psychologically but his profession forced him to be on top of his game and to look to the public as someone who doesn't falter when relied upon, he was a teenager who was thrown into a spot that he wasn't ready for but didn't know how to stop himself towards.

He was given a Persona power and chosen by Fake Igor as a means to represent the dark side of humanity and that power made him have a complex that he can take down anyone and everyone who goes against his mission of "justice". He probably would never go to the extreme depths without this chosen power. Seeing the MC's influence and his trust earned from the other members of the Phantom Thieves and to see his group build such an influence on the public further taunted and fueled Akechi's hatred and want to take down that group to build back/earn his adoration from the public that he worked from the ground up to earn. He lost his mind and way into doing such including execution and killing people to do such.

And he sadly didn't really get a resolution in his story like the others, he passed away on his terms but he wasn't saved by any means. His dad was taken down and brought into custody which at least gave him some satisfaction but he wasn't alive to see it.

 

[DanteLinkX]

Albert Wesker/Vergil the thread.

 

[Uncleslappy]

 

[Soran]

Albert Wesker/Vergil the thread.

Click to shrink...

Care to elaborate? I kinda see why Virgil but Wesker?

 

[DanteLinkX]

Care to elaborate? I kinda see why Virgil but Wesker?

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Everybody loves wesker. Specially his re5 neo-matrix self. The voice actor is awesome too.

Those shades, that coat, that magnum, those teleports, that speed, that style, whats not to love?

Bad ass neo character all around

 

[element252]

Spec Ops the Line.

You do play the villian throughout the entire game.

 

[Zhukov]

I agree. I hate it when people say Marlene should've given her the choice in the end. Same for people saying Joel should have told her the truth.

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Oh, she totally should have. And he totally should have.

The gentlest way is not necessarily the morally best way.

Hell, both of them believed Ellie would have gone through with it. Then they both make their decisions without giving her any agency in the matter.

 

[Bazztek]

Godot's not really a villain though but I guess he counts as the antagonist?

 

[Laughing Banana]

Detlaff, dude was pretty much manipulated by Syanna. Otherwise he seemed like a solid guy, maybe a bit too prone to emotional outbursts, but he saved ma boi Regis.

When I get around to another Blood and Wine playthrough, I will go for the ending where

Spoiler

you can let Detlaff kill Syanna and let him walk

.

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Wut.

He

Spoiler

murdered an entire city full of innocents

because of his 'emotional outburst'. Any sympathy I might have for him immediately gone out of the window at that point.

Heck, even Regis himself agreed to that when Geralt pointed that out.

 

[Disclaimer]

Wiegraf Folles, of course. Tragic figure who fought for the peasantry's equal rights, while opposing his lieutenants who resorted to kidnapping and ransoming. Ultimately consumed by vengeance after his Corpse Brigade is annihilated and his sister slaughtered, and preyed upon in that vulnerability by the Lucavi.

 

[gfxtwin]

Dormin in SOTC in the sense that it doesn't seem evil as morally grey. Just wants to not be trapped in the forbidden land, and even though it certainly looks and sounds intimidating, we don't know really what happens if it is let loose. Even makes it a point to warn the protagonist that shit will get bad if he goes through with the colossus-slaying ritual.

The more savage, hostile Trico in TLG. It was just programmed to be that way by the Valley Master's magic.

Dracula (Castlevania). His arch in Lords of Shadow made him a tragic character.

Paul Serene in Quantum Break: He's portrayed as more sympathetic and complex than most villains, and the game even puts you in his shoes to make his decisions to highlight this.

 

[Z-Beat]

Metal Sonic. He was created specifically to surpass Sonic and can't do it. It got to the point where his self worth is fully determined by his ability to beat Sonic, and if he can't do that then he doesn't think he should exist. That's pretty crushing


CLU from Tron Legacy has a serious case of DOES NOT COMPUTE and physically can't understand.

Sif the Great Grey Wolf. Sif is doing what they have to do. It's not personal. If you make friends with Did, he'll be sad to fight you but carry on anyway. Then he starts to limp as he's damaged and it's heartbreaking.

 

[pewpewtora]

Besides Laphicet and Eleanor - everyone else was on a sliding scale of morally grey. I would say that Rokruou and Velvet were the most villainious though

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I mean Eizen was just a pirate. He just did his own thing.

 

[Soundchaser]

Dr Wallace Breen

The man watched his research facility getting sabotaged and turned into an invasion gateway, then ended up having to choose between the slavery or the extinction of the human race. He bought some time for the humanity to get its shit together instead of being destroyed outright in the seven hour war, but everyone still hated him for negotiating peace with the Combine. Then the same interdimensional being who sabotaged his facility leads his former employee to kill him.

 

[Z-Beat]

Dr Wallace Breen

The man watched his research facility getting sabotaged and turned into an invasion gateway, then ended up having to choose between the slavery or the extinction of the human race. He bought some time for the humanity to get its shit together instead of being destroyed outright in the seven hour war, but everyone still hated him for negotiating peace with the Combine. Then the same interdimensional being who sabotaged his facility leads his former employee to kill him.

Click to shrink...

I cannot see this character without a giant head screaming HAAAAAAAAACKS

 

[Angel Whispers]

Medusa in Kid Icarus: Uprising, tbqh.

 

[AppleKid]

Been thinking about this topic a lot since beating Link's Awakening last weekend, and I think my pick would have to go to the nightmares in that game

Spoiler: Link's Awakening Spoilers

I believe that before Link came around, the nightmares and monsters were all just living their lives and keeping to themselves. Multiple characters mention how they became much more aggressive than usual after Link's arrival, which would make sense given they interpret this as a coming apocalypse. The progression of how much the bosses share with you really gives insight into how their anxiety worsens over time. They even try to scare Link into believing he will disappear too.

The only thing that could contradict this sympathy is the final nightmare stating more or less that they "took over the island" with seemingly evil implications. But again, this could just be a sorry attempt at intimidating Link. And since the Wind Fish likely would have woken up had the nightmares not invaded, they sort of had to take it over if they wanted to continue to exist.

And don't forget all the completely innocent animals and people who would also disappear. For all intents and purposes, the monsters were trying to save everyone on the island, not just themselves. They captured BowWow and Marin, but harmed neither and no one else in the process, further indicating they were trying to prevent the end rather than wreak havoc. Makes me very hesitant to finish the game every time.

 

[FarSight XR-20]

Paul Serene (Quantum Break)

 

[theotherMittens]

Kratos. He counts as a villain to me.

Click to shrink...

I have no sympathy for Kratos and he didn't deserve his redemption.

 

[Moist_Owlet]

Can we do that thing where we post images without character names or context?Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 8001]

Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2. Sure he turns back at the end but his motives made sense for what happened to him.

 

[Anthony Hopkins]

 

[Greatest Ever]

999

 

[Escaflow]

Heavy spoiler ahead : Kato from Shadow Hearts Covenant.

Spoiler

Man had to watch his love one fallen twice, and his ending was very tragic and emotional

. Dem feels

 

[karnage10]

Spec Ops the Line.

You do play the villian throughout the entire game.

Click to shrink...

I'm sad this isn't the first post. IMO it is one of the few games that truly embodies how empathic we can be with a villain.

 

[Master Chuuster]

Resident Evil 2 spoilers

Spoiler

Birkin saved Claire's and Sherry's asses repeatedly, so I kinda grew fond of him. Also he killed Irons, so he's cool in my book.

 

[Master Chuuster]

Heavy spoiler ahead

Click to shrink...

You should use spoiler tags.

 

[T002 Tyrant]

Ganondorf from Wind Waker. He just wanted his home back to how it was. :'(

 

[Socivol]

Ardyn Izunia for sure. After watching the Episode Ardyn prologue everything he does in that game makes so much more sense now.

 

[CloudWolf]

Maybe Jack deserve some empathy

Click to shrink...

Jack and Marguerite definitely deserve sympathy.

Spoiler

They were just trying to save a seemingly innocent, hurt girl. They were perfectly normal people until they were corrupted by powers beyond their power and understanding.

Lucas though? Fuck no.

 

[Deleted member 4869]

Ardyn from Final Fantasy XV, no doubt.

 

[Host Samurai]

Birkin. Fuck Umbrella.

 

[Neoleo2143]

The Dude in my avatar. A lot of what XC2 does well is layered in its subtext and its hard not to sympathize with Jin after thinking about him. The broken promises, his rejection of the world and simultaneous want for hope, the irony of his fate, the tremendous power he has and the cost he pays to use it. There's so much to talk about in his character really.

 

[justiceiro]

Been thinking about this topic a lot since beating Link's Awakening last weekend, and I think my pick would have to go to the nightmares in that game

Spoiler: Link's Awakening Spoilers

I believe that before Link came around, the nightmares and monsters were all just living their lives and keeping to themselves. Multiple characters mention how they became much more aggressive than usual after Link's arrival, which would make sense given they interpret this as a coming apocalypse. The progression of how much the bosses share with you really gives insight into how their anxiety worsens over time. They even try to scare Link into believing he will disappear too.

The only thing that could contradict this sympathy is the final nightmare stating more or less that they "took over the island" with seemingly evil implications. But again, this could just be a sorry attempt at intimidating Link. And since the Wind Fish likely would have woken up had the nightmares not invaded, they sort of had to take it over if they wanted to continue to exist.

And don't forget all the completely innocent animals and people who would also disappear. For all intents and purposes, the monsters were trying to save everyone on the island, not just themselves. They captured BowWow and Marin, but harmed neither and no one else in the process, further indicating they were trying to prevent the end rather than wreak havoc. Makes me very hesitant to finish the game every time.

Click to shrink...

I guess link is pro euthanasia.

 

[AfropunkNyc]

Still confused by this character. shes in between good guy and bad guy status, but in the end turns into a bad guy. Her main purpose was revenge and justice...