Anyone ever root for the bad guys or hope no one survives?

I love a good villain. In most cases, I don't wish that the main protagonist dies as I tend not to care who dies as long as my favorite characters make it to the last book, movie, or episode.

 

Depends on how cute the bad guys are. Yeah, sometimes. I might find myself agreeing more with the villain's plans. Sometimes I don't think they're really "bad guys" when compared to the "good guys." Although sometimes my horror movie viewing, is more like a drunken exercise in trying not to facepalm at how excessive and/or unrealistic the gore is lol. I also like it in a film/anime when it seems that anybody can die. If my favourite character dies, then that's cool if their death wasn't lame, and it also kind of sucks. I must admit I've shed a few tears, but nothing traumatic ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Here's the half-rambling answer of an unabashed villain fanboy

I can think of quite a few villains I like more than the heroes of their story. Personally, I love a well-written, interesting villain. A good arch-nemesis can make or break a story, and let's face it, any hero is only as good as their villain. If you pit a powerful hero against a puny villain, your story is going to suck; on the other hand, if you throw your hero up against a nigh-unstoppable villain, that's what makes a story. You take villains like Loki, villains with an interesting story and/or a magnetic personality, and it's hard not to root for them. They add character to the story.

Of course, even a well-written villain can still be the type of character you just can't root for (Joffrey and Dolores Umbridge immediately come to mind).

 

It depends on how charismatic the villain is...

 

Almost always, lol~ I mean, even in Disney, Scar, Jafar and sexy slave Jasmine, and Dr. Facilier were the best characters XD;;; I think it's because the villains usually have their ish together and are cool, confident, and sexy~~ I mean, the only reasons to watch avatar were for the pretty atmosphere and for Colonel Quaritch *fans self* XD;;;;;

 

Sometimes, when it seems to me that the hero is in the wrong. I hate those stories where you have unlikeable heroes that are in the wrong and you're supposed to root for them. I'm not talking about anti-heroes here, since anti-heroes like Jack the pumpkin king from Nightmare before Christmas are likeable- since they have good intentions, but are misunderstood characters that tend to have ill-advised methods of getting there.

Particularly the ones where you're supposed to hate the villain because the main character does, even if they don't do anything unlikable,annoying or even remotely evil. Unless it's building up to something and is explained later. Not just that they hate the villain because they just do.

 

I cheered for Jeannine in Divergent. She was my fave Villain

 

It happens that I cheer on the villain.

I do enjoy bittersweet endings a lot, though. Honestly, I kinda think the audience in general are bitches because bittersweet endings are rarely well received and every movie needs a mandatory happy ending. Fuck that shit--sometimes there's just no way for the hero to make it out.

 

Cruella deserved her coat!

Kidding :lol:

 

Yeah, all the time.

 

occasionly. If I'm rooting against the protagonist, usually thats either a failure of the story and the author... or, an example of some exceptionally creative writing. Death Note, I'm looking at you..

And yes I'm officially going on record as saying that if you rooted for Light Yagami then you missed the point of death note

 

She was a well-written villain. Cold, calm, and calculating; a "mastermind" kind of villain. My favorite kind of villain. I wouldn't say I "rooted" for her, but she's certainly interesting.

 

Baby, I'm the king of routing for the bad guy.

 

Gilgamesh in Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works is a fascinating character. I find myself relating to him more than is comfortable in some ways...

Also, he's super hot. *faints* Erm, I'm not biased at all...he's pretty cool though.

 

Frequently; for example, Chancellor Palpatine in the Star Wars prequels, because the heroes were so annoying.

 

^Ever read the book Darth Plagueis? It is about how Palpatine evolved into pre-Phantom Menace Palpatine and about Darth P. He was briefly mentioned in Episode II, I think. A really, REALLY good book.

My favorite movie where the bad guy "wins" is The Dark Knight. Every time I watch it, the movie becomes more and more legendary. Heath's performance as the Joker is flawless. How the Joker wipes out the city of the mob (organized crime), has grim predictions that follow through, turning Gotham's finest good guy (Harvey Dent) into a villain and finally turning Batman into the hunted instead of the hunter. Not to mention he has the entire city at his will by the end of the film.

"Madness is a lot like gravity; all you need is a little PUSH."

 

It's like a U2 concert in here... the edge.

For me, it depends. Death Note is a really good example of where, in my opinion, the antagonist outshines the protagonist. So I lean more towards the villain.

Naturally, there is Azula. But what makes Avatar: The Last Airbender so interesting is, it's hard to not want Aang to prevail -- that is amazing, that you have a fine balance between wanting hero or villain to prevail.

Batman is another good balance between hero and villain. Mr. Freeze, at least in the animated series, is one I rooted for over the protagonist. The one thing he really wanted in life was taken away from him, and now he lingers, tormented, with the memories.

I see people mentioning The Joker, particularly from The Dark Knight. I've said my piece on Heath Ledger's performance. While I found him to be the -- by far -- most interesting piece of that film, I didn't really want him to win. He was entertaining, but he lacked the 'pull you in' charisma that, to me, is what makes a villain somebody you could root for. This is my opinion, and I've been burned at the stake for it, but it remains unchanged as of now.

Magneto, too; he was the individual who allowed the heroes to achieve their goals. If he didn't do the dirty work, there'd be a lot more roadblocks and problems, and for that I find him fascinating and worthy of my rooting support. Without him clearing obstacles, the heroes, particularly the X-Men, would be the ones with a tainted image. Also, Magneto has a purple cape, that's an automatic win, yo.

ShinRa from Final Fantasy VII was somebody I rooted for. But it has been years since I've played, and a lot of details are fuzzy, so it could be open to change. However, what I am remembering, I remember finding them to be the more appealing of the three-way struggle. On one side you have Cloud and his party, Sephiroth in the middle, and the corporate behemoth known as ShinRa on the other. In particular Rufus was of interest, and somebody I enjoyed interacting with in the game.

Orochimaru I wanted to prevail in Naruto, not because I necessarily agreed with him, but because he was the most captivating villain, in my opinion. He didn't do bad things for any complex reason, he did them just to troll and while doing so, accumulate knowledge on various techniques and information. He was a heartless bastard, but by being that way, he propelled the ninja world forward in a sadistic kind of evolution, if you will. I'm curious how a world under him would have turned out. This is what makes him a successful villain; I like him, but I don't want him to actually win. He's edgy without being cliche, and that is so refreshing.

There's more I'm sure, but those all came to mind almost immediately.