Not all bad guys are as evil as they seem. Even if they make us angry, scared to death whenever they appear or rage-quit to no end, a little look into their lore might prove that maybe they weren’t always this way and the more layers a villain has, the more interesting they become. Here are some great examples of villains that proved to be not so bad – and maybe than a little justified in their actions.
*Spoiler warning!*
Alessa Gillespie (Silent Hill)
To a first time player, Alessa probably seems like the ultimate devil child with a vindictive and hateful spirit. Just a 7 year old child at first glance, she appears numerous times in front of protagonist Harry Mason, who has lost his child, Cheryl, after running off the road close to town. As the game goes on and his search continues, it is revealed to him that Alessa was part of a ritual and burned alive by her own mother in order to give birth to a God. Angry and radiating power, Alessa turns the world of Silent Hill dark and horrific while splitting her soul in half to stop the God from being born. Her other half, Cheryl, enjoyed a full and loving life with her adoptive father Harry and avoided all of the nightmares Alessa dealt with. Though we might be on the fence if all the gore was justifiable, Alessa is really just an abuse victim deprived of solid and sane parents.
Alma Wade (F.E.A.R)
Alma Wade was a young child with physic abilities whom at the age of three, was taken by Armacham Technology Corporation to be tested and experimented on. With the goal to use her powers for their own gain, Alma’s father worked day after day with her to find the source and extent of her powers. Though she tried and failed to get out of the situation by first faking she’d lost her abilities and then using her powers more aggressively to take her anger out on the scientists, Alma was eventually forced to birth children and then put into a coma. Eventually killed off by her scientists, Alma reappears throughout the game as a ghost to kill anyone who enters the facility, leaving bloodshed wherever she goes and a hair-rising giggle of glee.
Queen Myrrah (Gears of War)
The Queen of the Locust’s may have killed millions of humans and dwindled the worlds population to nothing, but at least it wasn’t in plain hatred – okay, only a little hatred. With her people dropping like flies to an illness that’s quickly infecting them all, Queen Myrrah firstly tries to come to a peaceful agreement with the humans living above ground. She does this to avoid killing more of her own, however, when that plan fails she decides that her people will be safe at any cost and that’s exactly what she goes on to do. A war between the species, fighting for control of life above ground, breaks out. Even after The Hammer of Dawn nearly pushes her subjects to extinction, she wages the war onward for 10 more years, refusing to let her people down.
Pyrrha (SoulCalibur)
With a shard of Soul Edge embedded inside of her by her mother at a young age, death has always followed Pyrrha no matter where she went. At first she was hesitant to fight or cause conflict – who wouldn’t be sick of it when it chased you everywhere you went? However, when she is framed for the death of the man she falls for and unable to deal with this happening anymore, Pyrrha is easily manipulated by the mysterious character Tira – who has secretly been the reason Pyrrha’s life has been filled with tragedy.When Tira reveals another shard to her, Pyrrha slowly begins to transform to a dark version of herself suddenly unafraid to kill and no longer hesitant about much.
Sarah Kerrigan (Star Craft)
Sarah began as an innocent child, cursed with abilities she couldn’t control and killed her mother because of it. When she caused her father to be brain dead as well shortly after, she was taken by Confederate agents and was supposed to be raised and used for their benefit. After years of resisting them and refusing to kill without emotion or hesitation, she was weared down so much that she became exactly that and began working for the company. It’s when rebel forces attack and kidnap her that she soon begins to recover and eventually even starts to become normal. However, after falling in love then losing him and working for the rebellion for a while, it almost seems in vain when Sarah ends up giving in to who she is and becomes the most feared person in the universe. Dubbed as ‘Queen of Blades’, it’s still hard to see her as evil and we may even find ourselves agreeing with her at some points.
Arbiter Thel ‘Vadam (Halo)
Once a great loyal fighter and leader, the Arbiter was punished and tasked with a new job that practically guaranteed his death when he allowed a Halo ring to be destroyed by the UNSC. Accepting his fate at first, when 343 Guilty Spark reveals to him that the whole point of Halo is to destroy all lives in the galaxy and that the prophets had lied to him all this time and were apart of countless other lies and betrayals, he ditches his faith, resigns from the Covenant and even goes to fight with Master Chief.
Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos (Bloodborne)
Ebrietas is a God-like creature in the game Bloodborne and the object of obsession of the Healing Church. To you, she may just be known as the pain of a boss that caused hours of rage-quitting. But for those of you who don’t know the lore, here it is! She originally taught them how to use Blood Ministration. Though despite her willingness to work with humans, and the only ‘Great One’ who was interested in co-existing peacefully with them, they left her to rot with no intention of helping her return home. It’s sadly ironic that in the end, Ebrietas giving that ‘help’ led to the scourge of the beast and the widespread plague in Yharnam which is why she must be killed by the player.
Do you agree with our list or did we miss somebody? Who are your favorite villains who aren’t actually that evil?
