Villain

A stereotypical villain, common in the silent cinema of the early twentieth century, with elegant black suit, acical moustache and manic gesture.

Villain is an evil person, especially in fiction. Villains are fictional characters, or perhaps fictional characters, in dramas and melodramas who are deliberately evil and who oppose the hero. As such, the villains are an almost inevitable plot device, and more than the heroes, crucial elements on which the plot revolves.

Etymology

The etymology of the word derives from the Latin villanus from the word 'villa', which comes from the Latin villa (country house, farm). This Latin word is associated with the Indo-European root *weik- (house or clan seat), which would be present in the Greek οἶκος (oikos = house) and hence the words economy, ecosystem, ecology, ecumenical. The villanus were then the closest thing to the middle class in their time since they did not belong to the nobility (although they could become part of it) and they did not belong to the most subjugated classes: outcasts, slaves and proletarians. The word villain began to become synonymous with evil from both ends of the social scale: from pariah and proletarian slaves who were more subjugated by them than by the nobility; and from the nobility that saw in the villains' attempts to rise in society an offensive and even threatening act. With the feudalization of Europe, villanus came to mean serf or peasant, someone who is tied to the land of a villa and could not leave it. From the spheres of power (mainly the ecclesiastical) poverty was then equated to moral corruption.^{[citation required]}

Stereotypes

Caricature of a mad scientist, concept that differs from villain, although both have common features.

Dr. Evil is a parody of the tipic villains from action movies and spies.

There are many stereotypes about villains. A caricature of a common villain cliché can be seen at the top right of this article. In the days of silent movies, villains had to appear very sinister "visually," and thus many stereotypes were born about them. The characters Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, and Snidely Whiplash from Rocky and Bullwinkle, as well as the Hanna-Barbera character Pierre Nodoyuna, are widely known parodies of this kind of archetype.

These stereotypes include black clothing (often quite formal: cape, top hat, etc), facial hair, sharp features, and a perpetually "angry" facial expression. Other villainous stereotypes include the habit of "evil laughter", a stiff and fawning voice, and an arrogant overconfidence in himself that leads him to unnecessarily explain his sinister plans. There is also the opposite stereotype of the beautiful villain who looks like a hero, but whose personality and attitude reveal a devilish nature. This stereotype became well known after World War II when the Holocaust was revealed, emerging the popular villain who reflects the blond, blue-eyed Nazi ideal, whose beauty hides an arrogant sense of superiority and vile ambitions to make the "suffering" suffer. lower”. The blond, blue-eyed villain has recently become a strange stereotype, the evil albino, a villain who displays various physical traits normally associated with albinism (such as fair skin, platinum blonde hair, and blue or red eyes) even though he does not necessarily have such a condition..

In opera and musical theater, the villain or villain is often played by a baritone or mezzo-soprano.

Supervillains are found in the melodramatic settings of superhero comics, where an evil person with superpowers is needed as a worthy foil to the mighty heroes. These supervillains often have repetitive roles, and some villains from more earthy literature have become so popular that they have been reused in later works as well.

On the other hand, the term "villain of the week" is used as an antagonist or opponent who has an appearance limited to one episode of a fictional work. These types of villains are characterized by serving as a temporary obstacle for the heroes and their characteristics were popularized by the appearance of weekly formats such as television series, radio programs or western or eastern comic strips. Some of the series known for this type of villain are: Charmed, The X files, Buffy the vampire slayer, Smallville , Sailor Moon or Power Rangers.

Middle Ages

In the time of feudalism, the villain was a descendant of free peasants, thus differentiating himself from the serf, and in this condition they could leave the fiefdom if they wanted. Like the serfs, the villains had to pay the lords a seigneurial tribute as well as comply with the corvée.

In medieval Portugal, the term "villain" It mainly referred to a citizen of a city or town or municipality, without belonging to the nobility. Villains with higher economic or social conditions sometimes rose to the status of villain-knights, being then forced to own horses to fight as knights at the king's command, integrating what were then called hosts.

Narratology

In narratology and studies of analysis and interpretation of literary works and plots, a villain is the embodiment of evil in both historical accounts and works of fiction. The villains fulfill the role of the antagonist before the hero/protagonist.

The villain is generally an unsympathetic figure, who uses his abilities with the aim of harming someone or getting something he wants, using dishonest resources that border on illegality for these purposes. Many times these characters develop more or less elaborate plans, which are explained throughout the plot, and which normally harm or attempt to harm the protagonist and society itself. And generally, and in order to present an acceptable outcome for the entire public or the majority, the villain sees his plans ruined, in many cases thanks to the bravery and heroism of the protagonist.

Differences between villain and antagonist

It should be noted that even though the villains take the place of the antagonist in a fictional work/production, both terms have some differences. While the antagonists are characters who oppose and hinder the lives of the protagonists, trying to prevent them from fulfilling their wishes, either because they want the same thing or because they do not want them to fulfill them; due to the fact that the antagonists may have a rivalry with the protagonists or also because they hold a grudge against them for something that the protagonists may have inadvertently caused them. The villains are fully evil characters who try to harm the protagonists and other characters, in addition to wanting to do evil by deliberately exercising their evil; because the villains, unlike the antagonists, want to harm, torture and see their opponents suffer, either for revenge, for the collateral effects of the actions of the heroes, or for a simple whim and obsession of wanting to see the villain defeated. protagonist.