Question Which villains are better than the hero’s of the story?

Do you ever come across a villain that is actually bad for good reasons and you just can’t hate him and end up liking him better than the hero if so which villain and why do you like them more than the hero

 

I think I've heard a quote before saying, "A story is only as good as its villain."
Rather than villains who are bad for good reasons I prefer a villain who is just so good at being bad that you just can't hate him.

• In novels I like that fruit demon from Rokka no Yuusha a lot, first villain in a novel that actually got my heart racing in fear. But then again I was only like 13 when I read it, I was afraid of a lot of things back then. The demons' story of being beaten back by Heroes for centuries, getting just a little closer each time but never winning, being divided among themselves. Its honestly kinda inspiring how they never gave up and how one of them enacted a plan so massive and convoluted spanning such a long time with so many layers, its just overwhelming. Much more interesting than 6 magically chosen heroes going out to kill a demon king.
• In games there's so many. Vaas from Far Cry 3. Joko from Guild Wars 2. The guy from Bioshock, Atlas was he called? Glados from Portal but mostly because of how hilarious she is. And the girl from FEAR for the exact reasons you named, the girl was abused and experimented on, I just wanted to give her a hug even though I was terrified out of my pants while playing this game. The heroes in these games are so bland in comparison, just some guy who stumbled into all that kinda thing.
• I don't watch anime very much so I don't know but all the ones I can think of like Shana or Zetsuen no Tempest where the villains' ideals and desires were recognized by the end, so not so much of a villain anymore, are they?

There's actually so many more, specially in games. These are just off the top of my head. I think the reason it's so evident in games is because protagonists there are supposed to be a self-insert of ourselves so they feel a need to make the characters' backstories and personalities vague. So there's a lot of room for the villains to shine.

 

Every arrogant young master who wants to kill the MC of ATG. It doesn't matter how evil you are, wanting to kill that guy makes you one of the good guys.

 

In terms of how they treat their own Pokemon, James from team rocket def shows a lot more compassion in comparison to Ash. However, the fact that he's in a gang with a primary business of Pokemon trafficking, really no bueno.

 

Wasn’t James abandoned by his parent and join so he’d have money to keep his grandparents home?

 

I'm not entirely familiar with his backstory tbh. I thought his parents were rich or something and he left to escape some arranged marriage. If he did join for some legitimate reason (ex. out of desperation) I certainly do feel sympathetic and of course, it is impossible to mark a character as purely good or bad, however, that still does not make Pokemon trafficking okay.

 

Runyu from Ashes of Love in the first half of the story. He was overthrowing a corrupt regime while his half brother, the male protagonist, ignored his parents' crimes (genocide, etc) and was busy chasing after the female protagonist.

 

I like Madara of Naruto if that counts as a story........

 

Most villains are more sympathetic or at least more interesting than the heroes. Main reason being, villains are proactive - they have a goal and are working towards it. While heroes are reactive - they just respond to what's going on and are often boring outside of whatever is forcing them to act. Even heroes who have goals rarely act to achieve them... An example of that is boku no hero academia, where the protagonist has been obsessed with heroes since forever, saying he wants to become a hero, yet he's put no effort into training himself or gaining information on the academy exam in the 10+ years since he started saying it, and only started acting on that dream after someone forced him to.

And besides, when the main villain doesn't have a good reason for being a villain, the novel is likely going to be pretty bad in other ways...

 

Sometimes I like the villains more in a story . Some of the hero’s are just bland and boring.