That''s a bit frightening.

Definitely DON''T make a villain who just shows up at the end of the game as the "mastermind behind everything". That''s a tired concept.

Instead, have a villain who seems "entertained" by the idea of having the player attack him. Then he begins taunting and demoralizing the heroes(and sometimes helping them out of pity), like Kefka did in FF6(and yes, Sephiroth did some of that as well).

Giving the villain a history helps, as well. A history of widespread destruction. Then his reputation precedes him. Think of FFX and Sin. He was a massive beast prone to random attacks on towns and such. Hundreds of people are murdered by him every year, and for that reason he has the entire world shaking with fear and doubt.

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I agree with the others in saying a villain must be admired respected and feared. I also agree that the best villains are the ones right in front of our face, whether we know it or not. Yet, what makes a Great Villain?

I think a great villain is two-Faced. There is one side that makes you feel like you need to help or take care of him/her. You have empathy.
The other side is so unthinkably evil you can''t know what it will do or is capable of doing. It is truely unpredictable and uncaring and plays upon the weaknesses(as a villain would see it) that you have shown to the villain''s other side. A great villain sucks you in to the point that you create a bond and then uses that bond as the means for making your demise.

Another aspect is, of course, a villain that doesn''t die easily. I don''t mean dieing and coming back for a 10th sequel but one that is so brilliantly manipulative s/he is difficult to get at to be killed or maybe just disappears. Some of the best villains, ones that we know to be extremely cruel but we have come to sympathize have just walked away. It leaves us to think that maybe s/he is rehabilitated because of our relationship with that individual, or that this villain has done what s/he needed to do and his/her life is now in order and deserves to be free, or that this villain is simply too good an adversary to be caught.

In effect, I think some of the greatest villains are ones we can''t understand. We think we understand them but never really know the truth nor could we ever know. That''s the joy of two-faced villains.

"The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible" - Oscar Wilde.

I like the "But for the Grace of God" villains. They''re slightly twisted reflections of the hero. Batman has a slew of them. Batman is driven essentially mad by the heinous murder of his parents, and he tempers that madness into resolve, becoming the most single-minded vigilante in the business, but he will not kill. He also yearns for normality, and his two personalities, Bruce Wayne and The Batman, are constantly warring within him. The human side always wins out, but he can never forget that there is a thing within him that was born of pure hatred and fear, and must be controlled at all times.

His villains are often similar to him in many ways. The Joker, his arch-nemesis, went mad when his life collapsed in a single evening. His body disigured, his livelihood lost, and his family wiped out in a freak accident, the Joker is totally insane, having been unable to control the raging greif that Bruce Wayne so tenuously contains. Had Bruce been a little weaker, or his suffering a little greater, he might be like the Joker.

Two-Face, once Harvey Dent, was ruined by acid burns and became obsessed with the number two and the duality of his own condition. Having contained his righteous rage and hatred of injustice through his years as District Attorney, he finds those emotions liberated in his criminal persona. As time passes, though, Harvey Dent is losing the battle against Two-Face, and in some story arcs he loses his humanity entirely. Bruce Wayne also fights his inner demon, and if he should falter, he might lose his grasp on reality, as well.

The Reaper is a rival vigilante, who fights crime as Batman does, but without Batman''s respect for human life. This trangression makes him an opponent of the Batman, and the two don''t get along. The Reaper only appeared in a few stories, but is still an interesting parallel. If Batman ever crossed that line, he''d become the Reaper, and his righteousness would shatter.

These close parallels between hero and villain lend a poignance and irony to every story featuring these characters. Hollywood ruins them, of course, but that''s to be expected. When Two-Face and Batman face off (pun!), there''s a bizarre harmony between them, and it''s sometimes difficult to see exactly what entitles Batman to victory.

For these reasons and more, I love a number of the Batman villains.

In a recent episode of Justice League, Superman is put into the position where he has to kill Luthor. Upon doing it, he feels liberated and free and feels that the method he chose over the way, the subtle method of cleaning up crime, was no longer useful. This caused a transformation that formed not the Justice League, but the Justice Lords.

I say this because, in this episode, the Batman from the Justice Lords finds a portal to the dimension where the Justice League resides. The "good" Batman is eventually pitted against his Justice Lord counterpart, who knows his every move and what he''s going to do next. After talking for a while, the "good" Batman''s ideals are swayed to the point where he actually agrees with the methods implemented, no matter how extreme they are.

I like villians that take the time to get to know you. I mean, they come down from said fortress, sit down, and have a discussion with you about why things are going the way they are. I also LOVE it when one villian is pitted against another i.e. Jason vs. Freddy

Skeletor versus King Hiss. ^_^

I haven''t gotten very far in ff7(the part where the pillar collapses and aeris is kidnapped), so I don''t know how good a villian Sephiroth is. My fave would have to be Kefka, because he was without reason, allowing him to do heinously evil things(I cried when General Leo died). In Kefka''s case, he''s insane. You need some sort of thing to excuse their evil actions, or just have him totally evil because he just is(Like Giygas in Earthbound). Or, villians driven by good purposes(see Golden Sun 1 and 2). That''s my idea. Oh, and give them a good reason to fight the villian, like the main love interest dying(though I haven''t gotten to that part in ff7, my friends ruined it for me).

I like villains that the main character is friends with. An example is Tkira from the first dragonlance books (I think it''s Tkira ,anyway shes Cameron''s sister and Tanis''s ex lover, you know the one I mean). Especially when it ends in a confrontation where neither of them want to kill each other but have to stand up for what they belive in.

For me, a villain would be great as long as he/she/it helps to make the story interesting. The stronger the villain, the more the protagonist had to strive to overcome the villain, whether his/her effort will consist of using their intelligence, brute force, or luck. The way the protagonist will have to solve the conflict (which the villain created) has the capacity to make the story very interesting. The villain won''t have to be a person. It can be a thing (think of "The Perfect Storm", and some Stephen King stories where objects/animals were evil), or anything. I have a penchant for villains that brings forth evil thru interesting ways, such as Hannibal Lecter, and the Ring of Power.

I like Dr. Hannibal Lecter because of his elaborate ways of hurting people, and savoring their pain (or flesh). He can use his surgical/culinary skills in killing (and eating) people. He might even recall the way he eats his victim. He can also easily convince anyone to kill/mutilate themselves. In Silence of the Lambs (the novel. I dunno if it was mentioned in the movie), he convinced an insane fellow to kill himself and swallow his own tongue. He is very suave, and a kind gentleman, which kind of hide is evil tendencies, but does nothing to hide his commanding presence. Simple confrontations between this guy and any character is already interesting in itself because of the way Hannibal handles a confrontation. He''s a fave villain of mine, but I don''t want to be in his couch.

I thought of the Ring of Power as a villain, even if it is an inanimate object. It can''t weild weapons since it has no hands. However, it is very EVIL, is very powerful, and more interesting, it has an objective - to get to its boss no matter what the means. So many conflicts has risen because of this ring. Anyone who tries to harness its power either died, or went mad. Anyone else who didn''t nevertheless suffered because of the scars brought about by the terrible events that the ring has wrought. Our interest remains in the Lord of The Rings saga mainly because we are interested on how the characters try everything they could to destroy the ring.