Villian Protagonist

[MakBow]

Do you like em or hate em?

Me personally, if they are good.
I like when a villain protagonist has to go against the "Protagonist" of that era, being righteous and all that while the MC needs to be cold and cunny, a perfect foil to the 'MC' of the world.

Only problem from what I see is that they just make them evil...for no reason. They just merk everyone because yes.

My Favorites would be Fang Yuan, Ainz, Alucard (Hellsing)

 

[FRWriter]

I hate the "Villain" description. Most well-written characters are neither good nor evil.
Oftentimes, people confuse "Altruistic" heroes who have no ambitions on their own and just do the right thing with being good. I hate these puppet-like characters.
Thus, I really like realistic characters who are somewhat greedy and care about themselves and have a realistic goal.

Oftentimes, Chinese novels manage to create more believable characters with protagonists who actually care about themselves.

 

[KaorimoHutsuEnaka]

I think I like the protagonists when they are good, because the main character can be really annoying if he would be bad. Anyway, this post remaind me of Luo Binghe ?

 

[autumnsugar]

Do you like em or hate em?

Me personally, if they are good.
I like when a villain protagonist has to go against the "Protagonist" of that era, being righteous and all that while the MC needs to be cold and cunny, a perfect foil to the 'MC' of the world.

Only problem from what I see is that they just make them evil...for no reason. They just merk everyone because yes.

My Favorites would be Fang Yuan, Ainz, Alucard (Hellsing)

One of my protagonists are a villain, I'm a fan of writing them because they can act much more unpredictably

 

[CinnaSloth]

i like charismatic villains.
i enjoy the carnage.

 

[MakBow]

I hate the "Villain" description. Most well-written characters are neither good nor evil.
Oftentimes, people confuse "Altruistic" heroes who have no ambitions on their own and just do the right thing with being good. I hate these puppet-like characters.
Thus, I really like realistic characters who are somewhat greedy and care about themselves and have a realistic goal.

Oftentimes, Chinese novels manage to create more believable characters with protagonists who actually care about themselves.

Well, Fang Yuan is just a straight up villain, no matter which way you spin it, and he is extremely well written, even if you do want to say he is really just someone who had suffered the harshness of the Gu world and simply chose to adapt.

At the end of the day Fang Yuan is just evil, no matter what, and that's okay.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Depends on your definition of "Villain". Villain as in antagonist for a "Hero"? Those are most of the time just non-moronic entities in a setting where the common IQ is as close to zero as is possible without deadening from a brain fart.

Villainous Protagonists? Depends. I personally hate the Chuuni edgelords unless they're also the buttend of most jokes. The Revenge-driven? Those are boring. Most of them are either forgetting their character arc halfway or are all "ME ANGY, ME KILL! UGAHHHH!" all the time.

Charismatic badass? The second-best type of villains. Even better if they're unapologetic.

The best kinds of villains are self-aware, cartoonishly evil Saturday Morning Show-style Villains. You know, those antagonists with so convoluted ideas that the sentence "Wait, where did I put the Giga-Laser Dolphin Cavalry again?" could actually make sense, yet you can't help but want their goofy plans to actually work. Think Team Rocket, Doofenschmirz & co.

 

[FRWriter]

Well, Fang Yuan is just a straight up villain, no matter which way you spin it, and he is extremely well written, even if you do want to say he is really just someone who had suffered the harshness of the Gu world and simply chose to adapt.

At the end of the day Fang Yuan is just evil, no matter what, and that's okay.

Fan Yuan doesn't kill people because he enjoys it. He has a rational reason for every one of his "crimes."

So yes, he might be evil, but he is not a "villain" in a sense. He just does what benefits himself.

Usually, stereotypical villains want to destroy the world or just commit evil out of fun. In his world, everyone acts like Fan Yuan, so I don't think he is more evil than others. He is just more talented, smarter, and overall capable than the others, thus he has more impact.

 

[MakBow]

Fan Yuan doesn't kill people because he enjoys it. He has a rational reason for every one of his "crimes."

So yes, he might be evil, but he is not a "villain" in a sense. He just does what benefits himself.

Usually, stereotypical villains want to destroy the world or just commit evil out of fun. In his world, everyone acts like Fan Yuan, so I don't think he is more evil than others. He is just more talented, smarter, and overall capable than the others, thus he has more impact.

I never said he kills people because he enjoys and even if that is true, think about it from the perspective of the victim. From their perspective, he is evil, even if there is reason behind it, it doesn't negate how evil something is.
Similar to anti-heroes who do bad to commit to a great good, yes that reason makes sense, but the actions are still evil or just bad.
He indeed is the villain, pure evil. A villain doesn't need to enjoy killing people to be the villain.
Villains can be smart and calculating, they don't need to have world domination or anything like that to be the villain.

 

[TinaMigarlo]

Oftentimes, people confuse "Altruistic" heroes who have no ambitions on their own and just do the right thing with being good. I hate these puppet-like characters.

that's a white hat hero. Yeah, I find them to be little kid comic book good guy annoying.

Thus, I really like realistic characters who are somewhat greedy and care about themselves and have a realistic goal.

you're describing a "noir" MC. They can be doing it because they are forced to and have no choice, out of greed, or any of a number of reasons other than just being a good hero. They will have character flaws. I her discussiuons like this all the time. Everyone is descriobing a type of noir protagonist, but they all decribe it differently. I dont; know why people don't just push this...

go to google.
type in "what is a noir MC"

noir famously mixes with any other genre, and makes for a more complex and nuanced character. I have no idea why the word/definition of "noir" fell out of common usage.

 

[FRWriter]

that's a white hat hero. Yeah, I find them to be little kid comic book good guy annoying.

you're describing a "noir" MC. They can be doing it because they are forced to and have no choice, out of greed, or any of a number of reasons other than just being a good hero. They will have character flaws. I her discussiuons like this all the time. Everyone is descriobing a type of noir protagonist, but they all decribe it differently. I dont; know why people don't just push this...

go to google.
type in "what is a noir MC"

noir famously mixes with any other genre, and makes for a more complex and nuanced character. I have no idea why the word/definition of "noir" fell out of common usage.

It was never commonly used. Also, "Heroes and Villains" need to be judged not by our standards but by the standards of their worlds.

 

[TinaMigarlo]

It was never commonly used. Also, "Heroes and Villains" need to be judged not by our standards but by the standards of their worlds.

standard noir-speak.
the typical noir world, is dark, dritty, and corrupt. The noir MC is a product of this blighted world.

 

[BigBadBoi]

I like pragmatic and lawful evil protagonists. Edgelord murderhobo protagonists are dogshit and I hate them.

cold and cunny

 

[MFontana]

Do you like em or hate em?

Me personally, if they are good.
I like when a villain protagonist has to go against the "Protagonist" of that era, being righteous and all that while the MC needs to be cold and cunny, a perfect foil to the 'MC' of the world.

Only problem from what I see is that they just make them evil...for no reason. They just merk everyone because yes.

My Favorites would be Fang Yuan, Ainz, Alucard (Hellsing)

It really depends on the execution, but yeah, they can certainly spice things up a bit.
Though, for clarity's sake when the protagonist is the villain, the story's antagonist will typically find themselves as either another type of villain (IE: Hellsing: Ultimate) or as the Hero of the story [which admittedly isn't something that I've seen too frequently in novel format. In my experience this tends to be more common in the TTRPG field, where the player(s) opt to play villains].

For writing them, ultimately it comes down to the story you want to tell, and the heart of that story's conflict, but it can certainly be done, and done well.

That said, you did nail it with Ainz Ooal Gown (even if he is at times confused about his 'role' in the story). Alucard isn't so much a Villain as he is a no-nonsense Anti-Hero in the original Hellsing, and Hellsing: Ultimate though. (The Abridged version is most definitely a villain-protagonist though, and all-around he is still a great character, and one of my favorite vampires in fiction, short of perhaps Lestat).

I guess the easiest way to answer the question though, would be to say yes.
I love them (when they're done well), but despise them when they're done poorly.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

The only "villain" (by his own admission - he's a greedy coward motivated more by sex and money than anything else) character I've enjoyed reading as a main character (there are a LOT of villains I really like as ... well ... villains or, occasionally support characters that the "good guys" have to rely on to do their dirty work) is Harry Flashman of Frazier's "Flashman Papers" series.
Harry was a throwaway villain in "Tom Brown's School Days" (a "slice of life" book from the mid 1800s) until George MacDonald Frazier decided to give him a life of his own. He never completely grew out of his bully phase, even as an adult, but his dad bought him a commission in the army, and he (mostly by accident) served with distinction, even showing some skills as a horseman. As a result, he winds up drifting through key points in history, always surviving, and often being seen as a hero, despite doing EVERYTHING for selfish or lustful reasons. The uprising in India, Custer's Last Stand, The Battle of Roark's Drift ... he even met Sherlock Holmes briefly.

 

[Daeron]

Do you like em or hate em?

Me personally, if they are good.
I like when a villain protagonist has to go against the "Protagonist" of that era, being righteous and all that while the MC needs to be cold and cunny, a perfect foil to the 'MC' of the world.

Only problem from what I see is that they just make them evil...for no reason. They just merk everyone because yes.

My Favorites would be Fang Yuan, Ainz, Alucard (Hellsing)

Mine literally Delusional-Narcistic-Villain MC, HAHAHA

 

[Eldoria]

Yagami Light

 

[corruption]

Sometimes they can be very enjoyable. Other times they are badly done.
One issue is their motives. What drives them? If it justifiable in their eyes people may not consider them to be villains. But if it is not then people may see them as just crazy.

For me often a good written Evil Protagonist knows they are considered evil and does not let that bother them.
Sometimes they believe what they are doing is right, but either have a distorted view of the world (like prejudice, ignorance of the facts, or misjudging the situation) These might actually be considered Misguided Good and could be turned to being Good Protagonists.
Others believe they are doing the right thing, but know they are doing evil, and so try to justify it to themselves, and have all kinds of internal conflict.
Example "Yes, I know those druids just wanted to protect nature, but I had to clear that forest because we need that land for farms to support the army, and the wood for weapons. If they hadn't resisted, I would not have needed to make an example out of them by killing them."
"I know it's a demon worshiping cult, but if we divert our resources to remove them, we won't be able to secure our claim over those lands and all the lives lost would be wasted."
"Yes, I know handing people over to the cultists will just get them sacrificed alive, but they were all convicted criminals, and the cult is offering to support our efforts by having agents undermine our enemies."