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Note that the below list is a very rough scale; any given character may fall higher or lower on this list depending on context, regardless of what tropes describe him. Many character types are very broad, so the positions below should represent an approximate average; some individual characters are subversions who turn out to be something significantly different from the stereotype of their type of villain.
An interesting feature of this is that the more [[Evil Tropes|''evil'']] a villain is the ''less'' vile he may appear to be, compared to other villains in the story, the logic being that a truly Despicable villain is someone we hate and revile, while a truly Evil villain is dangerous and to be feared- we care less about ''what'' happens to him and are satisfied that ''something'' does, if only to end his reign of terror.
See also [[Sliding Scale of Anti
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{{examples}}
The sliding scale is roughly as follows:
▲* [[Hero Antagonist|Hero Antagonists]]
** [[Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist]]
** [[Inspector Javert]]
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** [[Internal Affairs]]
** [[Smug Super]] (hero version only) the least sympathetic you can get while still qualifying as a non-ironic good guy.
* [[Anti
** Those [[Forced Into Evil]]
** [[Necessarily Evil]]
** [[Non
** [[Obliviously Evil]]
** [[Harmless Villain]]
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*** [[Goldfish Poop Gang]]
** [[Worthy Opponent]]
** The [[Hero
** The [[Minion
** [[Noble Demon]]
** If you're going to [[Bait the Dog]], the reveal of the villain's actual alignment needs to be at this level or below to get the proper 'punch'.
** [[Punch Clock Villain]] usually goes about here.
** [[Well
** [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]
* Ordinary Villainy
** The [[Villainous Harlequin]] rarely goes below this point.
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** [[Hate Sink]] usually falls here in terms of vileness, even without being a true antagonist.
** [[Put Them All Out of My Misery]] usually settles about here.
** [[Wild Card
** [[Smug Snake]]
** [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] (the villainous variety)
** [[Obviously Evil]]
** [[Bigger Bad]] (such as [[God of Evil]]) needs to be at or below this point to be taken credibly as a source of all evil (unless they're on a [[Sugar Bowl]] or such where 'all evil' means that they want [[Poke the Poodle|to cancel Christmas]]), though because of their tendency of being an [[Orcus
* Characters likely to cross the [[Moral Event Horizon]]
** [[Faux Affably Evil]]
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** [[Psycho for Hire]]
* Any antagonist who has already crossed the [[Moral Event Horizon]]:
** With few exceptions, any villain serious that [[Dystopia Justifies the Means]] is a [[Complete Monster]], though the reverse is not true; even [[Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil|serial rapists]], [[Omnicidal Maniac
** [[Complete Monster]] - By definition, the least sympathetic character possible. Note that not all characters who cross the [[Moral Event Horizon]] are necessarily [[Complete Monster
▲=== Least Sympathetic ===
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* [[Mook
* [[Card
** Likewise for [[Mad Scientist
* Given that the [[Magnificent Bastard]] is more about style, Magnificent Bastards can fall anywhere above the [[Moral Event Horizon]] on this scale, although, again, since he's all about style, the Bastard in question is probably a bit higher on the scale than he would otherwise be. Similarly with [[Evil Is Cool]] and related tropes.
** Even so, there are some rare instances of [[Ultimate Evil]] and [[Complete Monster
* [[Those Two Bad Guys]] and the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] can be anything from [[Harmless Villain
* The [[Villain Protagonist]] technically does not fall on this scale, as he is, by definition, a Protagonist, rather than an Antagonist. Nevertheless, he can likewise fall anywhere from the start of [[Anti
* A [[Laughably Evil]] villain can gain sympathy despite being close to the "bad" end of the scale.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]] can pull upwards on the scale, though anyone below the [[Moral Event Horizon]] will (usually) come across as a [[Hypocrite]] for attempting this.
* An [[Omnicidal Maniac]] can be as high as [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]], all the way down to [[Complete Monster
** Likewise, a [[Dark Messiah]] can lie anywhere from [[Well
* [[Kick the Dog]] is a standard behavior for Ordinary Villainy and below, while those above it have an increasing chance to be seen with a [[Pet the Dog]] moment.
* A good [[Freudian Excuse]] may pull a villain upward on the scale, but [[Complete Monster
* A [[Visionary Villain]] can be of any degree of vileness, but always has a provocative goal and plans to achieve them.
* [[Affably Evil]] characters average out near the bottom of [[Anti
* A [[Villain
* If [[Betty and Veronica|Betty or Veronica]] is the protagonist, the other will often be the antagonist. Can go anywhere from [[The Rival]] to [[Complete Monster]], depending on how driven she is.
* Any antagonist with [[Arson, Murder, and Admiration]] in his resume is probably on the Sillier side of the [[Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness]], and thus probably pulled upward on the scale. Of course, [[Beware the Silly Ones]] can apply in this case.
* [[Must Make Amends]], [[Villainous BSOD]], and [[My God, What Have I Done?]] can pull a villain upwards on the scale, though obviously more evil villains tend to be more immune to these effects.
* Just the simple passage of time can push a villain [[Fair for Its Day|up the scale]] or [[Values Dissonance|screaming downwards]].
* A villain that is a [[General Failure]], [[Pointy
* The [[Opposing Sports Team]] can be anywhere from the very top to the very bottom, though it's rare for them to go below [[Smug Snake]] status in less comedic stories.
* Beware of using [[The War On Straw|strawmen]] for blackening your villains; if the audience finds out, they'll often get pushed upwards further than you like, especially if they make an [[Straw Man Has a Point|especially good point]] or their belief system [[What Do You Mean
* [[Villain Decay]], if especially humiliating or prolonged, will slowly cause a villain to float up to [[Harmless Villain]] if left unchecked; particularly powerful applications of this trope have even [[Badass Decay|wimpified]] otherwise [[Complete Monster
* If an antagonist is also holding the title of [[The Scrappy]], they can be pushed either upwards or downwards depending on what they're being hated for. Unfortunately even in the 'redeeming' case of this it won't reduce the audience's overall hatred towards them, just the perceived vileness component of that hatred.
* A [[Knight of Cerebus]] almost never strays above [[Noble Demon]] in order to provide the sufficient seriousness needed for their [[Mood Whiplash]]
* A [[Token Evil Teammate]], if they're the kind that cause trouble, hover around the middle of the scale. Too high up makes their evilness an [[Informed Attribute]], too low can induce some serious [[Moral Dissonance]] as to why the heroes put up with such a bastard.
* Shows with [[Black and Grey Morality]] tend to reduce the vileness of [[Hero Antagonist
* Likewise, shows with [[Grey and White Morality]] rarely have more than one or two instances (usually the [[Big Bad]]) where the antagonists stray below [[Well
* Due to [[Good Lawyers, Good Clients]], even if the [[Amoral Attorney]] is perfectly law-abiding and ethical they often end up being an accidental proxy for their client's vileness if they get justice for anyone on the Ordinary Villain scale or below. Outside of that though it's rare for an [[Amoral Attorney]] to personally do the deeds that would even skirt the [[Moral Event Horizon]]
* A [[Knight Templar]] can either be [[Anti
* While a [[Babysitter From Hell]]'s rap sheet leads off with "[[Would Hurt a Child]]," they can range from [[Complete Monster]] all the way to the top of the [[Anti
* Depending on their level of intelligence and malice, a [[Psychopathic Manchild]] can range from [[Obliviously Evil]] to a [[Complete Monster]]
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[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Sliding Scale
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