I don't play the Pokemon games or know much about him but I heard him come up a lot in Complete Monster discussions so I decided to look him up, and I must say I agree that he's a CM.
This guy is sick. I don't know what his competition is but I can't imagine for the heinous standard being anything short of genocide for him not to qualify, and even then his overall character is still utterly sadistic it's own right.
I've been viewing him as more of just a particularly big asshole these days. Having replayed the games yesterday, I think people exaggerate when they talk about how evil he is: he was mean to his kid, wanted to take over the world, tried to kill the hero... standard villainy, I think he's a terrible person but I don't feel right listing him among examples like Darkrai (Tried to orchestrate an apocalypse) or the Cipher heads of Colosseum (Tortured Pokémon to the point to where they're now mindless, insanely violent fighting machines). When it comes to someone who I feel truly counts, I have a guy in mind, but I know he'll be shut down so I won't even bother.
Oh then never mind what I said, but how mean was he to his kid? Was he just insulting him or did he try to ruin his entire moral outlook on the world? Yes taking over the world in of itself isn't heinous, but what methods did he use to obtain this goal? Would his plan have put anyone's life in danger? Is it true he wanted to give the protagonist a slow painful death?
Who will be shut down?
Ghetsis did groom N into being a perfect servant by making him think that humans only abused Pokémon and made them suffer, and revealed to N that he was indeed using him, which is pretty bad. But other than that, he just insults him and at worst, calls him an inhuman freak.
Basically, he first sought to simply persuade people into giving up their Pokémon by tricking them into thinking that it was the right thing to do, though he secretly wants to make it to where only people like himself can own them and rule the world unopposed. In the sequels, he merely settled for raining down ice all over the Unova region by using a weapon that draws upon power from a powerful Pokémon called Kyurem (That is said to be in pain due to Ghetsis' machinations) which would put people in danger. As for what he did to the hero, he wasn't going to kill them despite what others may say, but he was going to freeze them alive (Which can be viewed as worse than killing seeing as how he's going to keep them alive with the purpose of having them watch as he conquers the world).
He's bad (I'll admit it, my summation of him earlier was due to me feeling rather snippy)... but I have a hard time agreeing with keeping him the more I look at his competition. At least two other villains (Cyrus from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and Lysandre from X and Y) have omnicide as their goal, and surpass Ghetsis when it comes to nastiness in various ways. Torturing a Pokémon in order for it to serve his will? Cyrus did it to three Pokémon instead of one. Tried to take over the world? Unlike Ghetsis, Lysandre (Who doesn't qualify due to regretting having to kill Pokémon along with humans) and Cyrus want to annihilate all life on the planet, and remake it in their own selfish visions. When I look at these two, I have a harder time justifying keeping Ghetsis around seeing as how he comes off as more of a selfish, generic villain when compared to omnicidal terrorists.
And I'm not saying who because it's a waste of time arguing their case.
Oh I see. I wouldn't have thought a game targeted at children would have so many incredibly vile antagonists. Yeah I vote no to Ghetsis too. Ghetsis sounds nasty but it sounds like he barely makes a slice in this franchise's heinous standard.
I wouldn't go as far to say that Ghetsis barely registers as a blip on the radar, as he is easily worse than Giovanni (Basically a mob boss with a noble side to him who specializes in street-level crime) as well as Archie and Maxie (Well meaning extremists who wanted to expand the sea or landmass but accidentally almost started the apocalypse). I just feel that looking back, I feel that Ghetsis isn't quite truly deplorable.
In terms of objective baseline heinousness, he's in the middle. In terms of the franchise's heinous standard, he's up there with the Cipher leaders and only slightly below Purple Eyes and Darkrai. Also consider that his plan and motivations actually struck at the heart of the very way in which the Pokemon world works. Very few Pokemon villains were as exploitative of the titular monsters themselves as much as Ghetsis was.
He IS high up in this franchise's heinous standard. Pokemon isn't a franchise with a heinous standard that bases itself on who DOES the most objectively worst things, but rather who has the worst motivations for committing wide-scale atrocities. Cyrus and Lysandre committed extreme horrific acts in the name of their goals, but said goals were extreme in and of themselves so it comes as no surprise that they'd sink to such lengths. Ghetsis's goals was petty world domination, motivated by power lust and a sense of entitlement - there's nothing suggesting he'd have to sink to the lengths he did in order to achieve that, yet he did anyway because he's an irredeemable scumbag who gets off on being extra cruel and bringing others down. This disconnect between motives and methods is what qualify Ghetsis.
Also, for as grandiose as Cyrus, Lysandre, and even the members of Cipher's plans were, they never resorted to ordering their Pokemon to directly attack an adolescent human being without any proper battle preceding it. Ghetsis did, showing that in his mind, there are no lines to not cross. That's why he's so dangerous.
I thought it's been covered that this trope is about more than a villain's ACTIONS on this wiki. Ghetsis might not have done the things Darkrai did, but at the very most he's portrayed as someone with the capacity to do the sort of things the Cipher Leaders or Purple Eyes did were he only to have their resources at his disposal. There's no way a man whose entire motivation is based on self gain and entitlement and who is also a serial torturer and exploiter would not jump at the chance to use that sort of power so long as he benefits. And he's one of the more shamelessly sadistic characters in the franchise too, meaning that the suffering of others would be more than just collateral damage to him, but an added benefit.
Cyrus attempted omnicide, but it was as means to the end of eventually recreating everything he'd destroyed, but devoid of spirit, which he believed would make them better. Lysandre attempted mass homicide, but it was for a cause he believed was justified and his weapon didn't seem like it reached too far beyond the Kalos region. Ghetsis was going to take over the entire world all because he was power hungry and entitled, and since only he and his followers would use Pokemon, they'd control the entire system of said world and use that as means of oppressing and enslaving everyone alive, who'd be legally prohibited from having Pokemon to defend themselves with. Basically, it would be a Dystopia where every day of living would be one of torture if you're not Ghetsis or one of his cronies. That end goal sounds like a Fate Worse Than Death to me.
And Cyrus didn't torture the Lake Pokemon in order to make them comply with acts of terrorism on others - he just wanted to extract their power and make the Red Chain, after which he allowed you to free them. The crimes are the same, but the motives and results differ, with Ghetsis coming out looking worse since he made Kyurem suffer specifically so it's power could then make others suffer.
Seriously, this sudden opposition to Ghetsis on the trope due to lack of "baseline heinous" actions came out of left field. I thought you were better than this. Would you also think Hunter J and Charon in DPA shouldn't count since they didn't do the more heinous things that Cyrus did? Unlike Ghetsis, they're actually featured in the same stories that feature Cyrus!
And who IS the other candidate you have in mind? Ardos? Cyrus? Lysandre?