History Main / SympatheticVillainDespicableVillain

And when a MagnificentBastard gets paired with a CompleteMonster, the former will always be the sympathetic one and the latter the despicable one.

Compare TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil for when the two evil sides come to oppose the other. Compare BlackAndGrayMorality in a similar vein. Can overlap with NobleTopEnforcer, where the villain's top agent is comparatively noble, and TheStarscream, where a potentially worse lackey of the sympathetic villain betrays them to become the pure evil. Can overlap with MoreHateableMinorVillain. Compare and contrast ContrastingSequelAntagonist, when the sympathetic villain and the despicable villain appear in a separate installment from one another. This trope can be achieved through the introduction of a VilerNewVillain. SubTrope of {{Foil}}.

* ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'': While the game's initial [[TheHeavy Heavy]] is Sage, who works for long-time villain Dr. Eggman, she's simply following her prime directive to save Eggman, who reciprocates with fatherly love. However, misunderstandings between her and Sonic allow a bigger threat to emerge. Said threat, The End, is a sadistically [[KnightTemplar self-righteous]] destroyer of civilizations.

When defining the sympathetic and pure evil villain, there must be a clear contrast between them. They may be [[{{Foil}} Foils]] of one another, with either one's traits serving to highlight the other's traits. At first, the [[BigBadDuumvirate two villains may be working together]], but as the story continues, one villain may be more hesitant to annihilate the heroes and destroy the world than the other. The sympathetic may be given a [[TragicVillain tragic backstory]] that depicts them as WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds to appeal to the audience. In contrast, the other will never sway from their position once, and will likely become the main, if not the only, threat. The sympathetic will be unlikely to help them in this destruction towards the end, usually either [[HeelFaceTurn joining the heroes to fight them]], [[EvilVersusEvil fight the other villain without explicitly joining the heroes side]], or bowing out half-way through, leaving their position ambiguous.

Not to be confused with IneffectualSympatheticVillain, where the villain is so bad at being evil the heroes feel sorry for them.

Since a sympathetic villain's development and the [[GreaterScopeVillain potential reveal of a greater threat]] from the pure evil villain, examples almost certainly contain major spoilers grounds. Because of this, '''all spoilers are unmarked. Please proceed with caution.'''

* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': Lord Riddle is bigoted, vengeful, personally and politically powerful, and altogether a dangerous man. However, after speaking with him several times, Harry is startled to realise that he actually has some laudable goals (rescuing society from a looming total population collapse caused by inbreeding) mixed in with his disgust of all things Muggle, and he cares about stability and public opinion. Meanwhile, the copy of his sixteen-year-old self that he magically preserved in a diary has all of the bigotry, none of the maturity, the arrogant self-assurance of a teenager, and [[GoMadFromTheIsolation fifty years of being stuck in a drawer while the magic that constituted its mind slowly deterioriated]]. Where Lord Riddle would like to ''steer'' and ''control'' society, the construct would be happy to just burn it all down to "cleanse" the world.

* ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'': Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy are the two main villains of the movie. Mrs. Tweedy is mostly evil because she kills chickens when they don't lay eggs anymore and attempts to turn them into chicken pies. Mr. Tweedy is more sympathetic because he gets abused by his wife and never believes him about the chickens being organized. He eventually stands his ground against her and ''crushes'' her with the barn wall.

** Meanwhile, The Big Bad Wolf (a.k.a. Death) fits somewhere in between, disguising as a bounty hunter while trying to get Puss to appreciate the lives that he had wasted. He is the EvilIsCool villain, an unstoppable force of nature.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' have [[FallenAngel Corvus]], the best of the Celestrains and [[TheEmperor King Godwyn]], ruler of the Gittish Empire. Godwyn [[{{Patricide}} murdered Godfrey]] out of impatience of not being granted the House of Gitt, even though his father was going to give it to him anyway and created the Gittish Empire to [[TakeOverTheWorld take over the Protectorate]], even having his army capture Corvus at Wormwood Creak to torture him and empower his army with celestial power out of fear Corvus could surpass him. Corvus, by contrast, became evil after all the torture and being betrayed by Serena, albeit unwillingly for the latter, since her father sold him out in exchange for the Gittish Empire leaving Wormwood Creak alone, and would try to eliminate mortalkind upon Godwyn's defeat and being freed from the Oubliette, though the Hero stops him by becoming mortal, since Celestrains cannot act above their superiors.

And when a MagnificentBastard gets pairied with a CompleteMonster, the former will always be the sympathetic one and the latter the despicable one.

* ''Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace'': Abby and Martha Brewster are the kindest, most AffablyEvil pair of {{Serial Killer}}s you could find, being doting maiden aunts to their nephews, giving generously to the community and extending full hospitality even to their victims. They're engaged in a BodyCountCompetition with Jonathan Brewster, who is ObviouslyEvil and prone to [[BerserkButton fits of murderous rage]].

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' has [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Psaro the Manslayer]] and his EvilChancellor [[TheStarscream Aamon]]. Both are (snd in Psaro's case, Master of Monsterkind) the leaders of the monsters, though Psaro loves Rose and wants to protect her from greedy humans wanting her ruby tears, even if his methods are flawed, such as leaving her in a tower. Aamon, on the other hand, is a schemer who wants to become the new Master of Monsterkind and plots behind Psaro's back by brainwashing human thugs to murder Rose while the Master of Monsterkind tried to subjugate Estark at Mamon Mines, only for Solo and the Chosen to defeat him, causing him to use the Secret of Evolution on himself in an attempt to destroy humanity, while Aamon becomes the new Master of Monsterkind despite the Chosen defeating him at one of the Four Barriers near Castle Nadiria. Thankfully, the Chosen get a Yggdrasil Flower to revive Rose and save Psaro from himself, before taking the fight to Aamon at Diabolic Hall.

* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', the two most important villains are Scarecrow, the BigBad of the game who has the intention of submitting Gotham City to fear, and the Arkham Knight, his DragonInChief that is primary interested in killing Batman at all costs. Is eventually revealed that the Knight is none other than Jason Todd, the [[FallenHero former Robin]] who was [[ColdBloodedTorture horribly tortured by the Joker]] and presumed dead back then. When Batman discovers the truth, he only feels remorse for Jason and what happened to him. Scarecrow, on the other hand, is nothing more of a vicious {{Sadist}} with no redeeming qualities, that wants to destroy the myth of Batman and [[HopeCrusher every hope left in Gotham]]. In the end, [[HeelFaceTurn Jason saves Batman from Scarecrow]], and the latter is [[FateWorseThanDeath reduced to an eternally scared, shadow of himself]]. [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine With nothing more than his own fear toxin.]]

* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'': VillainProtagonist William James Moriarty is on the sympathetic side, with all his SerialKillerKiller MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt complexes, but he comes up againt Charles Augustus Milverton, who causes people to slide into evil... for the fun of it. This contrast is sealed when Sherlock, the nominal "hero" of the series, doesn't hesitate to murder Milverton, but begs William to atone alongside him and risks his own life to save William's.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' have [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Psaro the Manslayer]] and his EvilChancellor [[TheStarscream Aamon]]. Both are (And in Psaro's case, Master of Monsterkind) the leaders of the monsters, though Psaro loves Rose and wants to protect her from greedy humans wanting her ruby tears, even if his methods are flawed, such as leaving her in a tower. Aamon, on the other hand, is a schemer who wants to become the new Master of Monsterkind and plots behind Psaro's back by brainwashing human thugs to murder Rose while the Master of Monsterkind tried to subjugate Estark at Mamon Mines, only for Solo and the Chosen to defeat him, causing him to use the Secret of Evolution on himself in an attempt to destroy humanity, while Aamon becomes the new Master of Monsterkind despite the Chosen defeating him at one of the Four Barriers near Castle Nadiria. Thankfully, the Chosen get a Yggdrasil Flower to revive Rose and save Psaro from himself, before taking the fight to Aamon at Diabolic Hall.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Done with the series [[BigBadDuumvirate two main antagonists]]; Tomura Shigaraki and All For One. Shigaraki, as a child, was born into an abusive home with a father who despised pro heroes and eventually beat Tomura (then known as Tenko) for his desire to be a hero. Eventually, Tenko reached a RageBreakingPoint and killed his father along with the rest of his family, leaving him homeless. Then he wandered the streets hoping someone would help him, but the people [[BystanderSyndrome turned away from him telling him a hero would save him]]. And eventually, when someone did find him it was All For One, who groomed him to become a nihilistic murderer. Shigaraki now wants to tear down society for its neglect of him. Meanwhile, All For One is a narcissistic sociopath who was noted at birth to see the world as his to take. Growing up when Quirks first started manifesting, All For One lived only for himself and his brother that he saw as his possession. Eventually, he decided to become the world's greatest [[MaouTheDemonKing Demon Lord]] in order for the world to never forget his existence, believing that people remember the bad times far stronger then the good. This is even reflected in how they treat their minions; Shigaraki sees the League as his TrueCompanions, desiring for the members to be able to live how they choose to, and is a BenevolentBoss despite their eccentricates. All For One meanwhile has no problem abandoning even his most loyal minions once they're of no further use to him. Even the heroes can see the contrast between the two, as while Midoriya wants to save Shigaraki from himself, even All For One's own brother believes that he is BeyondRedemption and should be killed for the sake of the world.

** The series finale is complete with two showdowns. Fire Lord Ozai is a ruthless leader who seeks to commit genocide on the Earth Kingdom. Zuko only further pales in comparison to his father because of how far he's willing to go to win, and everything Zuko did to earn his place had culminated in this very moment. While his daughter and Zuko's sister, [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]], was the one to suggest the idea (albeit not to the literal extreme Ozai then took it too) and might seem worse than the latter, it's made clear that her upbringing stunted her ability to do the right thing, and she's devastated upon failing to stand up to her father's pressure.

** The series finale is complete with two showdowns. Fire Lord Ozai is a ruthless leader who seeks to commit genocide on the Earth Kingdom. Zuko only further pales in comparison to his father because of how far he's willing to go to win, and everything Zuko did to earn his place had culminated in this very moment. While his daughter and Zuko's sister, [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]], was the one to suggest the idea and might seem worse than the latter, it's made clear that her upbringing stunted her ability to do the right thing, and she's devastated upon failing to stand up to her father's pressure.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' has the BigBadDuumvirate formed by Vergil, Dante's EvilTwin and Arkham, Lady's ArchnemesisDad. They are both selfish men obsessed with obtaining power, but while Vergil has [[NobleDemon a strong sense of honor]], and primary wants power to make sure that he never gets hurt again, [[DarkAndTroubledPast like it happened in the past]], Arkham is a ManipulativeBastard devoid of honor and standards, even willing to [[KinslayingIsASpecialKindOfEvil kill his own wife and hurt his own daughter]] to achieve his goals, and wants to [[GodhoodSeeker become a god]] for the sake of it. At the end of the game, even Vergil [[EnemyMine is willing to team up with Dante]] to stop Arkham.