Markup View

Author: Bisected8

May 30th 2012 at 2:38:06 AM

Well, [[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/villain Wiktionary]] and the my copy of the OED both just give the (relevant) definition as "someone who does something bad in a work of fiction". The former (and wikipedia) note that they're usually the antagonist, but don't have to be and the OED just says (following on from a broader definition of "a person capable or guilty of a crime or wickedness"); "(in a play or novel) a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot; ''a pantomime villain''." not bringing up the issue of whether they're an antagonist at all.

Both those two definitions (and wikipedia) support my point; a villain is simply an evil character ("The villain usually is the antagonist" is far from saying the terms are synonymous). If the film industry (which one?) always considers the villain the antagonist, good for them, but those three definitions would indicate that doesn't seem to be the convention for all fiction.

Besides, I doubt people would have any problem understanding what was meant by villain.