Old Magnificent Bastard thread
Welcome to the Magnificent Bastard proposal thread! This is the thread where new Magnificent Bastard examples are vetted, approved, and written up. If you're looking for the general cleanup thread (for cuts, rewrites, expansions, and the like), please go here
Important: Before suggesting any new examples, please read the Frequently Asked Questions and Common Requests List; if you have any questions, the odds are high they are answered there. Additionally, please check here for the earliest date a work can be discussed (usually two weeks from the U.S. release date) and whether the work has already been reserved by another user.
Here is how the process works:
- If you have a candidate to propose, you can simply come right in and propose them! If the character's run is brief, such as a single issue of a comic book, then a simple summary of their actions and any potential mitigating features will be enough; for longer-running candidates, an effortpost (EP) might be helpful for organizing the proposal. An EP is not outright required, but please be mindful that if a post becomes too clunky and unorganized, it can be very hard for other people to follow.
- After the proposal, there will be a 72-hour discussion and voting period, where people may ask questions and vote on the candidate. The number of upvotes must outnumber the downvotes by at least five for the character to be considered "approved".
- Three days after the proposal has been made, if the character has been approved, you may post the writeup (the text to be posted on the trope page itself) on the thread and send it to the drafts page. Your candidate will soon be added to the MB subpage. If the work has a page, you should add your candidate to the relevant YMMV page. Voila! It's that simple!
Outside of this process, we do have a few ground rules:
- To keep the thread moving at a reasonable pace, there are some restrictions on when a proposal can be made. There should only be a maximum of four EPs posted both per page and per hour to ensure that nothing gets lost in the shuffle; additionally, each individual troper should only be proposing or writing up characters from a maximum of three works at a time (from initial proposals to end of their voting period). If your proposal would fall outside of either of these guidelines, we'd like to ask you to please wait until they would fit within; feel free to type them up on an outside document, and then when the time comes, you can just copy, paste, and post!
- No plagiarism of any kind. This is a very serious matter site-wide, as the website could get in actual legal trouble over this; as a result, this can very quickly lead to mod intervention. This can take many different forms:
- Direct plagiarism, i.e. wholesale copying. This is not only the easiest to find, but is also the most likely to warrant quick moderator intervention. To be clear, quoting in some places is perfectly acceptable, but it has to be very clear you're quoting from something else and it cannot be anything longer than a sentence or two - if you're quoting an entire work summary from Wikipedia, no one is going to believe you've actually consumed the work, so even if you cite your source, your candidate will be downvoted anyway.
- Self-plagiarism. Even if you can prove that you wrote the same text in both places, the site itself can't contain any of the duplicated text. If you already wrote something once before, it's not too hard to write it a second time.
- Using another site's work as a template for a proposal. Just because you don't copy and paste something directly doesn't mean it's any harder to detect if you're basing parts or all of your proposal on text someone else wrote. To be clear, this doesn't violate site rules and won't lead to mod intervention, but just like if you directly plagiarize, no one will believe you've consumed the work if you're clearly basing your proposal on something else. This thread largely operates on the honor system, and tweaking someone else's work to pass it off as your own is one of the fastest ways to lose trust.
- Votes must be for specific candidates, meaning no blanket voting (i.e. "yes to everyone I missed").
- If you are the first person to downvote a candidate, please provide an explanation of why when you do so. We're here for discussions above all, and a hit-and-run downvote doesn't facilitate anything.
- If a work is already reserved by another user, please don't comment on the work or any potential characters worth discussion before the discussion date. We know how exciting it is when a work has a keeper that you're waiting to talk about, but it's not fair to the person who reserved the work who is just as excited to lead the discussion to see the discussion getting spoiled before they get to do it. On the other hand, if the reservation only has one name attached, shoot them a PM - they may be down for a collaboration, which will get you in on the fun as well!
- Please keep the thread on-topic. While discussing the trope is fun and we encourage people to enjoy it, questions like "who's your favorite MB" are off-topic and can lead to thumps. That's the kind of question to take to people's PMs if they're willing. Similarly, while we encourage friendliness and familiarity with other users, posts should always have some kind of thread-relevant purpose; for instance, if you want to wish someone a happy birthday, feel free to, but if it's the only thing in the post, it's off-topic and needs something else alongside it. Again, though, while we strive for a friendly atmosphere, this is not Facebook; life updates are fun, but unless they have some kind of impact on your thread participation, please do not bring it here - we have Yack Fest for that.
- Please refrain from asking anything along the lines of "How Did We Miss This One?" In almost every case, the answer is simply "No one thought about it before". This Is a Wiki where everyone has different interests, and the fact that people missed a particular candidate, even one that seems like a textbook example of a trope or a character who is particularly iconic in pop culture, means absolutely nothing. The question is disruptive, has a simple and consistent answer, and provides nothing to any discussion.
- If you are suspended from other parts of the website, it is still possible to participate!
- For users who are suspended from editing the wiki, you still have full access to this thread. You can propose candidates and write them up with no issues whatsoever; while you will have to ask someone else to post the entry to the relevant pages once it is done, all write-ups are considered thread-approved - as in, done by consensus - and thus doing so does not violate any rules regarding meatpuppeting.
- If you are suspended from the forums, your participation is limited but not impossible. It is still possible for a forum-suspended user to assist in creating the write-up for a character who has already been approved; as previously mentioned, write-ups are inherently considered a consensus-based edit and thus not tied to any one particular user. However, you can not assist in the proposal of a character; as a proposal is based around the forum rather than the wiki, doing so with a forum suspension qualifies as meatpuppeting.
- Please keep all discussions "in-house".
- What other wikis use for MB equivalents is irrelevant here.
- Please be wary of using other wikis, Fandom or otherwise, as sources of information. They are just as fallible as a site like Wikipedia in regards to accuracy because they can be edited by any user, just as this site can.
- Do not attempt to force a communication with an author in an attempt to gather evidence or settle a debate; besides the fact that this is a YMMV trope and thus author intent has variable weight depending on the circumstance, doing so may cross the line into drama exportation, which is prohibited site-wide.
If you would like to use an EP for your candidate, here's the general format. This format does not have to be followed exactly, but these are the main topics that need to be covered:
What is the work?
This is a brief summary of the work you're going to discuss. We don't need a full plot summary here, just however much we need to understand going into the discussion — it can even be as simple as quoting the summary on the work's page.
Who is the candidate and what have they done?
This is essentially the character's biography — who they are, their story, their goals and methodology, and, preferably (though not required), what happens to the candidate at the end. It does not have to include every single thing they ever do — for some characters, we'd be here all day if that was the case — but it should include the highlights of their journey.
How are they Magnificent?
This is the point where you highlight the character's brilliance. How to they convey their intelligence and charm to the audience? What makes them stand out among the crowd? What are their goals and how do they go about accomplishing them? This part welcomes a lot of creative thinking — not everyone has to be a Machiavellian Diabolical Mastermind to be worth considering here! This is also the time to showcase how the character can think on their feet if it's necessary.
How are they a Bastard? How are they not too bad?
What kinds of moral lines is this character willing to cross for the sake of their goal? Are they willing to let innocents die? Start wars? Commit crimes? The character has to show some kind of unscrupulousness in order to count as a "Bastard". Notably, this character does not necessarily have to be the villain, and an Anti-Hero can cross the line if they're immoral enough, but they have to be immoral somehow.
This is also the section where you then state your case for why they're not too bad. Perhaps their good intentions help mitigate their crimes. Perhaps others are shown to be much worse than them. Perhaps they're prone to Pet the Dog moments or are even fighting on behalf of loved ones. Whatever the case, there are certain lines that an MB can't cross, but as long as their villainy is reasonable for their goal, they can be considered.
Final verdict?
This is where you post your final conclusion on the character in question. You can continue elaborating on your reasons or even just say a simple "yes" or "no"; at this point, we've heard everything we need to hear.
And that's everything you need to know. Welcome to the thread!
Edited by Twiddler on Jan 17th 2024 at 5:40:56 AM
Not the Eye
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_up_emote.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
to Carnor Jax
Carnor Jax.
Carnor Jax
Goku Black
jax
to Carnor Jax
Yes to Jax (although I like the Royal guards he has killed in flashbacks better than him or Kanos). I would also point out how All There in the Manual spruced say Palpatine executed his father for a failure but they would make me more charitable to Jax and not less.
Ultimate Moral Compass
Carnor Jax
What’s the Work
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is a 2009 third person shooter starring everybody's favorite rapper who got shot nine times, Curtis James Jackson III, aka 50 Cent and his buds known as the G-Unit, comprised of rappers Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks, and DJ Whoo Kid. A somewhat sequel to the crappy 2005 game 50 Cent: Bulletproof, this game is actually pretty fun.
The plot? Some "bitch" took 50 Cent's jewel-encrusted skull while he was on tour in an unnamed, crime-ridden Middle Eastern city, and thus 50 and his G-Unit buddies must murder everybody in their path to retrieve it. It's about as hilarious as it sounds.
On his journey, 50 meets several other rogues and baddies who stand in his way, but one of them is far more cunning than the others.
Who is He?
Derek Carter (voiced by the late Lance Reddick) is a skilled mercenary "Security Contractor" for PMC company Trident and Arc Villain of a few levels halfway through the game who gets 50 to help him acquire some gold in return for helping him get to Kamal.
What does he do?
Hired by 50's promoter Anwar to help 50 take down Kamal, Carter, whose men had previously spent a few levels earlier trying to kill 50, is now willing to help the rapper out. Well, for a price at least. When 50 refuses to pay him, Carter promises to clear the debt if 50 helps him out, keeping up a classy demeanor as he threatens to shoot 50 if he doesn't work with him.
Carter's plan involves stealing a shipment of gold before the evil Kamal does it first, using 50 to destroy communication towers in order to halt Kamal's forces, thus allowing Carter to hijack the van before any of Kamal's men could. He even agrees to 50's offer of splitting the gold 50-50.
Once 50's accomplished Carter's tasks, and with a majority of Kamal's troops dead, Carter activates a hidden explosive on the highway to knock the van carrying the gold off course. But despite 50 suspecting something suspicious about Carter, he's still surprised when, shocker, Carter betrays 50, who was planning to keep all the stolen gold for himself.
So Carter tries to escape in a chopper, but when 50 catches up to him on foot, Carter decides to try and kill him. But 50's able to make good work of his copter and Carter crashes. Carter uses whatever strength he has to calmly request 50 to just kill him already, giving away Kamal's location after 50 tortures him (he sticks the barrel of his gun in one of his leg wounds) and then gets shot in the head after telling 50 what to expect from Kamal's best guards.
Is he charming? Intelligent? Able to think on his feet?
Carter uses his charm to trick 50 into helping him, concocting a heist that almost sees him as the victor if it weren't for 50's tenacity. Even when he's being tortured by 50 for information, Carter maintains a cool attitude as he lets him know of what's to come; he doesn't beg or scream, he's as casual as one could be while being tortured and dying.
Is he a bastard? Too much of one?
Carter is a greedy mercenary who will work for anybody who pays him, whether it be for the good guys or the bad guys. But Carter is ultimately just a self-serving man, only out for himself and willing to screw over anybody to get what he wants.
But he's not the worst person in the game. Hell, Carter's more likable than 50 himself in his own vanity game. At least Carter's coolness makes you forget how bad he is, unlike 50.
Verdict?
I think Carter makes it. I have another potential BOTS candidate coming soon.
"No running in the halls!"
Yes to Carnor and Carter.
I'm really disappointed with the Big Bad of the Sith Warrior story from The Old Republic. We had easily one of Star Wars's greatest Chessmasters but he just had to drop the ball at the very end due to a Villainous Breakdown.
Think you're tough because you made it through Lord of the Rings? Real men survive The Silmarillion.
Yes to Carnor Jax and Carter.
Ok to Carter.
The only issue I think with Jax that gives me pause is him actually bombarding innocent civilians to blackmail Mirith into compliance, but other than that he's a solid MB.
Also, Kanos didn't just murder Sadeet. It's implied he reacts out of pure instinct when Sadeet charges him to get him to spare Jax, and is actually quite upset when he realizes he spared him.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Star Wars candidates who have done far worse than that have been upvoted (cough Darth Malgus cough).
Didn't Thrawn threaten to bombard Coruscant? And Anor himself was party to civilian deaths in the trillions.
I have issues with Anor being upvoted, tbh, but what’s done is done.
to Carnor Jax and Carter.
Goku Black
Carter
Sure to Carnor and Carter
To Jax and Carter
Any more votes for Rorax Falken?
Also, did Flirry Vorru from the X-Wing novels ever get proposed? If not, I'll keep him in mind during some rereading in the near future.
Edited by Melinda on May 10th 2023 at 6:21:53 AM
Lies and Violence!
Jax and Carter.
What's the work?
American Born Chinese is a comic exploring the stories of three individuals:
- A Chinese immigrant named Jin, who faces discrimination and pressure to conform in America.
- A white high-school student named Danny, who finds his school life going to hell when he's visited by his cousin from China, Chin-Kee.
- Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, who does his usual Sun Wukong thing but with Buddha's role reimagined instead with the Abrahamic God.
It's also getting turned into what looks like a really bad In Name Only Disney+ series, but that's neither here nor there.
Who is Sun Wukong?
The Monkey King himself, Sun Wukong infamously emerged from a stone and established Flower-Fruit Mountain as a safe haven for all monkeys. An expert at martial arts, he mastered Twelve Major Disciplines of Kung-Fu—four for immortality, four for invincibility, and four for bodily form. Having turned himself into a bona fide deity, Sun Wukong one day chose to go to a party being hosted by the other immortals up in Heaven.
Where he was promptly mocked and rejected. Deity he may be, but he's also a monkey. Sun Wukong beats everyone up and returns to his throne, where these comments eat at him. He decides he no longer wants to be a monkey and begins changing himself—shapeshifting into a human form, declaring to his followers that all monkeys must now wear shoes, etc. As he finishes mastering the 12 disciplines, however, he receives a letter summoning him to be executed by the gods for that whole "beating everyone up" thing. He immediately goes on a rampage against the pantheons in retaliation, sending everyone fleeing in terror when they arrogantly try to mock him again.
The heavily injured gods go to Tze-Yo-Tzuh—He Who Is, implied to be the Christian God—for help. He confronts Sun Wukong, revealing He created him and attempting to get him to accept that he is a monkey... and that's okay. When Sun refuses, He buries him under a mountain for 500 years.
500 years later, the monk Wong Lai-Tsao has been sent on a holy mission to collect three followers and deliver presents to a newborn child in the west. The first of these followers is Monkey, whom Wong finds under the mountain. Wong reveals he could have escaped at any time if he shifted from his human facsimile back into his smaller, original monkey form, and allows himself to be attacked by demons when the stubborn Monkey refuses to do so. Sun easily defeats the demons and helps up Wong, who tells him they need no shoes on their journey.
Finally coming to accept himself, Sun helps Wong complete the journey and becomes a devoted follower of Tze-Yo-Tzuh. One of his many children, Wei-Chain, aspires to follow in his father's footsteps as a disciple of Tze-Yo-Tzuh, and goes to Earth as part of a trial to understand humanity. There he befriends Jin... until Jin's desire to be accepted drives him to reject his heritage and lash out at Wei-Chan. Wei-Chan angrily abandons humanity, embracing decadence, while Jin, because of magic stuff, turns into the white Danny.
Sun, seeking to help his son, decides to first help Jin. Inserting himself into Danny's life as his Chinese cousin, Sun takes the form of Chin-Kee, who is... just the most offensive Chinese stereotype ever. To quote someone from the Diversity & Representation thread:
I could go into more detail, but I won't, because fuck that.
In this guise, Sun visits Danny every year and makes a laughingstock of himself at school, humiliating Jin and driving him to move to a new school every time. However, this isn't done out of malice; Sun's intent is to get Jin to realize that these stereotypes and perceptions will always follow him, but that he shouldn't allow it to control his life. As he puts it himself:
After finally revealing his true identity to Jin, who quickly turns back to his true form, he gives him an address for a restaurant Wei-Chan will be at in a few months time, allowing the two to finally reconnect and make amends.
Is he magnificent?
Eyup. He starts out stubborn and angry, but after his journey with Wong he immensely matures to become a wise, benevolent teacher to others, and is able to help Jin overcome his hang-ups over his heritage.
Is he a bastard?
While the role was taken to serve Jin as a Trickster Mentor rather than to punish him, Chin-Kee is... a lot. The reputation he leaves behind drives Jin to move schools each time he visits, and his antics freak out a lot of his classmates (peeing in their drinks, talking about marrying and binding women's feet, etc.). It's an act, of course, but for a mostly Slice of Life comic, I'd say it's bad enough.
Sun Wukong and Carnor Jax, there are enough MB with a strong emphasis on the bastard in the SW universe, at least in legends as far as the latter is concerned.
I am wondering if the original Sun Wukong from Journey to the West could qualify.
![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_down_emote.png "[thumb down]"){kind=small}
Tad unless the Sequel shows that they played a role in preventing or at the very least slowing down the genocide of the indigenous tribes of the Americas
Edited by xie323 on May 10th 2023 at 9:31:07 AM
Goku Black
Sun wukong.
And I'm also curious on OG Sun Wukong.
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
Hey, sure there.
Have one now, too:
What's the work?
Gremlins is a horror comedy from the 1980s starring Zach galligan as Billy Peltzer, whose inventor father brings him home a mysterious present: a Mogwai, an adorable fluffy little thing who has three rules: - Never let it near bright light - Don't get it wet -Never feed it after midnight.
Unfortunately...rules get broken and when wet, Gizmo multiplies out into multiple other Mogwai. The leader of whom is Stripe, named for his distinctive little mohawk. More malevolent than Gizmo, Stripe eagerly bullies him and shores up support, while participating in some nastier actions like stringing up Billy's dog outside...Stripe then leads the crew in demanding food, but severs the wires of the clock to freeze it, meaning Billy thinks it's still pre-midnight, and then it's on. Stripe and the others go into cocoons to emerge as full Gremlins, scaly monsters that waste no time in taking over, with Stripe wanting to take over the town. After beating up a bit on Gizmo, the group end up in a fight with Billy's mother, who kills them all save for Stripe. a grieving Stripe escapes and finds his way to a local pool before jumping in and spawning new Gremlins...an army of brethren he then directs to the town with one real command:
Have fun.
The Gremlins take over, wreak havoc and destruction, as Stripe lords it over them in his personal domain. To stop them, the heroes end up luring them to the movie theater (where they LOVE Snow White) before blowing it up...Stripe is free grabbing concessions and is horrified to see the others killed, taking the fight to a department store where he uses hit and run tactics with murder on his mind. Ultimately, before he can spawn new Gremlins, Gizmo opens the blinds and exposes Stripe to sunlight, which melts him away.
Mitigating issues?
Stripe is a blast to watch and smarter than he has any right to be. He fools Billy to complete his gremlin transformation, he's more than capable of holding his own with the humans by his wits alone and does so multiple times.
Gremlins are pure chaos and Stripe is no exception, with one difference: He's utterly malevolent. Stripe has no issues trying to harm the dog, the humans, and he HATES Gizmo. The Gremlins don't necessarily mean to hurt anyone, and have very little concept of sadism. It's just HILARIOUS to blow people up and run them over, and have the most insanely good time imaginable. For all his malice, Stripe does care for his own and is shown openly grieving his brethren when they die.
Conclusion?
Would give the OG Gremlin baddie a yes.
Abstain on Tad pending the sequel having possible clarifications.
So I actually do have a Star Wars Day candidate... sort of. I read the work on Star Wars Day, but I'm just posting it now.
What's the work?
Crimson Empire is the first of three such-named Star Wars Legends comic miniseries. They are a sequel to Dark Empire and chronicle the final fragmentation of the once-mighty Empire into just a bunch of squabbling warlord states. We see this transition through the eyes of Kir Kanos, the last of Palpatine's Royal Guard (the guys in the red cloaks from ROTJ) and the most loyal. Despite the amount of Star Wars "gray area" characters on the MB list already, my post is actually not for Kanos himself, but his nemesis and the Big Bad of the first miniseries...
Who is Carnor Jax? What has he done?
The Royal Guard was recruited from the best of the best Stormtroopers, but even among the best of the best, there still has to be the best of the best of the best. That man was Carnor Jax.
We first meet him in a flashback to his and Kanos' days at the Royal Guard Academy on planet Yinchorr (fun fact: Palpatine had nearly every living being on the entire planet killed to make way for this one building), where they're about to embark on their final test - kill a classmate in one on one combat. Jax accepts without hesitation, and over the years rises through the ranks to the point that he's promoted even higher than the Royal Guard itself. He is made a Sovereign Protector, charged with the security of the above-top-secret secondary capital world of Byss. Force-sensitive unlike most of his peers, Jax hitches his wagon to Lumiya for a while after Endor, helping her "clean up" potential competitors like the Prophets of the Dark Side, but heeds the call of the reborn Emperor and returns to Byss.
As Palpatine grows slowly more deranged from clone degeneration, however, Jax decides he cannot continue ruling the Empire. Jax bribes the Emperor's chief doctor to sabotage his remaining backup bodies, enabling Darth Sidious to finally die for good. With not only Sidious but Isard, Thrawn, Cronal and many other big names gone by this point, Jax finds himself at the head of the largest political bloc in what's left of the Empire, and forms a Ruling Council out of various influential friends to govern it. His Councilors are an odd collection to be sure, including military bigwigs like General Redd Wessel, the most loyal to Jax; corporate leaders like shipping queenpin Feena D'Asta, whose family corporation owns the Galaxy's largest private fleet; and for the first time in the upper echelons of the Empire's political structure, nonhumans. Jax's reasoning for including them is twofold - first, it sends a message of positive change from Palpatine's day; and second, because even in spite of the Empire's repression, aliens still control many powerful factions in the Galaxy, and he'd rather have them as allies than enemies.
Another Royal Guard overhears Jax admit his complicity in the Emperor's final death, and when he informs his fellows of this, Jax has them massacred. Kanos alone escapes, fleeing with a death mark to the barren planet Phaeda, where he is given shelter by a local insurgent cell, who believe he is against the Empire. His presence is, however, ratted out to the ambitious local Imperial commander, who in turn informs Jax hoping for brownie points. A dizzying game of Gambit Pileup ensues between Jax, Kanos, the Phaeda rebels, and the local commander, with highlights including Kanos killing an entire Stormtrooper battalion by himself, the mole getting his just desserts, the Super Star Destroyer Lusankya, newly captured by the New Republic, putting in an appearance, and a droid-piloted ship loaded with bombs destroying Jax's flagship and his pet general Wessel with it. Jax is too smart to actually fall for that, though, as he's correctly deduced that Kanos...
...is headed Where It All Began, the academy on Yinchorr, to challenge him to one-on-one combat. Jax, confident he can win, accepts Kanos' challenge, and as a bit of extra insurance hides an assassin with a sniper rifle among the local rock formations, to ensure Kanos dies even if Jax loses. Kanos, to Jax's surprise, proves his match in battle, and he silently signals the sniper to take the shot... only for the sniper to be himself shot by the Phaeda rebels, who followed Kanos to repay their debt. The rebel commander, Mirth Sinn, then approaches the arena and interrupts the fight, hoping to take Jax alive so the New Republic can interrogate him... only for Kanos to take advantage of the distraction to stab his hated rival through the heart. He then stabs one of the rebels to death for interfering with "his" fight ands sulks off, with Mirth swearing vengeance...
Intelligent? Charismatic? Thinks on his feet?
Carnor Jax is the smartest and the toughest man in the Royal Guard, an able fighter and an even better political player. He was able to kill off Palpatine's clone bodies right under the man's nose, and secure the backing of some of the Galaxy's most influential people to rebuild the Empire. For a bigshot Imperial he's also remarkably tolerant and associates freely with nonhumans, something more "traditional" Imperials resent him for. He sees right through Kanos' attempt to kill him by bombing his ship, and literally the only reason he loses is because some people he didn't even know existed mucked with the final battle.
Competition from across the three series includes Kanos himself, who is Jax's match in fighting and scheming ability but way, way too blindly loyal and bullheaded to be an MB; dude wouldn't know critical thinking if it came up and bit him on his shiny red ass. From the second series we've got Nom Anor (actually making his first appearance as a "teaser" for the New Jedi Order novels) and crime lord Grappa the Hutt, both trying to manipulate the weakened Council after Jax's death for their own ends. Anor is already rightly up; Grappa is a hypocritical, too-big-for-his-britches asswipe who ends the series killed by his own bounty hunters after repeatedly stiffing him on payment. Lastly, there's Commander Ennix Devian from the third series, who runs what I can sort of describe as a Star Wars equivalent of a far-right militia - they're off in the sticks with rusty old ordnance and would still rather throw themselves into the meatgrinder than admit they've already lost. He's "a thug and a hitman," as Kanos describes him, and absolutely not this.
Bastard? Too much?
He rules the Empire. He consorted with Lumiya, various war criminals, and plenty other unsavory types. He's downright pleasant compared to Isard, Hethrir, and others of similar influence, but you don't get on Emperor Palpatine's personal staff by being nice.
Verdict?
Yup.