Summary
The bad guys of video games are often perceived as being, well, bad guys. Yet even this is sometimes something of an oversimplification. Certain antagonists have little investment in being or even aligning with evil, instead coming against the protagonist for reasons unrelated to their alignment.
Sometimes this is determined by the genre of the game, but other times these characters are merely thrust into circumstances, with the player standing in the way of their goals, whatever they are. Here are some antagonists, who are not truly evil characters in any sense of the word.
Professor Oak’sgrandson, Blue, is the childhood friend and designated rival to Red, and later potentially Leaf in the remake. He has a notably arrogant attitude, and always picks the Pokemon that will have a type advantage against the player’s chosen starter Pokemon. The professor notably does not remember his own grandson’s name, with Red being able to tell him (which merely serves as a mechanic for the player to name the rival, with some often using insulting phrases to this end.)
For all of Blue’s bluster, he is never truly aligned withTeam Rocket, the villainous team of the game, who steal Pokemon. Despite this, Blue is the technical final opponent, acting as Champion, which he accomplished by defeating Lance of the Elite Four. Sometime after his defeat by Red, Blue instead became the Viridian City gym leader, a post vacated by Giovanni after he disbanded Team Rocket. He is notably a rare gym leader without a type specialty, using all kinds of Pokemon to fight the player.
He frequently appears alongside Red in segments of newer games that focus on the greater series, with the pair serving as established trainers the player can battle, or in rare cases, battle alongside. While newer rivals have more mellowed out, with many being downright friendly, Blue is distinguished as an unlikable, but not evil character.
Ace Attorneyis a series that often seems fairly set in its ways. Withthe original trilogy intended to be the entirety of the series, popular demand led to a new installment that made an active effort to subvert it. Most prosecutors are presented as, at least, somewhat evil. Due to wishing to find defendants guilty, regardless of their actual criminality, they often make an active effort to aid the actual culprit as an extension of this effort, only conceding once their crimes are confirmed. They are also generally presented to be unpleasant personality-wise as well, insulting and in some cases even assaulting the defense.
Oftentimes, these prosecutors themselves become less evil as the story goes on, rethinking their methods, and in most cases being replaced by another prosecutor for at least part of the final trial. In all of these ways and more, Klavier Gavin exists as a subversion of these tropes. Although he is somewhat rude to Apollo, he does genuinely like and respect him, and shows far more willingness to be open with the defense during investigations, compared to other prosecutors, who obstruct them at every turn.
Nonetheless, Klavier is still a prosecutor and has a responsibility to argue the defendant’s guilt, poking holes in Apollo’s observations wherever they may rise. However, he is much more even-handed and often willing to aid Apollo when he is aware of the true culprit. He is also a successful rock musician, leading the band known as the Gavinners. He often performs air guitar in court to accompany his declarations.
In a similar subversion, the true villain ofApollo Justiceis himself a defense attorney, namely Klavier’s elder brother, Kristoph Gavin. Kristoph was also Apollo’s mentor, prior to the young attorney discovering him to be responsible for a murder. Evidence later points to him being guilty of a second murder, and responsible for Phoenix Wright’s disbarment. Although Klavier is somewhat hesitant to accept his brother as the culprit, once his documented crimes continue to come to light, Klavier has no objections to his punishment.
In many works adapting Greek Mythology, the god of death is an obvious candidate for an antagonist. To some extent, this is true ofHades, which presents him as a cruel, distant figure to his son,Zagreus. With his son’s continued attempts to escape the underworld, Hades is the designated antagonist. However, how evil Hades is in this version is comparatively toned down. He is instead characterized as an overworked god, who does care about his son, but has difficulty truly making time for his family amidst the burden of his duties.
Although Zagreus is incapable of escaping the Underworld for long, he later utilizes his escape attempts as a way to test its security. To this end, Hades himself frequently tests his son, long after their reconciliation. Zagreus is supported by his relatives, the gods of Olympus, who he later leads to also reconcile with Hades, after reuniting with his mother, Persephone. Ultimately, despite maintaining the moody disposition we come to expect from most of his iterations in pop culture, this version of Hades is not truly a villain.
TheFire Emblemseries has a number of characters who would qualify for this list; characters who are not truly evil, but find themselves fighting with the heroes, at least for a time. Often, these characters are either allies you recruit or enemies you mourn. Xavier is meant to be the former, but the painstaking lengths required to recruit him may often make him the latter.
Xavier was once a general of Leonster, the kingdom of which Leif was the prince of prior to being evacuated from it. After its annihilation, he was forced to choose between his subordinates and his country, picking the former. Upon Leif’s return to Leonster, Xavier proves to be an obstacle. To move him, Leif’s tactician, August, organizes the families of all of Xavier’s lieutenants, to convince them to defect. If the player accomplishes this, Leif is capable of recruiting Xavier.
The devil is in the details, as this requires the player to dedicate sufficient units to protect a number of helpless allies who are capable of being murdered by enemy units at any given time. Specifically, there are eight of them, all of whom need to speak with an enemy unit to secure their defection. The extent to which the player has to be dedicated to this operation can be frustrating for one trying to recruit Xavier. Fortunately, for all the difficulty involved in recruiting him, Xavier is a solid unit for the final stretch of the game.
Augustus is a fascinating example of this kind of character, as he both is and isn’t a villain, from a certain point of view. Augustus is a circus acrobat and psychic whose history makes him wary of engaging with other psychics. After discovering his son, Razputin “Raz”, has psychic abilities, he is deeply concerned. To this end, he forces his son to practice his acrobatics daily in an effort to divert him from what he perceives as a traumatic world.
However, this had the unintended side effect of causing Raz to view his father negatively. This amplifies when Augustus outright refuses to let Raz attend Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, which backfires when Raz chooses to do so anyway. Eventually, a concerned Augustus discovers Raz perceives him as a monster who hates both psychics and his son’s happiness. He is deeply horrified at the revelation and chooses to help his son himself against this malformed version of him. Unfortunately, the interweaved psyches of Raz and his coach, Oleander, cause the evil Augustus to merge with his coach’s own toxic father figure, The Butcher.
Augustus once again aids his son, allowing them to reconcile, it’s the beginning of him learning to embrace his abilities.Psychonautsis a series which focuses on perception. Although Augustus wanted nothing but the best for his son, Raz’s own perception of him led to a rocky relationship.
