Games where the villain proves them right

Few things make one great villain better than a credible set of motivations. Villainy for villainy's sake is fine for some stories, but if you want to leave a lasting impression, you need an antagonist who is genuinely believable as a character. Their actions must make sense, and their reasons for doing what they do must be logical.

Even better than that is when a story ends by leaving you with the feeling that the villain may have been right all along. It's not an easy thing to pull off, and it requires some delicate narrative balancing, but these next games make it work. While their methods may be suspect, all of these antagonists were proven right in the end.

Rearrange the cases in the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)

Start

Rearrange the cases in the correct US release order.

Light (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)Start

Notorious

Do the ends justify the means?

While Cole spends a lot of Notorious patrolling Empire City and dealing with the First Sons gang, whispers of a figure named Kessler working in the background pulling all the strings. In true comic book fashion, Kessler appears during the game's climax, but there's a twist: Kessler is actually Cole from the future.

Kessler says that in the future he's from, an unstoppable being called The Beast is destroying Empire City and the rest of the world, and that version of Cole was too weak to stop it. Instead, he travels back in time, takes control of the First Sons, and triggers the events that gave Cole his powers earlier so that he would have more time to prepare for the arrival of the Beast. The thing is, it works. IN inFAMOUS 2, Cole encounters The Beast and manages to defeat it. It's a messy solution, but Kessler's plan actually succeeded, though not without casualties.

Mass Effect 3

How do you stop the inevitable? Turn it towards itself

When faced with an existential threat like the Reapers in Mass Effect 3, Shepard simply cannot will himself to win that battle, especially when the Reapers can indoctrinate his allies. He needs funding, support and a figurehead to support his game when everyone else is ready to panic and abandon ship. In this case, that person is the Illusive Man.

Although the Illusive Man buys into Shepard's plan (literally), he's not a “good” guy. He's a racist, a manipulative bureaucrat, and pretty much the exact kind of guy you don't want the fate of the world hanging on. That said, he's pretty consistently right. First, it pays to support Shepard. Also, the Illusive Man is the one who wants to adapt the Reaper technology in a way so that it can be used against the Reapers. Shepard is understandably opposed to weapons of that size being in the hands of someone like the Illusive Man, but even then, those weapons prove invaluable in the final battle.

Fire emblem: Three houses

Making mistakes for all the right reasons

There are many ways the story could play out Fire emblem: Three houses, but in most of them Edelgard von Hresvelg is attached as the villain. She disguises herself as the Fire Emperor and starts a war with the Church of Seiros, even aligning herself with those who slip in darkness, though she detests their methods.

But even though she is ruthless, vengeful and headstrong, Edelgardm is also mostly right. First, she believes that the nobility of the Fold is the root of the corruption in the world and led to the death of her parents and siblings. She also believes that the church is deliberately perpetuating that corruption. On both counts she is perfect. When you actually listen to her vision for the world, where the Fold are united as a people free of caste or symbol, it's hard to argue against that. The problem is that her methods of achieving that world are extremely bloody.

Fable 3

Become a tyrant to save the world

Fable 3

8/10

Released

October 26, 2010

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At the beginning of Fable 3, The hero's brother is also the reigning king, Logan. He is a ruthless tyrant who senselessly murders protesters while legalizing slavery and child labor, all in order to build a massive army by whatever means necessary. However, you later discover that there is a method to the madness, and a pretty valid reason for it too.

While still a benevolent ruler, Logan helped a neighboring kingdom beat back an invader known only as the Darkness. After barely securing a temporary victory, Logan learns from a psychic that darkness will come to Albion in five years. As such, he makes it his single-minded goal to raise an army powerful enough to push it back. Unfortunately, five years isn't much time to pull it off, so Logan puts aside any notions of being a kind ruler and pushes his people beyond their limits to achieve these goals. With that context, it's fair to ask: what else would he do? If you hadn't come to save the day, Logan's army would have been the only thing standing between Albion and total ruin.

Dark souls

Just letting the world die sounds crazy until you realize what saving means

The most common thing in fantasy is that light is good, and darkness is evil. Dark souls plays with that concept and actually uses it to trick you. Fire represents the light. It forms your bonfires, the only safe havens in the game, and in history, the first flame is what brought humanity out of darkness and into a time of prosperity. But by constantly connecting the flame, the world slowly began to become hollow.

You meet two snakes on your journey. The Kingseeker Frampt encourages you to defeat Gwyn, connect the flame, and then take Gwyn's place as ruler. Darkstalker Kaathe, on the other hand, suggests you let the world decay. Of course, that seems like the evil option. Plus, come on. This guy lives in a void of total darkness and his name is Darkstalker. He is clearly bad news. Except he's actually right. The endless link between fire is what makes the world fall apart, and maintaining that cycle does nothing to fix it. Sure, letting the world end is its own kind of “bad”, but maybe it can be rebuilt into something better afterwards, rather than being trapped in an endless cycle of suffering.

Persona 5 Royal

Is it wrong to place someone in a perfect reality if that's what they want?

Dr. Maruki is a new addition to the antagonist list Persona 5 Royal. He arrives to become a counselor at Shujin Academy after the traumatic events surrounding volleyball coach Suguru Kamoshida, who was brought down by the Phantom Thieves. Dr. Maruki also has a secret: he has a power he calls actualization that allows him to make people's traumas disappear. The thing is, in order to do this, he also has to erase any memories they have that were affected by that trauma.

But when his Persona awakens, Dr. extrapolates. Maruki that idea all over reality and replace it with a version where everyone's trauma is wiped away and they live in happiness. While this breaks up the Phantom Thieves (since they no longer have trauma to bond over), it's not exactly… bad, is it? Sure, doing it against people's will is beyond the pale, but the goal itself isn't evil at all. About Dr. Maruki were to give everyone a choice between continuing as they are or having their trauma erased (as he does with Sumire), there are probably many people who would gladly accept the latter option.

Far cry 5

It is not a cult if your predictions come true

IN Far Cry 5, Joseph Seed is a prototypical cult leader on the surface and serves as the main antagonist as a result. He is charismatic, but brutal in his methods and absolutely convinced that he was chosen by God. His cult, the Project at New Eden, operates under the belief that a world-ending catastrophe called “The Collapse” is coming, and that only Joseph and his followers are capable of preventing it. It sounds completely crazy, because it clearly does.

Well, guess what? If you choose the Resist ending, where you fight and defeat Joseph, the bombs will start dropping as soon as the fight is over. Joseph “helps” you escape, and you end up trapped in a bunker with him, which is where the game ends. However, this ending is confirmed as canon i Far Cry New Dawn, a post-apocalyptic spin-off where the world is destroyed in a nuclear event that the survivors call “The Collapse”. It is impossible to say with certainty what Joseph's influence was in keeping the apocalypse at bay, but it is also impossible to say that he and his sect's beliefs were wrong when the results are so obvious.