Most sympathetic and unsympathetic villains in Star Trek

[martok2112]

In fact, the Ferengi consider at least one group to be their slaves: women.

Ferengi females are slaves. At least they were until Ishka came along. She helped bring about a reformation in Ferengi attitudes towards women, but before that, Ferengi women were definitely enslaved.

I mean, they couldn't wear clothes, leave their homes, earn profit, or speak until spoken to. If that isn't slavery, what is?

Ask Rodgers Nelson (aka Prince, fka The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, fka The Artist, fka Slave...,oakaafaik Prince)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Ferengi society wasn't just sexist. The slavery inflicted upon their women was real and absolutely literal.

 

[The Overlord]

Ferengi society wasn't just sexist. The slavery inflicted upon their women was real and absolutely literal.

Again we don't see enough of it to make it really impactfully (in DS9 how often does the Ferengi males oppressing their females get the same dramatic weight as the Cardassians or the Dominion inflicting savage brutalities on those they oppress), two it gets played laughs too often and three Ferengi women were able to get some equal rights by being able to change the system by the end of DS9. If Ferengi society was truly evil, we should seen a violent crack down of Ferengi women in response to a demand for equal rights, instead of the rather bloodless coup that occurred to bring about these changes.

To me the Ferengi came off as silly, backwards hicks that were played for laughs, then a truly evil society that explores the worst of capitalism. To me they did not rank up with the more serious and sinister civilizations we see in Star Trek. I think with a little planning the Ferengi could have been really sinister, in terms of their sexism and unfettered capitalism, but I think they would have had to gone way darker with them.

 

[fireproof78]

I personally found Nero to be among the most sympathetic. At least among the most interesting.

 

[T'Girl]

The slavery inflicted upon their women was real and absolutely literal.

Given the existence and treatment of actual slaves, the description of Ferengi women's lives doesn't even approach slavery. Rom's first wife certainly possessed the ability to exercise power over a male within their society.

Quark statement that the Ferengi never engaged in slavery is most likely factual

 

[HIjol]

Believe it or not, I found Khan to have aspects of his villainy deserving of sympathy. Consider:

He was bred to be Superior...in mind and body
In his own words, he was a "...Prince, with power over Millions!"
In his own mind, and in the reality of the time, he truly was an ÜberMan.
He was deposed and exiled.
Beaten the first time by a weakling, lesser male.
Exiled, again, and forgotten...and then his environment "...laid waste"
Survived under the most forbidding of circumstances.
Lost many of his people and his "beloved wife".
Reborn and able to do, again, what was in his nature to do.
And beaten, again by the same weakling male, with help from a slightly less weakling Vulcan.

After all that, I think I would have probably wanted to Lay Waste to some stuff.

Was he "every acronym they got" in the Psychological Desk Reference?

Sure

But a Tragic, Sympathetic Figure, nonetheless, IMHO.

 

[Arpy]

Didn't Jake have to teach Nog how to read? And didn't Rom initially say something like school was a waste of time and that children either worked or died? If that's how they treat children, what do you think they're like to women or the poor?

The Ferengi may not do slavery, war, concentration camps, etc as we have, but they're far from the misunderstood noble shopkeepers Quark would paint them as. They may not kill en masse (though Cousin Gaila didn't mind helping do just that), but their world is as dystopian as any.

Khan I had little sympathy for. He had to deal with a lot, but only because he kept trying to rule and break others.

The Borg are a curious lot. Yes, once assimilated each bends to the will of the Collective, but the Collective is a collective of individuals. What's it say about the nature of life that what we all want deep inside isn't freedom?

 

[at Quark's]

Captain Maxwell (from the wounded)would be about the most sympathetic "villain" that comes up in my mind -- though perhaps he cannot be classified as a villain, merely as an episode's antagonist. I also though Eddington could be rather sympathetic but the same holds for him-- is he actually a villain? Considering someone that crossed deeper into 'villain' territory, I also had some sympathy for Annorax, the Krenim scientist.

Least sympathetic to me would perhaps be Kivas Fajo from TNG's the most toys. That man had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. And perhaps that voyager alien from Persistence of Vision, that even kept mocking Janeway after being defeated ('because I can', 'I'd like to be able to accommodate you, but you see... I'm not really here ').

Also, I find Dukat extremely unsympathetic though I still like him a lot as a character (and he can be very charming if he wants to be). It's just one of the guys I love to hate.

 

[T'Girl]

I think if anything, Maxwell was the true Hero of his story. Trying to drag the federation (kicking and screaming) to the truth of the future Cardassian danger.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Rom's first wife certainly possessed the ability to exercise power over a male within their society.

Actually I believe that plan was orchestrated by her father.

 

[Greg Cox]

Yes, the Original Romulan Commander is very much a sympathetic character.

He's pretty much the definition of a sympathetic villain.

"In another universe, I could have called you . . . friend."


Meanwhile, Charlie X wasn't particularly likable at times, but one had to sympathize with his plight. There was a lot of pathos there.

Heck, even Kodos the Executioner was a tortured soul presented with some sympathy. And it's hard not to feel sorry for poor, broken Lenore, who certainly didn't ask to be the daughter of a legendary mass-murderer.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Least sympathetic to me would perhaps be Kivas Fajo from TNG's the most toys. That man had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Oh, right: THAT a*hole! I don't think my brain even wanted to conjure him up. And he didn't even have the excuse of being one dimensional and poorly written - he was a completely well-written, believable dickweed.

I think for my money, you win the unsympathetic part of this thread.

 

[Amaraen]

I forgot about Kivas Fajo. He was a total creep.

I think another sympathetic villain might be Kevin Uxbridge. I say he is a villain for committing genocide, even though he wasn't truly an enemy of the Enterprise crew.

 

[at Quark's]

I think for my money, you win the unsympathetic part of this thread.

I'll try to see that remark within context

 

[cooleddie74]

1. Mark Lenard's Romulan commander in TOS.
2. Dr. Tolian Soran in Generations.

Dr. Soran may have seemed more fanatical and one-dimensional in the final edit of the movie but if you ever read J.M. Dillard's novelization of the film you'll know that Tolian Soran was a much more fleshed-out and sympathetic character who took the loss of both his homeworld and his family at the hands of the Borg with intense grief, compounded by his brief yet addicting contact with the Nexus ribbon back in 2293.

Had Malcolm McDowell been given more sympathetic and character-building dialogue in the film itself I think many fans would have a different view of Dr. Soran and his fanatical quest to get back into the Nexus and be reunited with his wife and children. He was a villain and a bad guy, but a slightly more textured one if you know his backstory from the books and promotional materials for the film.