History Main / VillainyFreeVillain

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', Blue Oak, TheRival to Red and the original Pokemon rival, spends the game racing you to the championship. While Giovanni and Team Rocket are the main villains, they are irrelevant to the goal of becoming the Pokemon League Champion, with Blue serving as the actual main antagonist despite not being the BigBad. So to make you really want to beat him, he starts off by picking the Pokemon that your starter has an elemental weakness to, giving himself an advantage in the first fight. From there, he shows himself to be an arrogant {{Jerkass}} who constantly mocks you, sees his Pokemon as tools, picks fights with you whenever he can, and is a SoreLoser- so when it all culminates in him becoming the FinalBoss, you feel that extra bit of motivation to settle the rivalry and prove you are the better trainer. Later games would [[CharacterDevelopment have him grow and improve until he lost this aspect entirely]]. Later Pokemon rivals (barring Silver, who is guilty of actual crimes like theft) would go on to avert this by being genuine friends of the protagonist.

* ''WebAnimation/OverlySarcasticProductions'' makes this argument about [[WarGod Ares]] in Myth/ClassicalMythology: there aren't many stories about him, and the ones that exist don't really show him doing any ''more'' evil acts than the other Olympians. Still, he represents [[WarIsHell the worst aspects of war]], so he's hated by the other gods InUniverse, and even most of his worshipers saw him as a [[NecessarilyEvil Necessary Evil]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BigMouth'': The Shame Wizard never really does anything truly evil despite being a major antagonist. Anything shameful that happens to the kids is usually through their own actions or other bad choices. The worst thing he does is gloat about it. As he points out he's only doing his job and is a NecessaryEvil.

* In ''Manga/YuGiOh'' Rex Raptor/Dinosaur Ryuzaki is little more than a pawn in Mai’s grudge against Jonouchi/Joey and is one of the few opponents in Duelist Kingdom who doesn’t try to cheat or kill the protagonists. He even warns Jonouchi about Esper Roba in Battle City after he loses! Though, in the anime, he forfeits any rights to this when he sells his soul alongside Inspector Haga/Weevil Underwood for the power of the Orichalcos to join DOMA. Before this? He’s treated as just as much of an asshole as Haga.

** Squidward fits the role even better, simply being irritable and condescending about [=SpongeBob=]'s demeanor. A lot of the older fanbase has actually ended up sympathizing with Squidward over [=SpongeBob=], finding the former's irritation justified. Can you blame someone for disliking a neighbor who once blasted techno music for 12 hours?

* In the early seasons of ''Series/BreakingBad'', Skyler is simply a concerned wife wondering why her husband has suddenly become so distant, having no idea that he's started cooking meth to pay for his cancer treatment. Her main function in the show is to put pressure on Walt's already stressful double life, making her somewhat unsympathetic by default. Once she [[spioiler: learns the truth, she reacts the way most people would, trying to divorce Walt and deny him access to the kids, making her even more unsympathetic as it renders Walt's sacrifices meaningless.]] Subverted [[spoiler: once she starts getting involved in Walt's business and commits several illegal and unethical acts.]]

* Skyler on ''Series/BreakingBad'' only wants to know what her sick husband was up to while she was at home struggling with a disabled son and another kid on the way. Her notable offences include returning an unattractive piece of jewelry she got from her sister, faking labor to avoid being arrested (for something she didn't do), and being lukewarm to her husband's sexual advances. She later becomes a typical shrewish, visitation-denying ex-wife [[spoiler: and an adulterous white-collar criminal]], but her main function from early on is to put more pressure on Walt's already stressful double-life, making her somewhat unsympathetic by default. Vince Gilligan has stated that he's disturbed by the level of hatred some of the fans have for her, and if they're still keeping it up by Season 3, it's probably just pure misogyny (Creator/AnnaGunn has defended the character from the {{hatedom}} as well for the same reasons). Then subverted, as she starts getting involved in Walt's business and proves to be far more level-headed than him.

* ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'':
** As the primary advocate for a "guilty" verdict, Juror #3 is the closest thing the film has to a villain, even though he honestly does think the kid is guilty. The fact that he's an aggressive, irritable {{Jerkass}} who refuses to listen to the opposing side keeps our sympathy on the "not guilty" lobby through the duration of the story.
** Juror #10 is even more of one. Like Juror #3, he is only trying to prevent someone he honestly believes is a murderer from going free. However, he's also a lunatic who [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain assumed the defendant must have been guilty because of his race]] and openly admits that he doesn't want to hear any fact-based arguments otherwise. Unlike Juror #3, there is never any hint of his having a hidden sympathetic side.

** Yosemite Sam in "Big House Bunny" is just doing his job trying to keep Bugs from escaping after he accidentally hides out in Sing Song Prison. Yes he takes more enjoyment than he should trying to keep Bugs in prison, but he isn't really doing anything wrong.

* Lawrence the 3rd/Gelardan from Anime/Pokemon2000 is not actively trying to TakeOverTheWorld or even destroy it, he is merely trying to capture the Three Titans and Lugia for his collection to make it legendary; completely ignorant to any harm he's causing. He captures Ash and his friends completely by accident and doesn't even try to detain them, nor does he have any hostility towards them. He argues he's just a collector of rare things before trying to catch Articuno. It isn't known how he would react if he was actually aware of what his actions were causing.

* [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Ebenezer Scrooge]] isn't actively hurting anyone or trying to do anything evil or illegal. He's considered a terrible person by ''not'' doing good with the fortune he has amassed, such as helping those less fortunate.

* In ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' Carlotta is spoiled and bad-tempered, but she also doesn't really do anything wrong. She just wants to continue to do the job she loves and isn't happy that the Phantom has decided to replace her with Christine Daae as lead soprano of the opera house; plus he's been sabotaging her for ages and at one point ''drops part of the scenery on her,'' which could have seriously injured her and which she only narrowly avoids. Also, while the audience knows Christine wants no part in the Phantom's plot and isn't to blame, it's not hard to see how Carlotta came to the conclusion that she was in on it, given the limited information she had.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': In general, the prosecutors are this. Since the series follows defense attorneys who clear the name of innocents falsely accused of murder, the prosecutors they face are typically smug {{Jerkass}}es who belittle the defense, insist on the guilt of the defendant, and do everything in their legal power to make your job difficult, all to make the player ''really'' want to beat them in court. Despite this, most of them are simply doing their jobs and always work within the law (with the exception of some UnconventionalCourtroomTactics that might get them contempt charges in real life but have no bearing on the case), and it's repeatedly pointed out that prosecutors are necessary counterparts to defense attorneys. Typically, the main prosecutor of each game will even do a HeelFaceTurn and befriend the protagonist. There are exceptions, such as Klavier Gavin (who's friendly to Apollo and never presents himself as a villain) and some who are criminals themselves: [[spoiler: Manfred von Karma is known to have resorted to illegal tactics such as coaching witnesses and killed the lawyer who got him penalized (''once'', and he didn't even lose that case), Godot is a murderer (albeit a sympathetic one), and Queen Ga'ran is TheUsurper and a murderess herself.]]

** Nahyuta Sahdmadhi and Princess Rayfa Padma Khura'in are extremely arrogant, self-righteous enforcers of the Khura'inese regime who look down on the heroes for being defense attorneys (as they are hated in Khura'in and losing ones are [[DystopianEdict punished with their clients]]), but otherwise they're just doing their jobs. Rayfa also doesn't realize the full depth of her actions due to being a young teenager indoctrinated into anti-lawyer propaganda, while Nahyuta is [[spoiler: being blackmailed by Queen Ga'ran; if he doesn't toe the party line and act like a stereotypical HolierThanThou Khura'inese prosecutor, she'll ruin Rayfa's life by exposing her as Dhurke's daughter. When not being coerced, Nahyuta is quite reasonable and understands the necessity of defense attorneys.]]

* [[WesternAnimation/BigMouth The Shame Wizard]] never really does anything truly evil despite being a major antagonist. Anything shameful that happens to the kids is usually through their own actions or other bad choices. The worst thing he does is gloat about it. As he points out he's only doing his job and is a NecessaryEvil.

* Bluto in the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' short "What — No Spinach"? Is merely running a diner and not doing anything villainous. The only reason he fights Popeye at all is because of Wimpy trying to steal food and causing a misunderstanding.

* Augustus St. Cloud from ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' is little more than a pompous collector who only tries to get under Billy Quizboy's skin. The worst he usually does is outbid Billy at auctions, cheat at games and mishandle the memorabilia he owns.

No work of fiction can exist without a {{conflict}}. Almost all works help accomplish this by having a [[BigBad villain]] of some sort. After all, if there's [[NoAntagonist no villain]], who will create the conflict? Who will the heroes confront in the climax? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Who will]] sing [[VillainSong the best songs?]]

* Done intentionally with the aptly-named fan-favorite Freaky Fred of ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', who despite being fondly remembered as one of the most disturbing characters in the entire series alongside legitimately terrifying characters like King Ramses and Katz, is ironically the least malicious and dangerous "villain" to ever appear. He's a truly freaky person, he's obsessed with cutting hair and can't help himself, but his intentions for visiting truly were to merely visit his Aunt Muriel and he's a polite, genuinely kind person who even speaks nicely about ''Eustace''. Just don't make the mistake of getting locked alone in the bathroom with him like poor Courage, or you'll end up bald and scared shitless.

* Dean Wormer from ''Film/AnimalHouse'' is an unpleasant JerkassHasAPoint antagonist type who is merely trying to enforce campus rules without committing immoral actions against hilarious but admittedly proto-delinquents frat boys. Part of his problem is that he's under pressure from the town's mayor, a genuinely evil amalgam of Mafia don and authoritarian plutocrat, who goes so far as to [[MoralEventHorizon threaten to have Wormer physically crippled]] if the Deltas do anything to embarrass him. While Wormer never does anything illegal, he certainly bends ethics by enlisting one group of students to spy on another, runs a kangaroo court in which the spied-upon have no reasonable chance to address the charges against them (some of which are false), and to justify all this with "double-secret probation."

* Mr. Zero in the Literature/RaggedyAnn WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}} short "Suddenly It's Spring" is stated to be a Coldhearted miser by Mr. Cloud and the sun to Raggedy Ann. But ultimately all he really does is manage the winter season. It isn't his fault Nancy got sick, and although he comes off as a jerk ("Melt all the snow? I’ve still got two months to go! Have you no respect for tradition?!") he isn’t entirely wrong in how outlandish Raggedy Ann's request is to help one little girl. Ultimately he does relent and shows he's not as heartless as the others made him out to be.

** The Silverfish engineer in "Porky's Railroad" is a jerk, but he isn’t doing anything wrong. He just has the more advanced locomotive compared to Porky's outdated engine.

* Lawrence the 3rd/Gelardan from Anime/PokemonTheMovie2000 is not actively trying to TakeOverTheWorld or even destroy it, he is merely trying to capture the Three Titans and Lugia for his collection to make it legendary; completely ignorant to any harm he's causing. He captures Ash and his friends completely by accident and doesn't even try to detain them, nor does he have any hostility towards them. He argues he's just a collector of rare things before trying to catch Articuno. It isn't known how he would react if he was actually aware of what his actions were causing.

* Augustus St. Cloud from ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' is little more than a pompous collector who only tries to get under Billy Quizboy's skin. The worst he usually does is outbid Bill at auctions, cheat at games and mishandle the memorabilia he owns.

** Remy Buxaplenty deconstructs this concept. Remy isn't really doing anything wrong by one-upping Timmy, and [[ParentalNeglect his backstory]] makes him easy to sympathize with, except that he's such a huge jerk about it. He starts out like this, but we see that get pulled apart when we see him attempt to bribe Timmy from his fairies and later enter a magical duel with him. After they tie, Timmy tries to get Remy to just call it a draw, mentioning he doesn't care if Remy has fairies. However, it's an issue for Remy because he doesn't view it as fair for Timmy to have both loving (if not idiotic) parents and his godparents. He ends up losing his (but returns in a later episode and a few more times.) He became a full villain the moment he decided that he'd risk losing his fairy just for the chance for Timmy to lose his.

* Stanley Livingston in WesternAnimation/TennesseeTuxedoAndHisTales is a pompous jerk always seeking the mayor's favor and is overly hard on Tennessee a lot of the time. But he's not really a bad guy, just super strict. And there are a handful of episodes where he gives Tennessee and Chumlee their just praise.

* Stanley Livingston in WesternAnimation/TennesseeTuxedoAndHisTales is a pompous jerk always eking the mayor's favor and is overly hard on Tennessee a lot of the time. But he's not really a bad guy, just super strict. And there are a handful of episodes where he gives Tennessee and Chumlee their just praise.

** Nahyuta Sahdmadhi and Princess Rayfa Padma Khura'in are extremely arrogant, self-righteous enforcers of the Khura'inese regime who look down on the heroes for being defense attorneys (as they are hated in Khura'in and losing ones are [[DystopianEdict punished with their clients]]), but that's about the extent of their antagonism. Rayfa, being a child, doesn't realize the extent of what she's doing, and Nahyuta keeps himself out of the bloody business [[spoiler:because he's being blackmailed by Queen Ga'ran]].

* In ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', the Queen of the Night has only two really villainous acts: ordering Pamina to murder Sarastro, and later trying to lead a KillEmAll attack on Sarastro's temple and then force Pamina to marry Monostatos. Otherwise, she's just trying to reclaim her power and her daughter, both taken from her for flimsy (and sexist) reasons, and most of her actions are surprisingly [[NiceJobFixingItVillain helpful.]] She's the one who gives Tamino the magic flute and Papageno his magic bells, her Ladies save Tamino's life at the beginning, they're the ones who direct the heroes to the Three Boys' wise guidance, and even their attempts to lure Tamino away from Sarastro only prove his strength and earn him points in Sarastro's trials. It's no wonder that some modern productions portray her as secretly Sarastro's ally, who only plays the villain to test the young heroes.