A Magnificent Bitch and her weapon of choice, a Magnificent Bastardnote .
Image courtesy of Kosha Vinka
Image courtesy of Kosha Vinka
"Rommel... you magnificent bastard, I READ YOUR BOOK!"
If there was ever a villain that deserved to be called "Magnificent", that character is the Magnificent Bastard. Capturing the audience with their charisma, incredible intellect, mastery of manipulation, and boldness of action, this character is a show-stealer, demanding your reverence at every turn. So what makes a character a Magnificent Bastard? Let's break it down:
- They are brilliant and utterly devious, a smooth operator. They are also savvy and do not fall for obvious traps; bringing them down is no easy feat.
- They have a goal, and they're not going to stop until they've completed it. Even when the goal is suicidally over-ambitious, they succeed with style.
- They are charismatic, often charming, their personality is like a physical force. While they exist on the darker end of the moral spectrum, they never take disgusting actions that undermine their magnificence, leaving them diabolical but in a way the audience can't help but enjoy. And they are definitively not cowards. Ever.
Compare Guile Hero, its Good Counterpart.
Examples go through the Magnificent Bastard proposal thread
(for new additions) and cleanup thread (for discussion of existing examples).
Now divided into:
- Anime & Manga
- Comic Books
- Fan Works
- Film — Animated
- Film — Live-Action
- Literature
- Live-Action TV
- Music
- Tabletop Games
- Theatre
- Video Games
- Visual Novels
- Web Original
- Western Animation
- Other Media (includes characters from multiple pieces of media)
