A villain (also known in film and literature as the "antagonist," "baddie", "bad guy", "black hat", or "heavy") is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist (though can be the protagonist), the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters. A female villain is sometimes called a villainess (often to differentiate her from a male villain). Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines villain as "a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel; or a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot".
Read more about Villain: Etymology, Folk and Fairy Tales, Villainous Foil, Portraying and Employing Villains in Fiction
Famous quotes containing the word villain:
“The villain may be good looking, but his smile is never quite right.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“In tragic life, God wot,
No villain need be! Passions spin the plot:
We are betrayed by what is false within.”
—George Meredith (18281909)
“Man was not made to succumb to the villain Woe.”
—Herman Melville (18191891)