Best Villain in the History of WoW

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Hogger in the list, but no van Cleef ? The Jailer but not Denathrius ? The people demand polls with more options !

I wanted to include more! There is a limit to how many options. That's why I put in the last.

[Adamas102]

Arthas? Or the Lich King, which was a mash-up of Arthas with other influences?

Arthas. He was a much better villain when he was committing atrocities while thinking he was doing the right thing. As the Lich King he was kinda boring.

[Kiivar86]

A part of me wants to vote for Iridikron more for his potential. I have a good feeling about him. But the payoff is a long ways off.

Lich King, then. His plan almost succeeded in the end.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

A part of me wants to vote for Iridikron more for his potential. I have a good feeling about him. But the payoff is a long ways off.

Lich King, then. His plan almost succeeded in the end.

Yeah I really like what they did with Iridikron in Dawn of the Infinite. They are doing a great job of giving him build-up so we will actually care about stopping him.

[Hitei]

Lich King, then. His plan almost succeeded in the end.

What? It was one of the worst plans any villain in the game has ever had and he spent the entire expansion losing.

[Kiivar86]

What? It was one of the worst plans any villain in the game has ever had and he spent the entire expansion losing.

I mean if Tirion hadn't been able to break free, we would've been risen in the Lich King's service as his new minions. He came extremely close to succeeding.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

What? It was one of the worst plans any villain in the game has ever had and he spent the entire expansion losing.

His plan was to lure the greatest champions on Azeroth to his throne - only those tough enough to fight past his lieutenants - defeat them because he was invincible with Frostmourne and his Helm of Domination, then rez them to serve him for all time.

[Woggmer]

The reason I didn't pick the Lich King is because it's actually 3 villains rolled into a single entity and 2 of them were tortured victims, but thanks to the existence of the Jailer.. the entire concept of the Lich King is forever tainted because we can't say "Oh Arthas was built up to be an evil guy" or "It was actually Ner'zhul possessing his body through Frostmourne" You can't talk about the Lich King anymore without bringing up the Jailer in conversation... and nobody likes the Jailer.

The best villain isn't really a villain but an uncontrolled force of nature, which is the Sha. Think about it, ghostly beings of a deceased Old God that plague the inhabitants with corruption whenever they feel negative emotions so they have to strive for peace...

But if I were to choose an actual "villain" I'd go with Gul'dan. His concept isn't entirely new as there are various examples of evil decrepit old guys like Darth Sidious from Star Wars to something as recent and obscure like Baltro from Unicorn Overlord. In Gul'da's case he's evil in almost every incarnation whether it'd be MU Gul'dan from the OG Warcraft lore, AU Gul'dan from WoD to Legion, even the Warcraft Movie Gul'dan.. he's the very embodiment of warping the orcish clans into killing machines. And while there are some like Archimonde, Kil'Jaeden, or Sargeras.. we don't see much of the devastation they bring compared to what Gul'dan has done in all incarnations.

I'd also include Garrosh as a runner up bad guy because he's more of a tragic villain where he was put into a position of power, but we've seen up to his final moments (in WoD) that he was confused of what kind of leader he should be.. either to be like Thrall or like his father.

[Baraden]

What? It was one of the worst plans any villain in the game has ever had and he spent the entire expansion losing.

He came closest to winning out of every villain

It was only through the "light grant me one final blessing" mcguffin that he didn't succeed

[justwatching]

Arthas/Lich King and its not even close.

[Hitei]

I mean if Tirion hadn't been able to break free, we would've been risen in the Lich King's service as his new minions. He came extremely close to succeeding.

Yes. He came extremely close to having 25 new minor minions... at the cost of his entire force. It was the stupidest plan in the history of the franchise. He gave up a continent-spanning army to train a handful of soldiers who would have just been crushed by that army if he hadn't just sat around letting his people get picked off one by one while making dumb cartoon villain speeches in the background.

Who do you think would win in a fight?

-10-25 players brought back from the dead and empowered

Or

-Kel'thuzad
-Noth
-Heigan
-Gothik
-Lady Deathwhisper
-Marrowgar
-Razuvious
-Patchwerk
-Faerlina
-Thaddius
-Grobbulus
-Putricide
-Blood-Queen Lana'thel and her four princes
-Sindragosa
-Sapphiron
-Anub'arak
-Anub'Rekhan
-The Four Horsemen
-The Twin Val'kyr
-at least six other lesser Liches
-hundreds of Death Knights
-an entire society of allied Vrykul
-an entire kingdom of undead Nerbuians
-tens of thousands of lesser undead


It was idiotic. Imagine if the Jailer's plan was to let the covenants and Maw Walker kill every single bad guy in the Maw, take every location, conquer Torghast, defeat his allies in Bastion, Revendreth and Maldraxxus, stop his plan with the sigils and Zereth Mortis... all just so that he could dominate Anduin and turn him into a DK.

That was the Lich King's plan. To give up the entire Scourge and a bunch of his most elite soldiers for a handful of new slightly less elite servants that the Scourge could have just crushed to begin with. His closest point to winning was before the expansion, because he started off the expansion by throwing away Acherus and did nothing but lose assets the entire rest of the way. He could have just flown Acherus, Naxrammas and the other ~four necropoli to Org or Stormwind, dropped the two big frostwyrms, KT/Deathwhisper, the Four Horsemen and the Necromancers off, and have taken the entire planet without anyone even setting foot on Northrend.

He came closest to winning out of every villain

It was only through the "light grant me one final blessing" mcguffin that he didn't succeed

lolno. Deathwing, Sargeras and the Jailer were moments from destroying the world/reality. Sylvanas and Garrosh both managed to destroy major cities in their offensives. N'zoth came close to manifesting the Black Empire.

The Lich King, moments away from losing and after having an entire continent taken from him, almost managed to switch a handful of players to his side.

[Villager720]

I voted Gul’dan.
Both of him.
Version 1 caused unimaginable havoc across 2 planets and screwed over his own people multiple times just to get what he wanted.
Version 2 caused the “final” Legion invasion, was responsible for the deaths of both faction leaders, and nearly brought Sargeras to Azeroth.

Arthas was fun, but as the Lich King, what did he actually do? Or is this Ner’zul’s LK? Do we count both? One almost lost to the Nerubians and then gets manipulated by his man servant. The other sat on the throne for 5 years and then launched a bunch of failed attempts to do things, then died.

[Kiivar86]

Yes. He came extremely close to having 25 new minor minions... at the cost of his entire force. It was the stupidest plan in the history of the franchise. He gave up a continent-spanning army to train a handful of soldiers who would have just been crushed by that army if he hadn't just sat around letting his people get picked off one by one while making dumb cartoon villain speeches in the background.

Who do you think would win in a fight?

-10-25 players brought back from the dead and empowered

Or

-Kel'thuzad
-Noth
-Heigan
-Gothik
-Lady Deathwhisper
-Marrowgar
-Razuvious
-Patchwerk
-Faerlina
-Thaddius
-Grobbulus
-Putricide
-Blood-Queen Lana'thel and her four princes
-Sindragosa
-Sapphiron
-Anub'arak
-Anub'Rekhan
-The Four Horsemen
-The Twin Val'kyr
-at least six other lesser Liches
-hundreds of Death Knights
-an entire society of allied Vrykul
-an entire kingdom of undead Nerbuians
-tens of thousands of lesser undead

We have the answer who would win in a fight - us, at least against the bosses you list. Considering we kill pretty much all those. And he could bring back a fair amount of those we killed, too. So he'd then have us and them.

But y'know, this is a subjective poll as it says at the start. I think Lich King's the best villain. You don't. I'm fine with that.

[Hotmail]

I voted Azshara. Didn't play the game much when she was in the spotlight but I've a soft spot for charismatic villains.

[Hitei]

We have the answer who would win in a fight - us, at least against the bosses you list. Considering we kill pretty much all those. And he could bring back a fair amount of those we killed, too. So he'd then have us and them.

No, you have the answer to who would win in a 25 vs 1 fight one boss at a time. You were never going to win a fight against Sindragosa, Anub'arak AND Sapphiron at the same time. Each of those named individuals was already worth nearly 25 players individually, and he lost two entire fortresses of them. The forces in Naxxramas alone were worth more than the players, because the players only defeat Naxxramas by virtue of only ever fighting one or a handful of enemies at a time.

If you get asked if you want 40 players on your team, or the entire Molten Core instance on your team, the answer is the Molten Core, because if you tell the ten bosses and hundreds of trash mobs to all go attack the raid, the 40 players get stomped into the ground. It is not worth losing an entire army for a group of people that have to gang up to even fight one of your soldiers.

I'm fine with you liking the Lich King and thinking he's the best villain. But is plan was nowhere close to succeeding. His plan had him continually losing and in a weaker and weaker position for a vanity project of little to no value.

[Kyphael]

The Lich King, followed closely by Garrosh. No other villain has been as well-developed as those two, it's not even close. Both were selfish, power-hungry, passionate, but believed in their heart what they were doing was right, so they weren't two-dimensional like Ragnaros or Yogg-saron, or corrupted like Azshara or Deathwing. In the end, they died as irredeemably evil for what they believed in.

[Starfals]

Lol, Fyrak being on that list is so funny ;p What a joke of a baddie lol. I got 0 interest in even killing him, just had to do it cus of the guild. Arthas? I COULD NOT WAIT to see him, fight him and well.. loot him? ;p For me, id probably vote for Arthas or Sargeras. Most evil bosses are pretty good in WoW, this list kind of made me realize that. Except Furakie or whatever the hell his name is kek.

[Jester Joe]

No, you have the answer to who would win in a 25 vs 1 fight one boss at a time. You were never going to win a fight against Sindragosa, Anub'arak AND Sapphiron at the same time. Each of those named individuals was already worth nearly 25 players individually, and he lost two entire fortresses of them. The forces in Naxxramas alone were worth more than the players, because the players only defeat Naxxramas by virtue of only ever fighting one or a handful of enemies at a time.

If you get asked if you want 40 players on your team, or the entire Molten Core instance on your team, the answer is the Molten Core, because if you tell the ten bosses and hundreds of trash mobs to all go attack the raid, the 40 players get stomped into the ground. It is not worth losing an entire army for a group of people that have to gang up to even fight one of your soldiers.

I'm fine with you liking the Lich King and thinking he's the best villain. But is plan was nowhere close to succeeding. His plan had him continually losing and in a weaker and weaker position for a vanity project of little to no value.

I don't disagree with you that it is hard to imagine that body for body that we'd be worth the Lich King losing almost everything he had, but at the same time, I do think it's a bit closer in ways.

Like Sindragosa is a huge asset that I don't think a single DK could be valued to. But on the same hand, Anub'arak taking 25 players to kill as a unit of power would mean Saurfang Jr was also very powerful which would mean we could be each worth that.

But at the same time, if it was an actual war, I don't think Anub'arak alone would warrant 25 people.

[Daedius]

The Player.

Nobody else comes close to the death count under the player's belt, be they people, animals, plants, elementals, spirits, etc. Etc. Etc.

Nothing is safe!

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Lol, Fyrak being on that list is so funny ;p What a joke of a baddie lol. I got 0 interest in even killing him, just had to do it cus of the guild. Arthas? I COULD NOT WAIT to see him, fight him and well.. loot him? ;p For me, id probably vote for Arthas or Sargeras. Most evil bosses are pretty good in WoW, this list kind of made me realize that. Except Furakie or whatever the hell his name is kek.

Fyrakk took notes off Starscream and went with it.

[allegrian]

Garrosh is the best villain in World of Warcraft.

The problem with Arthas is that if you just go by how he is portrayed in the actual World of Warcraft game, he is not compelling. He is some barely mentioned offscreen name in vanilla. In Wrath you get to see him as a dark lord you're working for in the Death Knight starting zone, but the game never gets you emotionally invested in him. He just occasionally shows up to say bad guy stuff and then leave, and his Scourge in WotLK never feels like a threat. You only really get to know Arthas if you play WC3, which is outside media to WoW.

Garrosh was a character introduced and built up in World of Warcraft. I knew him, and became invested in him, and he is built up to be a threat during Cata and MoP through his military campaigns and the devastation he inflicts. Seeing him nearly kill Vol'jin and forcing him into hiding, and Garrosh having murdered the Golden Lotus characters, and seeing Ji being tortured and executed for information he doesn't know and all of those Theramore prisoners being tortured and class trainers being strung up made me feel something. He was also a good villain. You could sympathize with how he is a Thrall parallel - a downtrodden young man who then learns of his father's legacy and then tries to bring honor and glory back to his people and lead them to the future, whereas the Lich King in Wrath just wants to kill everyone just because.

Garrosh also has a very unique aesthetic. The Lich King looks like a lot of bad guys I've seen before. Lord Soth from Dragonlance, Darth Vader, Sauron, etc. Evil plate knight. I haven't quite seen anyone who looks like Garrosh elsewhere.

Problem with garrosh is that you don't see much of him on the alliance side until close to the end of pandaria