Best Villain in the History of WoW

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Totally subjective. You can vote without reasons, go with your gut, or you can write us a treatise why your's is the right choice. Maybe it's all about your nostalgia around when you first encountered them. Maybe it's about who's mightiest in lore. Or maybe which was the best raid/dungeon fight. Or *maybe* it was how got you pumped when you watched some cinematic! You decide how you decide. Who was the best-ever villain in World of Warcraft?

[ro9ue]

Arthas by a mile.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Arthas by a mile.

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

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Mr. Bigglesworth, the cat in Naxxramas.

Pretty Scary

[MrLachyG]

Hogger. no competition.

[Jester Joe]

Hogger and Ozurk on the poll but not Lei-Shen? he's even in your picture!

[Taen]

Definitely Arthas. It’s not a fair comparison since he’s from the RTS games, where it’s much easier to tell a cohesive and compelling story, but that’s just what it is.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Hogger and Ozurk on the poll but not Lei-Shen? he's even in your picture!

I snagged best picture I could find for the topic; I did not make it myself.

[Jastall]

Arthas was at his best during WC3. His WoW incarnation I found pretty lacking TBH. Until ICC he only showed up to recycle his "next time, gadget!!" routine and his iconic death scene was based on piling a couple nonsensical plot points together. He was nothing like the snarky asshole Arthas used to be. IMO Gul'dan was probably the best villain in WoW proper, better than his WC2 incarnation, a guy you really love to hate. I wouldn't even had been mad had he been the final boss of Legion.

Runners ups are Lei Shen, Garrosh (as an overall character he's a trainwreck, as a straight villain he's a lot of fun), Azshara and Denathrius.

[McNeil]

Arthas and no other villain even comes close. We got to experience most of his life and his whole journey towards his downfall. Can't say the same for the other villains.

Some runner ups are Gul'dan, Garrosh and Deathwing/Neltharion. I also like some of the smaller villains like Edwin VanCleef and Renault Mograine.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

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.

[Khaza-R]

In WarCraft I would say Ner'zhul and Arthas.

In WoW they never met their full potential. I'd say Garrosh is the best WoW villain for the simple fact he had to more exposure and progression.

[Itisamuh]

Guldan. As my avatar indicates, I like villains who are evil simply because they want to be, not due to corruption or madness or misunderstanding.

[Kallisto]

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

Arthas LK was just Arthas with powers (Same with Ner'zhul and Bolvar)
LK is just a title

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Also, I would like to mention the runnerup: Lei Shen, the Thunder King.




I don't usually care about random raid villains. Ragnaros, Onyxia, whatever tentacle boss of the week is, etc. But I did feel about Lei Shen. Throughout the MoP levelling experience, you were hearing tales from the Pandaren about the brutal Mogu occupation. You saw how the Mogu had destroyed all traces of the pre-existing Pandaren civilization, with only Mogu ruins surviving in the modern day. You hear tales about all of these present day Mogu clans and past kings, and all they were all nothing compared to the Thunder King, the one who built the empire. You find out he beat Xu-en, who was presented as an intimidatingly powerful being in MoP. And then you had the excellent 5.2 trailer. Blizzard successfully built him up as a menace in a way that nary any other WoW villain did.

[Taen]

Arthas was at his best during WC3. His WoW incarnation I found pretty lacking TBH. Until ICC he only showed up to recycle his "next time, gadget!!" routine and his iconic death scene was based on piling a couple nonsensical plot points together. He was nothing like the snarky asshole Arthas used to be. IMO Gul'dan was probably the best villain in WoW proper, better than his WC2 incarnation, a guy you really love to hate. I wouldn't even had been mad had he been the final boss of Legion.

Runners ups are Lei Shen, Garrosh (as an overall character he's a trainwreck, as a straight villain he's a lot of fun), Azshara and Denathrius.

This is very true, and it’s a lesson they unfortunately haven’t learned. Raszageth did the same “I’ll get you next time!” shtick all through the Dragonflight leveling campaign.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Nothing ever made me want to kill a villain more than Varian's death at the hands of Gul'dan.

[chrisisvacant]

Probably the warlords of Draenor, with Garrosh coming up behind them. The warlords were badass and I wish we got more time with them. Especially Kargath and Kilrogg. The Kargath reimagining was particularly cool.

Garrosh also had some of the best character building ever for a villain and SOO was an incredible raid.

[Vlyse]

The Incarnates, as an ensemble, could have been among the best villains. I love when we get a group of villains working together and playing off each other, kinda like WOD. I was hyped when Razsageth unlocked their prisons, but they all drifted apart pretty quickly. A raid fight against Fyrakk and Vyranoth teamed up together, would've been cooler and a more credible threat.

Also the way they were setting up Keeper Tyr would've been a good shock villain (at least, a shock to the Aspects and other characters), but I think they're saving evil titans for TLT now.

[Zardas]

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

[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.