Most video game protagonists are males. It’s a sad fact, but things have gotten better over time. Early standout heroine examples include Lara Croft from theTomb Raiderfranchise. Certain objectifying features of Lara have been thankfully toned down over the years and video games are better for these changes.
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It should come as no surprise then that the villain market has also been dominated by males. However, there have been some female standouts that are fun to love/hate. RPGs in particular love to dip their toe in the female pond of evilness and these are just a few devious examples.
8Queen Brahne
Queen Brahne is the central villain for most ofFinal Fantasy 9. She is the ruler of Alexandria and the adopted mother of Garnet. Queen Brahne is ruthless in her pursuit of power throughout the game. She uses the power ofthe Summon Odinto almost commit genocide against the rat-like people of Burmecia.
Final Fantasy 9is not holding back any punches when it comes to depicting war. She does some vile things in the game and gets rightly punished for it even though she was technically under a spell.
7Maleficent
Maleficent is the villain ofSleeping Beautyin the Disney film. She is terrifying in that movie but she is also quite a terror in theKingdom Heartsseries.Before Organization 13rolled into town, she was the one behind most of the evil deeds in the first game.
She is the one who puts Sora’s best friend, Riku, under a spell to try and kill him. It made sense to make her the central villain for Disney because of her tremendous power even above other classic villains like Ursula or Jafar.
6Cackletta
Cackletta is the bad guy inMario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. This was the first entry in the new RPG series starring the two brothers. She posed as a peaceful messenger from the Bean Bean Kingdom but wound up stealing Princess Peach’s voice instead.
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Her sidekick, Fawful, is probably more memorable in the game because he spoke in broken English saying things like “I Have Fury!” Still, Cackletta is also a force to be reckoned with and that laugh of hers, even though it was on theGame Boy Advance, was horrific.
5Tron Bonne
Tron Bonne is one of the villains inMega Man Legends. She belongs to the Bonne family of sky pirates who constantly show up to torment Mega Man Trigger throughout the game. Now,Mega Man Legendsmay not be a traditional turn-based or action RPG next to some of these other titles. It’s as much of an RPG asThe Legend of Zeldais in the action-adventure genre.
Players can gain power-ups and gear to boost stats along with new weapons. So, it should count because Tron Bronne is such a classic villain in this series even though likePokemon’s Jessie, she does have her good moments.
4Eve
Eve is the titular villain ofParasite Eve. One night at an opera, Eve possesses a young woman onstage, Melissa, and takes over her body through mitochondria, thus transforming her into a monster. Aya Brea, a New York detective, happens to be in the audience at the time of her transformation, thus linking the two in a deadly game of chase.
Eve keeps spreading her mutagens around the city, infecting people and animals in her pursuit of domination. This causes them to burst into flames, melt into goo, or transform into monsters. This isone horror RPGthat will stick with players long after it is done.
3Jessie
“Prepare for trouble, and make it double” was the opening line toTeam Rocket’s speechin thePokemonanime. Whenever Jessie, James, and Meowth appeared, Ash knew he was in danger. The first two games were wildly popular on the Game Boy as was the anime when they hit the West.
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So, a special edition was later made calledPokemon Yellowthat followed more of the anime’s story including the addition of Team Rocket’s iconic trio. Jessie was one of those villains that was fun to root against but had some good qualities as well.
2Selvaria
Selvaria is one of the supporting antagonists inValkyria Chronicles. The Valkyrie were legendary warriors within a certain race of people, the Darcsen. The Empire of this game has in possession Selvaria, one of the last remaining Valkyrie known in the world.
Alicia is one of the protagonists and she secretly has this ability dwelling inside of her as well. Alicia, along with her platoon, keeps running into Selvaria and they barely make it out each time. Nothing in battle can slow her down, so it is best to avoid contact if at all possible inthis strategy RPG.
1Cia
There are not that many female villains inThe Legend of Zeldafranchise. One of the biggest examples is from thespinoffHyrule Warriors. Cia is a witch who wants to control the power of the Triforce as most bad guys do.
She opens up a portal and brings in villains from across the franchise to help her. She, like all of the villains throughout this franchise, does not succeed thanks to the steady hand of Link and his allies.
