Gilbert Norrell is a very different character, but in some ways the same: he’s refined where Geder is ill-mannered, dignified where Geder is bumbling, proud where Geder is self-effacing. He actually thinks he’s acting in the best interest of the empire, while committing genocide and throwing nations into war. Geder is like the kid that everyone makes fun of on the bus: he’s socially inept, awkward, and more interested in old books and maps than he is in people. Two of my favorite villains in recent fiction fall squarely into this category: Geder Palliako (from Daniel Abraham’s Dagger and Coin series) and Gilbert Norrell (from Susannah Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Occasionally, as in Walter White ( Breaking Bad) or Frank Underwood ( House of Cards), they even cross the line and become a kind of protagonist in their own right. The ones we remember, sometimes long after we’ve forgotten the heroes. More than the other kind, these are the villains that have depth. We don’t condone the things he does, but we see some good in him, some possibility for redemption, or at least see his evil choices as tragic. Perhaps he’s been hurt in the past, or got too greedy, or fell prey to temptation. We understand him, even sympathize with him at some level. This villain does bad things, even horrible things, but we can see into his soul.

I want to talk about the other kind of villain: the gray kind. Voldemort is a villain of the first type, as is Sauron. We rarely see the story from his point of view. He represents a force outside of the protagonists, powerful and relentless, that can’t be reasoned with or turned aside. This kind of villain personifies evil, with no redemptive qualities at all. The first type is like a natural disaster. The way I see it, there are two types of villains. What do Severus Snape, Gollum, and Darth Vader all have in common? Besides being three of the most celebrated villains in science fiction and fantasy, that is?

Terminal Mind by David Walton