QUOTE(mALX @ Jan 24 2013, 11:17 AM)

In the game itself (and he does show up in my story soon, just haven't reached that part yet) - I'd have to say Mankar Camoran above the Mythic Dawn. The Mythic Dawn themselves have been duped by Camoran. He is like a combination of Jim Jones and Manson.
When he is in Cyrodiil speaking he is so charismatic, and you can see all the followers being taken in by him and forking over all their worldly goods. They believe Paradise awaits them through that portal, and it isn't till they cross over they see the real man, the real Mankar and that his promises were all lies. By then there is no escape, not even death because he keeps resurrecting them.
He made a pact with Dagon for that Paradise, for the power he craved - may not have been the brightest move, but took a lot of guts to form an alliance with one who is known to always have his own agenda.
I think Bethesda showed some real genius in Camoran's storyline.
It means a tremendous lot to me that you all said such wonderful things about Malan on here! Thank you all so much!
I really hoped Malan would come across as deceptively likable, and that the only ones to ever see his evil side were those on the receiving end of it.
On other threads bad guys - I gotta say SubRosa's "Vols" - he was smacking Teresa around and breaking her teeth as a child, demonized in her mind - so you hate him. Then when she runs into him again as an adult, suddenly you see the exact same situation - another little orphan girl on the streets - and he is so good with her and coddling her, feeding her - you can't help but love him! Not to mention his love of Simplicia - I mean, you know what he is capable of, you know he has murdered (to protect Simplicia) - but you can't help but sympathize with him, especially after the scars from Dagon's visit. Didn't we all fall in love with Vols? I did.
I am with mALX on Mankar (where is his wife, WomanTruk, and shouldn't his son and daughter be BoyBike, and GirlLorry?). I thought he was a very well done cult-leader, brilliant, charismatic, and utterly ruthless, like the men she suggested. Richard Ramirez comes to mind too, and Scientology. I feel sorry for the rank and file members of the Mythic Dawn. They all strike me as people who were emotionally vulnerable at one point or another, enough for them to fall for Camoran's spiel and get sucked into his cult. Then of course the real brain-washing would have begun, to the point where their sense of selves would have been completely shattered.
QUOTE(Grits @ Jan 24 2013, 11:21 AM)

QUOTE(mALX @ Jan 24 2013, 11:17 AM)

Didn't we all fall in love with Vols? I did.
YES!! I was trying to think of an example of a hero you grow to love after they start out as a villain. Perfect!!
Vols is a hero? I never intended him to be viewed as one. I just tried to use him as a window into the life of a legionary, a peek under the helmet so to speak, for good and ill.
I cannot really think of villains from my own fic to rate. There are just so many! I suppose there might be Valen Dreth, or Jalbert (whom we shall be seeing again very soon). Or Morandil. I think the biggest villain in the TF would probably be Teresa's own feelings of insecurity!