The Villain Model: Voldemort--Just How Much of a Villain is He?

Film critic Roger Ebert: "Each film is only as good as its villain. Since the heroes and the gimmicks tend to repeat from film to film, only a great villain can transform a good try into a triumph.

A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether an historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain is the bad guy character who strives against the hero. In spite of being the target of the audience's hatred, the villain is an almost inevitable plot device and often - perhaps more than the hero - the central theme of the plot. Villains are often used as foils to heroes. Their extraordinary brainpower, superhuman abilities, or sheer ambition make them viable antagonists for the most gifted heroes. It would be fair to argue that one wouldn't be able to gauge how much of a hero a character without an opposing villain.

The Villain vs. The Antagonist: Voldemort vs. Severus Snape

Villain's disposition towards evil distinguishes him from the hero but more importantly from the antagonist. Though both the villain and antagonist opposes the hero, the antagonist does so by such means and under such pretexts as not to become entirely hated by readers. In some cases the antagonist may, in fact, even repent, be redeemed, or become a "good guy" in the end. All villains are antagonists, but all antagonists are not always villains.