Femto, an example of a villain from the Berserk franchise.
A villain is a character in a story that commit evil acts to harm others. These characters can vary from small-time criminals, to supers, or supernatural beings. Villains are known for committing evil acts that are heinous and immoral. Villains are on the side of evil and they often fight against heroes.
Villains commit wicked acts by harming people including innocents. The motives behind a villain varies from vengeance, being influenced by an external force (e.g. possessed or brainwashed), committing bad deeds for a noble goal, or committing crimes for fun or for their own benefit. Villains can be introduced in a variety of ways in a story either as an unsuspected mastermind or accomplice who is revealed to be evil to an outright evil character who was introduced as evil from the beginning.
Common traits in villains are: apathy, callousness, cruel-hearted, selfishness, and deceit. However, villains can have redeeming qualities that make them selfless and compassionate individuals, or in some cases good.
Villains are either Standard Villainy (Rank 5 -), Villainous Benchmark (Rank 4 -), Inconsistently Heinous (Rank 3 -), Near Pure Evil (Rank 2 -), or Pure Evil (Rank 1 -). These characters vary in how heinous they are for their villainous actions with Pure Evil villains being the most heinous and wicked to the standard villains being the least heinous.
Villains could also exist on the good side of the spectrum. These type of villains are often redeemed. Redeemed villains may become Pure Good (Rank 1 +) or Near Pure Good (Rank 2 +) over time when they subvert their corrupting traits and commit admirable acts.
While villains tend to be the antagonists of their story, it’s not unusual for them to be the protagonists instead.