After watching the first season of Avatar: the Last Airbender and completely falling in league with league with Admiral Zhao, I am confronted with the question. Why are Imperialist Villains so appealing to me?
For those who know me, I’m a pretty passive guy. I have come along way from being the arrogant and dictatorial person of the past, and hope that I’m generally the passive fun loving guy I strive to be. As apart of that, I have found myself drifting away from some characters that I really enjoyed and related to. Key point is Scar from Lion King. While I’m still a Scar uberfan, I no longer fawn over him. He’s also a Monarchist, which I’m not a big fan of. In fact any big sweeping, all encompassing ‘Empire’ I am personally not a fan of. I am very individualistic and would chafe at a system that tried to bind me down and brainwash me. Hell if you know me well enough you know I’m still affected by the brainwashing that occurred to me while at Disney. So with all that said, why am I a fan boy of hyper Imperialist Villains? I’m positively giddy any time I see reference to Grand Moff Tarkin, yet ideologically I am very far from being someone who’d support the Empire, and yet I do in every Star Wars media. Same goes with Avatar the Last Airbender. Having recently watched it for the first time in almost 15 years, and I fell inline with Admiral Zhao immediately, even though I personally relate with Iroh more as a character, especially on Imperialist Ideology. So why is this? Why am I always rooting for the Evil Empire? I thought I’d evaluate several villains and see if it’s their strength of character I’m buying into or whether I legit find good points in their philosophies. This is a MILLION times personal opinions. I’m curious upon evaluating characters and their deeds, if I can’t at least understand more about me as a person.
So I’m a little late to this party, I admit. I watched season one entirely when it was airing originally and have not really attempted to watch it since then. With the hype over the Avatar Legends RPG, I decided to dive back in and I’m waste deep in season 2. Admiral Zhao is easily my favorite character in season one. He not only antagonized the main cast, but served as a foil to Zuko and Iroh as well, helping to narratively flesh out the two sides of the Fire Nation cast. Despite this, Zhao is the character I rooted for. I cheered is actions? Why is this? Let’s look at his track record.
Antagonized Iroh for his failures in war, despite Zhao not having much in the way of successes until the mid part of season 1. He successfully captures the Avatar, only for the Blue Spirit to break in and free him. Acts above all other Fire Nation people, including his equals. Finally the Coup Degras, he attempts to assassinate Zuko and Iroh as well as plunge the entire world into spiritual Chaos by destroying the natural balance of things. So why do I like him? One, I apparently like smug as villains. As you’ll see on this list, arrogance is a trait that is high up on most characters. I feel this goes back to my earlier youth, where I was sadly quite arrogant and conniving. This ties in with my other point, I spent years thinking double dealing and conniving were the best way to get ahead. So far, things make sense. Yet, towards the finale of the series, I’m not having it with Zhao. First he puts the overall Fire Nation at risk by pursuing his own blind ambitions. Not that I care much about the Fire Nation, they are monsters and are portrayed as such and I am never really on board with them at all. So lets recap, has traits I used to admire and aspire to be like, but follows his blind ambitions over helping others, even his own evil empire. So this category goes into, my past personality, with a big heaping of Jason Isaacs. Lets try something harder next.
Is there a bigger topic for me to discuss that Gul Dukat and the Cardassian’s? I don’t think so. I admire the Cardassian Empire quite a bit and am always delighted when they are on screen. My goal is to even cosplay as one for my Birthday. Lets break down The Cardassian’s and Dukat. The Cardassian’s are a sentient race in the Alpha Quadrant. Eventually they discovered Bajor, a planet of a religiously and culturally vibrant alien race with only peace on the mind. The Cardassian’s immediately enslaved the populace and subjected them to force labor camps. This brutal occupation destroyed the population and the cultural and religious identity of the Bajoran people. Dukat served as Prefect of the occupation, basically the head of the occupation and all concentration camps held there. In case this is raising any red flags, the Cardassian’s are a not subtle analogy to the Nazi regime. The Bajorans are stand in for the Jewish people slaughtered during the Holocaust. If you are wondering why this is so heavy, you need to go watch Deep Space 9. So why do I like Dukat? Simple, the series plays with our emotions of him. He gets entire arcs where he is working on redeeming himself towards the eyes of the audience. You legit root for him, and hopes he gets better. He even fights long side the main cast on several occasions. But at the heart, Dukat is a monster. He has done such horrible things, that he really can’t nor shouldn’t be redeemed. And that’s the neat thing. He isn’t, just as redemption seems inevitable the writers strip it away from him and plunge him into full moustache twirling villain. This is precisely why I like Gul Dukat, he’s evil. Deliciously so. This is why I like Dukat. My reasons for loving Garak as much as I do are more complicated, and that would require another article entirely. So score one for good character writing.
Not sure if Voldemort counts as an Imperialist per-see, but he’s undoubtedly Facist. Along with his Death Eaters, he want’s complete control of the Magical world, by killing all Muggles. Welp now that I right that out, sounds pretty Imperialistic. Having finished these films about a month ago, any love I had for Voldemort has evaporated. He’s a monster and utterly unredeemable. He’s performed very excellent by the ever talented Ralph Fiennes, but that’s the best he has going for him. Jason Isaacs’ Lucious Malfoy on the other hand is a character I grew quite fond of. I’ll score this one just blind ignorance.
CLU is another villain I adore, and yet. He’s monstrous. He betrays his creator, commits genocide on the ISO’s. Then he turns the Grid into a facist police state, with everything answering to him. ‘Defective Programs’ those he deems unfit are brainwashed and turns into soldiers for his upcoming invasion of the human world. He does this because he believes it is what Flynn intended to do all along. CLU isn’t evil, he’s the opposite. He’s us, if we stunted our growth. He’s flawed but cannot see it. He lacks the ability to learn, to develop, and gain emotional maturity. Lets add this one up to the very well written character department. Two left to go, and are they a doozy.
Grand Moff Tarkin, one of the top three figures in the Evil Galactic Empire. He is responsible for the destruction of Alderaan and more. He’s my favorite Star Wars character. He’s pragmatic, ruthless, smart, cunning, and just everything I want in a villain. Because of him, I root for the Empire every time. I watch Rogue One SOOOO much and he is a huge reason why. A big part of this is because I don’t like the Jedi. They are dogmatic and I just find space Druids boring. Especially their laser sticks. Yet in a world with the Force and magic sticks, this one man is able to use his own abilities to rise above greater beings and work alongside the Emperor in ‘restoring peace’ the the Galaxy. I don’t want to lose you yet, Tarkin is a product of how he was raised. His home world of Eriadu is a nightmare jungle full of things large and small that wan’t to kill you. As a right of passage all young men must survive this harsh environment for a few years. Obviously he does. He rises through the ranks of the Republic Navy during the Clone Wars, and has reservations about the Jedi. Mostly because they keep popping in and overriding his command. It would be easy to see why someone such as he begins to look down on these magnificent Space Druids. They are too arrogant to see things his way, after all he’s a normal man. He eventually sides with the Emperor and is put in charge of bringing a large part of the galaxy to heel, he also eventually coordinates with other regional Moff’s to ensure stability across the Empire. It is this massive organizational ability and innate leadership that make him so capable, and threatening. He even can command the Inquisitors, and eventually holds Darth Vader’s leash. Tarkin is too good of a character, and would have made the task of destroying the Empire very great if he had not suffered a last minute transporter accident and transported to the Star Trek Universe moments before the Death Star exploded. That’s a very long winded fan rant on Tarkin. He’s bad, but only because of his allegiances. If the Rebels had done what he did to Coruscant, we wouldn’t be talking about it. Tarkin is a man pushed to do what he does because the very fabric of the universe things he’s less because he can’t move an object or tell people they are wrong with magic. I can’t quite add this up to good writing. He is indeed very well written and portrayed, but I feel like this villain is underserved by the Light Side not having many gray areas. And maybe this is the character I need to re-evaluate the most.
Scar was born into an archaic and monarchical system and as the younger and less powerful of the strength based family, he is passed up despite the smartest choice to run the Pride. His family has also heavily segregated the Pride Lands, pushing the Hyenas to undesirable lands with little food. Scar then ousts his outdated brother, takes control of the Pride and then de-segregates the Pride Lands and unites Hyena’s and Lions together. He even spares Simba, and lets him hang out with some fun animals elsewhere. When we finally get back to the Pride Lands, they are living through the dry season. This is a natural part of the African Savannah and should be viewed as such, not as whatever symbolism you pass it off as. If they literally had waited a day, everything would have gone back to normal. Scar new this, the other dumb lions in the Pride just couldn’t understand it. That’s it. Just normal nature. No bias, just facts.
Thanks to my friend David who asked me this question. I am 90 percent sure this is a huge rant about my favorite villains, but I hope that this at least spark discussion with some people. Lets chat!
Ravingnerd 