If you want to write a story, or anything art related (which includes story writing) is looking at the masters.

Coming up with a good villain for your stories can sometimes be essential and also to do it right. Even when the villain only plays a minor role and is only there in order to make the hero shine even more you cannot get away with an "I am good and you are evil" concept just for the heck of it.

Now before Disney fell to the dark side and became a company that has little (read: almost nothing at all) to do with what the great pioneer Walt Disney once set up, when you take a look at their past classics there are many good villains who can be good examples to base your own villains on. And yes, the Disney studios have come up with quite a large variety of villains. Now I'll only include my personal favorites and only of movies I've actually seen (I haven't yet seen ALL Disney classics).

I will list them in random order, but save some of my real favorites for last.

Professor Ratigan

(Basil, the great mouse detective)

Ratigan is a wonderful villain for many reasons. One of them due to the brilliant voice acting by Vincent Prince (who is unfortunately no longer among us). Ratigan has a very sarcastic personality and takes pride in his accomplishments as a criminal, even deeming praised as "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind". Now his abusive way of treating his subjects, most of all the bat, Fidget, makes him funny in a rather morbid way. "Bright and alert as always!" That line when he wakes up Fidget was worth a million. For a villain who appears evil for the sake of being evil, he comes out very well, due to his sarcastic personality, Don't underestimate him though, as he shows himself many times many times as a very clever man, and he manages to outsmart Basil all the time, and it's merely bad luck that Basil can deduce very tiny finesses of science that even the best scientist couldn't come up with, so you cannot blame Ratigan for that. The fact that he'll feed his own subjects to his pet cat Felicia simply for calling him "rat" shows his psychopathic features very well, and may also explain why he can be evil for the sake of being evil in a credible way.

Ursula

(The Little Mermaid)

There are several villains who are specialized in making bargains, and Ursula is merely one of them, but she is one who really knows how to do it. She runs it like a business and although you can see straight away she's manipulating you, her bargains seem too good to be rejected. Her entire presentation makes you shiver and yet she manages to talk into you. Now the story made it clear that she wants revenge for King Triton for banishing her, and although it's clear it must be because she was rather bad before (the first lines of her song "Poor Unfortunate Souls" even made it clear). She has a very sinister and dark personality and the way she speaks of "body language" does show she has a good sense of humor.

Bill Sykes

(Oliver & Company)

Bill Sykes is just a criminal without any morals and a very dangerous man in general. His sarcastic and most of all sadistic attitude, and the fact that he's rarely stepping into the light sets the mood to a very dark level. He is extremely business like and no man to toy around with. He seems very well connected and knows everyone in New York City who is either important or otherwise rich. His jokes are very extremely dark, most of all evidenced when he makes it clear to Jenny his dogs will only eat her when he commands them to. The smile he sets up when he says "Fagin! This is your last chance" is downright creepy and horrifying.

Sykes is often noted as the first Disney villain ever to carry a firearm. His dark persona comes out even more when you hear him on the phone about whether or not to kill somebody, and that his whole argumentation on the matter is very cold and business like.

The sadistic attitude of his two dobermans make his own presentation even darker.

The Witches of Morva

(The Black Cauldron)

These three witches are a bit out of place, since they are neither good nor evil, and also not the movie's main antagonists. Yet they are a bit on the not so pleasant side for Taran and his friends, as the movie did do very bad these three are pretty much underrated, as they might well be among the best characters to ever appear in Disney history.

The three witches seem to bear much resemblance with the three witches of McBeth. Just like their McBeth counterparts, they are three but actually act plotwise as one person. Just as their counterparts they are neither good nor evil. And just like their counterparts they are the reason for a lot of trouble for the main protagonist, but they are not to blame for that themselves, but the stupidity of the protagonist himself is what caused the trouble. And that is why these witches are so genius.

They are merely the guardians of the Black Cauldron. An artifact of evil. They do however only give information you asked for, and this is the trap Taran falls for. They trade the cauldron for Taran's magic sword, however that magic sword was one of the few things that could destroy the cauldron, and now Taran has a cauldron that is useless to him, and worse, the bargain enabled the Horned King, the last person who should get his hands on such a thing, to obtain it. One piece of information they do reveal is that the cauldron will lose its power if a living being jumps into the cauldron of their own free will, however by doing so they do automatically kill themselves in the process.

When Gurgy jumps into the cauldron Taran realizes even more what he truly is and what is really important in life. This shown when he requests the witches when they want to trade back the cauldron to give Gurgi back to him. The fact they take offense when Fflewdor Fflam challenges them and meet their end of the bargain so that they do have a sense of pride.

In a certain way the witch in "Brave" has a similar role. She gives Merrida what she asks for, yet Merrida was too eager to changer her mother to bother about the consequences, which was her own error and not that of the witch.

Hades

(Hercules)

Now Hades is a bit controversial as a villain, as he's based on a mythical character who was in mythology not a villain. His looks do not even match his mythical counterpart. Of course, the protagonist was named by his Roman name Hercules, as his Greek name was Herakles. And well, Hera was not really caring about Herakles either (in fact, she loathed him) and so the movie has in other words, pretty little with the myth in common.

Yet, as a Disney villain he is a very outstanding villain. He has a very sarcastic and manipulative nature, yet has has a short fuse always having a tantrum causing his fire hair to light bright red all over (which is scientifically bullshit, as blue fire is of higher temperature than red fire). The scene in which his cigar burns up entirely in less than a second due to his fury is yet worth a million.

As a villain Hades is therefore rather successful due to his comedy factor.

Now like Ursula and the witches of Morva, Hades is a villain who strikes bargains. What should be noted is that Hades is very extremely honest about his bargains and keeps his end in all bargains made, and due to Meg eventually sacrificing herself causing Hercules to regain his power, as per terms of the bargain Hades had with him (as nothing was allowed to happen to Meg or his power would return) this quality will eventually be his undoing. (Although he does not die, since he's a god, but still this was the reason for this defeat). Now both Ursula and the Witches of Morva did also both keep all their ends of the bargain they had with the main protagonists (Ariel and Taran respectively) but on neither of them did it backfire like that, making Hades quite unique.

Mother Gothel

(Tangled)

Mother Gothel is a kind of villain who works out because she is not really in it for riches or power, but merely a sickening obsession for eternal youth and fear to die. She's merely selfish but initially not a bad person, but only succumbed to true evil when really desperate.

She owes her eternal youth to a magic flower she hides from others. However when the flower is discovered and used to save the queen, she's desperate, however when she sees the power of the flower transferred itself into the hair of the queen's unborn child she fosters a ray of hope. Once the child is born she is first willing to let the child be and merely cut off a hair hoping this would save her. When she immediately discovered that cutting the hair would make it lose its power made her decide to kidnap the infant by lack of other options.

Now although it's clear she doesn't really love Rapunzel at all, clearly shown by the lack of interest in everything Rapunzel does (which would have been better for her if she did), she does treat Rapunzel well, even though it's only for her own benefit.

It's only because Rapunzel still leaves the tower, that Gothel really begins to walk the path of evil, but once again out of desperation. Losing Rapunzel means losing her source for keeping herself young forever after all. Now desperation brings up the worst in people as evidenced when she puts up Eugene's former comrades against him, and betraying them once she no longer needed them, mercilessly breaking Rapunzel's confidence in the process.

"So you want me to be the bad guy, eh? Fine, now I'm the bad guy!" -- This line, which is among one of my favorite villain lines, does show her selfishness and desperation, and is actually more honest than you think. She didn't want to walk the path of evil, but her desperation to keep control of Rapunzel solely for her magic hair made her into a very dangerous woman. But to be honest, she's just pathetic.

Gaston

(The Beauty and the Beast)

Gaston is the guy we love to hate, and that's why he worked so well as a villain. Now Gaston is a rather unique villain, as he's actually more in the role of Belle's equal, rather than her superior. Although he is at first merely the town's idiot with an overinflated ego, and totally not showing off with the stuff you normally see in the movie's antagonist, like an evil plot or a criminal background or anything like that. Yet, he's not the kind of two faced enemy who pretended to be good (like Bellwether in Zootopia). He's nothing more but a dumb fool, however one who gets his chance to show off at the wrong moment.

He's the kind of guy who respects nobody but himself, which is also shown in how he treats his sidekick Le Fou. When it comes to his relation with Belle, it's clear he's not interested in her at all. It's because Belle is downright beautiful, but yet due to her nerdy personality rather strange, and not falling for Gaston's "charmes" like the town's bimbos... I mean, other women do, and as such she appears to be the most difficult to charm woman, and thus she's merely a trophy for him to obtain.

However as Belle manages to outsmart him all the time humiliating him publicly in the process he gets depressed and frustrated. Yet, when he finds out Belle is in love with a beast he simply can't let it happen that his trophy would be taken away by a beast and as such he manages to set up the entire town up against the beast, and it's only at that moment he really shows himself as a true antagonist signing his own death warrant in the process.

In this sense Gaston and Mother Gothel share a few characteristics. Both want to obtain a girl for a close relationship, in Gothel's case a mother-daughter relationship and in Gaston's case a husband-wife relationship, while totally not caring about the person they want the relationship with, at all. Rapunzel merely being important due to her magic hair, and Belle just being a trophy to win. Both girls slip through their fingers, making them desperate bringing up the worst in them, while they are not essentially truly evil. Both are merely unable to accept their own situation the way it is. Gothel was afraid to die, and Gaston for humiliation and losing his reputation as "the man" of the town.

Yzma

(The Emperor's New Groove)

Yzma is just an idiot who appears to be victim of all her own evil schemes and also being cursed with a helper who doesn't appear to be the brightest. Yzma is therefore in this list merely for being funny. Of course, the question is why did it work so well, as we've seen countless villains like her in many works. That is always the question, as you never know what jokes will work out as very funny and which ones will not. Of course the "wrong lever" joke became pretty iconic. Of course, since the protagonist she fights against is also a downright idiot with an overinflated ego, it's clear that the movie as a whole doesn't need to be taken seriously, and that makes an idiotic villain also more able to shine. The fact that she's downright ugly only contributes to how well she worked out as a villain. Whether you like her or not is, I guess just a matter of taste about humor. I liked her, and let's keep it at that.

---- But now for my top 3 ----

Number 3. Shan Yu

(Mulan)

Shan Yu is set up for the recipe that normally brings low quality villains. Fa Mulan simply needed an enemy to give her a reason to dress up like a man risking capital punishment in the process. The movie focuses most of all on her development as a soldier and her resourcefulness in overcoming the mortal dangers in her path, which is actually also the core point of the original legend of Hua Mulan on which the movie is loosely based, and in which Shan Yu was not even the enemy (the Huns of which Shan Yu is the leader didn't even exist back in the time the legend takes place in).

And yet Shan Yu made it into my personal top three, which is, especially for a villain whose role is not the most important role of the story, quite an achievement.

Shan Yu works out so well due to his extremely sinister personality. He's confident, and although you'd take him for an arrogant man, it turns out he's not that arrogant as he lives up to his confidence very well. His sarcasm and extremely dark humor which makes you as a viewer both laugh and shiver in fear is the combination why he works out as a villain so perfectly.

His confidence shows when he allows all the alarm beacons on the Chinese Wall to be lit, and even deeming it "perfect" that all of China is aware of his presence. He's also a ruthless killer, but just killing alone is not what makes his evil work out. It's just the way he presents the murders to the viewer, like when two Chinese soldiers run away in order to notify the emperor his instruction to kill one of them being "How many men does it take to deliver a message?" The archer performing the kill answering with "one" with the same sadistic smile and tone also shows that the harmony between him and his soldiers is very well working. My favorite quote from a villain in all Disney works also comes from him, and the dark humor which he does not say what he plans to do but that all his men, and the viewer know immediately what he's planning to do comes from him: "And besides... the little girl would be missing her doll. We should return it to her." The doll later being found by Mulan in a town where everyone is slaughtered makes the quote only more sinister.

Yet, and there is one quality Shan Yu has, which most of the "good guys" in the movie do not have, as that he's not misogynist. He does neither belittle nor underestimate Mulan because she's a woman. When he recognizes her as the one who killed most of his army under an avalanche he actually accepts her as the biggest threat he's facing not to mention that he's very angry with her. Although he still tries to taunt her (which he's done with all his enemies so far, so Mulan's gender didn't play a role in that one) you can see that he's by far more desperate when facing Mulan in the final confrontation, showing that he does actually fear her, and that he couldn't care less about her gender. Now in pure historical context (aside from the fact that Mulan's stunt did show how dangerous she can be, you gotta give her that) it is only fitting for Shan Yu not to underestimate women, as the Huns, and the other people who lived over thousands of years ago in the areas that are now Mongolia, did allow woman to fight in their armies and I've been told that the worst of war crimes are even accredited to their female warriors. As such one could even assume that Mulan's gender could even have contributed to Shan Yu accepting her as a true treat, and not being surprised by her gender when he recognizes her as "the soldier on the mountain".

Not to mention that his sadistic smirk is iconic.

Number 2. Scar

(The Lion King)

Scar is really a nasty piece of work. Now Scar's motivations are merely pathetic. He is simply jealous with his brother Mufasa, for Mufasa is king and revered for his wisdom, while Scare is merely in a spot unnoticed. Now according to him Mufasa brought him to that spot and so on, but the question is what is true about that.

Now what makes Scar work as a villain is that he was actually successful in all his set objectives... except maybe one, and that would eventually be his undoing. He successfully committed a well-planned coldblooded murder on his brother Mufasa, and his words "LONG LIVE..... THE KING!" are said with much of darkness, and sadism. With that he also successfully gets his position as king. He only failed to kill Mufasa's son Simba, and that would prove to be his undoing, but before Simba would challenge him, defeat him and take his place as the rightful king, he had been king for many years. It's a rarity for villains to be successful, especially when they meet their demise nonetheless.

Of course, his song "Be Prepared" really hit home, as the song is dark and evil, and shows a lot of arrogance. Not to mention that the melody of the song is a rather complex one, and yet one you can still remember without too much effort.

Now Scar is mistakenly compared a lot with Hitler, due to hyenas walking in a way for Scar like the German soldiers did for Hitler during the Nazi regime, and Disney even confirmed Nazi-Germany was their source of inspiration for that. Claude Frollo however fits the role much better as Hitler did believe he did what the world needed, and had a racist attitude about that. Scar had none of that. He was merely out for power, fame and respect. So his motivations are rather cliché, but it's the total workout about his sinister presentation, and the fact that his evil plans actually all worked and gave him that what he desired, sets him apart from many other villains.

Number 1. Claude Frollo

(The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Claude Frollo is known as the darkest villain Disney ever created, and also one with the most complex and mature background. He outranks all other villains by far plotwise, but is also misinterpreted by many. Now Frollo is, of course, based on the same named villain from the same named novel. In the novel he was actually a very sweet and caring man until the moment Esmeralda enters the story and due to her he falls to the dark side, while in the Disney movie he's evil from the start. I'll judge him by the latter presentation.

What makes Frollo pretty unique as that he actually sees himself as a righteous man. While other villains are pretty well aware of what they are doing is wrong and are not caring about it at all, or even taking pride in being evil, Frollo keeps insisting he's doing the right thing. Now his views on "gypsies" are very racist, but in line with the general consensus of his time, as terrible as that may be (people are pretty stupid in general, you know).

Now he raises Quasimodo merely because he had to, and totally not showing any love nor affection to him at all, the dark side in him rises most of all when he falls in love with Esmeralda. Now falling in love with a woman is never an evil thing, as it's nothing more but the will of nature, and even though she's young enough to be his own daughter doesn't change that. Where it goes wrong is the fact that she's a "gypsy" and therefore he considers the fact he's falling in love with her as the result of dark magic that makes a righteous man lust for her and driving himself to sin. All this because of his racist views being in the way for seeing her what she really is... A woman, and nothing more but a woman. Now eradicating all "gypsies" was his goal anyway, but thanks to his feelings for Esmeralda and out of fear to fall to sin, he becomes obsessed with her and as he cannot decide to love or to hate her and also being unable to set her out of his mind, he gets sexually frustrated causing him to perform the most horrible crimes, yet hiding himself behind God. Even to the point of blaming God for them: "It's not my fault. If in God's plan! He made the devil so much stronger than the man!" If you think about it, whether or not you are religious, you have to admit that excuse is merely pathetic. However his attempts to lay his blame of to God, does show that deep down he knows he's wrong. This is also evidenced by the last three lines of his song "Hellfire"... "God have mercy on her... God have mercy on me... But she'll be mine or she will burn". Why ask God for mercy on you when you did nothing wrong all along, eh?

His demise however is all the more iconic, as he once again reverts to religion, and it seems God punishes him for that immediately, and even by using his own last words against him also: "And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit"... Well that most of all summarizes what happens to Frollo next.

Now one question that forms a red line in the movie, uttered by Clopin, in comparing Frollo and Quasimodo is the question who is the monster and who is the man. In a certain sense the same question can be asked about Gaston and the beast.

Frollo is also often compared with Mother Gothel as both did keep a child hidden in a tower. Both forbade the child to leave. Both told the child the world outside is cruel. Both children did leave the tower only to return in disillusion, only to deduct later that their own "protectors" where the bad guys all along. The Disney studios even admitted this and regarded this as a rather painful thing. Of course, both villains acted in desperation. Gothel was desperate in her fear to die. Frollo was desperate for falling in love with a woman with whom a relationship appears impossible and his inability to deal with his feelings as a man. Frollo also has a much darker more complex and more mature attitude, where Gothel is actually rather childish and immature, and often tries to be funny but fails. Frollo never tries to be funny and when he actually cracks a joke it won't make people laugh, but actually only get the chills, and Frollo's jokes are actually intended to have that effect.