“ | First we live. Then we die. In between is just blood and noise. | „ |
~ Omega Red |
“ | You think God survived? He's dead, along with the rest of humanity. There's no law or order, no good or evil. Just us. | „ |
~ Corporal Gallo |
Pure Evils who believe that all life is meaningless, their own included. Nihilists do not believe in objective morality and all rules/codes they follow, if any are superficial or due to practical reasons. They usually do not have specific long–term goals or purposes, and will sink to all levels of depravity to further their arbitrary objectives. Nihilists are often Suicidal; they can also overlap with Social Darwinists and Harbingers for Rebirth as well through shared beliefs in a purpose of bringing about the "end of times" and leaving others or themselves to pick up the pieces left behind by the mess they've created.
It is important to know, that while they are less rare than Pure Good Nihilists, most Nihilistic villains are not Purely Evil, since most of them are portrayed as sympathetic villains, but these types of Nihilists are the worst of the worst since they have no redeeming qualities.
Most versions of the Joker, Kefka Palazzo, Isaac Ray Peram Westcott, Carnage, Victor Zsasz, John Doe, Micah Bell, Solomon Lane, Owlman, Invictus, The Lich, The End, Null, Reclusa, AM, Jim Moriarty, Patrick Bateman, Omega Red (Marvel), Otis Skinner, Tom Cooper, Norman Stansfield, Junko Enoshima, Scarlet King and Michael Myers are all prime examples.
NOTES[]
- Villains who show nihilistic traits and worldviews but still overvalue their own lives (e.g. The Ink Demon, Randall Flagg, Peter Stegman, The Outsider, Lotso, Ego, Cell, Muzan Kibutsuji, Morgoth, Bill Cipher, Mahito, Freddy Krueger, Chucky, Art The Clown, Dimentio, Sal, Dr. Robotnik (SatAM), Skynet, and The Dark Lord) do not count. The correct term for them is Absurdists and those should instead be listed under these categories;
- Cowards if they at first showed nihilistic behaviors, and then ran away during the climax.
- Hypocrites if they say life is worthless and meaningless, and then ran away from danger.
- Egotists when they complain how valueless life is, but mostly because they have bad lives of their own that they chose not to fix.
- They can be egotistical nihilists who believe life isn't worth living, but its only because their life is worthless first. If they show that in later times, they do not count as nihilists.
- Misanthropes who show nihilistic qualities, but only do so because they harbor hatred for humans or their species of origin.
- Villains also do not count if they only show gleefulness during their death and/or are defiant to the end (e.g. Pong Krell). A villain MUST express through their words, actions, writings (if any), or flashbacks (if it's visual) to show that they are a nihilist and don't value any life at all, including their own in order to count as a nihilist. They can also qualify if they developed it in their lives (e.g. Kefka Palazzo, given how he did run away at times and was also shocked to see his own blood but subverted it after the world was shifted). By the same reason, do not add villains who were nihilistic once, but averted this quality later (e.g. Mephiles the Dark who didn't care about his life until he experienced non-existence).
- There are some nihilists who overlap with Thrill-Seekers because they believe that if life is meaningless, they might as well just have fun (e.g. William Wharton).
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Judge Holden -
Ai Magase -
AM -
Thragg -
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The Smile Entity -
Absolute Solver -
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