Most Sympathetic Villains

[Dominicboo1]

So guys what villains do you find the most sympathetic? Here are mine
Gollum (Lord of the Rings):Wasn't evil before the ring corrupted him.
Theodora(Oz the Great and Powerful) Again the real villain was to blame here.
Animatronics(Five Nights at Freddy's): They do try to protect kids, and had such a tragic backstory they couldn't help being misanthropes
Nicky Holiday(Great Muppet Caper)He's a villain pure and simple.
Lotso(Toy Story 3)Anybody who saw the movie.....that backstory's enough. Complete Monster or not.

 

[minor muppetz]

Do Wile E. Coyote, Sylvester, or Elmer Fudd count as villains? Though Sylvester and Elmer aren't always sympathetic, but often are.

 

[Drtooth]

I dunno. That's more of a villain vs. antagonist role. A villain is always evil, but an antagonist can be either, depending on who the protagonist is. I don't so much see Wile E. as a villain, and frankly, I'm far more sympathetic to him than the Road Runner who's either completely obvious or sneakily sadistic depending on the cartoon. Elmer's not a bad guy, but he's an antagonist to Bugs being a hunter and all. Sylvester, same deal but he's a little more devious. Yosemite Sam is no doubt a villain.

I'd say the good old Doronbo Gang from Yatterman. Aside from the fact the heroes are kinda bland and everyone who watches this show agrees that the villains are the true stars (to the fact that the Time Bokan series just reuses the same villains where only the names and slight design aspects are changed), they go through some genuine misery trying to win one over on the heroes... only for their boss, Dokurobe to sadistically punish them at the end of every episode...even if they actually win! Of course, this is an example no one really knows about but he here, I've got a much better well known one.

Good ol' Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Here's a villain who's every driving force is based on some childhood drama. His parents outright hated him and loved the heck out of his brother who grew up well adjusted. To give you a clue on how bad it was, Doof's mother told him the tale of a Krampus style character to scare him and keep him in line, only to tell the brother of the character as a benevolent, children loving, Santa type figure. And it doesn't stop there. While most of his plan are genuinely evil, OWCA is constantly trolling him, even if he's doing something completely innocent. Even Perry gets exasperated, and you can tell just by his subtle animated body language he almost feels sorry for the guy on occasion (granted that he's not doing something actually terrible). And above all, he loves his daughter and is very protective of her, even telling a gawker that "She's only 16!"

 

[snichols1973]

I dunno. That's more of a villain vs. antagonist role. A villain is always evil, but an antagonist can be either, depending on who the protagonist is. I don't so much see Wile E. as a villain, and frankly, I'm far more sympathetic to him than the Road Runner who's either completely obvious or sneakily sadistic depending on the cartoon. Elmer's not a bad guy, but he's an antagonist to Bugs being a hunter and all. Sylvester, same deal but he's a little more devious. Yosemite Sam is no doubt a villain.

Two cartoons tend to portray a less-antagonistic Yosemite Sam: From Hare to Heir features Bugs Bunny as the one who grants 1 million pounds to Sam (Duke of Yosemite) with the condition that every time Sam loses his temper, a fine will be deducted from the 1 million (300 pounds, which is subsequently increased to 400 pounds per outburst). During his extended stay, Bugs's presence tends to frustrate Sam with each passing moment, and by the time Sam finally gets his temper under control, Bugs remarks "I haven't got the heart to tell him he's used up all the money" as the cartoon ends.

In "Honey's Money", Sam marries a wealthy widow, only to be turned into a henpecked husband who now has to spend quality time with he son Wentworth, which involves giving horseback rides to Wentworth, tossing a ball into the street (which Sam has to retrieve himself), and putting alligators into a swimming pool, only to have them land on Sam after they get splashed out of the pool, among other things. Even though he considers leaving home, he ultimately relents and goes back home, thinking that all the money actually is worth all that trouble.

We also see different aspects of Daffy: the zany screwball of the 1940's and early 1950's, as contrasted to the later years, when his darker side was featured more often as the years went by, especially when playing second fiddle to Bugs Bunny, or as Speedy Gonzales's secondary foe from 1965-68.

Still other cartoons tend to portray him as a thorn in the side of other characters, such as Porky Pig (Yankee Doodle Daffy, My Favorite Duck, The Ducksters, The Prize Pest, Thumb Fun, Fool Coverage, Dime to Retire, et al.) and Elmer Fudd (To Duck or Not to Duck, A Pest in the House, Rabbit Fire, Rabbit Seasoning, Duck! Rabbit, Duck!, Don't Axe Me, et al.), and then there are a handful of cartoons in which Daffy is a henpecked husband with marital problems such as His Bitter Half, which is similar to Honey's Money with a few major differences: Daffy's Wentworth is an impish, mischievous brat (in comparison to Sam's Wentworth, who is more innocent and naive), trouble at the carnival shooting gallery, and at the end, Daffy packs up and leaves without his feathers and money.

Other "henpecked Daffy" features include Quackodile Tears, where Daffy's wife makes him sit on the eggs in spite of a mix-up involving a misplaced alligator egg, and The Henpecked Duck, which involves Daffy practicing a magic trick with a disappearing egg that doesn't reappear until the end when Daffy asks Judge Porky for one last chance.