Villain Cliche-o-Meter

Now, as with my fantasy cliche-o-meter, don't take this too seriously. However, while the originality of a fantasy story is more subjective, villains can definitely be cliche. For example, if your villain spends all day sitting on his throne cackling to himself about how he intends to be the evilest guy around, it's pretty obviously overused. Ask anybody.

I designed this quiz mainly to apply to _fantasy_ villains (although I can see how it might apply to sci-fi villains.) So, don't try a villain from a real-life story on here, because the questions generally pertain to the fantasy realm. A last note...villains are supposed to be evil. It's their purpose in a fantasy story. So I omitted some so-called cliches, like "Is your villain evil?" Because those are kind of dumb. So, yeah.

1. What is your age?
Under 18 Years Old
18 to 24 Years Old
25 to 30 Years Old
31 to 40 Years Old
41 to 50 Years Old
51 to 60 Years Old
Over 60 Years Old
2. What is your gender?
Male
Female
3. You knew this was going to be on here. Does your villain cackle/laugh/chuckle/chortle/guffaw evilly?
Yes
No
4. Does your villain wear long robes of black or red (or a dark shade of any other color?)
Yes
No
5. Your villain is motivated by:
Revenge
Insanity
Love (usually for the heroine) or jealousy
Pure evil
Hunger for power
None of those
6. Your villain spends a lot of time on his throne.
Yes
Yes...talking to himself (or a minion or pet) about why he's doing what he does.
No
7. Your villain kills many of his own minions.
Yes
A few...
No
8. His minions are:
Orcs (an Orc by any other name...)
Hooded wraithlike creatures
Flying creatures
A creepy race of evil beings
None of those
None of those, but something else that has been used very often.
9. These minions are...
Dumb
Dumb and bad shots (they never seem to hit anything, although they're said to be well-trained)
Dumb, bad shots, and insanely easy to kill
None of those
10. The villain keeps some sort of dangerous, fearsome beast.
Yes, but he doesn't feed any minions to it.
Yes, and it occasionally snacks on minions.
Yes, and its diet _entirely consists of_ hapless minions
Said creature breaks loose and kills the villain in the end
It eats minions _and_ breaks loose to kill the villain in the end
No, he doesn't have a creature
11. The villain's name means something like "dark" or "death" or "evil" or "devil" in another language.
Yes
No
12. The villain is referred to as "The Dark Lord."
Yes
No
Only once or twice
13. Your villain's name is an adjective.
Yes
No
14. The villain explains his plan to the hero because he assumes that he's about to kill the hero anyway.
Yes
Yes, and someone points this out (that's almost as cliche by now)
No
15. The villain is a grand vizier/high priest/evil advisor to the king.
Yes
No
16. How about an evil emperor?
Yes
No
17. The villain was once apprentice to the hero's mentor. (Like Vader and Obi-Wan.)
Yes
No
18. Does the villain wear a mask?
Yes
No, his face is hidden by his hood/in shadow
No
19. Does he have...
Blazing red eyes/glowing red eyes
Tigerlike yellow eyes
Ice-blue eyes
Snakelike green eyes
None of those
20. Is the villain scarred or disfigured?
Yes
Yes, and he blames it on the heroes
No
21. Does he honestly believe that no one can defeat him?
Yes
Yes, and he actually says something like, "No! That is impossible! No one could possibly defeat me!"
No
22. Does he have a minion to confide his evil plans to?
Yes
Yes, and he strangles it from time to time
No
23. Does he have a goatee?
Yes
No
24. He is...
Unbelievably ugly
Unbelievably handsome
Neither
25. Is he a shapeshifter?
Yes
No
26. Hypnotic eyes?
Yes
Not literally hypnotizing, just mesmerizing and intense
No
27. Plays a giant organ?
Yes
No
28. Does he ever give monologues?
Yes
No
29. Does he torture insects/little animals just for fun/to show his cruelty/just because he feels like it/etc.?
Yes
No
30. Does he create elaborate death traps for heroes (instead of just killing them them and there)?
Yes
Yes, and he does it with a remark like "a quick death is too good for you"
No
31. Is his fortress in a volcanic, dismal land?
Yes
No
32. Does he keep coming back after he's killed?
Yes, once
Yes, more than once
No
33. Meets his death by "deus ex machina?"
Yes
No

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