Villains in movies/books whom use manipulation instead of violence?

[slackerinabox]

i'm bored at work and thinking about free writing/short story writing, and am thinking along the lines of a passive aggressive villain.. maybe to represent my mother in law. hah.issues, i have them... in other words, someone who uses intimidation/manipulation/and their brain to terrorize instead of violence. obvious examples include hannibal lecther, heath ledger's excellent joker, maybe baine but he was kinda goofy and larger than life.

bonus points if it's the guy/girl next door, like robin williams in "one hour photo." Innocuous people who use their twisted minds and trust to mess with people just because they have nothing better to do..

Thanks!

 

[deustroop]

whatever you do don't let anyone else smoke that s**t.

 

[angminas]

Thanos is my favorite character because, while he is immensely powerful, his greatest strength is his intellect. Sometimes he likes to boot some head, but usually he's perfectly happy to win by traps, deception, etc. He also does not care what other people think of him...I remember one panel where a little girl asks her mother not to anger him, and he says something like "Insect! You do not possess the power to anger Thanos!" Take out the assholeness from that and it's actually pretty inspiring.

I really like the issue where he fights Odin.

Spoiler

Thor somehow got both warrior madness and the power gem at the same time, so he's going around busting everyone up. Pip teleports him to Thanos's ship because he knows Thanos can deal with him. After a bit of a scrap, Thanos traps Thor in a block of force and takes him with some allies to Asgard to seek Odin's help. Odin, being Odin, gets all dramatic, and they start fighting. The standard take on this fight is that Odin wins, but you have to look deeper than that. Thanos barely even tries to attack Odin...he mostly just tanks Odin's attacks. He's not trying to defeat Odin...that would turn all of Asgard against him and give him no help with the Thor problem. So he lets Odin slap him around for a while, then refuses to surrender. This impresses Odin, and he chills out and starts helping. As usual, Thanos gets what he wants. If he holds back from harming Odin and doesn't show his true power in the battle, so much the better. Let everyone underestimate him...it only serves him.

Of course, I don't have the same morals as Thanos. I'm more like the Silver Surfer there.

 

[cbrunny]

lex luthor

 

[tynopik]

arlington road

 

[GagHalfrunt]

their brain to terrorize instead of violence. obvious examples include hannibal lecther...!

If you think Lecter is an obvious example of non-violence you obviously have not spent one second reading the books or watching the movies.

Better examples would be Iago from Othello, Svengali, Claudius from Hamlet. Machivelli's The Prince and Conan Doyle's Moriarty rarely used violence themselves, they were puppet masters. And you could use the personification of the Devil in hundreds of stories that lures people into doing themselves in without doing anything violent himself

 

[Kaido]

bonus points if it's the guy/girl next door

Senator Palpatine, from the Star Wars prequels. He never does anything directly, and in fact poses as a friend to the heros who is doing everything in their best interests, when instead he is manipulating everything behind the scenes through alliances, apprentices, and other crafty forms of manipulation. He takes advantage of the situations presented to him by simply nudging them in a direction towards his own agenda, while appearing overly good on the outside (using the Trade Federation circling Naboo, using the clone army, using Anakin's anger towards the Jedi Council, etc.).

 

[Safeway]

Ellen Page as Hayley Stark in Hard Candy.

 

[zinfamous]

Moriarty is the first that came to mind. and ah: gaghlfrunt mentioned Iago, which is probably the primary model for this type of villain.

 

[zinfamous]

Thanos is my favorite character because, while he is immensely powerful, his greatest strength is his intellect. Sometimes he likes to boot some head, but usually he's perfectly happy to win by traps, deception, etc. He also does not care what other people think of him...I remember one panel where a little girl asks her mother not to anger him, and he says something like "Insect! You do not possess the power to anger Thanos!" Take out the assholeness from that and it's actually pretty inspiring.

I really like the issue where he fights Odin.

Spoiler

Thor somehow got both warrior madness and the power gem at the same time, so he's going around busting everyone up. Pip teleports him to Thanos's ship because he knows Thanos can deal with him. After a bit of a scrap, Thanos traps Thor in a block of force and takes him with some allies to Asgard to seek Odin's help. Odin, being Odin, gets all dramatic, and they start fighting. The standard take on this fight is that Odin wins, but you have to look deeper than that. Thanos barely even tries to attack Odin...he mostly just tanks Odin's attacks. He's not trying to defeat Odin...that would turn all of Asgard against him and give him no help with the Thor problem. So he lets Odin slap him around for a while, then refuses to surrender. This impresses Odin, and he chills out and starts helping. As usual, Thanos gets what he wants. If he holds back from harming Odin and doesn't show his true power in the battle, so much the better. Let everyone underestimate him...it only serves him.

Of course, I don't have the same morals as Thanos. I'm more like the Silver Surfer there.

Thanos is the bomb, and he is going to be totally neutered in the movie version because somehow the useless Avengers are going to have to somehow challenge him. ....though Gamorra would always go a few rounds with him, and they do seem to be slowly introducing (some version of) Warlock, so I guess we'll see. Oh yeah Drax too, of course...but these versions of the characters don't seem to have the muscle to be able to deal with a proper Thanos. Either way, this Infinity War storyline will suck balls without Silver Surfer.

 

[EliteRetard]

How about a lesser know choice like Elijah Price?
Mr. Glass

 

[purbeast0]

Jigsaw

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Kira from Death Note probably qualifies, depending on your definition of 'violence'. Since he technically compels events to happen, rather than performing the action himself. I would argue that writing in a book is no more 'active' than say, convincing someone to perform the action for you.

 

[blankslate]

Keyser Soze from the Usual Suspects

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Keyser Soze from the Usual Suspects

No. Keyser/Kint is brutally violent.

In addition to the aforementioned Iago, Moriarty, The Prince, Svengali who manipulate and keep their hands mostly clean I'd also nominate about a dozen great femme fatale characters like Bridget (Linda Fiorentino) in The Last Seduction, Lynn (Kim Basinger) in L.A. Confidential, Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Geller) in Cruel Intentions, Ava Gardner in The Killers, Rebecca Romijn's character in Femme Fatale, Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini) in Blue Velvet, Rita Hayworth in Gilda, Laura (forgot who played her) in Brick (seriously watch that movie if you have not seen it) , Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft) in The Graduate, Kim Novak in Vertigo, Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair, the Marquise whatever her name was played by Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons and many others.

 

[MrSquished]

Moriarty is the first that came to mind. and ah: gaghlfrunt mentioned Iago, which is probably the primary model for this type of villain.

I was thinking Moriarty as I read the OP. But also the next multi-media news magnate in Season 3 of Sherlock. He was classic manipulation only.

 

[angminas]

Thanos is the bomb, and he is going to be totally neutered in the movie version because somehow the useless Avengers are going to have to somehow challenge him. ....though Gamorra would always go a few rounds with him, and they do seem to be slowly introducing (some version of) Warlock, so I guess we'll see. Oh yeah Drax too, of course...but these versions of the characters don't seem to have the muscle to be able to deal with a proper Thanos. Either way, this Infinity War storyline will suck balls without Silver Surfer.

It's going to be like Faramir all over again. I don't know if I even want to watch a movie with Thanos in it. It's going to be like, you're the one person of all your friends who likes chocolate, and then one of them tries a stale Tootsie Roll and tells everyone how overrated it is.

 

[Kaido]

Better examples would be Iago from Othello

Glad you specified, modern media has brainwashed me

 

[adairusmc]

Littlefinger

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Littlefinger

Pushed Lysa out the moon door in the Aerie. That's why I didn't use him already, killing unarmed women is violence, not manipulation. Varys too, wanted to use him, but he's killed by his own hands.

 

[slackerinabox]

Thanks guys for all suggestions - fantastic! By the way, I know Lecter's capable of great violence but his primary game, at least to how I read him, was of manipulator/domino pusher. Especially in the Silence of the Lambs as played by Hopkins

 

[purbeast0]

Damn, Little Finger is a great one.

 

[HomerJS]

Chicks from Cruel Intentions

 

[Sonikku]

Littlefinger

Tells you he's a liar.

You believe his lies anyway.