Thread:Balthus Dire/@comment-24945605-20140712043935/@comment-1969141-20140713120049

Complete Monster is a trope/category hard to handle, because of the difference between the Intended Audience Reaction and the Actual Audience Reaction, not to mention Misaimed Fandom and Draco In Leather Pants tropes, where fans cheer for people who should not. Complete Monsters are the worst of the worst, no redeeming quality, no funny quirk, no justification, nothing.

I might be merely repeating what everyone already knows, but while most villains are intended to induce Evil is Cool and Love to Hate, a Complete Monster is meant to disturb if not outright disgust the audience. One might admire, or at least reckon, Malefor's and Palpatine's intelligence, but if the dominant feeling is unease of outright loathing, this is a clue for Complete Monster.

Another clue would be the body count and the damage done, and most importantly the attitude towards it. Complete Monsters do not cross the Moral Event Horizon, they casually sweep their feet over it ten times a day. See Frieza watching a planet explose along its millions of denizens while cackling like a child before fireworks, while his right-hands (casual crossers of the MEH themselves) look clearly ill at ease/incredulous.

Redeeming qualities would be respect for their followers and acknowledgment of their foes, willingness to spare people... A Complete Monster feigns respect at best and only cares for what use someone is to them, remorselessly discarding anyone who outlived their usefulness. Firelord Ozai for instance has nothing but scorn and hatred for even his family. He encourages his daughter's but makes clear she is but a tool.

Overseer complaint's that without being meant for Complete Monsters, the category Virtuously Vile would only be redundant for Honorable Villains is valid. Yet Complete Monsters cannot be virtouous. It is a matter of scale: Honorable Villains are the lesser evil. I would say that Virtuously Vile is the step below Complete Monster. They are kilometers beyond the MEH, they kill thousands beyond batting an eyelid, yet their genuine respect and enjoyment serves as a (little) redeeming quality. There is a difference between the "virtue" that prevents someone from sinking at the lowest and the full-fledged quality that makes them somehow likable despite their villainy and leaves open a possibility for redemption.