Board Thread:Clean up Concerns/@comment-29644557-20170910233018/@comment-1705775-20170913205243

also the whole debate with animals isn't even antagonist versus villain - it is sapient versus non-sapience.

alot of people see animals as evil when they commit certain acts, for example when a dog attacks someone or a shark attacks.. usually this happens because a human has done something stupid or the animal has been weakened.. there are rare examples of "rogue" animals, sure, but by in large most animals aren't "evil".

if the animal is in a work where animals are shown to have human-level intelligence or beyond then they are suitable to be judged as any other villain.. below human level intellect we should look at how big a threat they are in the setting and if they are portrayed as monstrous rather than simply what you'd expect an animal to be.

a tiger in a gladiator match is not a villain, even when it tries to kill a hero, the villain is the Emperor - however if the tiger is depicted with glowing eyes, excessive bloodlust or other abnormal traits it is a "monster" : since no tiger in our world (or any other) would have such traits or behaviors.