Protective

Villains who are the opposite of what many expect from an antagonistic "boss"; they genuinely care for another being. Whether it be paternal/maternal, romantic, or simply a "matter of principle", these villains will not only treat their minions well, but often go into a rage when their minions are threatened or harmed and they are willing to go out of their way to save them at their own risks.

Sometimes, this can be because the minions are relations to the villain, the villain's lovers, friends, or (as mentioned above) the villain genuinely values those who aid them.

A Pure Evil can never be added to this category, because they do not care about the well-being or safety of anyone (except for themselves). Even if in some cases, they seemingly show care to someone, it is only because they have interests behind or for convenience; furthermore, they are not willing to save others lives by altruism because they lack empathy. (e.g. Lord Voldemort cared about Nagini only because she was one of his horcruxes; otherwise he would have killed her, Blackbeard cared about Angelica only because she was helping him reach the Fountain of Youth to save his own skin and Ego cared about Quill only because he had the Celestial genes so he can help him to realize the Expansion unlike all others kids of the Celestial who ended up killed.)

However, despite the fact a genuinely protective villain is never purely evil, some of them can still be psychopaths if their protectiveness towards certain people doesn't contradict their lack of empathy toward everyone else (e.g. Petyr Baelish, Jack Welker, Rumpelstiltskin, Alexia Ashford, Professor Ratigan, Castor Troy, Agamemnon and Aaron the Moor). On the other hand, it can be a redeeming quality to some villains if they are willling to change for the person they're protective of (e.g. Ken, Beast, Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Loki Laufeyson , Nebula and Yondu Udanta).

Also, do not add these villains to this category if they genuinely care about someone else but without doing more, even if they are not Pure Evil (i.e Thanos genuinely loved Gamora but still sacrificed her to obtain the Soul Stone; Lord Shen had a genuine relationship with the Soothsayer but severed ties with her when she tried to reason him about his parents and his project of conquering China; Isabel Aretas truly cared about her son Armando, but did not hesitate to lie to him about his father Mike, and did not care when he interposed himself between her and Mike trying to stop her to kill Mike simply out of revenge, accidentally wounding him.) as well as certain villains that just show true care, compassion and love and nothing else that is protective and caring (i.e. Cackletta who just simply cares for Fawful but is minimal and doesn't extend to the criteria of the category; Eric Cartman who genuinely loved Heidi Turner but doesn't respect her body health, type, etc.; Hopper who respects his mother's promise to not kill his younger brother Molt before she passed away on her deathbed; All For One who raised Tomura Shigaraki but ultimately used him as a pawn for his own ambitions)

For villains who protect things or places (including those labeled as Pure Evil), see the Guardians category instead.