When I've played more heavy-handed villains, I've always said from the outset that as a villain, my entire purpose was to lose. I had to look like I was about to have the upper hand, then have it taken away from me, in order to define the hero as the hero and my character as the villain. My character winning player-to-player encounters with "hero" types twisted the order of things and weirded me out. It just wasn't right. Now because it was an MMO, it ended up getting all convoluted and weird but originally, the intent was always to be the "loser," as it were.
Granted, that character was also the "I'll get you next time, Gadget!" type who was always ready to concoct another scheme with a semblance of seriousness, but me as player always setting him up for the fail. He never died, and never lost permanently, but constant losing was part of his joie de vivre.
Qhora fits more into the "more evil than a villain" category. She's the hero of her own little tale, but she very much sees how broken she is in everyone else's reflections, so she calls herself the bad guy without having that loss-seeking behavior my more archetypal characters had.
There's such a rainbow of villainous options available. No reason to be restrictive.
Granted, that character was also the "I'll get you next time, Gadget!" type who was always ready to concoct another scheme with a semblance of seriousness, but me as player always setting him up for the fail. He never died, and never lost permanently, but constant losing was part of his joie de vivre.
Qhora fits more into the "more evil than a villain" category. She's the hero of her own little tale, but she very much sees how broken she is in everyone else's reflections, so she calls herself the bad guy without having that loss-seeking behavior my more archetypal characters had.
There's such a rainbow of villainous options available. No reason to be restrictive.