Villain Spotlight- Rumpelstiltskin and Petyr Baelish

Forgot to post this last Friday so we're skipping the book review this week and instead doing this late villain spotlight!

Today I get to spotlight two of my favorite villains. Rumpelstiltskin from Once Upon a Time and Peytr Baelish from Game of Thrones. These are two highly intelligent villains with intricate plots that spread over several years. And they both have such fun with what they do, its hard not to enjoy it with them.

First there’s Rumpelstiltskin, also known as the Dark One, also known as the Beast and the Crocodile (Once Upon a Time is complicated). He has a long time plot spanning multiple seasons of show. He has no qualms with manipulating anyone to get what he wants. But what is it he wants? Not more power or anything evil like that. He wants to find his son, who he lost a long time ago, and reconcile with him. The one deal he ever broke resulted in him losing the thing he cared most about and that has driven him since then. He’s lost himself along the way and succumbed to the darkness, but his end goal never changes.

Until season 4, but that season doesn’t exist as far as I’m concern.

Most of the series, Rumpelstiltskin functions as a troll. He trolls all the characters and has them all dangling on strings. He’s clearly the smartest one in the room and everyone else is playing catch up. And he’s just so… delightful. Props to Robert Carlisle for such an amazing performance.

Next is Petyr Baelish.

He’s an interesting character who, far from being the main villain at any point, is always in the shadows behind all the real players, pulling strings and slowly making his way to the top. His goals are not particularly honorable. He wants to end up on the iron throne as much as anyone else. But unlike most of his adversaries, he’s patient and extremely smart. Parts of his plan are still unfolding even five seasons in. Also he has this monologue.

He’s surprisingly honest about his devious intentions and that honesty somehow tricks some people into thinking they can trust him. When they shouldn’t. Like, it’s the worst decision you could make.

I’m really interested to see where he goes in future seasons. He’s a terrible person, but he’s so good at it, and works very hard at his plotting. Hard work and genius are hard not to respect… even when coming from someone like Baelish.

Those are my spotlights for this week. What are some of your favorite mastermind villains? Let me know in the comments.