Good friendships and camaraderie among good-aligned characters are pretty common in gaming. Developers tend to want us to like our virtual friends, so they tend to make them as likable and interesting as possible. And, it works. We’ve already gone through several lists of great protagonist characters these past couple of weeks. Villains, however, are a bit different.

It’s unusual to see a villain that isn’t just cartoonishly evil and even rarer to see one that plays with others well enough to have a good friend or ally themself. Some have managed it though, so this week let’s take a look at those villains who, somehow, have a friend or two in their lives.

Bowser and the Koopa Crew

Bowser has never really been one to team up with anyone if he can help it, but even from the very beginning he’s always had his loyal legions of minions that are always super willing to do his bidding. Sometimes Bowser is portrayed as being callous towards his troops, but we’ve seen several stories now wherein he seems to actually care about and take pride in his Koopa Troop.

He’s also not as nefarious as he seems when it all comes down to it either. Yeah he keeps capturing Peach for some reason, but he otherwise doesn’t actually do all that much to threaten the world in any meaningful way. It seems that, if anything, it’s all as much a game to Bowser as it is to us. Perhaps that’s why he has such a loyal following no matter what he does. He’s a good king to the Koopa Troop and seems to simply be working to keep everyone’s lives interesting more than anything else.

Team Dark

As is tradition (for me) at this point, this entry is a little bit of a cheat since Team Dark from Sonic Heroes isn’t really a group of villains. They’re more like anti-heroes who are out to achieve their own personal goals rather than save the world from whatever Eggman is up to. Still, I really wanted to include them because I love the camaraderie that develops between them over the course of the game.

Shadow, Rouge and E-123 Omega aren’t friends at the beginning. In fact they all try to kill each other upon their first meeting. However, they realize that all their personal goals happen to align and agree to team up until they reach their objectives. I don’t think they ever truly become friends in the traditional sense, but they definitely end the game as allies. The mid-game banter and cool coordinated moves shown in the cutscenes are always fun to listen to too.

Revan and Malak

Standing in stark contrast to Bowser and the members of Team Dark, we have Revan and Malak. They were, for a time, counted among the Old Republic’s greatest heroes, and they made for a duo that none could hope to stand against, Mandalorian and Jedi alike. We don’t get to see much from the time they were jedi, but I got the feeling that the two were pretty good friends in addition to being close allies and probably would have remained so had they not fallen to the dark side.

Even as sith the two were practically unstoppable, with the tide only turning against them when Malak betrayed his superior in the hopes of taking more power for himself. Despite the betrayal, though, it seems a bit of that old bond still remains. See, as a lightside Revan, you can try to redeem Malak at the end of the game. He’s too far gone to actually come back, but you can make him see where he went wrong before he dies. It’s actually kind of tragic and underlines just how wholly destructive the dark side is.

Joker and Harley

Be it in games, comics, movies or cartoons, it seems there’s no more a quintessential villain duo than The Joker and Harley Quinn. They always play off each other so well, making their every appearance a treat. I think this is especially true in the original Batman Arkham trilogy, since they had so many good lines and funny moments. More than that, Batman Arkham City actually gets you to feel a little bit for Harley towards the end.

It shouldn’t be able to do that, nor should the pair have that kind or irresistible charisma. Joker is perhaps the most irredeemably evil villain in the Batman games; even Harley herself is one of his victims. It shouldn’t be fun seeing them together and Harley finally being free of Joker should come off as a good thing. Yet, the sheer energy they emit when on screen together and Harley’s absolute heartbrokenness manages to override all that.

Koume and Kotake

Koume and Kotake are an interesting case. In Ocarina of Time, they are indisputable villains and rank among the most dangerous that Link has to overcome. Not only are they responsible for brainwashing Nabooru into an Iron Knuckle, but they’re also masters of elemental magic and possess the ability to fuse into the entity known as Twinrova. They’re not actually on screen all that much, but they still make a huge impact and come off as thoroughly enjoying what they’re doing.

In Majora’s Mask, however, the two are mere shopkeepers with little to no actual power at all. Koume can still fly but faints in the middle of the Woods of Mystery. Kotake, on the other hand, just brews restorative potions. The two never directly interact, but you get the sense that they care about one another and keep up with each other’s lives.

Since this game’s world of Termina is sort of meant to be a reflection of Hyrule, I can’t help but wonder if something of the relationship shown here was also present in between their Hyrule counterparts. Regardless, the two are loads of fun to interact with in both games, and they’re easily two of the most iconic NPCs from that era of Zelda.

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What are some of your favorite villains or villain duos? Let’s discuss them below and then be sure to check out the Duck’s and Cary’s lists later this week as Listmas 2024 continues on!

Header image is Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic concept art