The BEST Pokemon Villains

The Pokemon series is chock full of iconic villains. Some more slept on than others. What I think makes a Pokemon villain one of the best would be their motivation, what drove them to their evil plot, their end goals, how they're characterized, how they fit into the plot & maybe if they receive a redemption arc. All of these things contribute to a great villain.

I only did 7 villains due to how I don't exactly think any other villains are remotely good. Or, at least they weren't good enough to be considered the best. A lot of Pokemon villains, especially the earlier ones, were evil without a good reasoning behind it or severely lack a back story of ANY sorts. Such as Maxie & Archie who want to end the world to some capacity for literally no reason. Flooding the world? Drying up the oceans? What? How would ANYONE benefit from that? Or the Miss Fortunes, they were more of an annoyance than anything else. They were literally described as oddballs that are evil for no particular reason other than just because they could.

So, yeah, read on below and you'll find the best Pokemon villains, in my opinion!

1. Giovanni-Multiple Games/Series

Giovanni is most rightfully the most recognizable Pokemon villain of all time. He's been there since game one and has been brought back the most out of ALL other villains next to Ghetsis. After each Pokemon game, the villain 'disappears' in a way after the player defeats them but not Giovanni! Giovanni has so much influence, has Arguably the biggest evil team and never allows Team Rocket to die. He just keeps coming back with grander schemes from creating new Pokemon to accomplishing Time travel & bringing together the most vile of villains. Not to forget he's the mastermind who created Mewtwo! Giovanni is also the only villain who's ever been a gym leader at that! Although villains being the parent to one of your rivals has been done many many times, too many times to be entirely honest, technically Giovanni is the OG as since he's the first villain, he was the OG villainous parent to an important character. That character being Silver of the Gold & Silver games. Plus, Giovanni must've been a somewhat decent guy if he has a son AND he had used to date Ash's mother. No joke, Giovanni used to be romantically involved with Ash's mother. The list just keeps going. Hands down, Giovanni is one of the best villains Pokemon has ever given us.

2. Lysander-Pokemon X & Y

I've made my point clear in the past, I'm not exactly a fan of X & Y. It's not a bad game, just VERY forgettable... However, admittedly Lysander is the best part of the pair of games in question. Lysander is the main villain of Pokemon X & Y & head of Team Flare, his evil organization. He's a villain for an Arguably 'good' reason. He doesn't want to end the world or bring destruction. Lysander, admiring the beauty life has to offer, is plagued by the inevitability of death. He wants to preserve life, keep everyone youthful & eliminate death. Basically Lysander wants everlasting youth for EVERYONE because he cherishes beauty. Considering in order to achieve this goal he has to abduct the literal God of Death and/or God of life depending on the game ypu play, yeah, Lysander went to extreme lengths in order to achieve his goal thus cementing him as a villain. What I especially like about Lysander is how he's a public figure of sorts. He's an acquaintance to just about every character you meet. He's a friend of Champion Diantha, the game AND anime suggesting Lysander and Diantha were romantic partners. Even Professor Sycamore respected Lysander to some degree. In the end, Lysander is a good guy but went about atrocious methods in order to achieve his goals and that's why I consider Lysander to be one of the better villains Pokemon has given us.

3. Eldes-Pokemon XD Gale Of Darkness

I was cross between Gonzap & Eldes when it came to the Pokemon Colosseum series but settled on Eldes: One of the three masterminds in Gale of Darkness. Honestly, Eldes is VERY slept on as nobody gives him credit as without him Cipher wouldn't have been eliminated. In Gale of Darkness, Michael/The Player & his sister bump into a thug who threatens to beat the siblings up. Thankfully, Eldes, his brother and his father Greevil, all 3 of which the player isn't aware that they're the Masterminds of the evil organization in this game, come to the player's aid by teaching the thug a lesson. Afterwards, Eldes in particular gives the player a heartwarming speech telling him to follow his dreams, be safe and that he has high expectations for the player. Right away, Eldes was depicted as a hero or role model of sorts for the player. Fast forward to endgame when the player is left with no choice but to fight the said three masterminds, the player faces Eldes in a battle. Coming out victorious, Eldes congratulats the player, admiring how far he's come since the beginning of the game & how he believes the player will emerge victorious in the end. Eldes then has a moment of self reflection sharing how he never wanted world domination. Only to come to a conclusion that he only does what he does because its what his father wants. Sure enough, after the player defeats Eldes' brother & father thus successfully defeating the evil organization, Greevil planned to run away and build the organization from the ground up but it was Eldes who came in and persuaded his family to give up their evil schemes as he wants to turn over a new leaf. Thus, the speech reached his father ending the game AND organization.
In the end, technically Eldes was the true hero. He had a golden heart & only did evil deeds cause he was a puppet on strings and his father was the puppeteer. I LOVE villains that act as fatherly or role models towards the main character and Eldes fulfilled said role.

4. N-Pokemon Black & White

N is rightfully a fan favorite in the Pokemon fanbase, he's one of my favorites too! N is the rival character & King of Team Plasma on the games Black & White as well as coming back in the Black & White sequels as an antihero. Again, N Was introduced as a rival to the player after Team Plasma holds a public Speech, N approaches the player sharing his ideals being very vocal about how he feels Pokemon SHOULD NOT be with humans & that battling is rude & cruel. Immediately us as the player can sympathize with N as technically he has a sound argument. Throughout the story, N and the player continously bump into each other & you can tell N is very fond of the player & considered one another friends. So much so, N reveals himself to the player as King of Team Plasma & that they're 'Fated Rivals just like the late Kings of Unova'. As the story progresses, you see first hand the conflict within N grows as he realizes through his relationship with the player that humans & Pokemon DO belong together. You also learn that N was raised from a child to be Unova's king and lead Team Plasma therefore in MANY ways he was brainwashed & manipulated by his father, Ghetsis his entire life. Luckily, the player finally reaches N & he comes to terms with reality, thanking the player for teaching him the meaning of life, love & relationships before abandoning Team Plasma in order to live his life by his own rules. N was such a deep, complex and sympathetic character. It punched all of us in the gut when we realized he was the mastermind in Black & White. The devastation & roller coaster of emotions us player's feel for him just says he was a character written correctly. HE is the reason Black & White is one of my all time favorite videogames.

5. Volo-Pokemon Legends Arceus

Volo is the mastermind of Pokemon Legends Arceus. Yes, you heard me, this innocent looking merchant is indeed a villain & mastermind at that. Volo is present within Legends Arceus since the beginning of the game and he's introduced as a merchant of the Ginkgo Guild. He repeatedly bumps into the player occasionally sharing advice or a helping hand whenever things get especially rough. Right from the beginning of the game Volo is characterized to be a history buff who seeks out the Legendary Plates that belong to Arceus. That should've been hint number one that he isn't a good guy... Come to the end of the game after the Player tames Dialga & Palkia, Volo outs himself as the mastermind behind the giant space time rift in the sky, the rampaging Noble Pokemon AS WELL AS Dialga & Palkia's rampage. He reveals that he has a GIANT God complex and that all he wants is to meet Arceus. In order to do so, he secretly threw the world into chaos and became Giratina's trainer. Reason why I find Volo to be a fascinating villain is because we have yet to get a villain with a God complex and that he flew right under everyone's noses to the point he got away with everything. No joke, this man had no consequences for his actions and NEARLY succeeded in his goal. Everyone in the fanbase agrees that we WANT to know more about Volo because we know surprisingly little for how big of an impact this man had made.

6. Lusamine-Pokemon Sun & Moon

Oof, Lusamine is a mess of a character. Lusamine Is the mastermind of Pokemon Sun & Moon. She founded and runs the Aether Foundation, a very futuristic laboratory In the Alola region dedicated to protecting Pokemon. Or is it? At the beginning of the game we're introduced to Lilly, a girl of whom lives in Professor Kukui's attic after she had stolen a legendary Pokemon from the Aether Foundation & lives in hiding. Then the Player meets Gladion, a teenage boy of whom ALSO stolen a Pokemon from the Aether Foundation. Turns out, Lilly and Gladion are actually siblings AND children to Lusamine. They realized their mother was batshit crazy and evil, stolen two of her experiments and ran away from home.  Why did they run away from home. Turns out, Lusamine has a HEAVY fixation with Ultra Beasts, the equivalent to aliens in the Pokemon World, and will do anything in her power to become one. This includes experimenting on humans AND Pokemon. Lusamine even went as far as to manipulate Team Skull & disown her children to the point she doesn't even consider them her children anymore. It's SCARY how dark & heartless of a character Lusamine is. She was such a dark character in the games that Pokemon completely rewrote her character in the anime to be a good guy. In fact, she's such a dark character the anime creators almost entirely wrote her out of the anime. Clearly there were issues with writing her off but I am not even joking when I say all of this either. I find Lusamine to be one of the best villains due to how impactful she was as a villain.

7. Bede-Pokemon Sword & Shield

Alot of people don't even consider Bede to be a villain BUT he technically WAS a bad guy at one point in time. Bede is one of the player's Rivals in Sword & Shield. He's introduced as a jerky trainer who will do anything in his power to please his role model Chairman Rose. If you read his trainer card, it is revealed that he's an orphan and Rose had inspired & taken Bede under his wing and Bede now feels as if he's indebted to Chairman Rose. His harsh natures leads to him bullying your friend, Hop, to the point he had an identity crisis. It was when Bede fulfilled Rose's goal of collecting Wishing Stars that Rose up and threw Bede off to the side like garbage and it is revealed that Bede was only a Pawn or Puppet to Rose taking everyone by surprise. Of course, if your father figure disowned you so suddenly as if you never mattered, I'd be devastated too. Afterwards, Gym Leader Opal, with Bede's permission, takes him on as her disciple and trains him to take her mantle and become the next Fairy gymleader. During this time with Opal, Bede loses his arrogant nature and trades it for pride and succeeds in becoming the next gymleader. He's changed so much so for good that if you read his rare league card, Bede no longer refuses autographs. It may not seem like a big detail on paper but it just goes to show how much Bede had grown. It's not often at all that Pokemon games give us complete redemption arcs and Bede is definitely one of the best.

Who's your favorite villain?