Welcome To The Dark Side: The 10 Greatest Star Wars Villains

You only have to look at Darth Vader's place in pop culture to see that the Star Wars franchise belongs as much to its villain as it does its heroes. The saga draws from age-old mythological themes of good vs. evil, so naturally, the evil side has to be just as compelling as the good. As such, that galaxy far, far away is populated with many memorable villains - from sadistic sith masters, to belligerent bounty hunters to insidious imperial soldiers. Occasionally, there are cool-looking but ultimately underwritten characters like General Grievous or Captain Phasma, but usually, Star Wars can be relied upon to create some of cinema's most iconic enemies. And so, with the recent release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we've decided to look back on some of the franchise's best villains. To clarify, for the sake of simplicity, this list will only deal with antagonists seen in the films. So commiserations to Darth Bane and Darth Revan from the Legends novels (formally known as the Expanded Universe) and the likes of Asajj Ventress and the Inquisitor from Star Wars Rebels. 10) Director Krennic Coming in at number 10 is the newest addition to Star Wars' rogues gallery - Director Orson Krennic of Rogue One. It has to be said that Krennic was pretty much upstaged in every way in the movie by old-school villains like Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin, but he still made enough of an impression to warrant a place on this list. As played by Hollywood's new favourite British villain actor Ben Mendelsohn (look out for him in the likes of Ready Player One and Robin Hood), Krennic is in charge of the construction of the Death Star. In Rogue One, he's hot on the tail of Jyn Erso and her rebel buddies, as they try to retrieve the plans to the weapon and find out its crucial weakness. Across the film, Krennic proves himself a single-minded, callous b*stard. Though he does have an awesome cape. In a classic bit of irony, he's eventually killed by his own creation when Tarkin orders the destruction of Scarif. Tarkin then takes control of the Death Star and hogs all the glory. Tough break, Orson. 9) General Hux The triumvirate of villains in Star Wars: The Force Awakens very clearly resembles the trifecta from the original trilogy. Supreme Leader Snoke is a little bit too close to the Emperor to make a real impression, but Domhall Gleeson's Tarkin stand-in, General Hux, proves more memorable. In charge of the First Order's stormtrooper forces and their secret weapon the Death Star Starkiller Base, Hux is icy, aloof and loyal to his evil cause to a fault. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be Tarkin's illegitimate love child or something. It's interesting to contrast him with Snoke's other favourite, Kylo Ren. While Ren is impetuous and filled with rage, Hux is buttoned-up and controlled. The difference and rivalry between the two could well cause sparks to fly in future installments. 8) Count Dooku What's so great about Count Dooku? He's Christopher Lee! 'Nuff said. Count Dooku (a play on Lee's most famous role as Count Dracula) was once Yoda's Jedi Padawan but later turned to the dark side, after disagreeing with the conduct of the Galactic Senate, and became Darth Sidious' Sith apprentice, Darth Tyranus. After a prominent role in Attack of the Clones, he's quickly bumped off at the start of Revenge of the Sith by Anakin. While he's basically The Lord of the Rings' Saruman with a lightsaber and lightning fingers, Dooku is still one of the better things from the prequels thanks to the gravitas Lee brings to even the silliest of scenarios (his unintentionally funny battle with Yoda springs to mind). He really should have hung around for longer. 7) Darth Maul The best villain of the prequel trilogy can only be Darth Maul. The volcanic-headed Sith apprentice, with his uber-cool double-edged lightsaber, was one of the few saving graces of The Phantom Menace. Much like the original trilogy's Boba Fett (more on him in a moment), Darth Maul's awesome appearance and general badassery have elevated him beyond his relatively small role in the saga. His final fight with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan - set to John William's awe-inspiring "Duel of the Fates" - is still one of the most exciting moments in the whole franchise. Sadly, he had to split (ha!) at the end of the movie, bringing his big-screen career to an end. Thankfully, he's been a regular fixture in the books, comics and The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series instead. Also, for those who don't know, the original concept art for the character had feathers on his head. When it came to creating him for real though, the designers mistook the feathers for horns and the rest is history. Bullet. Dodged. 6) Jabba The Hutt Jabba the Hutt cast a long shadow over the original trilogy, as all we knew about him was that he was the powerful crime boss sending bounty hunters after Han Solo. In Return of the Jedi, he finally made his debut in the (slimy) flesh and instantly wormed his way into the public consciousness. Unlike the grand villainy of the Sith and Imperial forces, Jabba offers a different sort of evil. Greedy, gluttonous, lascivious, Jabba is one nasty customer - something perfectly embodied in his grotesque design (after initially being portrayed as humanoid, by Scottish actor Declan Mulholland, in a deleted scene from A New Hope). It's not easy to best Leia and Han, but he had the warrior princess in chains as his slave and the famed smuggler as a living piece of art on his wall. Thankfully, he got his comeuppance when Leia used the very chains that he used to enslave her to throttle him to death in one of the franchise's big feminist moments - even if the effect was limited a bit by her wearing a metal bikini at the time. 5) Grand Moff Tarkin There aren't many people who can give Darth Vader orders, but Grand Moff Tarkin is one of them. The Death Star's commander outranks Vader and is actually a much deadlier force when you think about it. Has Vader ever destroyed an entire planet? No, no he hasn't. Hammer horror star Peter Cushing offers one of the franchise's most unfairly overlooked performances as Tarkin - he's full of old-school icy menace, constantly wearing an expression even steelier than Vader's helmet. It's hilarious to think that Cushing was really wearing cozy slippers during his scenes, as he found his Imperial boots too uncomfortable. The decision to recreate the late actor with state-of-the-art CGI and a new voice actor (Harry Potter star Guy Henry) in Rogue One was a very controversial one, but it has to be commended for allowing us a fuller look at Tarkin's character and the depth of his villainy. Thanks to Rogue One, we know that Tarkin isn't just ruthless and cold-hearted, he's also selfish and a total glory hound. 4) Kylo Ren It was always going to be difficult for The Force Awakens to create a central villain who could match up to the mighty Vader. It was an ingenious idea, then, to make that the entire motivation of Kylo Ren. At first, it seems that Ren is a fanatical follower of Vader's who has styled himself after the Sith lord. It later transpires though that he is, in fact, Vader's grandson and the son of Leia and Han. Full of rage and emotion, Kylo - formally known as Ben Solo - shares little of his granddaddy's cold demeanor. Ren makes such a formidable villain because he's basically a petulant teenager with the power to destroy the galaxy. Plus, he has a lightsaber with a crossguard. Clearly suffering from an internal battle between the light and the dark, his anger even led him to kill his own father. But has he gone to the dark side for good? Only time will tell. What we know for sure is that we can't wait to see more of Adam Driver's surprisingly layered villain in the upcoming Episodes VIII and IX. 3) Boba Fett Ah, Boba Fett. You hardly did anything and yet just about every Star Wars fan loves you. Meanwhile, Jar Jar Binks features a whole more and fans hate him. It doesn't make a lick of sense. The bounty hunter proved his worth in The Empire Strikes Back by managing to outsmart Han and hatch a devious plan with Darth Vader. Unfortunately, Return of the Jedi did its best to try and undo the cool factor by giving him a rubbish death scene - tumbling straight into the Sarlaac pit. In truth, it's Fett's iconic design that's a key part of his adoration. Along with his jet pack, his unique helmet is given scratches and worn marks that hint at any number of past scrapes. Though he doesn't get to do much in the films, we believe that Boba has had many previous adventures. Let's hope that the often talked-about spinoff movie will come to fruition in the next few years and finally give the bounty hunter the screen presence he deserves. 2) Emperor Palpatine Unlike a lot of characters, the Emperor is just as entertaining to watch in both the original and prequel trilogies. If you want a cackling, wizened personification of evil straight from your nightmares, or a more human villain - a scheming politician - then Palpatine is your man either way. Originally a senator of the Galactic Senate, Palpatine manipulated the political landscape for his own ends - eventually rising to the top of the pile and appointing himself leader of the oppressed, war-torn galaxy. Ian McDiarmid pulls it off in either incarnation of the villain - walking the line between ham and horror in the originals and then as an evil uncle type when he bizarrely plays his younger self even though he's older in the prequels. As the uber-villain of both the original trilogy and the prequel (and possibly the revival trilogy as well, if Snoke turns out to be him in disguise), he's the cause of pretty much all the conflict in the saga. In terms of significance, Palpatine is the greatest Star Wars villain. But, of course, there is one iconic fella who has to come first... 1) Darth Vader Well, of course, he has to come top. Few - if any - villains in cinema's long history made the impact on pop culture that Darth Vader has. Everything came together - the design, getting James Earl Jones to do the voice, the character development - to form a true icon, a term that is often overused but is totally apt here. In the original trilogy, from his jaw-dropping first scene in A New Hope, he was a formidable, terrifying force. Yet, over time, we learned about his past tragedies - how he went from being the hope of the galaxy to the dark side's poster boy. In actual fact, Vader is probably best described as an anti-hero - especially as he gets to redeem himself by the end - but he's a villain for most of the movies, so that description sticks. Yes, we would rather that we didn't have to watch his younger years as an annoying kid or a dopey lovesick Padawan in the prequels, but not even they can diminish the power of that look and that voice. A villain who once seemed to be black-hearted but then developed shades of grey, Vader's tragic nature is what makes him unquestionably the best Star Wars villain. Nay, the best Star Wars character period. His supporting role in Rogue One was probably the highlight of the film, but we hope we haven't seen the last of him yet.