Villains in Greek and Roman Film

Messala

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Ben Hur’s Messala, in both movies, is an intimidating, evil villain.  He is constantly at odds with Ben Hur because of his refusal to join the Romans and ally with him.  He has the motivation, by feeling spurned by Ben Hur.  He has the power, being a Roman general.  Because of this he looks for any reason to ruin Ben Hur and his family’s lives.  He finds an excuse to send Ben Hur to the galleys and to imprison his mother and sister.  He imprisons the family for seemingly no reason, showing his villainous tendencies and giving Ben Hur motivation through the rest of the film through revenge.

 

Because they were friends as young men, Messala expects Ben Hur to join him as a Roman, but he refuses, because he is a Jew and does not believe in the Roman cause.  Messala feels betrayed by this, and this is his motivation to take Ben Hur down, and cause him as much pain and suffering as possible.  He throws his mother and sister in jail, where they contract leprosy, and are subsequently exiled to a colony for lepers.  He sends Ben Hur to the galleys where he is a slave for years and vows to get revenge on Messala if he ever gets the chance.

 

Messala’s attempt to get Ben Hur out of the picture backfires on him because it gives Ben Hur so much motivation for revenge.  He sends him to the galleys out of anger, but all that does is get him stronger, and allows him to meet Quintus Arrius and become a great chariot racer to ultimately take Messala down.  Messala must have expected Ben Hur to be dead after being a slave for so long, but instead he was burned by his old childhood friend.

 

Ben Hur’s motivation is all because of the villainous acts of Messala.  If he had just been willing to forgive, Ben Hur would have never even wanted to take him on in the chariot race at the end of the film.  Instead, he makes a dangerous enemy out of him, ultimately ending in his death in the race.  Ben Hur is motivated by a desire for revenge against Messala for the fate that his family endured.  Like many others, he eventually learns to put his weapons away and follow the example of Jesus.  

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Crassus

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Crassus in Spartacus is also a good villain. He is the one who buys Varinia and takes her away from Spartacus in the first place.  He is just the general villain that is over Spartacus’ shoulder the whole film.  His motivation to end the revolt is partly because of his job, and also because of his personal vendetta against Spartacus for refusing to kill when he pays for the show.  Crassus has the power of being the richest person in Rome, and uses it to end the revolt and seize power over Rome.

 

It is Crassus’ job to end Spartacus’ revolt, but that is not the only reason he is antagonizing Spartacus in the whole movie.  His job requires him to end the slave revolt, but he goes above and beyond to ruin Spartacus because of an event that happens early on in the film.  Spartacus and the man Draba are forced to fight for Crassus and other rich Romans entertainment.  When Draba disarms Spartacus he refuses to kill him and instead attempts to attack the viewers of the fight.  He is killed, but the flame is already lit for rebellion.  When Spartacus becomes the leader of the slave army, Crassus has a personal vendetta against him because of this failure to provide a good fight at the beginning and how Crassus is unable to sway the minds of people in Spartacus’ group, like Antoninus and Varinia.  

 

Spartacus’ motivation in the film is directly a result of Crassus’ actions.  He is angered by the injustice of making men fight to the death for entertainment, and by his purchase of Varinia, who he is in love with.  He starts the revolt in an attempt of revenge for the cruelty brought upon him and his fellow gladiators at the hands of people like Crassus.  When Crassus has Spartacus and all his men crucified, all he is doing is allowing for them all to become martyrs and inspirations for other people looking for justice.  

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Theron

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While it may seem as though Xerxes is the antagonist in 300, it is in fact Theron who is the real villain.  Xerxes doesn't provide much to the story other than being the Goliath to Leonidas’ David.  All Xerxes is there to do is lead the giant army so that the Spartan army is the underdog.  His motivation is not clear, aside from simple conquest over all, not simply over the Greeks.  Theron, on the other hand, is working specifically against Leonidas and what he stands for.  Theron is the one back home trying to take over and prevent Leonidas from receiving any help in his battle, effectively sentencing him to death.  

 

Theron has two main motivations.  First, he is motivated by ambition.  His entire goal is to take over Spartan society and be the leader, and he claims to own the council already.  He is the one barring reinforcements from being sent, as Leonidas is the king and the one keeping him from being in charge. His other motivation is greed.  He takes bribes from the Persians, presumably to keep the Spartans from sending reinforcements.  When he disgraces Gorgo in front of the council, she kills him and a bag of Persian gold falls from his robe, exposing him as corrupt and fraudulent.

 

He gives Leonidas motivation to go to war with just three hundred soldiers indirectly by working with the Persians, who want as easy of a victory as they can get.  Because both Theron and the Ephors are bribed by the Persians, Leonidas is not given permission to mobilize the Spartan army as a whole, forcing him to take just three hundred men in relative secrecy.  This obviously puts the Spartans at a great disadvantage against the teeming armies of the Persian empire.  What is interesting about Theron is how he is so “behind the scenes”, and never comes into direct conflict with Leonidas.  He is like a puppet master, putting on a show from out of view, but still messing everything up for the protagonist.  

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Commodus

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Commodus in Gladiator is another villain that is downright terrifying.  He is mentally unstable, motivated by jealousy of Maximus for gaining the favor of his father, and by his greed for power.  He tries to get rid of Maximus by having him taken out of Rome and executed, and he has Maximus’ home burned and his family killed.  His anger at being liked less by his father than an outsider causes him to antagonize Maximus for the whole film.  He wants to get rid of Maximus because he is scared of Maximus’ potential to be a better leader than he could ever be.

 

Commodus is another villain that attempts to get rid of the protagonist.  He sends Maximus away with guards to be executed in the woods.  He does this because he sees Maximus as a threat to his power, which is a legitimate fear, as he has the favor of the people as well as his late father.  Commodus did not take into account the fact that Maximus is an excellent fighter, and takes out all the guards and manages to escape to find his home destroyed and his family dead.  He makes the mistake of not making absolutely sure that Maximus is dead, because he comes back to kill Commodus later as revenge.

 

Maximus is powered by the grief of losing his family, seeking revenge on the man who did it.  Commodus directly causes his revenge tour by attempting to kill him and successfully killing his family.  Maximus’ training as a warrior and as a gladiator allow him to fight his way to Commodus, and give him the ability to fight and kill Commodus even as he is mortally wounded.  At that point he is no longer fighting based on skill or power, he is fueled off of pure anger and grief, finishing the fight, and succumbing to his own injuries moments later.  

 

Hades

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Hades in the animated Disney version of Hercules is a great example of a parodied villain.  He has the same qualities of many other iconic movie villains, but he is funny, and comes across as exaggerated and more lighthearted.  His motivation is, like many others, ambition to take over Olympus.  He does try to get rid of the hero Hercules at the very beginning.  He also fuels Hercules on his journey to become a great hero, though this part is parodied because of how it happens.

 

Hades is shown to be very jealous of the gods on Olympus, and of his brother Zeus especially.  He devises a plan to take them all down and to take control of Olympus with the help of the ancient colossal titans.  He is motivated both by ambition for power and by jealousy of his brother.  His motivation to be the villain to Hercules is given to him when the fates predict that Hercules will ruin his plan if he is allowed to fight on the day that Hades has planned.  So, Hades sends two of his minions to take care of him.

 

This is where the parodies start.  By sending Pain and Panic to give Hercules a potion then kill him, Hades takes his eyes off of Hercules.  Leaving the job of killing Hercules to some of his bumbling cronies is a bad choice, as they are far too incompetent to take out even an infant Hercules.  This parodies Commodus attempting to have Maximus killed.  Both plans fail, but one is cool because it fails because of how good of a fighter Maximus is, but the other is funny because of the incompetence of Pain and Panic.  

 

The way Hades gives Hercules motivation to become a hero is pretty funny.  He isn't trying to let him become a great fighter, but just by sending all the monsters at him he is providing practice, as well as a reputation for Hercules.  It isn't even until later in the movie that Hercules learns that Hades has been toying with him the whole time.  It’s funny how Hades throws literally everything that he has at Hercules, but the super powered demigod just beats every challenge he is faced with.  Hades gets more and more angry at his incompetent underlings, but he never bothers to be introspective, because none of this could possibly be his fault for bad planning.  

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Conclusion

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The villain from all of these films, even the exaggerated and parodied Hades have some universal qualities that make them villainous in the plot of their respective film.  They are motivated.  They all want either revenge or power, oftentimes both.  They all give the hero motivation throughout the film, driving the hero to avenge the loss of loved ones, or simply to stop the villain because of a heroic attitude.  Also, many of the villains attempt to have the hero killed or exiled, which always backfires on them when their plan inevitably fails.