Overlord: A lord over other lords, a lord paramount. An absolute or supreme ruler, one having great power or authority.
Often times when a villain is introduced, the character is presented as the perfect bad guy, or the quintessential version of evil. Then along comes another figure, who happens to be even more dastardly and heinous than the first figure who was shown. In many recent films this order of arrangement has been seen, and in some of the most prolific works of fiction this is how the hierarchy is set up. How do readers and viewers view and perceive this ordering of characters? Depending on the story this can come across as a kind of pleasant surprise, where audiences are even more intrigued and they had not suspected there to be a more dubious figure behind the scenes, but it can also come across as a predictable and easy copout.
Tolkien: Sauron and Morgoth. Many are familiar with The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, the character of Sauron needs no introduction, and thanks to the new series, The Rings of Power, the name and character of Morgoth have reached more audience members. Sauron was a servant of Morgoth, who became a powerful sorcerer and his chief in command. Morgoth however, was a much older being and more powerful. Through his thousands of years in existence, he took up many forms and abodes in Valinor and Middle Earth. After having fraught many poor dealings with the elves, and was later imprisoned by them, he settled in Middle Earth where he rose to prominence and amassed the greatest of his armies and built the mightiest of his strongholds.
One of the key aspects of his identity, and a crucial piece of information about his character, was his theft of the Silmarils, the precious gems created by Feanor of the elves, by which he forged into a crown and wore upon his head during his rule. This magical article to Morgoth, would be as important to him as the One Ring was to Sauron. The Silmarils were crafted from the two trees of Valor and contained the brilliant light that dwelt inside of them.
The character of Sauron, as he is presented in many artworks and visuals, and especially his presence within the film trilogy, is a tyrannical and wholly evil figure. He is the supreme leader, and a great terror to behold. If Sauron himself was so diabolical and so intensely evil, it is a wonder to think what Morgoth would have been like, having preceded him. Should anyone choose to bring him to life, it would be further interesting to see how his character might have been envisaged, and what the markers of this greatness would have been. It would also be an interesting question to pose and an interesting conversation to have as to which of the two were more evil, Morgoth or Sauron?
Starwars: Darth Vader and Chancellor Palpatine. Darth Vader possesses one of the most iconic appearances and costumes in the history of films. His voice and script suggested undisputed authority. His shiny black armour and helmet which resembled a futuristic skull, and his strange breathing made him a memorable villain. That is however, until the audience was introduced to his shadowy master, a hooded and aged figure with sallow and disease-stricken skin, and hollowed soulless eyes.
While Darth Vador projects strength, in a military-like fashion, Chancellor Palpatine is a poisoned and wicked-like figure. Darth Vador, for the most part, was a faithful servant and was seen to be running around enacting the plans and schemes of the Emperor, bringing them to fruition. All the while his master, the malicious old man was seated in the shadows and made puppets of everyone else around him. This dynamic can also be seen in the later films, where the descendant of Darth Vader serves the Supreme Leader Snoke, only for the audience to later find out that Chancellor Palpatine is still alive and well, and has been regrouping in the shadows, and is ultimately still pulling the strings.
This creation of an evil overlord who is even more despicable than the initial villain can have multiple reactions. On the one hand, the audience is reminded that there are even darker recesses to the universe, with even more foul and heinous characters lurking therein, and also that 'evil' as a concept has its own gradients and gradations like anything else, and cannot only be painted as one type of character or thing. There are also times when the overlord is introduced and their conception or embodiment of evil is demonstrably tamer and less severe than the first villain, which comes across as a levelling downwards, and it seems like they cannot compete with the evildoer who has already been perceived by the first villain. However, this can also remind viewers that the face of evil, can assume the form of normalcy. They do not always need to be represented by big scary bad guys, in fact, their normalcy can even come across as creepier, because no one would have suspected such atrocities to come from someone so unassuming.
The Wizard of Oz: The projected image of the Wizard, and the Man Behind the Curtain. "I am Oz, the Great and Powerful!"; cries a frightful and enormous green head amid a cloud of green smoke flanked by beacons of shooting flames. The dismembered and talking head is very alien-like in appearance and looks as though it were a cross between an extra-terrestrial and a vampire with its bulbous forehead and oversized skull with noticeably pointed teeth. The emergence of the talking head is literally all smoke and mirrors, and acts as a front for the very normal-looking and provincial professor, an older man of average height and build, with an unremarkable appearance, who attends the control room and is the real wizard behind it all.
In this particular instance, the reversal of the roles is the case, where the character of the villain is one who has fabricated this personnage of a great and powerful being, to act as cloud cover to conceal his ordinariness. The enormity of his green head deifies him, and diminutizes all those who are brought before his presence, as when Dorothy and her three companions stand before him, they come across as trembling and puny as he condescends upon them with ferocity. As this is a family film, and from a children's work, the story has a happy ending, and alls well that ends well, as to be expected.
What other examples come to mind?
Who are some other villains that were the real brains behind the operation?
And lastly, who are some other underlings that were merely servants or pawns carrying out the work of their master's grand plan?