TV Series Villains Tier List

Rawlin is S Tier.   But seriously, Fangar's the only good villain in canon chima. 

batonmaster500  TheFirstDecade  
Let's get the Chima discussion forum active again! I had this idea for a topic today. This is my tier list for the Chima TV show's main villains, ranking them from best to worst as characters. (Many villains in the show are simply comedic relief, or have canon names thanks to the sets, but aren't name dropped in the show, so this list is only for the primary villains and/or leaders of each antagonistic tribe. The exception to this rule is characters who aren't the leaders of their  respective tribes, but are essentially the main villain of a particular episode. Unfortunately, since NO bats or icebears are name dropped in the show, not even their leaders, there won't be any bats or icebears on this list.) Keep in mind that this list just reflects my opinion, but it's also the right opinion.  (Joking.)  
 



Explanation of each character's placement, from best to worst:

S Tier- Fangar: My boy Sir Fangar is an easy S Tier. Now, I'm probably a bit biased, since he's my favorite villain, but let me explain why I think he's Chima's best canon villain. I have a lot to say about this guy. First off, if you think Fangar's motivations were just stealing chi (and Li'ella), you must've either not watched any of season 3, or only the first 1-3 episodes. Not only is there the whole backstory with the Phoenix, I think Fangar's motivation goes even deeper than what was stated directly in dialogue.
Now, imagine for a minute that you're in Fangar's position, in the era before the Great Illumination. Your species is one of many primitive animals, though yours is one of a select few that has already evolved to be humanoid, and you have the capacity to learn and become smart. You and your people do so, after being let into the city atop the highest mountain, where you were educated by the one smart species. You gain tons of knowledge, and with it, you realize something; your people and the other humanoid species live in a world without oil or electricity, just barely managing to create some sort of steampunk vehicles to defend your villages.
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Meanwhile, the species that lives on top of the highest mountain and "watches over" all the other species has way more advanced technology, and they hold a monopoly over the power source used to fuel said technology, making it so that any species that isn't "skyborn" will be burned to death if they try to use it.* In addition to all this power, the dominating species also has their own elemental power, with which a literal child can become strong enough to melt an entire fortress (as evidenced in episode 36). Yeah, if I was Fangar, I would've been terrified of the Phoenix, and the sheer power gap between them and the other species.
Sir Fangar's initial motivation to overthrow the Phoenix made sense, as the (essentially) demigods could smite down the other peoples of Chima if they wanted to, and, after returning to life with ice powers (after being struck down by the Phoenix' insanely powerful, nearly world-resetting ability in response to the preemptive strike against them), Fangar and the others were consumed with vengeance, going from revolutionaries to hunters, and didn't care if they had to freeze all the other people in Chima to get to the Phoenix.

Yeah, Bliston isn't really evil. Scorpix started out as a villain, but I retconned him to be more nuanced.

I also like how neither of the crocs were cliche, completely evil overlords with glowing red eyes, trying to conquer the world just for the sake of it. Though Cragger eventually devolved into that kind of villain in episodes 16-20,** and Crooler was demoted to a background character for the rest of the series, because the writers couldn't figure out how to redeem her until the   Illumination, which is why Cragger and Crooler are below Fangar on the tier list, in that order. 

A Tier- Crominus: Very solid motivation for wanting to get rid of Lavertus, and he was a pretty important villain, since he planted the persuader plants that Crooler would use. I mean, he was the Croc prince, and the princess from (presumably) the only other Croc royal family was in love with someone else, of a different species, no less (eugh...). Obviously though, people should marry whoever they want, but Crominus grew up in a medieval society, and his parents probably told him that he had to marry the princess, anyway. You could say that Crominus was  brainwashed (persuader plant symbolism? Not sure if that was intentional) by a backwards society into getting someone innocent exiled, so that he could marry who he's "supposed" to. This says a lot about society.  Though it is kind of sad that Crominus was a more developed villain in one flashback than the Crawlers were in the entirety of the season...


**Regarding that, I actually have a theory that the writers were originally wanting to move in a different direction for season one (as evidenced by the fact that the civil war was pretty much wrapped up in episode 14, and Cragger was completely good by then as well), but then, in between the making of episodes 14 and 15, LEGO told them, "no, the Crocs, Wolves, and Ravens are supposed to be the bad guys for 2013. And set up for next year's villains, the Scorpions, Bats, and Spiders." Hence, Ravens vs Eagles, and the "fog of destiny" stuff that didn't really make sense, because the writers had to figure out how to make Cragger evil again. 



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A Tier (continued)- Razar: I know a lot of Chima fans prefer Razar as a hero (right nightshroud96 and Torahvision ? ), but I enjoyed him as a villain in season 1. His reasoning for joining the evil side was hilariously practical and greedy, and I liked how he would have the Ravens somewhat frequently switch sides in the war over the course of the season, depending on which side was currently winning. His motivation for being "evil" wasn't as reasonable as Fangar and the crocs, but Razar was a very fun and effective villain, and he was a bit more nuanced than Ripnik, as he didn't want the Eagles, Lions, and Wolves to be destroyed in episode 6 (even if he did save them mostly so that he wouldn't lose customers). Also, it's funny how Razar was clearly leading the Ravens for most of the series, and yet Rawzome was shown attending a council with Chima's other leaders in one episode. I like to think that Razar literally bribed his dad into letting him lead the tribe most of the time.