From No Time to Die's Lyutsifer Safin's tragic backstory to Skyfall's Raoul Silva's feelings of abandonment, few James Bond villains deserve sympathy.
The James Bond series usually has a formula that it sticks with, which has served the franchise very well over the last 60 years. While villains usually are one-note in their evil ways, some have broken the pattern to be presented as layered individuals whose motives can be sympathized with.
The majority of the characters feature in later movies of the Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan era, although earlier examples exist as well. All in all, it’s fascinating to see how baddies whose diabolical plans generally involve creating worldwide disasters have certain levels of humanity that fans can relate through deeper analysis.
The original Blofeld is considered as one of the most ridiculous James Bond villains with his over-the-top mannerisms. While the rebooted Blofeld was responsible for most of the tragedies in Bond’s life, it gave him somewhat of a sad backstory himself. Blofeld was actually Franz Oberhauser, who happened to be Bond’s adoptive older brother.
Blofeld felt neglected when his father adopted the child Bond and preferred the latter over him, putting him on the path to villainy due to his resentment of Bond. This version of Blofeld feels sympathetic because he could have been a good person had he been provided the care and affection he desired as a youth.
Le Chiffre was never a good man and got himself into trouble by losing the funds of his underworld benefactors. However, viewers are inclined to feel bad for him, partly due to Mads Mikkelsen’s great performance, where Le Chiffre’s desperation to survive his angered clients is palpable.
The movie also featured Le Chiffre being blackmailed under the threat of death by his creditors, which gave fans an inside view into the mind of a Bond villain who was constantly under fear. Even his final moments pleading with Mr. White to spare him carry a sense of pity for Le Chiffre.
Mr. White was the overarching villain for the first two movies in Daniel Craig’s era and he wasn’t made out to be a sympathetic character at all. It was when he returned in Spectre that Mr. White was seen in a different light. As it turned out, he did have fatherly feelings for Madeleine and wanted to keep her safe.
Mr. White was poisoned by SPECTRE because he refused to participate in trafficking women, which showed that he did have a moral conscience after all. In any case, watching him in such agony during his final moments was enough to overlook his sketchy past, at least in that scene.
Some consider Renard as one of the least intelligent Bond villains due to his goal of killing himself to initiate the nuclear meltdown. However, Renard actually wanted to die because he couldn’t live with the fact that he was slowly dying as a result of the bullet lodged in his brain.
Moreover, he genuinely loved Elektra King and wanted to see the plan through for her. While none of that excuses the fact that he wanted to cause a nuclear disaster, he did have humane characteristics, and Renard was a villain who died with a smile over the prospect that he would be reunited with his lover.
Depicting Safin as someone who placed the value of family above all is one of the ways No Time to Die is unlike other Bond films. Safin’s main goal was to destroy SPECTRE because they killed his family, even letting Madeleine live when he could have easily disposed of her.
Safin would never have been a villain had SPECTRE not shattered his life, as his villainous turn arrived because he became deluded that controlling people was the only way to ensure peace. Safin is ultimately the result of consequence, and the fiend he eventually turned into wasn’t someone he was born as.
Alec is the first primary Bond villain that the series chose to humanize to Bond’s level, with the character portrayed as the protagonist’s close friend. While he did betray Bond and England, he had a justification to do, claiming the country had refused to provide refuge to his parents in WWII, for which he wanted revenge.
With a deeper look, Alec comes across as an emotionally tortured man who had to grow up with feelings of loss and abandonment that no one provided sympathy towards. Although he got what was coming to him for trying to kill millions, his backstory does deserve some pity.
Silva generally ranks high in the list of Bond villains, with most fans sympathizing with his tortured mindset. Silva saw M as a motherly figure and was deeply hurt when she burned him after he was caught, following which, Silva became maddened with revenge.
All things considered, Silva didn’t set out to become a bad man, as he was the one who was betrayed. In fact, he wanted to die with M rather than just take her life, knowing he wouldn’t find peace if he killed the woman he’d considered a mother. Silva was ultimately just a very emotional person who wanted to feel loved and accepted.
Largely considered to be the best secondary villain and henchman in the James Bond series, Jaws underwent significant character development. He was initially a constant threat to Bond, only to become a kindly figure after falling in love with Dolly and turning into Bond’s ally.
Fans still feel sympathetic toward Jaws because of his reunion with his girlfriend, with the confirmation that they survived seen as one of the highlights of Moonraker. Since Jaws didn’t appear in follow-up movies, the hope is that he and Dolly went on to have a happy life together.
