Board 8 > Most Evil Fictional Character: Hans Landa vs. Other Mother

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Welcome to the 2023 edition of Most Evil Fictional Character, a single-elimination tournament to determine the most evil fictional character of all time!

Here's the bracket:

https://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=477621&tclass=

And here's the discussion topic:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80568652

And here are the rules:

-First and foremost, YOU MUST BOLD YOUR VOTE FOR IT TO COUNT. The reason for this is that these topics encourage a lot of discussion and debate, and it helps me to distinguish a vote from simple discussion if all votes are bolded. So, I state again, ALL VOTES MUST BE BOLDED FOR THEM TO COUNT. I reserve the right to be lenient in early topics if people just aren't getting it, but for the most part, IF YOUR VOTE ISN'T BOLDED, IT WON'T COUNT.

-You must vote for which of the two characters you honestly believe to be the more evil of the two. You can determine this via any method you like, use your own morals and judgement, read all the arguments made to determine your choice, or however you choose to make your pick, but you must only vote for the one you truly believe is the most evil. This isn't a death battle, or a popularity contest. You're voting ONLY for the most evil character out of the two choices presented.

-While on that subject, remember that because this isn't a death battle or a fighting tournament, do your absolute best to consider the two characters as if their power levels were equal (either the weaker character brought up to the level of the strongest, or vice versa, or both if you want to consider both possibilities). Therefore, just because, for example, one of the characters blew up a planet and the other one merely kicked a puppy, doesn't necessarily mean the planet killer is more evil than the puppy kicker. Consider the characters as if they have the exact same capabilities and what they might do in that scenario.

-You can make any arguments, debates, etc. you want in this topic. Discussion is STRONGLY encouraged, a fun debate about which of the two characters is most evil is exactly what these topics are for. Just don't make it personal, no insults or flaming, keep things civil even if you disagree. Also, no vote rallying, if you want to encourage people to vote for your character you need to at least make some semblance of an argument as to why, even if it's just "Character X did (really dastardly thing), I can't believe no one's voting for them!"

-Voting will continue for exactly 24 hours after the post is made. If there's a tie, there will be a new 24 hour topic. This will continue indefinitely until a winner is determined.

-YOU MUST BOLD YOUR VOTE FOR IT TO COUNT.

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The following write-ups will contain untagged SPOILERS for Inglourious Basterds and Coraline.

HANS LANDA

Hans Landa is the primary antagonist of the film Inglourious Basterds.

Hans Landa is an Austrian SS officer assigned to the Sicherheitsdienst. He is nicknamed The Jew Hunter in reference to his keen ability to locate Jews hiding throughout Occupied France. Col. Hans Landa is first introduced when arriving at Perrier LaPadite's farm, to search the residence for any hiding Jews in France. Landa begins to ask LaPadite if he knows anything about the Dreyfus family, as well as their names and ages, which LaPadite gives him. Landa asks for another glass of milk before he leaves, and then begins to talk about how he loves his nickname, "The Jew Hunter". He tells LaPadite, any information that will make his job a lot easier would not be met with punishment, quite the contrary, it would be met with reward, that his family will no longer be harassed in any way by the Germans during the Occupation. Resigned, a tearful LaPadite reluctantly confirms to Landa that the Dreyfuses are under the floor of his house. Landa exits the door, calling his men, and points them out the place where they need to shoot. As he wishes to everybody "Adieu", his men shoot through the floor, killing the Jews. However, one girl, Shosanna, somehow survives and crawls through the basement vent and flees in horror, crying. Landa goes to the front door, puts his suitcase on the doorsteps and aims his Walther P38 at her, soon realizing that she's run too far for him to shoot. Egotistical and ambitious, Landa takes a great deal of pride in this reputation, lauding his nickname and using it to compare himself to Reinhard Heydrich. When the tide of the war turns against the Nazis, he scoffs at it, alluding that his job is to find and capture people and the fact that they are Jews is of no consequence to him. Landa is cruel, highly intelligent, relentless and ruthless but when needed, charismatically charming and polite. He uses a very methodical and Holmesian approach in his search for hidden Jews. Landa appears to be an opportunistic sociopath, acting only out of pure self-interest.

vs.

OTHER MOTHER

Other Mother is the primary antagonist in the film and novel Coraline.

Other Mother, also known as the Beldam, is a powerful and malevolent witch/fey creature and the ruler of the Other World, accessed through a small door in the Pink Palace. She lures children into her realm by disguising herself as their "Other Mother" and creating beautiful things that appear to make her worlds living greatly surpass their real worlds living. Once lured, she sews buttons in their eyes which tethers them to her world, then consumes their flesh for strength, and keeps their souls as her prisoners. She is the arch-enemy of Coraline Jones, whom she tries to lure in, consume for more strength, and imprison the soul of as her fourth victim. When her true nature is revealed, she instantly drops her loving maternal figure and becomes a cruel and authoritarian figure who is determined to do anything to consume her victims' flesh and trap their souls, no matter how twisted and sadistic these measures are. This includes torturing her creations, especially those who genuinely care for the Beldam's victims (i.e. Other Wybie and Other Father), so that they could be driven to do things against their will, such as harming innocent children. She punishes her creations who are unwilling to harm others by mutilating and killing them. Her sadism comes to its fullest effect when she gouges out her victims' eyes, sews buttons over it without anesthesia and consumes their flesh and souls until they become empty ghost-like shells. Though she has no qualms in relishing in savagery, the Beldam chooses to maintain her charisma by disparaging her victims in a sweet and motherly tone and an extremely condescending and sarcastic manner. Her twisted love is much more emphasized in the novel, where Coraline briefly gets Stockholm Syndrome by sympathizing (at the very slightest) and allowing her to care for her as if she were her daughter. It is very parasitic and she sees them as nothing but objects and pets, who are ready to be discarded if they "bore" her. Her self-centered love is eventually what causes her downfall as she seeks to destroy everything, including the world that she rules over, until she could get what she wants - Coraline's life for a meal and her soul for a prisoner. To somehow prove that her "love" is all that her victims need, the Beldam convinces them that their parents have neglected and abandoned them and even induces hallucinations of this occurring.

Other Mother

At the end of the day, you could say Hans Landa is a Nazi and is doing his job in his capacity as a Nazi. He does some horrific shit, sure. But the Other Mother captures children, convinces them their parents don't love them, and then feasts upon their souls while torturing anyone who tries to help them. She's a legitimate monster.

Hans

Cant get much worse than literally a nazi

Other Mother operates on a smaller scale, but put her in Hans Landa's position and she arguably commits even worse atrocities than he does. Meanwhile give Hans Other Mother's powers and he's probably more...dispassionate about it? Like it's almost more business-like for him. Whether that's better or worse is up to you, I guess, but I think Other Mother takes it for me. Fascinating match!

Other Mother

This was a tough one, but yeah I think if they swapped positions, the Beldam would be worse in both situations. Other Mother would never keep her end of the bargain like Landa did.

Hans Landa

On some level Other Mother "loved" others because she at least desired to love someone/something other than herself. Though yeah Hans, while a nazi, probably wouldn't go to "eating kids" level (which I had forgotten about, but even then she definitely sewed their eyes and eventually ditched them). Dunno if the book had more about O.M.

Slight lean toward Other Mother