10 Entirely Forgettable RPG Villains

RPGs are all about letting players undergo the hero's journey (or descent into villainy), and part of that journey is facing off against a major adversary. The main villain in most RPGs can come in several different forms. In one case, they can serve as a mirror to the main protagonist, showing us what may have happened if our character followed a different path. Another main villain could be a major lore component, one that explains why the world your character inhabits is the way it is.

Ideally, all of these main antagonists would leave a lasting impact on players. If we're to invest over 100 hours into a story (if we're lucky), we want a compelling villain who makes finishing the game worth it. Sadly, this isn't always the case, and sometimes, we're left with villains who fail to live up to the quality of the story the game places them in.

We're looking at 10 of the most forgettable main villains in RPG history. The ones where we often forget that our entire mission is dedicated to stopping this force from taking over, and are merely minor obstacles distracting us from the main fun of the game.

10 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Eredin

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is arguably one of the greatest RPGs of all time, and that's even with a fairly weak main villain. Eredin is the leader of The Wild Hunt, the same villainous group that Geralt "joined" as a captor before the events of the first game. Now, they're hunting down Ciri for her esteemed "elder blood" so they can travel beyond space and time.

Despite being a leader of a group with such a personal connection to Geralt, Eredin himself doesn't deliver on the promise of such a personal villain. We aren't really given a solid personal understanding of Eredin's motivations, and as a result, he comes across more as your boilerplate "evil dark lord" adversary, which is all the more disappointing given the incredible depth other villains in this game receive.

Alduin

Alduin is in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and I don't believe I've ever played a game with a less impactful main villain. Alduin first appears to kindly help you escape from being beheaded at the start of the game, and then seemingly disappears for the rest of the adventure.

Given Skyrim's focus on letting players tackle whatever quests at whichever pace they want, it's entirely possible to just never complete the main quest after hundreds of hours in the game. When you do eventually complete the main quest, you're left with a main story that's mostly forgettable.

Alduin is propped up to be a cosmic-level force, threatening to conquer and rule all the Mortal Realm as its next immortal god. But when we fight him, we shout at him to land on the ground, then smack him with our sword, just like any other dragon fight in the game.

8 Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Aspasia

Assassin's Creed Odyssey has several villains in its roster, but none are more head-scratching than Aspasia. Imagine if Persona 4 still had Adachi as the main villain, but with fewer moments to interact with him and flesh out his character before the plot twist.

Aspasia is the wife of the Athenian leader Perikles, and only shows up a handful of times throughout the game to introduce you to key political figures and help you reconnect with your mother. Which sounds like an impressive impact on the main story, but unfortunately, the character barely leaves a lasting impression in those key scenes.

After spending most of the game unmasking the mythical cult at the center of it all, you eventually discover Aspasia is the mastermind behind everything. Questionably, her presence in the game up until this point is so scattered and insignificant that the plot twist carries next to no weight. What follows is a lengthy exposition dump and a pretty pathetic boss fight if you decide to fight her instead of romancing the character.

7 Mass Effect 2

Harbinger

Mass Effect 2's main villains, The Collectors, are a sinister and memorable force. In saying that, its main leader is an unfortunate let-down that sadly hurts such a memorable faction.

If you forgot about this gigantic, cuddly Prothean, you'd be forgiven, as Shepard and the crew never see it for themselves. This Collector General is actually a unique Collector being possessed by Harbinger, who "assumes direct control" of this being to gain mass influence over the Collector's hive mind colony.

With this control, Harbinger does amazing things, like take control of various grunts on the field, who can only throw projectiles, and trash-talk us. It's incredibly easy to not even notice Harbinger take control, or kill it before he does anything, making it all just very silly when he shows up.

In saying that, there is a sad moment where Harbinger lets its control of the creepy Prothean go, and it appears to have a brief moment of lucidity before its imminent demise. But it's a moment that we never witness, making its overall existence feel a bit redundant.

6 Fable II

Lucien

Lucien is a fantastic villain on paper: He's responsible for killing your sister and shooting you as a child, he gloats about murdering your family (if you have one), and hopes to wipe out races to "purify" the kingdom of Albion. His main motivations are rooted in wanting to bring his own dead child back from the dead, showing how low grief can bring you if you let it.

It's a premise that should work, but Fable 2 doesn't let this great setup really pay off. We sadly don't get to see his descent into madness, as the character locks himself away in his tower, distant from the overarching narrative.

To cap it all off, his ultimate showdown is an absolute joke. You get a single-button quicktime action to shoot him, and if you hesitate, another character will step in to do it for you. It's a character we're told is really important and special, but we never get to see that for ourselves.

5 Fallout 3

President Eden

Not a lot can be said about Fallout 3's depiction of The Enclave and its villainous leader, President Eden. However, what we can say isn't all that glowing.

In all honesty, I often forget that this guy even exists. You can pick up frequencies of his propaganda broadcast through your Pip-Boy throughout the game, but they're so mind-numbing and boring to listen to, it's likely most of us switch back to Three Dog anyway. Beyond this, we only get one major interaction with President Eden, and it's at the Enclave's base to begin with.

What also hurts President Eden's memorability is that he is essentially just reheated nachos of Fallout 1's villain, The Master, except this time, President Eden is an AI recreation of the original John Henry Eden, the President when the bombs first fell. Our interaction with the character barely carries any weight. We can either agree to take a vial to sabotage our now dead father's passion project, turning everyone into Super Mutants, shoot his terminal killing him, or convince him to self-destruct.

It's a fairly weak showing from one of Fallout's most infamous factions, and only highlights Fallout 3's biggest narrative weaknesses.

4 Dragon Age: Inquisition

Corypheus

Every Dragon Age fan has their favorite in the series, but if you ask me, Dragon Age: Inquisition is the series' peak. In saying that, I can't deny that its villain is effectively a Saturday Morning Cartoon.

Corypheus has what might be one of the strongest villain build-ups in any video game ever. You have a major mission depicting what would happen if the Inquisitor is either possessed or disappears, a DLC in the previous game hinting at the villain's potential if returned to full power, and a monumental intro hinting at his sinister potential. But once we start interacting with Corypheus, we learn he's actually kind of incompetent, with nearly all of his plans ending up foiled by our Inquisition. It's hard to say if he ever gets a small win after Haven, as we always seem one step ahead of him throughout the game, even taking out his horcrux dragon without much difficulty.

Despite having such an epic monologue at Haven, Corypheus is just the ultimate fumbler and never regains any momentum after such a stellar intro.

3 Baldur's Gate 3

Orin

Baldur's Gate 3 has an abundance of scene-chewing villains, so it can only be expected that one would fall behind the others, and for me, Orin is the weakest of the lot. Unless you play a Dark Urge character, Orin's placement in the game can feel a bit awkward. Orin is part of the triumvirate villainous group, The Dead Three, spearheading the Cult of the Absolute and threatening to take over the world.

Unfortunately, we don't get to see much of Orin until Act 3, where it's immediately revealed that this group are only allies of circumstance, and are immediately planning to undercut each other. Of course, this comes into play as it's revealed that the murderous Bhaalspawn was a last-minute replacement for the Dark Urge, whom Orin attempted to murder before the events of the game.

Sadly, even in this context, Orin mostly serves as an annoying "gotcha" villain to troll you throughout Act 3. While she does kidnap and potentially murder one of your companions, she personally never delivered on the hype the game built up until this point.

2 Star Wars: Outlaws

Sliro Barsha / Jaylen Vrax

Star Wars: Outlaws is, in my humble opinion, a pretty under-appreciated game. But one thing I can't defend is its forgettable and cookie-cutter main villains.

We first meet Sliro Barsha, a new crime syndicate warlord, who is making his mark and flexing his influence throughout the system. After we completely fumble infiltrating his vault, we are then recruited by Jaylen Vrax, a supposed mercenary who is also interested in Sliro's protected treasure.

After completing a series of hijinks and recruiting capable members to help us break into the vault, we discover that Sliro Barsha is actually a director at the ISB. We also learn that Jaylen is actually Sliro's lost brother, who wants to usurp his brother and claim his crime syndicate for his own.

As a result, we end up as passengers in this overall conflict between the two of them, which comes mostly out of nowhere. Given that we spend so little time with both of these characters, it's hard to feel invested in their conflict, or their plot twists, making their characters mostly forgettable.

1 Cyberpunk 2077

Saburo Arasaka

Saburo Arasaka is a forgettable villain, depending on who you ask. He doesn't get enough screen time in Cyberpunk: 2077 to solidify him as a compelling villain, with a lot of the character's depth and intrigue buried away in journals and background material scattered throughout the game. But as someone who hates key lore being locked behind a datapad, I feel like I have to put Saburo here out of principle.

As the face of the megacorp which is responsible for so many events of the game and the overall state of the world, one would imagine the character to have a stronger narrative impact. Sadly, we have little to no personal interactions with him (given that his physical form dies early on in the game), but given his research into immortality, his engram can still affect the remainder of your playthrough. Sadly, the corporation Arasaka ends up bigger than the man running it, and overshadows him, robbing him of any memorable narrative impact.