Board 8 > Most Evil Fictional Character: Michael Myers vs The Beast (Over The Garden Wall)

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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 the Halloween films and Over The Garden Wall. Proceed at your own risk!

MICHAEL MYERS

Michael Myers is the primary antagonist of the Halloween series.

Michael Myers first appears in John Carpenter's Halloween as a young boy who murders his elder sister, Judith Myers. Fifteen years later, he escapes Smith's Grove Sanitarium and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he stalks a teenage babysitter named Laurie Strode. After murdering three of Laurie's friends, Michael attacks her as well. She fends him off long enough for Loomis to arrive and shoot Michael six times, knocking him off a balcony; when Loomis goes to check the body, he finds that Michael has disappeared. In the 2018 film, it is established that after being shot by Loomis, Michael fled to his childhood home and was arrested by the Haddonfield police. After forty years at Smith's Grove Sanitarium, he escapes again and returns to Haddonfield for another killing spree. Halloween Kills is a direct sequel to the 2018 film in which Michael escapes the burning house and resumes his killing spree. In response, the enraged townspeople form a mob to hunt him down. While the mob proves to be unnecessarily destructive, they do eventually swarm him and seemingly kill him. As they attempt to confirm he's really dead, Michael rises again and massacres them all. He returns to his childhood home, where he kills Karen as well. A common characterization of Michael Myers is that he is pure evil. John Carpenter has described the character as "almost a supernatural forcea force of nature. An evil force that's loose," a force that is "unkillable". Daniel Farrands, the writer of The Curse of Michael Myers, describes the character as a "sexual deviant". According to him, the way Michael follows girls around and watches them contains a subtext of repressed sexuality. Farrands theorizes that, as a child, Michael became fixated on the murder of his sister Judith, and for his own twisted reasons felt the need to repeat that action over and over again. Writer Stefan Hutchinson mentions the character's "bizarre and dark sense of humor", as seen when he wore a sheet over his head to trick a girl into thinking he was her boyfriend, and the satisfaction he gets from scaring the characters before he murders them, such as letting Laurie know he is stalking her. Hutchinson feels there is a perverse nature to Michael's actions: "see the difference between how he watches and pursues women to men".

vs.

THE BEAST

The Beast is the primary antagonist of the cartoon miniseries Over The Garden Wall.

The Bast is the monster of The Unknown and is feared throughout it. His goal is to catch the brothers, Wirt and Gregory, and turn them into Edelwood trees in order to fuel his lantern. The Beast is a manipulative and mysterious being. He is solely motivated by his own self-preservation and is indifferent to the pain and suffering caused by his actions. The Beast is very well-spoken and speaks matter-of-factly, traits he uses to lull his victims into a false sense of security, accomplished by feigning concern. He is a master of deception, knowing exactly what to say to get people under his power, using reverse psychology by repeatedly asking the Woodsman to give him the lantern and grabbing at it when he wasn't looking, compelling the Woodsman to covet it deeply and seek to keep it lit with greater desperation. He typically has an even temperament, but threatening the lantern or defying him for too long can cause him to lose some composure. The Beast has a tendency to sing. He has a song for chopping the Edelwood and another song directed to his intended victims. The Beast collided with the Woodsman's daughter, she was able to escape with a broken arm, throwing off her cloak with an axe. The Woodsman, who went to look for her, discovers the Beast standing over her things, which is why he decides that the beast killed her, and rushes at the beast with an axe, knocking the lantern out of his hands. The Beast fails to convince the Woodsman to return the lantern to him, instead he deceived the Woodsman into believing that his daughter's soul was kept alive inside the lantern, and would keep on living as long as the flame was lit. The lantern is kept lit by the oil from Edelwood Trees, a type of tree that forms when the Beast captures the souls of children led astray. In the finale, the Beast finally overpowers the Woodsman in their fight over the lantern. But when Wirt picks it up first, the Beast tries to persuade him into becoming the new lantern bearer instead of fighting him for the lantern, promising him that Greg's soul will live on as the burning flame of the lantern. Wirt leaves the lantern to the Woodsman, who finally caught on to the deception. The Beast tries to manipulate him into killing the boys and get more oil, but the Woodsman turns to face the Beast instead, spinning fast enough to catch a glimpse of his actual form.

Michael Myers

It sounds to me like, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but The Beast's evil is mostly done as a means of living forever. While Myers kills people senselessly. He has no real purpose. He enjoys the kill, and likes the feeling. He also killed his sister, and fantasized about killing his baby sister before she was even born. He likes to terrorize his victims. So I'm going with Myers here.

Dr. Loomis himself says Michael Myers is evil

Michael Myers

As said Doctor Loomis does spell it out. Michael is just evil no interiority beyond that, no real motive or rationalisation.

Michael Myers

Beast is technically just motivated by survival rather than being an evil jerk. Main thing I can think of to dock Michael in terms of "good" is him letting that one kid go in one of those new movies if I recall right. On the evil side I feel like he is sort of limited due to his pure mechanical approach. Like if you granted him greater power I don't think he'd ever blow up a planet or trap people in torture situations and stuff like that (unless I am unaware of some media where he does do stuff like that). He would always be the proverbial killbot unflinchingly walking toward his target to stab em to death and move on without feeling anything (which depending on how you measure evil can be limiting compared to others). Michael is around the peak of "grounded" straightforward emotionless evil.

Anyway while I'd put others above Michael, I'd say he takes it here for me due to Beast's motivation

Michael Myers

Over the Garden Wall is so much better than any Halloween movie...but the choice of the more evil character, this is no contest.

michael myers

but thanks for the reminder that i haven't watched otgw yet this year

Pirateking2000 posted...

Beast is technically just motivated by survival rather than being an evil jerk

Disagree, that's part of it but he seems to relish trapping souls in the woods. He comes off like depression incarnate.

jcgamer107 posted...

Disagree, that's part of it but he seems to relish trapping souls in the woods. He comes off like depression incarnate.

Fair enough. It's been awhile since I watched through OtGW (great show) as I didn't recall him relishing it too much in a completely malicious way but more like a predator (which fits his namesake). Still, for this I'd go with mechanical singular evil incarnate over depression incarnate.

The original Halloween is a five star classic.

The Beast

Despite what Dr. Loomis may say, I'm not sure Michael Myers really has enough humanity in him to be what I'd consider evil. It feels like calling Jaws evil.

I'll let Dr Loomis explain why I vote Michael
"I met him, fifteen years ago; I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding; and even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes...the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply...evil."