The Best Villains In Studio Ghibli Films

We see various villains with varying personalities in Studio Ghibli films. These villains add depth to the main plot of the movies, often resulting in sometimes tragic incidents with characters at their most vulnerable. Seeing these villains defeated always brings some satisfaction, however, which ties in nicely with the ending.

Many Studio Ghibli villains have done things way too dark to be in a movie for kids. Yet they provide suspense and thrill to audiences of all ages. However, not all are bad, and characters like Haru and Yubaba offer some comedic relief. Whether witches or lords, they are driven by their great ambition.

8

Haru

Arrietty

While Arrietty is a light-hearted Ghibli movie, it has an antagonist in Haru to make things interesting. She is way too concerned about inconsequential things and only hates borrowers because they take things from the house temporarily.

Haru is shown to be considerate of Sho at the start, but if she really was that caring, she wouldn’t have locked him in the room simply to catch tiny people for herself. She managed to succeed in capturing Homily, but Haru’s plans ended up being ruined.

7

Lord Cob

Tales From Earthsea

Lord Cob, as a villain, highlights the strong themes in Tales from Earthsea. His skills as a wizard are top-notch, making him a bit too obsessed with seeking eternal life. He isn’t a very popular villain in the franchise, but he is among the most ridiculous characters created by Studio Ghibli.

He doesn’t value lives much, as we have seen him encouraging slave trading in the town he ruled. Lord Cob also doesn’t forgive incompetency and kills people out of his short temper. The only life he seems to value is his own, and he wants to preserve it forever.

6

The Parakeet King

The Boy And The Heron

Ghibli movies sometimes take dark turns, including having Parakeets who eat men. The Parakeet King is the ambitious ruler of this group of Parakeets. All he cares about is taking control of the world from a wizard who was also Mahito’s granduncle.

While the wizard wanted Mahito to become his successor and use the blocks to control the world, the Parakeet King wanted to rule it at all costs and acted hostile towards both Mahito and Kiriko. He sometimes goes too far, such as wanting to use Kiriko as a hostage to make a deal with the wizard.

5

Nanny

When Marnie Was There

Marnie belonged to a wealthy family, but that didn’t protect her from the atrocities of her caretaker. Her parents had important businesses to take care of, so they traveled a lot. Unfortunately, characters like Nanny and the two maids who were supposed to give Marnie everything she needed end up abusing her.

Nanny is often shown to physically inflict pain on her, as shown when she is forcefully pulling her arm. She often utters hurtful statements to make Marnie feel worse about herself. Marnie loves to adventure, but, unfortunately, she is rebuked by the evil Nanny, who is a bit controlling towards her.

4

Witch Of The Waste

Howl’s Moving Castle

Witch of The Waste started off as a major villain in Howl’s Moving Castle and turned Sophie into an old woman. She did so to diminish her beauty out of jealousy as Howl was taking an interest in her.

She is obsessed with preserving her beauty till her death and uses magic to keep herself in shape. However, The Witch of the Waste lost her powers during her interaction with Madam Suliman. She then redeems herself and supports the main characters of the movie.

3

Lady Eboshi

Princess Mononoke

Lady Eboshi has some positive traits, including her ability as a confident and charismatic leader. She saved many people from her demise and gave them refuge in Irontown. Her ambitious qualities are definitely praiseworthy, but a few actions she took paint her as the villain.

She wasn’t too pleased by the forest and the natural life and took control of the Cedar forest, which was the home to Kodama. Lady Eboshi also shot Nago, a giant beast who subsequently turned demonic. Her actions led to a war that destroyed the Iron Kingdom, even though she regrets it. Eboshi takes full responsibility for her actions and resolves to make a better society for humans.

2

Yubaba

Spirited Away

Yubaba is a sinister old lady who manages the bathhouse in the spirit world. Her curse turned Chihiro’s parents into pigs, resulting in the family getting spirited away to this mysterious realm. She took a few characters away from Chihiro’s name and renamed her Sen to trap her there.

She is shown to harbor great animosity towards her sister Zeniba. Yubaba is a clever witch, using contracts to get what she wants and ensure things go her way, even if those contracts and her use of them can seem. bit underhanded.

1

Muska

Castle In The Sky

Muska is pure evil as he cares about nothing but taking control of the technology that was present in ancient Laputa. For this purpose, he kidnapped a young girl to get the crystal required to harness it. He didn’t leave Sheeta and Pazu alone throughout their journey and often went too far in pursuit of his goals.

He shoots a gun towards Sheeta even though it doesn’t hurt her physically. According to him, getting the power of ancient technology would make his army much stronger, rendering many other nations destroyed.