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Bad Guy Themes/Motifs


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I've always been a fan of bad guy themes and I think there was a thread on this in the John Williams board, but I wanted to know more about other bad guy themes in other film scores!

One of my favourites is Cutler Beckett's theme from ATW by Hans Zimmer. My scope is limited, so please discuss and share your favourites?

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Darth Vader's Theme

The Emperor's Theme

Nelec's Theme

Khan's Theme from TWOK (aka the Danger Motif)

Sauron's Theme

Isengard Theme

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I noticed alot of bad guy themes are short, like the Decending third, Keys Theme, the Villian theme from Supergirl, etc.

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I rather like that. With short themes (or motifs), it leaves a lot of room for development. Long themes are often played out in the same way, like Davy Jones's Theme for example (but that may just be due to Zimmer's style).

I like the Nazi Theme (both Raiders and TLC) and Mola Ram's theme.

Green Goblin's theme from Spiderman 1 was pretty good.

Syndrome's theme and Muntz's theme.

Barbossa's theme from On Stranger Tides.

Carnivores Theme from Jurassic Park .

General Grievous's theme and Dovchenko's theme might rank among my favourite militaristic bad guy themes. I love the plodding brass chords.

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My favorite Militiaristic bad guy theme would have to be the Witch King theme in Return of the King.

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I really love Mola Ram's Theme from Temple of Doom

The Nazi March from Last Crusade is an awesome theme too!

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My favorite Militiaristic bad guy theme would have to be the Witch King theme in Return of the King.

Time stamp please? I haven't seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies, except the Hobbit but I haven't looked into that score.

I really love Mola Ram's Theme from Temple of Doom

The Nazi March from Last Crusade is an awesome theme too!

I remember reading onthe Indy wiki that they called both themes (from Raiders and TLC) campy. I think TLC was campy but really good. The theme in Raiders isn't campy though..its like the brother of the Stormtroopers Motif from ANH!

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No, Barbossa has a theme in On Stranger Tides. if you listen to "Lord Cutler Beckett" (the full 8:00 song from the Treasure collection), its the second half of the song. It plays during the cue "Are We Not King's Men". It's combined with the three note ostinato for Cutler Beckett near the end, but it doesn't appear in AWE.

I do like Blackbeard's theme, especially its treatment in Mermaids and the swaying, drunk sound in the beginning of Blackbeard. Not a fan of when it gets all bombastic with the anvil.

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Sounds to me like some sort of combination between the opening of "Barbossa is Hungry" from CotBP and Beckett's Theme.

Quite a fun combination, but I wouldn't have recognized it as being supposed to be Barbossa's Theme.

Of course Beckett's Theme was rather underused in DMC and AWE.

But then OST isn't exactly very good when it comes to sticking to its themes.

Davy Jones' theme in the middle of the carriage chase? Uh?

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Yeah, it's Barbossa's theme. Plays most scene's that he's in, interchanged with Beckett's theme being used for the Red coats.

I agree. It's because he uses "The Battle Theme", which has the black pearl theme and Davy Jone's theme. Plays in the cue "The Dutchman Chases the pearl" from DMC, in the Maelstrom battle, and then the Carriage Chase.

Copy and pasting.

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I like the motif in Anakin's Dark Deeds at the begining of the security recordings section..

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The Black Suit theme from Spider-Man 3 (at 1:20)

Lex Luthor's Theme from Superman Returns (at 0:00)

The Green Mist theme from The Voyage of the Down Trader (at 0:19)

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Jerry Goldsmith's motif for the bad guys in Looney Tunes: Back In Action titled, well, "The Bad Guys":

That one really does sound pure, nasty, evil, doesn't it? ROTFLMAO

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In addition to some of the themes mentioned here already, I also enjoy Sab Than's theme from Michael Giacchino's John Carter.

I think that motif is awfully appropiate and I don't understand why some don't like it.

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