Which villain would you have a drink with?

[Bone2pick]

I spotted this question making rounds across a popular social media platform, and it intrigued me. This, regrettably, is sufficient evidence to mark me as someone who is (too) easily intrigued. Be that as it may, there is still the matter of the question…

After careful consideration, my answer is: Captain James Hook, archenemy of Peter Pan. My reasoning? He’s a legendary pirate. He’s intelligent, well travelled, a leader of men, with a cutting (pun intended) style of humor. And he’s undoubtedly chock-full of fantastic tales of high seas adventure.

Okay, your turn. Which villain, real or imagined, would you choose to have a drink with? Your safety, of course, would be guaranteed.

 

[THUNDAIR]

Jesse James

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Not a villain, but I'd like to sit down with Benjamin Spooner Briggs and ask just exactly what in the heck happened on the Marie Celeste.

Okay, okay, villains. Morgan le Fay. I suspect she was maligned in the patriarchal press.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Hopefully more intrguing to OP than irritating, but my first thought was the villain I most certainly wouldn't have a dtrink with and that's Anton Chigurh because

Your safety, of course, would be guaranteed.

doesn't apply in his case.

Kurtz from Heart of Darkness-does he count as villain?- sit and tell me of the horror, and would you like some snacks with that beer?

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I can't think of anyone I'd rather not have a drink with more than Marvin the Paranoid Android. "I don' drink, I'm a robot. Don't ask me why you thought I could drink, my brain is 50,000 times bigger than yours and even I can't think of the answer."

He's not a villain, but he would probably inspire me to become one, just to drown out his prognostications.

So, who would I drink with? How about Ching Shih (also known as 石陽 or Zheng Yi Sao), history's most successful pirate queen and one of history's most successful pirates, who commanded a massive fleet in the early 19th century. How massive? Let me put it this way: she took on the entire navy of the Great Qing (Manchu-led Imperial-dynasty China) and won. Repeatedly. Chinese captains joined her, and brought their ships over to her, rather than fight her.

She also took on the navies of the East India Company and the Portuguese Empire ... and won. Repeatedly.

Ultimately, she negotiated a surrender with the Chinese government, but only after demonstrating her immense power and securing an amnesty for herself and her followers. She was 35 at the time, and lived to be 68 or 69, in relative comfort and prosperity.

I'm not sure if I can call her a villain, but she and her forces did engage widespread terror campaigns, including attacking and killing civilians in coastal towns to instill fear. (Then again, so did many other armies and navies at the time). Her code of behaviour for other pirates was harsh, but so were codes in other navies/armies, and she included also a code against harming and harassing women captives. (Any pirate caught raping or molesting a woman captive was immediately executed).

So yes, I would have a drink with her ... but only after her retirement. A career like that takes courage and brains, and she had both in spades.