Holmes and Moriarty;
Bond and Blofeld; (and here)
Dominic Flandry and Aycharaych;
Athelstane King and Count Ignatieff.
Holmes, Moriarty, Bond and Blofeld are universally known, the two sf pairs less so. My point is that King and Ignatieff are worthy of inclusion on this list.
King gradually learns that he has a major adversary:
Ibrahim Khan reveals that a tall white fakir wearing an eye-patch paid him to kill King;
King learns that, a generation earlier, a fakir with one blue eye and one brown eye had preached jihad and killed his, King's, father;
when King meets an adversary with an eye-patch turned up above a blue left eye, that man introduces himself as Count Vladimir Obromovich Ignatieff and they immediately try to kill each other;
Ignatieff is indeed evil, a Devil-worshiping cannibal.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree the first two pairs of heroes/villains are almost universally known around the world. I've tried to think of additional pairs of heroes/villains from the works of PA to included with Dominic Flandry and Aycharaych, but no others satisfactorily fits the bill. Athelstane King and Count Ignatieff? Yes, another good pair.
I'm sure others can be found in both mysteries and SF.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I've thought of another hero/villain pair to be found in literature, this time from the works of G.K. Chesterton. I mean Fr. Brown and M. Hercule Flambeau (who eventually reformed and renounced being a criminal).
Sean
Sean:
I have to say I think Flambeau is something of a poor fit with the villains on Paul's list, not just because he DID give up crime -- after just THREE clashes with Father Brown -- but because he prided himself on committing only theft, and only against those who could afford the loss. What finally pushed him to reform -- his last crime, he himself said in that story's prologue -- was Father Brown pointing out in "The Flying Stars" that he'd created a situation that would leave an innocent young man accused of the heist.
Stacked up against the murders-for-hire and other malevolence of Moriarty and Blofeld, the "let's-kill-the-world" baby-eating diabolism of Ignatieff, and the broad-scale racist manipulation of Aycharaych (everything to protect the relics of DEAD Chereion), Flambeau is a relatively GUILTLESS criminal.
If we still allow Father Brown and Flambeau, then why not the Saint and Chief Inspector Teal, who served the same goal -- justice -- in opposing ways? And that combination brings to my mind another legendary pair of antagonists: Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham -- which gets us back to adversaries who NEVER join forces.
Oh, and for recurring PA adversaries, we have Manse Everard and Merau Varagan.
And, on a much, MUCH lighter note: "But, Yogi, what about the Ranger...."
Hi, David!
I'm very pleased and flattered that my rather feeble suggestion elicited such an interesting and amusing response from you.
Yes, I have to agree that compared to Moriarty, Blofeld, Aycharaych, and Count Ignatieff, Flambeau is a VERY mild criminal or villain. The mere fact that Flambeau was willing to renounce being any longer a criminal when he was reaching the point of doing serious harm to another person also shows how relatively "guiltless" he was. I have to concede I made a weak suggestion.
Since, alas, I've never read any of "The Saint" books, I'm unable to comment on the analogy you made. Considering how Poul Anderson was a fan of those books, that's a serious literary gap in my reading experience!
I've never thought the Robin Hood stories very convincing. Are we REALLY to think bandits only attacked, bluntly, the STRONGEST and best armed travelers on the roads of England circa AD 1200? If I'm remembering right the stories has Robbing Hoodlum (apologies for the pun!) attacking knights and men at arms, the toughest and best armed military professionals of the time. No way! Sensible bandits attack the weakest and least able to defend themselves.
I should have remembered Manse Everard and Merau Varagan, a much more plausible hero/villain pairing than my feeble Fr. Brown/Flambeau suggestion.
Another light note: Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker! (Smiles)
Sean
Sean and David,
Thank you for all the suggestions. Everard and Varagan should certainly have been on my list. I didn't mention Superman-Luthor or Batman-Joker because for once I was just considering prose fiction.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I'm STILL chagrined at missing the Everard/Merau hero/villain pairing! (Smiles)
Alas, when it comes to comic books, I had more childish tastes. My favorites were Donald Duck and his uncle Scrooge McDuck. And the villains who opposed them were Magica De Spell and the Beagle Boys. (Laughs)
Sean
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