Over decades and decades and decades...and más decades, literature has produced so many kinds of villains, I thought I'd pick out a few types I commonly see and explain them. Some of these kind of go hand in hand. "Yo zanhar, there's a site called TV Tropes for this!" Shhhh, it's okay Imma type anyways just to defy you. (Am I a villain yet?)

The Pure Evil

As implied these guys are the ones who are evil through and through. No sympathetic background, no redeeming qualities, hell this person o being doesn't even think he/she is doing the right thing. In fact depending on the villain, he/she knows he/she is doing the wrong thing but likes it/or continues anyways to meet his/her ends.

Examples: Bellatrix, Nerissa, Ozai, Jadis & Zancrow

The Sympathetic

This is the character with the sympathetic story o motivation. The character whose past is so awful tu can't help but say, "okay that explains a lot" o "I understand where you're coming from, but tu need to chill." Dead family, dead lover, abandoned, abused, this character has gone through a lot of shit and for it became the bad guy.

Examples: Regina, Zuko, and Isabella

The "I Am Doing The Right Thing Though???"

Also called the 'I Don't Know I'm Evil', this is the bad guy who thinks he o she is totally in the right. Maybe this person is a Voldemort who genuinely believes that killing off an entire population is doing the world a favor. Maybe this character is a Kuvira who just wants to unite the world and make it stronger. Maybe tu have a Morgause, whose overly defensive so she kills people. We know it's wrong but he o she doesn't lol.

(Already listed) Examples: Kuvira, Morgause, & Voldemort

The Unstable

Pretty self explanatory. This is the deranged character. The character who isn't quite right in the head. And depending on the portrayal this character can fall into either sympathetic o pure evil. Personally these guys are my favorites. They're unpredictable and keeps the viewer on his o her toes.

Examples: Azula, Bellatrix, & Yuno

The Transformed

As stated in the Dark Knight, "You either die a hero, o live long enough to see yourself become the villain." The transformed is the villain who used to be good but por some turn of events, became evil. o vice-versa, he o she was bad and then became good.

The examples may be spoilers.

Examples: Regina, Zuko, Isabella, and Nerissa

The Sidekick

Depending one the show/book there are many types of these we can have the dopey sidekick with the smart leader (Pinky & Brain) o the dopey leader with the smart sidekick (Shego & Drakken) which usually creates for más humorous interaction. o tu can have the sidekick that is deeply in amor with the villain like Bella and Voldemort. o the pair that is just dark through and through. But no matter how tu play it the sidekick is the sidekick and helps the boss achieve his/her goals.

Examples: Nellie Lovett, Harley Quinn, & Shego

The Goons

Like the sidekick except they got a demotion. They pissed their leader off so now they are null back ground characters. Forever forced to look uniformed and always miss the target.

Examples: The rest of the knights of Camelot, Drakkens minions, & those God-awful yellow minions

The Wimp

The villain that always looks like a kicked puppy. The one that never gets anything done. Because at his/her very corazón he/she probably shouldn't even be evil. He/she is too busy whining and/or talking big but never acting. If in pairs this villain is usually the 'leader' o the 'big bad' that hides behind his/her sidekicks and goons until there are no sidekicks o goons left.

Example: Greg Mendel (from Once), Drakken, Lord Darkar (Winx)

The Desperate

Similar to the wimp, but not necessarily a wimp, the desperate villain is the villain who does evil o becomes evil out of desperation. For instance the bad guy who is killing for money because he/she doesn't want to lose his o her home. o because he/she has to feed the children. o in general this person does horrible things to protect loved ones. Often times this is what tragically leads to the loss of the loved one.

Examples: Rumple (Once), & Tucker (FMA)

The Unwilling

Closely related to the desperate, but not like the wimp, this is the character who has no choice. Maybe his o her family is being held captive. Maybe he/she will die if he/she does not commit acts of evil. This character is usually forced to do evil por the true villain of the story.Sometimes this person is being used and he/she doesn't even know it. It can also just be a person who is evil due to the circumstances--like participants in the hunger games. They don't want to kill but they are forced to do so.

Examples: jerez (Fairy Tail) & Practically all of the Saw characters

The Comic Relief

These villains are usually found in comedy. These are the goofball villains with silly motives o accomplish a serious goal in a humorous way. And this is done on purpose.
The alternative is that they are just victims of poor writing. When they are dumbed down so much that they just look like a joke.

Examples: Team Rocket & Kronk

The Asshole

Lolz, for the evulz! This is the type of bad guy o gal who will do bad things for the sake of being cruel. The difference between this and pure evil is that the asshole will usually stick to petty evils. o things that aren't really evil but are still pretty awful/rude. And as implied they do the thing just to do it.

Examples: Sawyer, Icy, Zhao

The Plot Device

Literally there just to mover the plot along. Probably found in a filler episode of your favorito! anime.