Anime villains come from a variety of backgrounds and have a variety of goals, some of which are more realistic than others. However, the things that make anime villains so memorable are their big dreams. From rebuilding the entire world in their worldview to gaining all the powers of heaven or hell, anime villains are not afraid to set their sights high.

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These big dreams are often not ideal for the rest of the world and thus lead to the hero swooping in to save the day. Still, these villains endeavor to make their pipe dreams reality, despite the obstacles.

10 Carmilla Wanted To Subjugate All Of Humanity In Castlevania

Carmilla, Castlevania

After Dracula's death, Carmilla sought to become the de facto ruler of the vampire community. She and her sisters devised a plan to, rather than kill all the humans, make them all cattle for their consumption. This way, the vampires could go on living but as supreme beings in the land with an almost unlimited food source.

This was a lofty goal. There were plenty of humans, including the Forgemasters, monster hunters, and mages who would not stand for this. One of these Forgemasters, Isaac, eventually thwarted this plan.

9 Pain Wanted To Reform The World Into His Image Of A Peaceful One In Naruto: Shippūden

Pain from the Naruto anime

Pain, or Nagato, lived in a cruel world where children were raised to be deadly soldiers, the various villages constantly committed war crimes, and violence was both a norm and a currency. So, it made sense that he would want to make a change. However, he wanted to do this by virtually destroying the current world.

The world in which Pain lived was not conducive to change. Cycles of death and violence continued generation after generation and wars were never far away. So, he tried to gather all the tailed beasts to remake the world. Thankfully, Naruto Uzumaki stopped him.

8 Orochimaru Wanted Immortality And To Raise The Dead In Naruto

Orochimaru Being Reborn From Anko's Curse Mark

Orochimaru, like every character in the Naruto series, had been deeply traumatized by the cycles of war, violence, and death. So, he resolved to find a way to achieve immortality. This required taking over the bodies of others, though.

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Furthermore, Orochimaru also devised a way to resurrect the dead, and though it was not a perfect resurrection, it was a big step in what he deemed was the right direction. Even by the events of Boruto, he is still working on these types of experiments, though his methods have calmed down a bit.

7 Stain Wanted To Kill All The Heroes In My Hero Academia

Stain from MHA

In a world run by heroes in which having a superpower (Quirk) is the norm, there are bound to be some that take advantage of their power. Those with no Quirk or with a weak Quirk are left at the mercy of those who have a strong one, leading to a social power structure that leaves many behind.

Stain, the "Hero Killer," saw the inherent problems with a world run by the few with the strongest powers, and so he took to killing heroes. His vendetta was doomed to end before it made a dent in the world power structure, but it was a big dream.

6 Death Note's Light Yagami Wanted To Eradicate All Criminals

Light holding the death note

Light Yagami had the power to kill whoever he wanted, and he could do so in a way that would be virtually untraceable. However, he was corrupted by that power and messed everything up. His goal was to kill criminals and to eradicate the world of those he deemed scum, but that task would always be too much for one person (even Shinigami don't take on the task alone). Light was also brilliant, his plan could have at least worked on a smaller scale. Unfortunately, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

5 Griffith From Berserk Wanted To Gain Ultimate Power And Become Femto

Griffith wielding a sword

Griffith hated playing second fiddle to Guts, and when Guts left him behind, he blamed Guts for all of his problems. This included the one that landed Griffith in prison. When he was finally released, he was a husk of the person he once was.

Eventually, he sought ultimate power by sacrificing his men and becoming Femto. With that power, Griffith could take over kingdoms and overthrow entire governments. He even achieved much of what he set out to. Unfortunately, he became a true villain to do so.

4 Avatar: The Last Airbender's Fire Lord Ozai Wanted To Take Over Every Nation In The World

Fire Lord Ozai will become the Phoenix King in Avatar: The Last Airbender

Fire Lord Ozai wanted to continue the pursuit of world domination that his ancestor, Fire Lord Sozin, had begun by utilizing the same comet Sozin had during his destruction of the Air Nomads. With the Earth Kingdom in his sights, he set out to realize his dream of a world ruled by the Fire Nation.

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Thankfully, Aang and his many allies and friends were able to stop Ozai, and thus save the world. Ozai's big dreams were dashed when Aang took away Ozai's bending, putting an end to the war.

3 Gendo Ikari Wanted To Bring About The Apocalypse In Evangelion

Gendo Confesses To Shinji In Evangelion Thrice Upon A Time

Gendo Ikari had multiple dreams, all of which were huge and extremely detrimental to human life. He sought to reunite with his late wife, Yui. To do so, he achieved great scientific feats in creating the Evas, but he also achieved great destruction.

Gendo and a shadowy organization worked together to bring about the end of the world. On top of that, he put the onus of bringing about his dream largely on his son, Shinji Ikari, who has a troubled relationship with his father in the first place.

2 Aizen Wanted To Restructure All Of The Afterlife In Bleach

Aizen looks down menacingly

Sōsuke Aizen is hailed as one of the best anime villains for his incredibly well-thought-out plan and his viciousness in battle. His goal was the monumental dream of taking over and restructuring the afterlife, which would have been impossible for anyone else, but Aizen did come close.

While his plan was thwarted, it was not without cost. He killed many and his long con caused turmoil throughout the entire Soul Society, and no one suspected him for the longest time due to his impressive acting skills.

1 Zeref Of Fairy Tail Wanted To Destroy A Dragon With Ultimate Power, Kill All Humans, And Then Die

Zeref smiling and talking To Natsu

Zeref had a lot of plans, all of which were extremely far-fetched. When his family died, he wanted to bring back his late little brother, something unheard of and taboo. He was then cursed with the Curse of Contradiction, which eventually made him evil.

As a Dark Mage, he not only wanted to destroy humanity, but he also wanted to stop one of the most powerful beings in existence, Acnologia. To put the icing on the cake, his final dream was to die, despite his immortality.

NEXT: 10 Anime Villains Who Sacrificed Themselves For The Hero