Villains who have been the victims of brainwashing and/or possession. Possession means that the host's body was taken over by a demon or other form of evil spirit, and brainwashing means that the host was hypnotized, mind controlled, bitten by a rabid animal, etc. Possessed/Brainwashed characters only count as villains if they spend more time under the influence in the story than they do with their normal personalities and thus are better recognizable in their possessed/brainwashed states, or if they are villains to begin with and are simply brought down into further depravity by the influence of other evildoers. Sometimes, a villain being brainwashed by another villain will end up as a slave to said villain; and other times, if the villain ends up brainwashed, the villain may end up turning to the good side.

It's important to note that none of these characters are Complete Monsters nor Near Pure Evils. No matter how cruel, sadistic or unnecessary their actions were, it's never completely their fault since they were being controlled by someone else.

Even if, in a very rare case, Complete Monster and Near Pure Evil villains have been possessed/brainwashed by someone else, it should go under Pawns instead of this category. Additionally, in rarer cases, a villain who's meant to LOOK pure evil in a flashback or the legacies of their evil actions can have their pure evil status retconned via snapping out of a possessed/brainwashed state and deciding they like their new life better.

IMPORTANT: do not create pages based on the following category: long-time heroes who are only briefly controlled by villains.