The best antagonist in Pokemon Sword and Shield.

[WaterTypeStarter]

Team Yell who try to disrupt the player from winning for their idol. Chairman Rose who has good intentions for his actions. Or Sordward and Shieldbert who want to be the heroes instead of the legendary Pokemon.

 

[RedJirachi]

Eternatus should be on this list

 

[TornadoAdvisory]

Team Yell for me. I found it really interesting how they're essentially a group of hooligans who go out of their way to support Marnie by impeding other gym challengers, giving them some depth despite being more of a 'comically antagonistic' team like Team Skull was. Helps that their battle themes (Especially the one for Piers) are absolute bangers.

Chairman Rose was okay antagonist-wise but didn't really leave a lasting impression on me, and he just seemed suspicious from the start. Another thing I'll note is that the final battle with him is also pathetically easy, especially if you have a Cinderace or Centiskorch.

On the other hand, Sordward/Shieldbert were way too ridiculous to take seriously; To be fair though, they may have been intentionally made to come off like this judging by how other characters react to them. Funny enough, I found the battles against them more challenging than the one against Rose (The first battle was moreso because you get thrown into it right after a rival battle without getting healed, but I digress).

 

[Ignition]

Is none an option? None of SwSh’s antagonists really resonated with me. Also Oleanna should be here too.

I don’t like Yell or the twins at all so I guess Rose wins by default. He’s an interesting character but not so much as a antagonist.

 

[Akashin]

Does Team Yell even count? I mean they oppose you in places, sure, but they're not really your enemy. They're not even affiliated with your enemy, like Team Skull was to Lusamine. They're just overly excited fans that cause trouble; were it not for them having the Team name, I can't imagine we'd seriously consider them antagonists at all.

Rose is an abysmal villain, Oleanna is no better, and even if we were to count Eternatus, it isn't either. Gonna be a none of the above from me.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Answer is obviously Eternatus. The others may have done some antagonistic things but they never truly meant any harm to Galar. Rose just didn’t think things out thoroughly and part of that is to blame for how little info there was on the Darkest Day and that it was actually an extremely dangerous incident which even Sonia didn’t know about and she was actively researching the event from the beginning of the game. Rose never meant for Eternatus to become a threat to Galar. He was actually horrified when he realized what the Darkest Day really was which proves that he isn’t really a villain. Team Yell were just huge fans of Marnie and they never did anything illegal. They just acted a bit obnoxious and served as a hinderance to the player but they were still polite to people and didn’t hurt anyone or any Pokémon in the process. The twins just wanted the history of Galar to be respected and they were respectful and polite and did nothing that terribly wrong other than demanding the weapons that Zacian and Zamenta used in the past.

 

[Zhydra]

You're leaving out Avery and Karla, rivals that actually hindered you during the first half of the Isle of Armor campaign and in the final battle with them, flat out cheated.

It's pretty small scale, but they were good rivals and fit the antagonist criteria to the letter.

 

[janejane6178]

The title should change to “ Less lame”

 

[Red and Blue]

I guess Chairman Rose by default? I like Team Yell but I'd hardly call them villains. And I dont care for the two royal snobs at all.

 

[ChandelureDetour]

I feel Swordward & Shieldbert were the best out of all the antagonists. Team Yell never harmed anyone or damaged anything. Chairman Rose was worse due to letting Spikemuth fall to ruin due to no Dynamax spots around The area. Eternatus was significantly more threatening due to the Darkest day and the finale of the story. Swordward & Shieldbert were the evilest though imo. Think about it, They sabotaged dynamax spots at all the Gyms, tried to force a Pokémon who cannot Dynamax to Dynamax, talked down Hop and Sonia just for fun, erased precious history which could have stopped the modern darkest day and by extension stopped Rose from being a villain. Swordword and Shieldbert did all that just so they can be special for something they never did. Why did Rose get arrested when Swordword & Shieldbert were way worse?

Also you know how in Milos Gym a Tsareena likely was separated from their trainer/family when Swordward & Shieldbert forced it to Dynamax. Milo still has Tsareena, which implies whoever owned her never came back after the event.

 

[Luthor]

I'd have to go with Bede if he counts. He has an interesting story and while he's not the major antagonist but he so wonderfully arrogant that it is at least is fun beating him. Plus that scene with Opal made me laugh.

 

[Divine Retribution]

They were all different flavors of awful. I think Rose had the most potential but it was utterly ruined by squashing a storyline that should have spanned the entire game into about 15 minutes.

 

[Leonhart]

Rose is my favorite villain in Shield and Sword, although I still didn't think that he was as memorable as some of the previous core game villains like G-Cis (Ghetsis) or Sakaki (Giovanni).

 

[Akashin]

They were all different flavors of awful. I think Rose had the most potential but it was utterly ruined by squashing a storyline that should have spanned the entire game into about 15 minutes.

The problem with the game sidelining the player until the endgame is a fundamental one, but not one that I hold Rose at fault for directly. His plans were progressing throughout the game; we were just never directly aware of it.

I maintain that Rose's biggest problem was that the threat he was staving off was, by his own admission, a thousand years off and not in any remote need of action as drastic as his. Even something as simple as saying that under normal circumstances it would be a thousand years away but that the problem was being expedited by the rampant use of Dynamax would be preferable, because at least then there would be a sense of the problem getting worse, and also that we are at least somewhat culpable in that.

 

[RedJirachi]

Answer is obviously Eternatus

Yes. While not as developed a character as Necrozma, it is good to see that we're playing with expectations with the true antagonist being a Pokemon. Eternatus is like if H.R Giger designed St George's dragon

 

[RedBlastoise]

Eternatus but if it doesn't count then Chairman Rose would have to be the best villain in the generation 8 games. Not that that's saying much.