User blog comment:Tysonjackson/Big Bad discussions/@comment-11331875-20150530070001

The problem is is that we don't know what we should use to classify characters as being "Big Bads," "Little Bads," or neither. Should we say there's only one Big Bad per season, or should we say that there are multiple ones -- and if there are more than one, what qualifications does a villain need to meet to be considered a co-Big Bad? Does the number of episodes they appear in/are mentioned in matter as to if they are considered a Big Bad, or is it who comes out on top in the last episode? If a character acts as an ally in the majority of the season, only to turn full-fledged villain at the end of the season, should we really say they've been a recurring antagonist all along? If a character acts as an enemy in part of one season but as an ally in another part, can we consider them the Little Bad?

I can feel confident in all but one of my choices for Big Bads per season: Azazel (Season 1, Season 2), Lilith (Season 3, Season 4), Lucifer (Season 5), Crowley (Season 6, Season 8), Dick Roman (Season 7), and Metatron and Abaddon (Season 9). I'd argue that there is no Big Bad for Season 10 -- the Winchesters don't focus on fighting an external enemy, but the threat of an internal one. No enemy in that season is important enough to be labeled a Big Bad.

Figuring out who should be classified as the "Little Bads" per season is harder because there are so many antagonists who are said to qualify, but so many of them appear so infrequently, have such little impact on the plot, or their antagonism isn't revealed until extremely late in the season -- any one of which makes me hesitate to say that they should be ranked as almost on-par with the Big Bads.

As of right now, I would say that the Little Bads per season are: Meg (Season 1), Bela Talbot (Season 3), Alastair (Season 4), Zachariah (Season 5), Eve and Raphael (Season 6), Edgar (Season 7), Naomi (Season 8), Gadreel (Season 9), and Rowena and Metatron (Season 10). As I would say that Season 10 has no Big Bad, I would say that Season 2 has no Little Bad. I'm not counting Ruby as Season 3 or 4's Little Bad, or Metatron as Season 8's, because their true intentions were plot-twists near the end of their respective season finales and thus they were not presented as enemies, which (at the moment) disqualifies them from Little Bad status in my eyes. I don't classify Lucifer/Hallucifer as Season 7's Little Bad because he was a manifestation of Sam's mental illness, i.e. the threat of an internal enemy, like the Mark, which shouldn't qualify because it's not real (Hallucifer) / alive (the Mark). I know that people believe that Season 5's Little Bads were the Four Horsemen (and Michael), that the Special Children might be considered Season 2's, and/or the Stynes Season 10's, but each one of the individual characters only gets one episode, or two at most, and I dislike making an entire group a season's Big Bad/Little Bad -- otherwise, why not say "Demons" or "Angels" or "Leviathans" are the Big Bads?

I'm discounting Castiel as a Big or Little Bad from Season 6 because he is still presented as a protagonist (albeit a misled one) even after the reveal that he is working with Crowley, and someone whom the other heroes don't want to defeat so much as keep him from going down the wrong path. The only episode in which his actions are truly antagonistic is the finale, which, as I've mentioned for Ruby and Metatron, I think is too late to qualify as a season Big/Little Bad. The same goes for Demon!Dean, who is not an enemy who must be killed but a fallen protagonist whom the other heroes try to save.

My list at the moment:

Season 1

Big Bad(s): Azazel

Little Bad(s): Meg

Season 2

Big Bad(s): Azazel

Little Bad(s): N/A

Season 3

Big Bad(s): Lilith

Little Bad(s): Bela Talbot

Season 4

Big Bad(s): Lilith

Little Bad(s): Alastair

Season 5

Big Bad(s): Lucifer

Little Bad(s): Zachariah

Season 6

Big Bad(s): Crowley

Little Bad(s): Eve and Raphael

Season 7

Big Bad(s): Dick Roman

Little Bad(s): Edgar

Season 8

Big Bad(s): Crowley

Little Bad(s): Naomi

Season 9

Big Bad(s): Metatron and Abaddon

Little Bad(s): Gadreel

Season 10

Big Bad(s): N/A

Little Bad(s): Rowena and Metatron

But on another note, should we even try to sort villains into "Big Bads" or "Little Bads"? It causes so many arguments and so much confusion, and it's not even relevant to the wikia because it doesn't pertain to anything in-universe; it's just fan opinion (particularly, the Little Bad category). If we can't come to a consensus, should we even keep this as a category?