It's funny how people's opinions of characters form, because I would never have guessed a lot of them.

Redcloak is never someone who struck me as admirable really, though his new spine since the Battle for Azure City makes him a lot more interesting. The thing about Redcloak to me is that he just seems so (emotionally) weak and self-obsessed, and the fact that the "villain just trying to save their oppressed people" thing is so overplayed in media that I can't take it seriously.

Xykon is hilarious, and threatening when he needs to be, but it's hard to take him seriously as a villain. He's pretty dim, though not as much as he'd like people to believe, and has serious issues focusing. Still, him and Redcloak as a team make a good villain; Team Evil gets his spine and raw magical power, plus Redcloak's brains and ability to inspire minions.

Nale is my favorite villain, and it's so weird to me that so many people want him gone. In terms of effectiveness, his plans have been pretty well thought-out and actually gotten pretty close; his first plan was defeated by blatant Deus ex Machina, his second was seconds away from succeeding when Elan burst in, and his "Find the Gate" one was only fouled by V's genocide spell. He's got interesting characterization, especially his relationships with Sabine and his father, and is pretty funny. Not BBEG material, but a solid second-stringer villain.

Tarquin gets a lot of flak/love for being a master of just-according-to-plan, but he really hasn't struck me as nearly as invincible as people like to say. He's smart, and that's a good thing in a villain, but incredibly overconfident and somewhat disconnected from reality. Apart from his weird "haha, let's keep reminding the audience I'm a serial rapist" thing, a pretty solidly interesting villain.

Tsukiko was better than Redcloak, in every way. She was more interesting, had more potential for character growth, and nearly as powerful despite her unfavorable multiclassing. She will be missed.

Miko was cool at first, but got old quickly. Good riddance.