Which GTA San Andreas villain deserved the worst fate in the story?

Some despicable villains deserve a worse fate than others within GTA San Andreas.

For the sake of clarity, a GTA villain will be assumed to just be an antagonist toward the GTA protagonist. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of Grand Theft Auto characters cannot be considered good, so this distinction is made clear so that readers won't clump several questionable characters under the "villain" title.

There are many types of antagonists to consider for an article like this. Minor ones often get what's coming to them, so a character like Kane doesn't deserve the worst fate in the story. That said, there are more notable characters who deserved the fate they got and so much more.

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Which villain deserved the worst fate in GTA San Andreas?

Beta artwork of Officer Tenpenny (Image via Rockstar Games)

As previously mentioned, most GTA San Andreas villains got what was coming to them. There aren't many Karma Houdinis to discuss, as the vast majority of villains in the game get killed in one way or another.

The main villains, Officer Tenpenny and Big Smoke, die at the end of the game. However, there are different ways to interpret who deserved the worse fate amongst the two.

Then there are also the lesser villains, like Officer Pulaski, to consider. Like with the two major villains listed above, these lesser antagonists also get their just desserts throughout the events of GTA San Andreas.

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The minor villains of GTA San Andreas

OG Loc has a better fate than most in GTA San Andreas (Image via Ezekial (DeviantArt))

Out of the minor villains in GTA San Andreas, only OG Loc gets away virtually scot-free. He still has a successful career (in the HD canon, at least), so he unquestionably has the best ending out of all of the villains in GTA San Andreas.

Although one could argue that he deserved worse, he didn't really do much of a crime other than plagiarising some verses. That's bad, but ultimately, petty compared to what other GTA antagonists have done.

Some minor villains, like Salvatore Leone and Catalina, get a brutal ending, but that doesn't take place in GTA San Andreas. For what Salvatore does, his end makes sense in GTA San Andreas.

As for Catalina, fans could argue that she deserved much worse for what she did in GTA San Andreas, but it wouldn't be possible given the context of what happens in GTA 3.

The secondary villains of GTA San Andreas

Jizzy B and T-Bone Mendez got what was coming to them (Image via GTA Wiki)

Practically all of these secondary villains get killed, so the only fate fans could argue for would be one worse than death. Somebody like Officer Pulaski could be argued in that he deserved worse than just a stomp.

Others like Jizzy B and T-Bone Mendez have ruined many lives through their drug trade, but the true extent of such damage isn't documented that well in GTA San Andreas. Hence, it would be difficult to argue for characters like them deserving a worse fate than what they got.

The main villains of GTA San Andreas

Big Smoke is an iconic villain, but did he deserve his fate? (Image via Devil_Slayer Productions)

Out of the two primary villains, Officer Tenpenny is arguably the worst of the two personality-wise. However, Big Smoke's actions are arguably worse in that his massive drug trade is ruining the streets of Los Santos. That's not to mention how he betrayed his friends for the sake of power.

Either way, it's easy to argue that both villains deserved worse than what they got. Death is a brutal end, all things considered, but some people could see it as not comparable to the amount of damage they caused.

However, at that point, it becomes a matter of philosophy regarding if there is a fate worse than death and what it would be. The GTA series is quite simple in its story, so it's never been that deep, which in turn would just leave this topic's question to become "Which villain deserved their fated end the most in GTA San Andreas?"

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The three likely candidates

The three most likely candidates for that kind of question would be Big Smoke, Officer Tenpenny, and Officer Pulaski. However, the latter is essentially a lighter version of Tenpenny in terms of notoriety and crimes.

He outranks Pulaski, so most of the crimes in GTA San Andreas are happening on Tenpenny's watch, not so much Pulaski's.

That would leave it to just be Officer Tenpenny or Big Smoke. The latter is the more likable of the two for most fans, so they would be more inclined to say that Officer Tenpenny deserves the worse fate. That said, Tenpenny is the one who corrupts Big Smoke, so he is to be blamed for the atrocities Big Smoke is involved in.

In a way, Officer Tenpenny is the one who causes most of the wrongdoings in GTA San Andreas. He influences Big Smoke, who affects several other characters in the Los Santos and San Fierro storyline, which in turn causes many of the problems CJ bumps into.