Once in a webcomic I was reading a character by the name of Eve ask a villain (Bellicose) if the reason he was monologuing was because it was a subconcious reaction to the guilt he felt for the evil things he was about to do.

I personally like when villains monologue. It's a good way to show the foe's mindset, their mannerisms, and their justifications for what they have and will do.

As long as it's not cornily done, I believe it's a great way to wrap things up just before or during the final push of a story. Lots of people hate it and it shouldn't be over-used, no. But think about it. How else would you go about explaining your more mysterious villains.

Some villains show up seldomly and only is around a lot at the end. I don't believe in this, but some do. And they use it to A)Keep them an enigma B)Keep them unsympathic and C)To ensure that the maximum shock is enduced when they do finally appear and are quite the force to be reckoned with.

Personally, I perfer to show my villains (even the last ones) sprinkled throughout the story. Show up a little in chapter one, then again in chapter 5, again in chapter 17, and so on. Through this I keep them an active part in the story and someone that is always seen countering the attempts to be foiled by the heroes. Through this, they become less mysterious and more a driving force that you're constantly warned to revere. I hope BTW I've done that with characters like Grendel, Kyrie, and Arren Blue.

And during these types of revealing a villain where would the time to explain them come? With my way it all the time. They could talk to their friends and give hints over and over as to why they do what they do. But with the "saved till the end way" the only way any of their motives could be reveal would be 1)by a minion who understand them, though time and again, minions are kept out of the loop of the final phase of a plan 2)by some research the heroes come across as they being to close in on the foe at hand 3)monologue by the boss themself.

Since revealing their motive might also destroy some of the fear the boss was to instill, their are always some villains that never explain themselves. I can understand a foe being so arrogant that they refuse to, but I still hate this the most.

The best explaination that was completely a monologue was in Tales of the Abyss. At the end, after seeing Van the entire game, all the heroes see him at the end and use all they've learned to question what he thinks is right. He hears each everyone of them and using his logic refutes each one. Magnificient.

So in closing, I conclude by saying, for those who seek to keep the boss a secret, I understand the monologue. I actually LIKE the monologue! So if you want, keep the monologue going... Just don't overdo it. We don't need minion #4 monologuing. heh