The Duellists

Here's something I've been pondering on: One way of building an effective gaming villain seems to be the ability to taunt the player. It would seem that to attack the player on such a psychological level would enrage the player and inspire them onward to knock nine bells out of the villain - after all if a villains doesn't make the player want to punch their face in, then the villain isn't doing their job properly. As a result, taunting the player has built some truly unforgettable villains in the form of GLaDos and SHODAN.

But here's the thing: Taunting the player effectively places me in a position of powerlessness - I can't deliver any witty comebacks to the smart-arse who won't shut up. True that may be precisely the point but whilst I, as the player, may yell at the screen, I can't help but feel that something is missing with my comebacks having little effect. After all, if a villain can make me the player angry then it's only fair I should make the villain angry, right? Thus, somehow, being represented by a silent, faceless player character makes said PC come across as being a middle man in the unfortunate position of being caught in-between a battle of wits.

Anyone whose seen the movie Red Dragon would know the relationship between Will Graham and Hannibal Lector: Hannibal hates Will and is trying to attack him in various forms - but when Will refuses to give in to the good doctor, the angrier Hannibal gets.
It's a compelling scenario and one that could really do with being transplanted into a gaming scenario. Think about it! An evil villain determined to break a character, both in mind and body, whilst the player character isn't taking that shit lying down and has an array of comebacks - both verbal and physical. And of course with both characters growing angrier with each other, this will lead to, potentially, the mother of all final showdowns.

But this scenario seems unlikely as having the player character represented by a fully-realised character does take away the personable nature of the villains mental assaults - as it's the character being taunted not the player. 
Of course, Portal had Chelle but some people awfully willing to forget that....