I think so. That is why those leaders that actually walk the walk (in the military or industry, etc.) are able to command respect, rather than rule by fear.

I'd rate them like this:

1- The Master (FO1)

2- The Calculator (FOT)

3- John Henry Eden (FO3)

4- Caesar (FONV)

5- Frank Horrigan (FO2)

Legate Lanius is a Horrigan copypasta. Bethesda already succeeded with JHE, I don't see the point of the condescending thread title.

Frank Horrigan was great for the same reason Kefka and Sephiroth was great in the FF7 series. Actually the turks too. They were encountered enough during the game - for the protagonist to build a proper relation with the antagonist.

I wouldnt call JHE bad overall, but I wouldnt go as far as calling him a success. I'd agree that the concept of JHE and the fact that he was an AI was pretty good. The writing of his character was ok aswell. However the ending storyline was so badly written and rushed imo that even though the concept of JHE was good, the voice acting was good and the presentation was good; the bad main story plot and rushed-like ending brought him down as an anticlimactic short-lived and uninteresting character. Not because uninteresting in himself, but because he died as a villain 2 minutes after he was born. (born as in the first time you interact personally).

Just my opinion, but for a villain to be good there needs to be a connection between you that makes you invested. There needs to be a believable motive. Some argue Frank Horrigan was a bad villain because he was "just a goon", but we encountered him enough to understand his nature, and for what he was - he was perfectly executed. Again this is all subjective so feel free to disagree.

I'm sorry but the last line... I love Eden but he was literally intended to be called "Richardson's consciousness".

Horrgian was there to be a sophomoric badass, Lanius is actually a pensive and nuanced character.

I'd rank the main antagonists as:

1 - The Master

2 - Mr. House

3 - Eden

4 - Caesar

5 - Legate Lanius

With notable mentions being: Ulysses, Benny;Jacoren and Lou. Horrigan is a c-list antagonist IMO.

Edit:

President Eden simply plagiarizes so much from Richardson that, even if he can be deemed a success it's onerous to attribute such to Bethesda.They sketched a figurative template at most

I've argued that there's salient differences between Richardson and Eden but I'm in the minority with a dissenting view, as most often don't consider or repudiate the nuanced dissimilitude between Eden and Richardson's individual plans.

As for me, Horrigan was more of an articulate raid boss, I would even say that Richardson was the main villain, as Caesar is in NV. In my opinion both Horrigan and Lanius are the high-powered endbosses whose ideas could be summarized as "Hurr, I kill you now just because". That's why I find the Master best, he talks and fights. You can convince him and not fight, whereas Horrigan is more like a "you can't escape combat this time" roadblock. Not that I dislike the notion of combat at the very end, but I find it rather gamey to include an arcadey endboss who merely was "the dragon". (check out TV Tropes for explanation, it even showcases Lanius)

Differing tastes for the amount of interaction then, I find a surprise reveal to be much better and impressing. The only way I can be more impressed is someone I knew turned out to be something more: Like a certain individual we see many times and then again at the end with his true identity revealed in VtM Bloodlines. In fact, JHE also fits this formula due to radio broadcasts, we hear way more from him than we ever did from Horrigan.

As usual with Bethesda stories, explosions will take precedent over ethical pursuits

I hope i'm wrong...

I included one character from each game only, it'd be a different list if I included multiple from the same game. I could include more from FOT and FONV. I'd still consider JHE to be a properly-done Richardson, then again, I consider the whole Enclave business to be rather out of place for FO3, but I guess they wanted to not venture too far in an atmosphere where NMA crowd was up in arms and the game's success was yet an unknown. It suffered a lot from that, especially with VATS baggage. I agree that Lanius is a properly-done Horrigan this time with many skill checks and even endings. Yet still, a "the dragon" so feels like an underwhelming pre-end boss.

I honestly never saw anyone in Fallout 2 to be a specific antagonist, just the Enclave in general to be the antagonist. There are some significant characters within the faction, but I never saw any of them significant enough to be considered a specific antagonist. Frank Horrigan was the final boss and he is most certainly intimidating, but it doesn't make him a compelling antagonist in the slightest. Spews a few lines and then demands your death regardless of what you say.

I actually find Lanius and Caesar to be one of the better antagonist of the Fallout series solely for just the dialogue with them alone. Elijah being another one.

I could never find anything compelling about Eden considering he was practically a rip off of both Richardson and the Master just mashed together, like a lot of Fallout 3's plot to be honest.

Just out of curiosity, has there ever been a plot in Fo that didn't make sense?