Pirates can come in many different styles and ways, with acts such as plundering, murdering, stealing, piracy, or breaking a large amount of laws, usually for financial purposes.

Some Pirates can be leaders of a "crew" of other people that see the same ways as they do, but may ultimately get betrayed or "mutinied" against by their plunder buddies.

Military villains associated with naval warfare can go under this category.

Since piracy, as it was practiced in classical times, is often romanticized in fiction, many works feature "good pirates" as well as evil ones.