Definitely Voldemort. We know who he is even when we do not speak his name. Because, after all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things–terrible, yes, but great.
Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to be a villain but no other character has ever sent chills up my spine like he does. Pure selfishness in a violent, manipulative shell. What havok did he play in such insidious ways!
Probably not your typical villain, but there is no character I hated more by the end of a book than Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Not so much evil as really stupid (which is its own evil, isn't it?).
Simon Legree is the greatest villian in fiction. In fact he was so dispicable that his brutality was partially credited with starting the American Civil War.
I would have to say It is the greatest villain–both in Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time (the book that got me addicted to sci-fi/fantasy) and in Stephen King's It (that scared the bejeezus out of me.)
When I saw Iago, I immediately thought, "The parrot from Aladdin? He wasn't that bad!"
I needs to brush up on me Shakespeare.
Greatest Villain in Fiction goes to: Dolores Umbridge, HP:Order of the Phoenix
No one character ever got under my skin more than she did. Sure Voldemort is trying to kill everyone and take over the world, blah, blah, blah.
But Umbridge's sadism, sense of propriety and the insufferable decor of her office (so much pink!) just made me squirm.
Stephen King agrees, as he "noted the success of any novel is due to a great villain, with Umbridge as the "greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter…".
Voldemort, definitely. I may be biased toward all things Harry Potter, but Voldemort has so much more dimension than any other villain. Throughout the series we see that he is more than "evil for evil's sake" but there was a process to his evil. It's a human transformation. Hannibal isn't a bad choice for this reason either, but I prefer Voldy.
lestI teach British literature and every semester my students say they hate Gertrude (from Hamlet) more than any other character they have ever read. This could be because more watch the movie than read the play and are completely grossed out when she makes out with her son, but for whatever resaon, they absolutely LOATHE her…
I think the society in Unwind is one of the best villains, if you want to expand the definition of villains. So frightening because it wasn't just one person doing evil acts, it was the WHOLE society supporting them.
no doubt it has to be, from the books that i've read, annie wilkes from stephen king's misery. she literally had me squirming at night thinking about her pure sadistic evil. eeeee. then there was mrs. danvers of rebecca. she sent chills up my spine in the scene where she's chiding the MC into jumping from the window. two other good ones are voldemort, of course, and umbridge.
1. They threaten you mentally, not physically. A physical threat is a lot easier to deal with, it's tangible, you can respond to it. A mental threat… not so much.
2. They believe they're right or justified.
3. They do things their own way. It's one thing to be threatened with death by a serial killer, another to be threatened by being eaten.
And with that, I'd put Pennywise from Stephen King's IT near the top of the list.
1. He becomes whatever you fear. Afraid of werewolves, he becomes a werewolf. He doesn't just want to kill you physically, he wants to terrify you mentally. 'Cause you taste better. No better evidence of this than the suicide that occurs when one of the characters learns he has to go back to face It.
2. He needs to feed. If he doesn't eat, he'll die. From his perspective, it's black and white. You have to die so that he can live. And centuries of doing this have messed with his head a little.
3. He doesn't just kill children, he kills them by being what they fear the most.
I've never really read anything recently with a tangible villain… but since this is fiction, then I'm at least mentioning Azazel — The Yellow-Eyed Demon. He's pure evil. He's in it all for himself, and he doesn't care who dies in the process. Top that with a great sense of humor and a personality like Jack Nicholson, and you've got yourself a great villain.
I'm going to interpret best as most interesting and vote for Ahab from Moby Dick. I mean, the guy basically wants to symbolically kill God. That's pretty messed up and oh so compelling to read (at least during the interesting parts of that massive tome).
Oh goodness, how am I supposed to pick the GREATEST? Satan in PARADISE LOST(and most Satan analogies, such as the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia). The priest in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. I thought Broud in THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR was pretty brutal. What about Big Brother in 1984? Can we count things like that? Or characters like Briony from ATONEMENT? I sometimes think these characters are more interesting than the straight-up "I'm evil!" guys, but they seem more insidious because they aren't so obvious. I'm not sure they count as villains for our purpose, though.
Erasmus OR Omnius from the DUNE novels by Frank Herbert.
Two major characters which are 'thinking machine' robots, with Erasmus effectively igniting the Machine jihad because of his actions. Truly evil is this one, as all humans are fodder for his experiments.
One word names seem to emphasize importance, or individualism, and in some cases, are intended to evoke fear, anxiety, etc.
Great question and I'm sure there will be a lot of different bad guys showing up in the comments to this post. Human and otherwise.
The Alien Entity in Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. You don't know what it is, where it came from or what's going to happen when it absorbs the earth, but in the meantime it's turning all the children into telekinetic zombies. I love Clarke, but I wanted to vomit when I finished reading that book. Literally, it went right to my stomach and I felt ill for several days.
Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter drove me crazy. She was sadistic with a sugar-coated voice; she used other's weaknesses against them and enjoyed laughing at them; she thought she was always right. But you know what was creepiest about Umbridge to me? She liked kitties. It just did NOT fit with her personality. And she had waaayyyy too many.
Mrs. Danvers, definitely. We saw an English television production of REBECCA some years ago with Diana Rigg as Mrs. Danvers and all I have to do is say that name to make my daughter shudder. 🙂
It's not literary, but my favorite villain of all time is Rotti Largo, from Repo: The Genetic Opera. He's got his reasons, he's got a plan, he makes a promise and he never breaks it. Respectable and evil, all rolled up into one.
I have to agree with many of the posters here that King, L'Engle, Shakespeare and Rowling do a wonderful job of bringing some of the best villians to print, theater and the movies.
But don't forget Clive Barker, HP Lovecraft, Alfred Hitchcock or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson. I am just glad that literature filled with so many "good" bad guys. What would these books be without a strong villian? What would The Stand be without Flagg or Othello be without Iago?
lora96 says
Cathy in East of Eden or Wen Fu in The Kitchen God's Wife. Although he did have two names.
Jamie says
Definitely Hannibal…evil never looked so good!
Jenn Marie says
Mordred. That little jerk packed a historical punch.
Alyson says
Definitely Voldemort. We know who he is even when we do not speak his name. Because, after all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things–terrible, yes, but great.
Goodness I'm Harry Potter deprived.
Anonymous says
Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to be a villain but no other character has ever sent chills up my spine like he does. Pure selfishness in a violent, manipulative shell. What havok did he play in such insidious ways!
Sarah W says
Eleanor Shaw Iselin from Richard Condon's The Manchurian Candidate is just about the most cold-blooded character I've ever read.
What she does to her own son, and what she allows to happen to him, is monstrous and unforgiveable.
I guess that doesn't make her the greatest—just the worst, sorry . . .
Jess says
The Grand High Witch in Roald Dahl's The Witches used to give me nightmares…then again, so did too much of Mom's attempt at green bean casserole.
Tahereh says
DOUBLE RAINBOWS are the greatest villains of all time.
they have been known to make FULL GROWN MEN WEEP and question everything they've ever known.
also ahab is kind of legit.
Dawn says
I have a love/hate relationship with Gretchen from Chelsea Cain's thrillers. She's like the female version of Hannibal, and in some ways, deadlier.
Anonymous says
Wow, green bean casserole as the greatest villain!
Christopher Walken played such a psychologically evil guy that I couldn't watch him in another movie for many years until I learned that he dances.
The Borg were pretty bad too.
Villains that start with The.
(i.e., The Devil.)
Anyone or thing that could take someone's humanity or loved one is the most evil to me.
One of the worst villains is drugs.
Julia Rachel Barrett says
Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. But…Cathy in East of Eden is pretty much the epitome of the sociopath!
Joseph Adams says
Probably not your typical villain, but there is no character I hated more by the end of a book than Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Not so much evil as really stupid (which is its own evil, isn't it?).
Christy says
Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca was definitely creepy. Also, the White Witch from Narnia was pure evil, and even scarier when I saw her on the big screen.
Stu Pitt says
Judge Holden in "Blood Meridian"
Melissa Gill says
Simon Legree is the greatest villian in fiction. In fact he was so dispicable that his brutality was partially credited with starting the American Civil War.
Vicki Schultz says
I would have to say It is the greatest villain–both in Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time (the book that got me addicted to sci-fi/fantasy) and in Stephen King's It (that scared the bejeezus out of me.)
Bluestocking Mum says
Oh no Nathan – Bill Sykes is far more the villain than Fagin!
For me, greatest villain has to come from my greatest novel so it's Alec d'Urberville – Tess of the d'Urbevilles.
Vincent Kale says
When I saw Iago, I immediately thought, "The parrot from Aladdin? He wasn't that bad!"
I needs to brush up on me Shakespeare.
Greatest Villain in Fiction goes to:
Dolores Umbridge, HP:Order of the Phoenix
No one character ever got under my skin more than she did. Sure Voldemort is trying to kill everyone and take over the world, blah, blah, blah.
But Umbridge's sadism, sense of propriety and the insufferable decor of her office (so much pink!) just made me squirm.
Stephen King agrees, as he "noted the success of any novel is due to a great villain, with Umbridge as the "greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter…".
Polenth says
I like Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar from Neverwhere. They're totally evil, but also more than a little odd. It makes a change from bland evil.
Robin says
Its a toss up between Hannibal Lector and Annie Wilkes (Misery).
But then again, there is always Satan from Paradise Lost (Milton)
E.J. Wesley says
THE GRINCH.
the quiet one says
humbert humbert.
i find him truly evil because he makes you feel bad for him, you actually sympathize with his cause, despicable.
ms. danvers is a great one too.
Jen Stayrook says
Voldemort, definitely. I may be biased toward all things Harry Potter, but Voldemort has so much more dimension than any other villain. Throughout the series we see that he is more than "evil for evil's sake" but there was a process to his evil. It's a human transformation. Hannibal isn't a bad choice for this reason either, but I prefer Voldy.
Jennifer says
lestI teach British literature and every semester my students say they hate Gertrude (from Hamlet) more than any other character they have ever read. This could be because more watch the movie than read the play and are completely grossed out when she makes out with her son, but for whatever resaon, they absolutely LOATHE her…
Heather Dixon says
The Child-catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
and
Mr. Teatime from Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
Sarah N Fisk says
I think the society in Unwind is one of the best villains, if you want to expand the definition of villains. So frightening because it wasn't just one person doing evil acts, it was the WHOLE society supporting them.
Also, honest Iago is awesomely bad.
Aleeza says
no doubt it has to be, from the books that i've read, annie wilkes from stephen king's misery. she literally had me squirming at night thinking about her pure sadistic evil. eeeee. then there was mrs. danvers of rebecca. she sent chills up my spine in the scene where she's chiding the MC into jumping from the window.
two other good ones are voldemort, of course, and umbridge.
Dana says
How about Cruella de Vil. She wanted to kill puppies to make a fir coat. Or Morgana from King Arthur.
Dave @ A Writer's Look says
A great villain to me requires three things:
1. They threaten you mentally, not physically. A physical threat is a lot easier to deal with, it's tangible, you can respond to it. A mental threat… not so much.
2. They believe they're right or justified.
3. They do things their own way. It's one thing to be threatened with death by a serial killer, another to be threatened by being eaten.
And with that, I'd put Pennywise from Stephen King's IT near the top of the list.
1. He becomes whatever you fear. Afraid of werewolves, he becomes a werewolf. He doesn't just want to kill you physically, he wants to terrify you mentally. 'Cause you taste better. No better evidence of this than the suicide that occurs when one of the characters learns he has to go back to face It.
2. He needs to feed. If he doesn't eat, he'll die. From his perspective, it's black and white. You have to die so that he can live. And centuries of doing this have messed with his head a little.
3. He doesn't just kill children, he kills them by being what they fear the most.
And come on. He's a CLOWN.
Those things are creepy to begin with.
Becca says
I've never really read anything recently with a tangible villain… but since this is fiction, then I'm at least mentioning Azazel — The Yellow-Eyed Demon. He's pure evil. He's in it all for himself, and he doesn't care who dies in the process. Top that with a great sense of humor and a personality like Jack Nicholson, and you've got yourself a great villain.
Claudie says
Well, I know he's from a movie, but the SS Colonel Hans Landa deserves a mention here.
I'm not sure I'm qualified for this, though. I always end up rooting for villains, no matter how bad.
Joann Swanson says
Gonna have to go with the dark man (Randall Flagg) in The Stand. M-O-O-N, that spells: any guy who can turn into a crow at will gets my vote.
Joann Swanson says
@Dave – Pennywise was a close second for me, mainly because of the clown issue. Clowns = scary.
Matthew Rush says
Sauron. Hands down. Besides, Ahab is more like a victim. The villain in that story is Moby the Dick.
wry wryter says
Cancer
Brings the meanest baddest son of bitches to their knees.
and
The hunter who shot Bambi's mom. I still get nightmares. I think he died of triggerfingerdeckaphobia.
J. R. McLemore says
The first villain to come to my mind is Chigur in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Hannibal is my second most-feared.
otherside89girl says
Uriah Heep. Funniest, strangest, saddest little villain I've ever met.
Michael Pickett says
I'm going to interpret best as most interesting and vote for Ahab from Moby Dick. I mean, the guy basically wants to symbolically kill God. That's pretty messed up and oh so compelling to read (at least during the interesting parts of that massive tome).
ryan field says
Edmund from King Lear.
Kristin Laughtin says
Oh goodness, how am I supposed to pick the GREATEST? Satan in PARADISE LOST(and most Satan analogies, such as the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia). The priest in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. I thought Broud in THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR was pretty brutal. What about Big Brother in 1984? Can we count things like that? Or characters like Briony from ATONEMENT? I sometimes think these characters are more interesting than the straight-up "I'm evil!" guys, but they seem more insidious because they aren't so obvious. I'm not sure they count as villains for our purpose, though.
D.G. Hudson says
Erasmus OR Omnius from the DUNE novels by Frank Herbert.
Two major characters which are 'thinking machine' robots, with Erasmus effectively igniting the Machine jihad because of his actions. Truly evil is this one, as all humans are fodder for his experiments.
One word names seem to emphasize importance, or individualism, and in some cases, are intended to evoke fear, anxiety, etc.
Great question and I'm sure there will be a lot of different bad guys showing up in the comments to this post. Human and otherwise.
E. A. Provost says
The Alien Entity in Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. You don't know what it is, where it came from or what's going to happen when it absorbs the earth, but in the meantime it's turning all the children into telekinetic zombies. I love Clarke, but I wanted to vomit when I finished reading that book. Literally, it went right to my stomach and I felt ill for several days.
Taffy says
Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter drove me crazy. She was sadistic with a sugar-coated voice; she used other's weaknesses against them and enjoyed laughing at them; she thought she was always right. But you know what was creepiest about Umbridge to me? She liked kitties. It just did NOT fit with her personality. And she had waaayyyy too many.
Janny says
Mrs. Danvers, definitely. We saw an English television production of REBECCA some years ago with Diana Rigg as Mrs. Danvers and all I have to do is say that name to make my daughter shudder. 🙂
Tchann says
It's not literary, but my favorite villain of all time is Rotti Largo, from Repo: The Genetic Opera. He's got his reasons, he's got a plan, he makes a promise and he never breaks it. Respectable and evil, all rolled up into one.
Bryan Russell (Ink) says
Judge Holden – Blood Meridian, or, The Evening Redness in the West (by Cormac McCarthy).
Chigurh is a close second. Also by McCarthy. Hmmmm. Pattern?
Mac says
Darth Vader
D.G. Hudson says
@E. A. Provost: Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End was the first sci-fi book I read, the one that started me reading every sci-fi book I could find.
Different impressions for different tastes, I suppose. Perhaps the age that we read these books could result in a variety of impressions.
Jessie Andersen says
Professor Moriarty.
Robert Michael says
I have to agree with many of the posters here that King, L'Engle, Shakespeare and Rowling do a wonderful job of bringing some of the best villians to print, theater and the movies.
But don't forget Clive Barker, HP Lovecraft, Alfred Hitchcock or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson. I am just glad that literature filled with so many "good" bad guys. What would these books be without a strong villian? What would The Stand be without Flagg or Othello be without Iago?
I shudder to think…