Going by who scared me the most, Annie Wilkes, for sure. I've never been so tense reading a book.
But let's not discount the Vogon leader in Hitchhiker's Guide. Annie Wilkes will cut off your foot, Voldemort will kill you but at least they don't force you to listen to their poetry.
There are so many great villains that I don't think I could ever choose just one, but I do want to mention someone who hasn't been named yet (I don't think): "Carrie's" Chris Hargensen. Pure evil.
I know he's not the villain one typically thinks of when thinking of Lord of the Rings, but I would have to vote for Gollum. His motives are pretty clear, but it's always interesting to see just how far he'll go to reach his goals. And unlike Sauron, there's more of a sense that Gollum just made some mistakes that led him to become a creepy little frog-like stalker.
Second choice: Cathy Ames in East of Eden. Oh, how I despised her!
Ooh, from my latest readings, gotta be Mayor Prentiss from the Patrick Ness novels (The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask & The Answer, Monsters of Men). The man is clever, manipulative, powerful, scary & gets in your head. Literally.
I tend to like creepy cool villains that make your shoulder blades itch just thinking about their evil genious. Saladin in The Forever King is one of my favorites.
And Janoo Bai from the Far Pavilions is also evil. Considering she's a minor character without much page time, she manages to destroy the lives of most of the other characters in her pursuit of the throne.
Voldemort is a dirty little snake! However I'd also like to add someone I'm currently writing… He is a nasty man also known as The Collector. A serial killer of epic and evil porportions.
One of the ones who freaked me out when I was teaching middle and high school was Mrs. Coulter from His Dark Materials trilogy. She was just plain creepy!
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."
You just described my ex-boyfriend.
I also have to agree about Alec from Tess of the D'Urbervilles, although her family didn't help matters, and Angel was a big baby, so Alec had some help being villainous.
And Humbert Humbert because you don't think he's a villain for most of Lolita. Any book that makes me feel complicit in the villainy has a damn good villain.
Randall Flagg is pretty high up there, partly because he had a "why not?" approach to evil that made it appealing.
But for me, it's Arnold Friend from Joyce Carol Oates' Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Twenty years after reading it, I still get the chills just thinking about it.
In, I Know This Much Is True by Lamb, the Birdsey twins had an evil step father that I still sometimes think about. Oh sure, he had remorse at a later point in time (reminds me of men I've dated) but it didn't erase the mess that he effected when he was at the top of his game.
Gotta give some love to the bogeyman. He's unique to me because, in spite of being one of the best known villains of all time, there's no single iconic version of him. Whatever scares you the most, that's what he is.
Also want to shout out to Magua from Last of the Mohicans. If there's one black list you don't want to be on, it's his.
Finally, another vote for Judge Holden in Blood Meridian. After I read it for the first time, it felt like evil didn't really exist before him.
Voldemort, shmoldemort. I'm going with the others that vote for Umbridge. She is the epitome of what evil looks like. Why? Because true evil looks trustworthy. True evil speaks in a kind, polite voice. True evil is irrational to others but extremely rational to itself. True evil is always trusting to itself. Dolores Umbridge defines the greatest villain in fiction.
Quoted from above: "Umbridge. Voldemort knew he was evil, but Umbridge did evil in the name of good.
It makes me unbelievably sad when I think about how I'll never wait in another midnight line for a new Harry Potter book."
YES! I have read since I was old enough to speak, but I have never hated a character so much as I hated one Miss Delores Umbridge. And this comment nailed it. She wasn't evil for evil's sake and she wasn't evil because she wanted something for her own. She was evil because she thought what she was doing was RIGHT. That's the scariest kind of evil and the one that gets most people hurt and killed.
I felt Harry's isolation and frustration when dealing with her. She couldn't be reasoned with and she was in a position of authority, so she couldn't be smacked down.
Voldemort, as horrific as he was, could almost be understood. At the base of his existence was the will to survive and to defeat death. None of us would go that far, but it's something we can understand (and that in its own right makes him a great villain), but it's that character who's fighting for the establishment – a wrong, evil establishment – and doing it with an air of righteousness that makes my blood boil and scares me as well. Voldemort didn't care if he was wrong. Umbridge didn't even realize she was wrong.
She makes me angry just thinking about her! But oh how I'd hate to have to deal with her. She is, truly, a formidable foe.
He didn't creep me out in the book as much as the TV series, but Arthur Huntingdon from Anne Bronte's 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' gave me the creeps. Rupert Graves did such an excellent, playing Arthur as both the cute playboy as well as the drunk abusive husband. One of the creepiest things was how he was the kind of man that you could understand why the MC fell for him.
I can't be original on this one, just agree with a bunch of others.
Umbridge was much worse than Voldemort in many ways, though I think Voldy was worse before he became ALL POWERFUL.
The Joker in No Man's Land scared the liver out of me. Definitely not your children's comic book kind of guy, and possibly even scarier than in the latest movie (I haven't reread the book since the movie came out, so I can't judge for sure).
I don't read Stephen King because he's too scary, and based on what I've seen here, I'm right in that assessment and he probably deserves all the kudos he's getting. However, I do like the occasional Dean Koontz, and Junior Cain in From the Corner of His Eye is an awesome bad guy. He is truly evil, and makes me sick reading him, but he also provides comic relief. It's twisted, but it works.p
Gilbert Osmond, Portrait of a Lady. Pure evil shellacked with all that civility. And from my kids: the other mother (coraline), Voldemort, the jacks (Graveyard Book)
Lynn Oldenburg says
Going by who scared me the most, Annie Wilkes, for sure. I've never been so tense reading a book.
But let's not discount the Vogon leader in Hitchhiker's Guide. Annie Wilkes will cut off your foot, Voldemort will kill you but at least they don't force you to listen to their poetry.
Erin McGuire says
Cersei from Game of Thrones, anyone?
CageFightingBlogger says
Begbie from Trainspotting or Miss Trunchbull from Roald Dahl's Matilda. What a bitch…
Victoria Parsley says
Hmm, Iago or Mordred. Mordred was scary, the way he took revenge. But Iago….
Ted says
Nurse Ratched from ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Determined to use institutional power to crush the human spirit.
DG says
JAWS
Kelly Wittmann says
There are so many great villains that I don't think I could ever choose just one, but I do want to mention someone who hasn't been named yet (I don't think): "Carrie's" Chris Hargensen. Pure evil.
Anonymous says
Humperdinck.
Anonymous says
I know he's not the villain one typically thinks of when thinking of Lord of the Rings, but I would have to vote for Gollum. His motives are pretty clear, but it's always interesting to see just how far he'll go to reach his goals. And unlike Sauron, there's more of a sense that Gollum just made some mistakes that led him to become a creepy little frog-like stalker.
Second choice: Cathy Ames in East of Eden. Oh, how I despised her!
Lora T.
Brittany says
He who must not be named. You can't even say his name!
Rebecca Hawkins says
Ooh, from my latest readings, gotta be Mayor Prentiss from the Patrick Ness novels (The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask & The Answer, Monsters of Men). The man is clever, manipulative, powerful, scary & gets in your head. Literally.
Nicole says
I tend to like creepy cool villains that make your shoulder blades itch just thinking about their evil genious. Saladin in The Forever King is one of my favorites.
And Janoo Bai from the Far Pavilions is also evil. Considering she's a minor character without much page time, she manages to destroy the lives of most of the other characters in her pursuit of the throne.
Jen says
Voldemort is a dirty little snake! However I'd also like to add someone I'm currently writing… He is a nasty man also known as The Collector. A serial killer of epic and evil porportions.
Ronnie says
Randall Flagg – The Stand
Diana says
Villians are so much more fun than heroes. And far more subtle!
Iago.
Best. Villian. Ever.
The Frisky Virgin says
My top three:
Voldemort is certainly one of the greatest villains. Anyone who kills in order to achieve immortality is as vicious as they come.
The White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia always terrified me as a child–a world where it is always winter, but never Christmas is horrifying.
Dracula. Period. No explanation needed. I still have goosebumps from reading about the Count.
Hattie says
One of the ones who freaked me out when I was teaching middle and high school was Mrs. Coulter from His Dark Materials trilogy. She was just plain creepy!
WonderGirl says
Morgoth! Because he taught Sauron everything he knew.
O'Brien from Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Alwyn says
I may just be saying this because the fantastic new BBC series is on my mind. But Professor Moriarty. The original Criminal Mastermind!
Bill says
Iago is definitely slimy and petty, but how about Mr. O'Brien in 1984?
Marjorie says
Simon Legree
Sam Hranac says
Put me down with the Hannibal crowd.
Emily White says
Dracula.
Few villains in the history of villains have been emulated as much as he has.
Melanie 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."
You just described my ex-boyfriend.
I also have to agree about Alec from Tess of the D'Urbervilles, although her family didn't help matters, and Angel was a big baby, so Alec had some help being villainous.
And Humbert Humbert because you don't think he's a villain for most of Lolita. Any book that makes me feel complicit in the villainy has a damn good villain.
Chuck H. says
@Peter Dudley
I fart in your general direction.
Everyone knows that the worst villian of all time is . . . What were we talking about? Damn, I hate getting old.
Keely Hutton says
Gollum – The Hobbit
Possessed Regan MacNeil – The Exorcist
The first book gave me nightmares as a child, the second as an adult.
Christian Yorke says
PATRICK BATEMAN!
Best wishes,
CY
Rebecca says
Randall Flagg is pretty high up there, partly because he had a "why not?" approach to evil that made it appealing.
But for me, it's Arnold Friend from Joyce Carol Oates' Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Twenty years after reading it, I still get the chills just thinking about it.
swampfox says
Everyone has good reason to nominate the villains they did. Here's a couple that haven't been mentioned:
Baron Vladimir Harkonen and The Joker.
The Day Job: A Writer's Inquiry says
I think probably Count Rugen from Princess Bride. To thrive off of the pain of others…Seriously bad news.
Terry Stonecrop says
I'm chiming in on Hannibal. Beyond scary.
Sheila Cull says
In, I Know This Much Is True by Lamb, the Birdsey twins had an evil step father that I still sometimes think about. Oh sure, he had remorse at a later point in time (reminds me of men I've dated) but it didn't erase the mess that he effected when he was at the top of his game.
Lawrence says
In a nod to this blog's color scheme, I nominate Alex of A Clockwork Orange.
Thomas Taylor says
Mrs Tweedy from Chicken Run.
abc says
Snipe was pretty bad, too. He had us all fooled.
Cathy from East of Eden is a great pick. Been so long since I read that one.
John Connolly comes up with some pretty scary individuals.
Darnit, I can't decide.
T. Anne says
Hannibal or satan. Either or.
John says
Gotta give some love to the bogeyman. He's unique to me because, in spite of being one of the best known villains of all time, there's no single iconic version of him. Whatever scares you the most, that's what he is.
Also want to shout out to Magua from Last of the Mohicans. If there's one black list you don't want to be on, it's his.
Finally, another vote for Judge Holden in Blood Meridian. After I read it for the first time, it felt like evil didn't really exist before him.
Greg Mongrain says
I think Blofeld and S.P.E.C.T.R.E. I mean, come on, these guys were trying to take over the world.
But James Bond wouldn't let them.
John says
Oh, and Briony Tallis from Atonement.
Nothing worse than someone who ruins lives because they think they're doing the right thing.
Cathi says
Voldemort…definitely Voldemort. Harry let him off way too easy….
Bekki says
The sorcerer Brandin, from Guy Gavriel Kay's TIGANA.
Destroyed an entire country and then bespelled the rest of the world so that nobody could remember the country.
Anonymous says
Randall Flagg, or whatever he calls himself!!!
T.J. says
Voldemort, shmoldemort. I'm going with the others that vote for Umbridge. She is the epitome of what evil looks like. Why? Because true evil looks trustworthy. True evil speaks in a kind, polite voice. True evil is irrational to others but extremely rational to itself. True evil is always trusting to itself. Dolores Umbridge defines the greatest villain in fiction.
Darin says
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
Jen P says
Lady Macbeth.
Kelly says
Quoted from above: "Umbridge. Voldemort knew he was evil, but Umbridge did evil in the name of good.
It makes me unbelievably sad when I think about how I'll never wait in another midnight line for a new Harry Potter book."
YES! I have read since I was old enough to speak, but I have never hated a character so much as I hated one Miss Delores Umbridge. And this comment nailed it. She wasn't evil for evil's sake and she wasn't evil because she wanted something for her own. She was evil because she thought what she was doing was RIGHT. That's the scariest kind of evil and the one that gets most people hurt and killed.
I felt Harry's isolation and frustration when dealing with her. She couldn't be reasoned with and she was in a position of authority, so she couldn't be smacked down.
Voldemort, as horrific as he was, could almost be understood. At the base of his existence was the will to survive and to defeat death. None of us would go that far, but it's something we can understand (and that in its own right makes him a great villain), but it's that character who's fighting for the establishment – a wrong, evil establishment – and doing it with an air of righteousness that makes my blood boil and scares me as well. Voldemort didn't care if he was wrong. Umbridge didn't even realize she was wrong.
She makes me angry just thinking about her! But oh how I'd hate to have to deal with her. She is, truly, a formidable foe.
Anonymous says
He didn't creep me out in the book as much as the TV series, but Arthur Huntingdon from Anne Bronte's 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' gave me the creeps. Rupert Graves did such an excellent, playing Arthur as both the cute playboy as well as the drunk abusive husband. One of the creepiest things was how he was the kind of man that you could understand why the MC fell for him.
Shell says
I can't be original on this one, just agree with a bunch of others.
Umbridge was much worse than Voldemort in many ways, though I think Voldy was worse before he became ALL POWERFUL.
The Joker in No Man's Land scared the liver out of me. Definitely not your children's comic book kind of guy, and possibly even scarier than in the latest movie (I haven't reread the book since the movie came out, so I can't judge for sure).
I don't read Stephen King because he's too scary, and based on what I've seen here, I'm right in that assessment and he probably deserves all the kudos he's getting. However, I do like the occasional Dean Koontz, and Junior Cain in From the Corner of His Eye is an awesome bad guy. He is truly evil, and makes me sick reading him, but he also provides comic relief. It's twisted, but it works.p
Anonymous says
Gilbert Osmond, Portrait of a Lady. Pure evil shellacked with all that civility.
And from my kids: the other mother (coraline), Voldemort, the jacks (Graveyard Book)
Aimee says
Benjamin Linus.
Even though he was from TV, not a book.