Best Literary Villains

 

Who are the literary villains you love to hate?  Clearly oblivious to social norms and with a power that is undeniable, villains are at the heart of a good story.  They make the story happen by challenging our heroes/heroines and the worse they are, the more satisfying it is when they are finally vanquished, tricked, or outplayed.  Conversely, some villains are allowed enough of a backstory that we are sympathetic to their plight or empathize with their cause. Here are a few villains we’re still thinking about:

Maven Calore from Red Queen: so devious you have to admire his cunning.  Complicated character: he’s evil, but you understand his motivations, and he also has moments of kindness.

 Cardan Greenbriar from The Cruel Prince: smart, charming, cruel, and with a deep dislike of humans, the youngest prince of the Faerie King  plays the fool a bit too well.

 Puppeteer from Renegades: for truly creepy, the Puppeteer is hard to beat.  Unhinged, preys on children, and turns people into puppets he can control.

 

The Joker from Batman series:  while hard to separate the literary Joker from the screen versions, he has scars that make him appear to always be smiling, enhanced by grotesque clown make-up.  His backstory is sympathetic: a struggling comedian, he commits a crime to get food for his pregnant wife and ends up in a vat of chemicals that disfigure him.  Playing on cliched stereotypes of mental illness, the Joker’s desire for chaos can be appealing to those bogged down by rules who are curious to see in a fantasy world what a little anarchy might do.

 Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter: an obvious choice, but one that sticks in memory perhaps even more than Voldemort…  Mean-spirited, power-hungry, controlling, and generally unpleasant, she masks herself in an air of superiority and false concern.

 Agatha Trunchbull from Matilda: domineering, abusive headmistress of an elementary school who tortures the children for minor infractions like wearing pigtails.

Gollum from Lord of the Rings: a slimy, hunched creature who has gone insane in his obsessive search for the ring.  While he has little power himself, he stands as a cautionary figure of what one can become when one abandons morals in a quest for power.

We know you’re thinking of a villain we should have added to this list, who is it?  Comment below!