O'Brien and Big Brother from 1984
Captain Hook from Peter Pan
President Snow from The Hunger Games
Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter
Sauron from Lord of the Rings
Mr. Kurtz from The Heart of Darkness
Satan from Paradise Lost
The White Witch in the Narnia series
The Wicked Witch of the West
Valentine in the Mortal Instruments series
Mrs. Coulter in The Golden Compass
Oooh, those are good ones. Hmm, I'd have to add the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, the stepmother from Cinderella, It from A Wrinkle in Time, and the shadow from A Wizard of Earthsea.
ReplyDeleteBill the Butcher from Gangs of NY. But I don't know if that was ever a book. I also loved Artemis Entreri from the RA Salvatore books. He mirrors the hero so well.
ReplyDeleteWe do love to hate villains. :) Great list! I'd also add Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Not a book, but she is seriously creepy to kids.
ReplyDeleteGreat list! I like Darth Vadar. He's a great villain, which is the redeemable kind. :D
ReplyDeleteOoh, you guys are full of great additions! Darth Vader, oh yeah!
ReplyDeleteoh yeah--the witch from woz gave my nightmares for years--villains are central!
ReplyDeleteTomas and O'Brien from Downton Abbey are becoming my favorite :) Or Moriarty from Sherlock.
ReplyDeleteSarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)
Great list. I love to hate villains. Voldemort had some of the coolest lines! I jotted my favourite bits down in a scrap book. Here we go:
ReplyDeleteVoldemort: "There is no good and evil, there is only power...and those too weak to seek it." (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)
Don't be a fool," snarled the face. "Better save your own life and join me ..."
“Haven't I already told you,” said Riddle quietly, “that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been - you.” (Chamber of Secrets)
"We bow to each other, Harry," said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Harry. "Come, the niceties will ... Dumbledore would like you to show manners.... Bow to death, Harry...." [...] "Very good," said Voldemort softly, and as he raised his wand ...(Goblet of Fire)
I love villains! Who's my favorite? That's tough. There are so many good ones. I love Hades, so any book where he's the villain is a book for me. (Um, and yes, he happens to be the villain in Touch of Death--one of them at least.) He's also the villain in Sirenz Back in Fashion, Percy Jackson, and countless others.
ReplyDeleteThe Walkin' Dude from The Stand is another standout.
ReplyDeleteHi Tony, gotta read that-Stephen Kind, right? Katja, love those Voldemort quotes! Sarah, yes, Moriarity from Sherlock. I'm loving the Sherlock films. Plus, I can't wait to see the Poe movie out on Friday! Keep 'em coming. We want our villains, the creepier, the better!
ReplyDeleteHello, Fellow Challenger, from #398 - aka Rockin'Chair Reflections! I like the invisible child in the Saki stories.
ReplyDeleteHi Sharlene, I haven't read those either! I will keep an eye out for them.
ReplyDeleteHow about Fräulein Rottenmeier in Heidi?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028988/quotes?qt=qt0211999
Doesn't her name just say it all?
DeleteMr. Kurtz is an interesting one. The whole time you couldn't be sure if he was supposed to be reviled or revered. Those are my favorite kind.
ReplyDeleteNurse Ratched, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. She chills me to the bone, mostly because she is convinced that she is right, and in the service of that does such evil.
ReplyDeleteAlso Francis Dollarhyde aka The Tooth Fairy, from Thomas Harris's Red Dragon. More scary than Hannibal Lecture, in my opinion, as Harris makes us feel for him, despite all the horrific things he does.
I tend to identify with the villains because they're just so much more interesting sometimes than the heroes! Although he terrifies me to no end, Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King's IT is an awesome literary villain.
ReplyDeleteAlso: Tom Ripley from THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, The Joker from BATMAN, Hannibal Lecter from RED DRAGON, and Cruella de Vil from THE ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS.
Villains, yes--fantastic people :) Antagonists sometimes are more interesting to write--you can let go and pour all your crazy impulses into them, or watch and see how outrageous they become on their own. Great post! New follower from the A-Z challenge.
ReplyDeleteAdrianne, aren't most clowns pretty terrifying?! And with a name like Pennywise, you know it's not a good sign... Yes, Nancy Nurse Ratched-and the ones who are so convinced they are right and the world is so wrong. I agree, Donna, Frauleine Rottenmeier is a heavy duty name. And Janna, yes, the villains who you're not sure you should love or hate are soe of the best. Ben Linus from LOST comes to mind (though that's TV). Even Locke, who was my fave guy in that series was partly good and partly creepy. The writers of LOST pulled off the naunced villain schtick very well.
ReplyDeleteYeah, The Stand is by Stephen King. It's my favorite book by him.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't even thinking about Lost! Benjamin Linus was the ultimate villain on the ultimate TV show.
My favorite villain is Mrs. Truchbull from Matilada.
ReplyDeleteScribblesFromJenn
Happy A to Z-ing!
I <B all of your villians. Here's my list:
ReplyDeleteCruella de Vil--Hundred and One Dalmatians
Iago--Othello
Mr. Hyde--Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Bill Sykes--Oliver Twist
I have more, but this is already a weird list. But a good villain is a good villain no matter the genre or the period, right?
I'd put Umbridge from Harry Potter on the list, as well as Saruman from Lord of the Rings. They're not the prime villains, but they are evil and memorable.
ReplyDeleteErin
These are so good. Man, I used to love Cruela de Ville! And, yes, Scribbles, I did see Mrs. Truchbull on an online list.
ReplyDeleteMine are Bill Sykes, Monk (Oliver Twist), Mrs. Clennam (Little Dorrit), The Other Mother (Coraline) and Miss Trunchbull (Matilda). They send chills down thy back.
ReplyDeleteOoh Mrs Coulter is a good pick because of how much your perception of her changes throughout the books
ReplyDeleteI can't remember any people I loved to hate in any form of entertainment. I guess, I'm inclined to forgive them and hope they'll learn something. Blog on!
ReplyDeletehttp://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.com/
I like the gray-area villains, like the ones who are on the side of bad but are sympathetic in some way. Like Lucian from Illuminate by Aimee Agresti. Or Ocho from The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi.
ReplyDeleteThese villains, and novels sound good, Tabitha. I'll take a look at them.
ReplyDelete