The Greatest Literary Villains of All Time

[Clint_L]

Some of these comments are surprising. Yes, it's a website for book nerds. Let's assume that they know their literature, the same way someone citing an article from EnWorld should assume that the audience here is broadly familiar with RPGs. These are all pretty iconic villains, but their round 1 has a brief bio for each, amusingly framed:

The Best Villains in Literature Bracket

Welcome to Literary Hub’s inaugural Ides of March Madness bracket: The Best Villains in Literature. Everyone loves a good villain—at least when they’re safely fictional—but which litera…

lithub.com

I love the list - like all lists, we can all complain that one of our personal favourites is not on it (no Cthulhu?), but arguing about stuff like that is part of the fun. I think they have done quite a good job of representing a lot of different genres, including children's lit.

Edit: though...no Grinch? Do we really buy his babyface turn? Is that enough to exclude his exemplary work as a heel?

 

[Clint_L]

That bracket is weird.

For starters, I'm not really certain why "anti-villians" would be on the bracket at all. But some of their choices for what constitutes an anti-villians are just as confusing, so it's almost like two wrongs making a right.

Because these are some of the most iconic villains in literature, especially Milton's Satan, though you could make a case that he belongs more in the manipulator category (I think he's primarily an anti-hero).

Annie Wilkes in the same category as non-human boogeymen? But not a single Lovecraftian monster? Stephen King is blatantly being over represented, and that's from someone who likes him as an author.

He's the best selling horror author by at least an order of magnitude, and all of these choices seem pretty iconic to me. If you're a writer, psychopathic fan seems like a legitimate boogeyman.

Choosing just one antagonist that's representative of one particular real world eligion is certainly a decision that tells you something about the article's author and intended audience.

You can't really have this list without Milton's Satan, can you? If you can think of a comparable literary villain from another religion, feel free to suggest.

If a non-anthropomorphised planet is allowed to be a villian from one series, I don't understand why weather (maybe from "The Perfect Storm?) or even concepts like institutional racism or fate aren't represented. Set some guidelines already.

Maybe you should read the guidelines?

I think "the Kid" from The Giving Tree is a cheeky and hilarious pick.

Ah well. Screw it. I vote for Napoleon the pig. In the context of evil, genocide, subjugation, and horror, does it even make sense for a talking pig to be on the bracket? Probably not. But in the end (spoilers!), Napoleon becomes a man; an allegory for humanity. And we all know that people are the worst. Literally.

I'm pulling for Sauron, because I'm a nerd! But if I could add one more villain, it would be "other people," from Sartre's No Exit.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you can think of a comparable literary villain from another religion, feel free to suggest.

There are plenty of Jewish ones: Shylock, Fagin etc. But then you are into antisemitic tropes.

 

[trappedslider]

Ah well. Screw it. I vote for Napoleon the pig. In the context of evil, genocide, subjugation, and horror, does it even make sense for a talking pig to be on the bracket? Probably not. But in the end (spoilers!), Napoleon becomes a man; an allegory for humanity. And we all know that people are the worst. Literally.

Could just put "humans" on the bracket ,but then that would be too general and too much of a gimme.

And Kurtz from Heart of Darkness a bogeyman? An awful person, definitely, but the narrator spends half the book looking forward to meeting him, and when he does he's mostly disappointed. Kurtz might be a bogeyman to the local population, or to the colonists in the trading posts, but he's never presented to the reader in that way.

Being a fan of The Stand,I was a bit sadden that Flagg lost to him.

 

[Clint_L]

And indicates that they never actually read the book, where he's called "the Creature" (you know, as in "create", the whole premise of the book being Man aping God's work?).

Yeah, I think we can assume that the folks at literature hub are familiar with one of the most famous books ever written. Using the popular colloquialism for the creature is fine, but if you're worried about it, know that they do, in fact, refer to him as "the Creature" in the bio.

Edit: Here's their bio on him. I think it's pretty awesome:

We all have issues with our parents to a certain extent, but the Creature’s issues with Victor Frankenstein take the cake. Victor refers to his creation as a “vile insect,” “abhorred monster,” “fiend,” and “abhorred devil.” Not a loving parent.

After all that, the Creature, who is sensitive, well-read, and a vegetarian on moral grounds, tries desperately to fit in, but is shunned, chased, and shot. Naturally, he swears vengeance on all mankind.

Weapon of Choice: Fists, Eloquence
Heel Turn: “Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good – misery made me a fiend.”
People Killed: 3
Classic Books Read: 3

And Kurtz from Heart of Darkness a bogeyman? An awful person, definitely, but the narrator spends half the book looking forward to meeting him, and when he does he's mostly disappointed. Kurtz might be a bogeyman to the local population, or to the colonists in the trading posts, but he's never presented to the reader in that way.

He's not? We must have read a different Heart of Darkness. Our first description of his dwelling focuses on the "peculiar" fencing: human heads on posts, all oriented to face inwards so that Kurtz can look out on them. He is the ultimate bogeyman of colonialism, exposing the horrifying truth behind the idealistic rhetoric. The "best man" that Europe could produce, exposed as a monster.

 

[Clint_L]

There are plenty of Jewish ones: Shylock, Fagin etc. But then you are into antisemitic tropes.

There are, in fact, non-Christians on the list, but I presume that the criticism came from the person objecting to a specific being from Christian mythology being included on the list. Perhaps they didn't realize that this is specifically the Satan from Milton's Paradise Lost, not the one from the Bible. Milton's Satan is arguably the greatest villain that English literature has produced, except I'm not sure that he's a villain (full disclosure: on my other arm I have a tattoo of him, in Lucifer guise, along with a quotation from PL, so I'm completely biased - I agree with Shelley that "Milton was on the side of the Devil, though he didn't know it").

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There are, in fact, non-Christians on the list, but I presume that the criticism came from the person objecting to a specific being from Christian mythology being included on the list. Perhaps they didn't realize that this is specifically the Satan from Milton's Paradise Lost, not the one from the Bible. Milton's Satan is arguably the greatest villain that English literature has produced, except I'm not sure that he's a villain (full disclosure: on my other arm I have a tattoo of him, in Lucifer guise, along with a quotation from PL, so I'm completely biased - I agree with Shelley that "Milton was on the side of the Devil, though he didn't know it").

Lesser-known, but Byron's Cain is a very good counterpart to Milton's villain-but-he's-making-a-lot-of-good-points.

 

[Clint_L]

Lesser-known, but Byron's Cain is a very good counterpart to Milton's villain-but-he's-making-a-lot-of-good-points.

Or even more so Shelley's Prometheus...except that for Shelley, Milton's Satan is absolutely a hero, and thus so is Prometheus. I guess that makes Zeus the villain but...eh. Not that memorable.

Speaking of Byron, do we want to count his Don Juan as more heroic villain or a straight up anti-hero?

 

[Clint_L]

More villains for your consideration:

Bob Ewell, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The personification of hateful racism who violates his own daughter, gets a Black man framed and killed for it, and dies while trying to murder innocent children.

Lex Luthor, Superman et al. Comics are literature - I'll die on that hill. Which opens up a whole raft of possibilities, but I've gotta go with the perfect antithesis to Superman's dopey strong man. Runner ups: Dr. Doom, Joker.

Dolores Umbridge, Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. Sure, Voldemorte is the Big Bad (and should probably be on the list already) but Umbridge is the more relatably despicable villain, IMO.

Amy Dunne, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. She's already referenced through another character on the list, but I think this scheming, manipulative, and ultimately murderous psycho is more than worthy of her own place.

Shere Khan, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Come on, how can you have a villains list without the most eloquent man-eating tiger in literature? Okay, short list, but still.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, Perfume by Patrick Süskind. We used to teach this book, believe it or not, and Grenouille is probably the most disturbing villainous hero you will ever read.

Ozymandias, Watchmen by Alan Moore. How did they miss this master manipulator from their list - he's built for that category!

Jack Merridew, The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding: Hell hath no fury like a prep school boy scorned.

Adults, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Buncha phonies, the lot of them.

The Other Mother, Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Okay, I'm citing some creations from authors who have turned out to be pretty objectionable, but setting that aside, is there a creepier bogeyman?

Edit: we could do a whole other list of best villains written by villainous authors!

Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Ugh, this guy. A supremely sociopathic manipulator, exploiter, and abuser.

Count Rugen, The Princess Bride by William Goldman. Sure, Prince Humperdink is the nominal Big Bad, but I'm going to go to bat for the six-fingered "You killed my father; prepare to die!" Rugen. (Not to mention Vizzinni - Goldman gives us THREE classic villains in one book, along with two villains-turned-hero in Inigo Montoya and Fezzick, and another hero posing as a villain in Westley!).

Edit: The Wicked Witch of the West, Oz series by L. Frank Baum. I just assumed that she would be on the original list, but I'm not seeing her. Shocking omission - she not only tries to kill a naive waif from Kansas, she even threatens her dog!

 

[Morrus]

We should do our own version!