Who is the BEST Villian from Sci-fi and Fantasy

[Stephen]

I am new to the boards so forgive me if this has already been done, but I thought, as a compliment to the "favorite" character topic, it would be fun to list the best (i.e., most evil) bad guys in sci-fi and fantasy. Those characters that make your skin crawl but also make the book all the more intersting because of how well they are written.

I'll start with the following in no particular order:

Gregor Clegane - Song of Ice and Fire
Joffrey Baratheon - Song of Ice and Fire
Emperor Jagang - Sword of Truth
The Man in Black - The Dark Tower Series
Messrs. Croup and Vandemar - Neverwhere
Baron Harkonnen - Dune
Beauty - Hart's Hope
Tik-Tok - Tik-Tok (John Sladek)
The Mule - Foundation Series
Wednesday - American Gods
Alex - A Clockwork Orange
Peter Wiggins - Ender's Game

[[deleted user]]

Well, the Once-ler from The Lorax is a pretty good fantasy villain.

[Brooke]

Brandin from Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. While Alberico, the other villian in the book, is a pretty typical evil guy, Brandin is so complex that even though he does terrible things, it's impossible to condemn him.

[Nick, Founder (In Absentia)]

Flagg in various King novels. Peter I would argue as being a villain. I was always left with this mixed emotional response on him...

[Stephen]

That is a fair comment about Peter since he was, in the end, a very complex character and maybe not a true villian (certainly compared to the rest of teh list). I included him mainly based on his treatment of Ender in the beginning of the book, which always stuck with me as being exceptionally cruel.

[Nick, Founder (In Absentia)]

Yeah, he was a superb jerk and I did end up hating him lots more than sympathizing. Card did a great job with him.

[Andrew]

Tywin Lannister - Song of Ice and Fire
The AI Jersulam - Neal Asher's Polity books.
The Shrike - Hyperion

I guess that maybe it's that there is something a bit inhuman about all of them... ...but they make my skin crawl

[Jeanne]

Melisande in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series! She's truly wicked!

[Leslie Ann]

Presbyter Hugh from Kate Elliot's Crown Of Stars series--one of the most reprehensible and unredeemably evil characters I've ever encountered in fiction.

[Sandi]

Oh, yeah. Hugh is awful. I only read the first book in the series.

[Leslie Ann]

Sandi,

You MUST read the rest of the series!! Reading Kate Elliot, for me anyway, was like attending a master seminar on writing. I learned so much about style and technique from those books,and I give her a lot of credit for getting me started as a writer. When I finally met her in person at the World Science Fiction Con 2 years ago, I reacted like a totally crazed fangirl and blubbered all over her! Fortunately, she was incredibly kind and gracious. I only hope I can hold it together when I finally get to meet my other best influence, Terry Brooks.

[Sandi]

Leslie, Kate Elliot joined the Yahoo group I belong to for our discussion of "King's Dragon". She seems really nice and I can't believe how much that woman reads and how much she knows. She reads really, really difficult material and it shows in her work. "King's Dragon" was a really simple storyline (I liked that about it.) with a very well thought-out world and belief-system. I just hate getting caught up in long series-three books is more than enough-and Crown of Stars is an exceptionally long one.

I loved Terry Brooks series that started with "Magic Kingdom For Sale: Sold" and his stand-alone novels. He also has a three part series that starts with "Running with the Devil" that was really good. I refuse to get caught up in that endless series of his though.

[Leslie Ann]

The Terry Brooks book you mentioned is actually called 'Running With The Demon' and it's the first in his 'Word And The Void' series.

LOL, I know how you feel about endless series, but I don't mind, as long as each book maintains the quality of writing and the plots don't start repeating, which, sadly, often happens with these things. IMHO, the trilogy is the perfect length for any series, as a rule, but Kate's Crown of Stars is an exception.

[Sandi]

Thanks for the correction. It's been a long time since I read it. I did read the whole series, but the first book was the best.

[John]

I'd say Hrathen from Brandon Sanderson's Elantris. Like all great villians, he was complex and had rational reasons for his actions.

[Lori]

Nice, John. Yes he was complex and had feasible reasons, something you don't often find in the usual villain.

Andrew, have you read the rest of the Hyperion series? The Shrike becomes a more complex figure, not seen as evil but ambivalent, and the origin of his existence is quite surprising. And is Tywin the Dwarf? Because he too is far more complex, and even very likable, as the series proceeds. Poor misunderstood Dwarf!

[Stephen]

Lori -

In answer to your question (of Andrew), Tyrion is the Dwarf who I agree is not properly classified as a villian. Tywin, on the other hand, is Tyrion's father. Now he certainly fits the bill as a villian.

Hope this helps.

[Lori]

Oh that's right! Thanks for the update. Sheesh, and the new one is about to come out, and I can't even remember the major character's names? :D

[Erick]

Lori wrote: "Oh that's right! Thanks for the update. Sheesh, and the new one is about to come out, and I can't even remember the major character's names? :D"

I made the same mistake Lori in confusing Tywin for Tyrion. I think we can be somewhat forgiven though, because of the lag time between books.

I would like to mention that Tyrion is my favorite character.

[Cecile]

These two came to my mind:

Antonov Latanya, The Lion of Senet, from The Second Sons Trilogy, by Jennifer Fallon. He's an example of all the evil a leader is capable of doing in the name of a religion.
Great characters in this story, even the good guy can make your skin crawl.

Arienrhod, The Snow Queen, by Joan D. Vinge. She's a real evil queen, she would do anything to live forever and continue her rule.

[[deleted user]]

Joshua wrote: "I have to say Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from Dune is one of the characters that makes me shudder more then almost anyone besides maybe Ramsay (the bastard of) Bolton from A Song of Ice and Fire."

I totally agree with Ramsay the bastard from ASOIF being a well-written villain. There's a deep set cruelty/insanity within him that makes my skin crawl. He's one of those that seem to be without hope of redemption.
Also, Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. She was very creepy to me.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

I could not agree more about Ramsay, and I have to say, his father Roose goes on this list for me as well. His steady, patient evil is also really unnerving.

[Mark]

Jal-Nish Hlar from Ian Irvine's three world's books is pretty evil

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

The Marquise from The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making was actually a pretty good villain, now that I think about it. It seems to me that so many villains in fantasy especially, well, there's nothing more than "because I'm crazy," which is ... not very engaging. That can only be interesting so many times, IMO.

The villain/antagonist from The Dubious Hills is pretty good too. (On the whole I think I prefer books with antagonists, or ones who exist in the middle ground between being a villain and an antagonist. Ellen Kushner's Riverside books — Swordspoint, The Privilege of the Sword, and The Fall of The Kings — are full of these.)

[Richard]

I don't know about the best villain, but the one that sticks in my mind is The Archimandrite Luseferous from The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks.

Totally over the top, blood red eyes and diamond teeth, a psychopathic sadist with a fertile imagination. He is such an unbelievably dreadful character that he even becomes comic, I can't help thinking of Stewie from Family Guy when I read his dialogue; So eh, how you uh, so how you comin' on that Novel you're working on eh.

Pure evil but strangely funny and pathetic.

[Stan]

I'm not sure I have the same notion of what makes for a good villain as the rest of you. Here's my short list (in no particular order):

Littlefinger - "A Song of Ice and Fire"
The High King Kallor - "Malazan Book of the Fallen"
Satan - "Paradise Lost" (It's a stretch to call this fantasy lit.)
Fëanor - "The Silmarillion" (You might call him a tragic hero, but I think he crosses the line.)

[[deleted user]]

Stan wrote: "I'm not sure I have the same notion of what makes for a good villain as the rest of you. Here's my short list (in no particular order):

Littlefinger - "A Song of Ice and Fire"
The High King Kallo..."

Littlefinger....great one! He is such a creepy, self-indulgent, disturbingly manipulative character.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

^

[Richard]

Denae wrote: "^"

?

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Brightness Falls From The Air has some good villains too.

[Bill]

Richard wrote: "I don't know about the best villain, but the one that sticks in my mind is The Archimandrite Luseferous from The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks.

Totally over the top, blood..."

He definitely was interesting. Loved the book.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

The villains, especially the principal villain, in John M. Ford's short story "Green is the Color" were pretty awesome. (Probably easiest to find in Masterpieces of Fantasy and Wonder, but also available in Liavek: Wizard's Row and Casting Fortune.)

The villain in John Varley's "Press Enter" was pretty shiver-inducing too. (view spoiler)[It was the first evil computer story I ever read, and it hit me pretty hard. (hide spoiler)]

[Peggy]

I'll second the Delores Umbridge (Harry Potter) suggestion - she upset/scared me far more than Voldemort ever did. Horrible, horrible woman.

[Jordan]

I'd say Ramsay Snow/Bolton from the A Song of Ice and Fire series. He's a real sadist and the most despicable villain I've ever read of in a book. Removes genitals for kicks, murdered his loving brother for a better claim of his father's seat, hunts prostitutes through the forest with a pack of dogs and flays skins as a hobby. He has a taste for erotic asphyxiation and getting whipped. At least he likes dogs, which he shows by letting them eat young girls.

[Micah]

Richard wrote: "I don't know about the best villain, but the one that sticks in my mind is The Archimandrite Luseferous from The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks.

He definitely was interesting. Loved the book."

I liked the book but I found that character annoyingly cliche and ultimately ineffectual as an arch-villain.

[Shawn]

The Goblin King in the Labyrinth (portrayed by David Bowie) in the 80s captured my fascination as a kid.

[Micah]

Well...if you wanna go the movie route, then Evil in Time Bandits. "If I were creating the world I wouldn't mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o'clock, Day One!"

[Scott]

From my own experience I would say Flagg from Eyes of the Dragon. He not only scared the crap out of me (I read this when I was younger than I am now) but seemed to be the pure embodiment of evil thanks to Stephen Kings writing.

[Steph]

On a comic space-opera note, I like 462, the liquidised-minion-slurping Ghast commander from the Space Captain Smith series, who has no redeeming features whatesoever.

[L.G.]

Dolores Umbridge. I know she isn't the most evil villain, but I really, really disliked her on a visceral level.

[Margaret]

For a complex and interesting villain I'd pick the one from Lois McMaster Bujold's The Hallowed Hunt. Naming who it is would constitute a spoiler, so I won't.

[Thaddeus]

L. G. I have to agree, in HP, Deloris is the one I despised the most.

[Aaron]

Killian wrote: "Anyone else notice how many ASOIAF characters have been mentioned?"

Really popular series with a huge cast of Villians it's not surprising at all.

If I started naming good villians that really creeped me out it would take a long time. I will give a shoutout to Manpower from David Webers Honorverse being one of the most not evil yet really evil but not really but YES REALLY villians around. Like it totally makes sense that him and everyone who works for him honestly believe they are the good guys.

A more interesting question would be what villian kicks the puppy the most and just GOES LOOK HOW EVIL I AM, I'M SOOO EVIL.

[[deleted user]]

From ASOIAF, three villains really stand out as being unspeakably evil and despicable (in order of most to least evil): Ramsay Snow/Bolton; King Geoffrey; Ser Gregor Clegane (aka The Mountain).

I however have a weakness for villains that you could find sympathetic at times (your so-called 'best enemy'. Those are however much more complicated to display in a book or play in a movie. 'Q', in Star Trek Next Generation, is one such villain you would call in French 'une canaille sympathique'. Another is 'The Hound' in ASOIAF: he is a true killing machine and thief and is quite a crud, but he has a hearth deep down (very deep down). He is also such an eloquent man (Fuck the King!). Another 'good villain' for me is Littlefinger, again from ASOIAF. He is the most scheming, selfish, backstabbing bastard you could think of, but boy does he know how to twist you in his plots!

[Micah]

Killian wrote: "Anyone else notice how many ASOIAF characters have been mentioned?..."

I attribute that to the "recently popular book & TV show" effect. It's the "big thing" now so it's on people's minds. Ask in another 25 years and they might not be so high on the list.

Meet you all here in 2039?

[Al "Tank"]

Bleys from Dickson's Dorsai series.

[Mary]

King Haggard in Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn

[Rod]

My vote goes to Cersei Lannister from A Song Of Ice And Fire. She is such a hateful woman.

[Gary]

Once, I would have said Darth Vader, but then ep6 came out and meh. Then ep3 came out and sheesh.

So, I'll fall back on Saruman.

[C.T.]

Darkseid is one of my favorite comic book villains, even though I know him primarily from the animated shows. He's powerful and completely tyrannical, but he's also extremely smart.

I've got a soft spot for Smaug, too. He doesn't show for long, but his power combined with his arrogance and intelligence made him a fun character to read about.