50 Greatest Villains in Literature

[Weez]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 5:24am

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/09/20/bovillains120.xml

I'm especially amused at number 2 on the list. Worse than Hannibal Lecter! Worse than Patrick Bateman! Worse than Edmund! It's... Samuel Whiskers!

*Someone* had a childhood trauma, methinks. ^_^

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 5:38am

Count Fosco made the list and Thenardier did not??? Whatever.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 6:33am

Yes! Voldemort is number five! Bahahaha!

Have to say, I'm a Fosco fan, but Thenardier is MUCH more dastardly. Maybe his goofy reputation from the musical ruins the rather sinister character from the book.

The one character I'm surprised didn't make the list is Frollo from "Hunchback of Notre Dame." He's an extremely interesting and complex character in the book, and he's still pretty evil in the Disney kiddie film.

[Weez]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 7:06am

Any list that has a go at Vindice wanting to get revenge on people a mere two placings before having a go at Claudius for being a person that someone wants to get revenge on doesn't necessarily have to be taken as the most accurate list ever. Srsly, how is Hamlet better than Vindice? How is Claudius worse than the Duke? And since when did it become gospel that Middleton wrote 'The Revenger's Tragedy' anyway?!

And how come Samuel Whiskers is SO evil that only Satan ranks higher on the evil scale? It's a pretty hilarious list when you get down to it. XD

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 8:49am

What about The Wicked Witch of the West? The child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? What about the stepmother from Snow White or Cinderella?

[Urban]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 9:00am

A couple of other notable contenders left out - Milady, Cokie Mason & The Grandmother from 'Flowers in the Attic'.

On the other hand, Samuel Whiskers #2 ranking is going to keep me amused for days.

[misschung]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 9:02am

what about Briony Tallis from Atonement

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 9:05am

There is no child catcher in Ian Fleming's CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. He was invented for the film.

A pretty silly list, overall. I think Professor Moriarty should be higher placed, and Hannibal Lecter doesn't really come into his own until SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, although I wonder if he really qualifies as the villain of the book.

I like that they include Quilp from OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, he's a treasure. Steerpike's pretty cool, too.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 9:22am

The Wicked Witch of the West isn't all that scary in the book.

And you don't ever see her until Dorothy and her group go to the witch's castle to try to kill her.

She's not after the Silver Shoes, and she's not out for revenge. She sends the flying monkeys to capture the group only because they are trespassing on her land. Once she finds out that Dorothy has the shoes, she wants them for herself. But there's no plot device driving her to get them, because the two wicked witches (East and West) aren't sisters in the book.

Margaret Hamilton's wicked witch is what people remember.

[Weez]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 9:45am

Professor Moriarty was actually in more episodes of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (two) than Sherlock Holmes stories (one). As nemeses go, I never found him that impressive.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 9:53am

Roscoe, I share your delight about Quilp. I just read "Curiosity Shop" for the first time last fall (I've been reading a different Dickens each autumn for the last 5 years or so).

He's a nasty piece of work.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 9:56am

I agree with CATS, Thenardier should be on the list. Thief, child abuser, extortionist.

And Moby Dick should be replaced with a real villain.

Updated On: 9/22/08 at 09:56 AM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:20am

Quilp RULES. His psychological torture of his wife and mother-in-law manages to be frightening and funny at the same time. That ghastly sequence where he smokes cigar after cigar while not excusing them from the room, for the sheer fun of making them uncomfortable and exercise his power over them is one of the most disturbing scenes in the novel.

I'd probably replace Moby-Dick with Ahab.

And I'd add Bradley Headstone from OUR MUTUAL FRIEND to the mix.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:24am

Actually, if you want to throw a witch on there, I would pick the one from Hansel and Gretel.

She always creeped me out, baking lost children into gingerbread cookies, locking them in cages to fatten them up, etc.

She was Hannibal Lecter before HE was.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:35am

I'd say Tamara and Aron from TITUS ANDRONICUS are pretty worthy of inclusion.

No Grendel OR Grendel's mother. I mean really.

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:35am

I stand corrected about the child-catcher (I must have read some adaptation of the movie at some point because I SWEAR I remember READING about him and it scaring me all over again as a kid!).

Same might be true of the Wicked Witch -- I have memories of reading the book and being scared, but again, probably combined with the movie.

Here's one I do think should be on the list: Dr. Szell from Marathon Man ("Is It Safe?")-- that passage in the book made me squirm more than almost anything I've ever read.

I was also surprised no one from Stephen King made the list: Randal Flagg or Dussander (Apt Pupil) or Annie from Misery...

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:39am

Hahahaha Cruella De Vil made it to number 3?! She's not THAT scary.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:42am

I think the Overlook Hotel is King's best villain. Randall Flagg never did it for me at all.

There's a wonderful character in Clive Barker's WEAVEWORLD, a witch named Immacolata, I think. She'd be a worthy addition to the list, too.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:52am

Grendel's mother is #42.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:58am

Glad to see Mrs. Coulter on the list- I was amazed to read that book fairly recently and see how awful she was- of course, I visualized her as Ann Coulter so that no doubt added to the menace.

I am surprised not to see Mordred from The Once & Future King. I always thought his evil one of the most unforgivable.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 11:00am

Roscoe, I'm reading "Our Mutual Friend" right now, so say no more!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 11:01am

No Pazuzu?

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 11:03am

If we're picking best from Stephen King, I would go with Annie personally.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 11:04am

Reg, I will say only that you are in for a TREAT. OUR MUTUAL FRIEND kicks ass!

Doodle, thanks, I guess I missed it.

Is Pazuzu even mentioned by name in the novel THE EXORCIST?

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 11:13am

The demon is revealed in both novels as Pazuzu.