This week on Top Ten Tuesday, we’re naming ten villains we love to hate. I’m drawing from Books, TV, and Movies here. Villains are at their best when we hate what they do but love how they shape the plot. And when we love their demise. There’s nothing I love more than a terrible villain’s downfall.
1. Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter) – you knew she had to make this list. Who is a more hated villain than Dolores Umbridge? Like, everyone knows that the entire world hates Umbridge more than Voldemort. And what better downfall scene than when Harry and Hermione get her into the trap with the Centaurs.
SWEET JUSTICE REIGNETH SUPREME.
2. Jadis (The Chronicles of Narnia) – This woman will not give up. She jumps through dimensions to get power, decides to somehow live forever to stay queen and somehow manifests her being into magic that lives on even though her body doesn’t? AND YET SHE KEEPS GETTING DESTROYED BY CHILDREN. GIVE IT UP WOMAN.
THAT’S RIGHT TAKE A SEAT WENCH.
3. Zheng Er and Gao Wei (Prince of Lan Ling) – The fact that these two are based on real historical figures is terrifying to me. The country was doing pretty well until Gao Wei decided to kill his father the Emperor, and then Zheng Er shows up and is LITERALLY satan incarnate. They take the throne and then EVERYTHING GOES TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET. I was so ready for them to die terribly painful deaths.
DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE PRETTY. THEY ARE EVIL.
4. Black Jack Randall (Outlander) – Oh wow. This is one of those “I wish I hadn’t witnessed that” moments; I’m honestly surprised they show some of the stuff they do on this show, especially when it comes to Black Jack torturing people (Specifically Jamie). It is AWFUL. If I could change anything about this show, it would be seeing WAY less of that. Otherwise, great show (and book!).
YES RANDALL. YOU GIVE EVERYONE NIGHTMARES.
5. Levana (The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer) – I was so ready for Levana to go bye bye. By the time we got near the end of Winter, I just wanted to reach into the book and stab her myself. She constantly thwarts any good for her own selfish gain by manipulating and murdering, no matter how hard our absolutely wonderful heroes fight. Thank goodness for a fairy tale happy ending!
6. Valentine (The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare) – I think the worst part about Valentine is how much he screws with Jace’s mind. Poor boy just wants to do his best to protect people and maybe be moderately happy but Valentine is like NOPE NO HAPPINESS FOR YOU.
LET’S STOP CASTING HOT GUYS AS VILLAINS. WE NEED TO STOP CONFUSING OURSELVES.
7. Count Olaf (A Series of Unfortunate Events) – Like, how frustrating is Count Olaf? Are all the adults in this book complete nincompoops? But let’s be real for a second: I don’t even like Jim Carrey but he is AWESOME as Count Olaf in the movie. (Also, let’s talk for a sec about the Netflix version of this that’s is supposedly coming out?!)
I WOULD HATE YOU MORE IF YOU WEREN’T SO DANG ZANY AND ENTERTAINING.
8. All of the villains on Teen Wolf (MTV’s Teen Wolf) – This is just such a well done show (no really, it’s awesome). I think evil Stiles was my favorite, simply because HOT DANG Dylan O’Brien is an incredible actor and really got to show off his skills during that arc (plus we got some cool character/relationship development) but really all the villains have been pretty sweet. The Doctors in season 5 were creepy as all get out. Anyway, I think first place goes to Nogitsune Stiles.
OF COURSE NOT. EVERYONE LOVES STILES.
9. Saruman (Lord of the Rings) – I’ve always thought Saruman was far worse than Sauron. That scene where’s he’s cutting all the trees down and making all the Uruk-hai…bad news.
HAHA JOKES ON YOU SARUMAN CAUSE HE TOTALLY DOES LOLZ.
10. All of the Adults in Unwind (Unwind by Neal Shusterman) – I still claim this is one of the creepiest books I’ve read (mostly thanks to the surgery scene at the end). Just the thought that adults would vote to make unwinding an actual thing is horrifying. Actively praying that we never go there.
HORRIFYING. WAY TO GO FUTURE HYPOTHETICAL AMERICA.
There are so many other villains out there that are worth mentioning (Oh yeah, like Darth Vader? Or The Joker in The Dark Knight? The Darkling in the Grisha Trilogy?) I could go on and on, but these ten are some of the ones that have stuck with me for being either really evil or very memorable.
Do you agree with any of my top villains? Who are the big baddies that you love to hate?
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted weekly by The Broke and the Bookish.
That’s a great list of baddies:). Jadis, in particular, is a memorable villain. And Saruman is also one of those who you sense is tempted to the dark side because of his jealousy of Gandulf.