Ten Things About Book Villains

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we have a freebie. And I’m choosing to go with book villains!

What are some traits of the book villains we all love to hate? Here’s my count-down of some of the worst villains from reading life, and what makes them tick.

1/ They were born with the silver tongue.

Oh, these wily abettors, with all their slippery lies and their crafty gift of the gab. We have the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who led a brave man into a mess of self-fulfilling prophecies. And the priest Frollo in Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello who make the heroes turn against their own beloveds.

2/ Their motives remain hidden.

Sunday is not just a day in the week. In The Man Who Was Thursday, Sunday is also the head of a shady organization bent upon anarchy. Thursday is the under-cover police officer who has a mad-paced race to stop Sunday’s nefarious plans and prove that Order will always wins over Chaos. Except… Sunday turns out to be something else.

3/ They have eyes and spies everywhere.

Like Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’ arch nemesis, these villains are everywhere. They have spies in the elitist and most secretive organizations, in the underground, in the police, in the government. There is nothing hidden from them, and this only makes them more difficult to defeat.

4/ They are deluded they are doing Good.

The worst is the villain one who thinks his evil actions are intended for the Good of the people, or even their loved ones. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie has characters who think their murders were justified. Not a book, but Kilgrave from Jessica Jones thinks his coercive, intrusive mind-control is justified because Jessica is his true love.

5/ They could have been redeemed, and sometimes, you want to pity them.

The villain from Liar Game, a Japanese manga / Korean drama is totally twisted. He is conducting a psychological experiment on reality TV, and is intensely manipulative. But when his real motives come to light finally, you grieve for the reasons he turned out this way, you pity him. You wonder if he can redeem himself in the next installment.

6/ They can be unpredictable.

Sometimes, they’ll keep you on your toes, wondering what they’ll do next or whose side they’ll take. Loki is one example that comes to mind. Also: Coyote, in Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series. And then there are those with dissociative identity disorders: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Which choice will finally be made? Which side will finally take over?

7/ Sometimes, their presence speaks louder than words.

They are the ones in control — but behind the scenes. Their silent presence alone is like a dark cloud. Like Madame Defarge from A Tale of Two Cities, you just know her knitting is weaving trouble all around. Or the Raven King from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, who has disappeared yet his hair-raising legend persists.

8/ They were running out of options for survival.

They’ll say, I only wanted to live. And in a weird sad way, it sort of makes sense. Ask Sher Khan from The Jungle Book, who wants food, and who better than a hated human cub? Or even Count Vlad, Dracula, who needs blood to live on –- so obviously, he needs to crawl down walls and lead human women to death.

9/ They wanted some amusement.

This bunch is the absolute worst: boredom is a perfectly acceptable motivation for their villainy. Cruella de Vil is the worst for wanting dalmatian skin to soothe her jaded fashion sense! And in Game of Thrones, have you seen Ramsay Bolton torturing Reek? Just for his own amusement? Ugh. Enough said.

10/ They crave world domination.

This one’s a no-brainer. We all know Voldemort. We have seen his dark but fascinating evolution from Tom Marvolo Riddle to the Dark Lord in the Harry Potter series. And then there’s Sauron from Lord of the Rings, and Darth Vader. If ever there was ambition, these villains have it.

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I have been binge-watching a few crime thrillers lately, and that’s what got me thinking. Which book villains have been most loathsome for you? Let’s discuss!