Top Ten Tuesday – Top 10 Villains in Books

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is top 10 villains in books.

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Sebastian Morgenstern from The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

One of my favourite villains in YA literature! I just loved Sebastian, he was such a good villain. He’s actually one of my favourite characters in the series just because he was such a compelling villain. What he did, he did out of a righteous belief that what he was doing was right and ultimately, he did everything out of a twisted, mangled and broken love that he had for his family. He wasn’t able to love anymore, but he still tried and the result was monstrous.

Johan Liebert from Monster by Naoki Urasawa

One of my all time favourite villains. I loved the question he brought up of whether stripping someone of their identity can change who they are. Was Johan born a monster, or was he made into one? And I think that is part of the drive behind his actions. His sense that he does not exist gives him the liberty to do anything because a man who does not exist cannot be held accountable.

King Leck from the Graceling Series by Kristin Cashore

You may have noticed, I am very fascinated with really screwed up psychopaths and King Leck fist that profile to the letter. I’m a little bit annoyed that we didn’t get more information about him and how his mind worked and what sort of messed up crap he did.

President Snow from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I’ve always liked him. I though he was a very classy villain who knew exactly what he was and he totally owned it. He didn’t necessarily take pleasure in killing, rather it was a cold and calculated means to an end. He also had a way of seeing the world for what it was. When he was defeated, he just accepted it, and he was perhaps glad to go to his death because he knew that another villain would rise in his stead.

Artemis Fowl from the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

One of my all time favourite characters! the reason he’s so far down this list is that… well he’s not really a villain. He’s more of an antihero. I suppose you could say he’s a villain in the first book though, so I’m okay with adding him on this list because I will take any and every opportunity to talk about this series. I love it!

 

Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

Another one who is in my opinion not so much a villain as he is an antihero. But I love antiheroes. And Snape is one of my favourite HP characters and he always has been. I admired his loyalty and I loved his moral ambiguity. I think moral ambiguity makes for really interesting characters and Snape fascinated me from the first book until the last. He is still to this day one of my favourite characters.

 

Lord Sauron from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

I had to include him because LotR is one of the stories of my childhood and I still love the epic battle of Middle Earth. I still get excited when Isildur cuts of the ring finger and when Frodo escapes the Shire and every single victory against Sauron, big or small. I will always love this story.

 

Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes has been one of my heroes since I was a little girl and of course, his greatest enemy had to be on this list. And of course I used the Andrew Scott version because I love BBC’s Sherlock and this seemed like a really fitting occasion for a little not to the show. Also… I want the next season, please.

 

The villain from The Schwarzschild Radius by Gustavo Florentin

I don’t know his name, I don’t think it’s even mentioned in the book. But he’s a great, messed up, terrifying villain. This book traumatised me. Honestly, I was so paranoid after reading it. Also horrified and kid of disgusted. So, as villains go, I’d say this one did his job pretty well.

 

Clancy from the Darkest Minds series by Alexandra Bracken

I like him. I think he’s a good villain and I kind of want him to hang around for a while to make life difficult for our dear characters. He’s a devious little schemer and he just makes the story that much more interesting. Even though you want to punch him in the face from time to time.