BookWyrm Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 The Judge-Blood Meridian. A huge albino of a man, master of every science and language known to man. Has a penchant for lectures, killing people, and molesting children. One of the most creepiest villains I've read about.He's definitely one of the best villains! The end of that book is so screwed up. :thumbsup: I agree with whoever mentioned Steerpike as well, he's wonderful.How about Vance's Cugel? Is he supposed to be the villain or hero? He certainly ends up the villain.In The Watchmen: Adrian Viedt Count Dracula can't go unnoticed of course.The fairies from Little, Big win the award for subtlety.Although I think the Iliad goes above simple partitioning of good and evil, in the end that's why I'm also going to say Hector is one of the best villains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samalander Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Raistlin- Going way back. Sure most of these books sucked and haven't aged well, but Raistlin was an awesome villain. Insanely powerful yet vulnerable, a real dick, yet with some soft spots, he was a real one of a kind. His last acts were noble in the end, but for most of the time we know him he's a baddie. :agree: But they just ruined him in everything after "Test of the Twins". They should have retired the character then and there.Some great villains yet unmentioned:- The Mayor from Buffy. 'nuff said.- Wil from the Farseer trilogy. Smart, talented, powerful, cool under pressure, unassuming. His only fault: being mind shackled to spoiled idiot brat.- Andrew Reese from the "Sword Edged Blonde" - pitiable and tragic, but also far reaching and insightful, and manages to fit very well the whole Noir atmosphere of the book as the man behind the man.From Ravenloft:- The PuppetMaster from "Carnival of Fear". Sooo creepy.- Malken from "the Enemy Within". Evil, twisted, sadistic, powerful and manipulative but still manages to have serious self-esteem issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Samalander,Wil from the Farseer trilogy? Who is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samalander Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Samalander,Wil from the Farseer trilogy? Who is that?The most talented (though not the most powerful) Skill user in the trilogy (written by Robin Hobb, if you didn't know). I don't want to give away too much lest people hadn't read the books. In my mind, though, he is seriously underrated as a character (couldn't even find him on wikipedia!) and without him opposing Fitz at every turn (some of it "offstage", you really have to read carefully to realize everything he's been up to), the story would not have been the long tortured saga we all know and love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I've read Farseer, Tawny Man, Liveship but I don't remember anyone named Wil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eurytus Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I've read Farseer, Tawny Man, Liveship but I don't remember anyone named Wil.Wasn't he the ring leader of Regal's Coterie?Another villain I'd like to nominate is the man with the thistle down hair from Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrel.One of the more alien feeling fantasy villains I always found, with a completely different outlook on the world than humanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 oh yeah, I just remembered someone - the Duke of Chi'in, the main villain from Bridge of Birds. I must admit I never saw that coming, though I should have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyanna Stark Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 After all my China Mieville commenting lately, I remembered:Uther DoulReally great villain/anti-hero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 How about Vance's Cugel? Is he supposed to be the villain or hero? He certainly ends up the villain.Antihero. He's a protagonist and someone whom the reader (like Lieber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser) is expected to be at least mildly sympathetic towards, nothwithstanding his pretty gaping moral failings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migey Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Someone said this a few posts back, The Man with the Thistle-Down Hair is definately the spookiest/creepiest villian, and just plain fuck-awesome villian, i've ever read. (He is from Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel). God that guy freaked me out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahmrogar Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Lord Foul is probably the best 'classic villain' I've read. He's rather unapologetically evil; You know how evil he is, he makes it oh-so-clear but at the same time he does it well. Lord Foul also shows the destructive (and seductive!) nature of despair and self-hatred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11th Heaven Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I like Mr Tiny from The Saga of Darren Shan (by Darren Shan) - an author not many people here seem to have heard of but who has written some stuff I've really liked. He's not the main antagonist in the series, but he's certainly the most magically powerful and evil man on that world, who controls the destinies (quite literally at times) of both the protagonist and the main antagonist - in this way he reminds me of littlefinger. Even though he cackles over volcanic explosions and the deaths of children, at times he can be funny, almost sensitive, offering help and pointing characters in the right direction. One of my favourite ever characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samalander Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Wasn't he the ring leader of Regal's Coterie?Indeed he was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Lord Foul is probably the best 'classic villain' I've read. He's rather unapologetically evil; You know how evil he is, he makes it oh-so-clear but at the same time he does it well. Lord Foul also shows the destructive (and seductive!) nature of despair and self-hatred.I'm just finishing off the first trilogy of Thomas Covenant now, and I must agree. The best portrayal of the, usually generic, pure evil.I think the best part is he's not "Rah, I will kill you all!". In fact, in the beginning of the very first book, he laments that he's only been able to kill before, which he finds so unsatisfying.What makes him great is he doesn't want death, he wants suffering. He wants despair.He's the kind of evil that wouldn't kill you, because that would be to easy on you. He'd make you kill your family, while thinking you were actually saving them. Then he let you know that you did that and just let you live to wallow in your suffering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Hat Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 The first ones that come to mind are:- The individual from Abercrombie's First Law that's been brought up a dozen times and whose name is a spoiler.- The individual from Reynolds' Chasm City that's been brought up and whose name's sort of a spoiler.- A certain somewhat unwilling guy suckered into being a villain in Nevill's Apartment 16 (I seem to have a thing for seemingly good people becoming villains)- Ziana Vaatzes from Parker's Engineer Trilogy because he's incredibly amoral and small minded in pursuit of his goals while also being brilliant.- Too many to name from A Song of Ice and Fire, really. The Mountain that Rides and the Hound especially.- The Lord Ruler in Sanderson's Mistborn; he felt like a suitably invincible foe and eventually got interesting motivations to boot. - Doul from Mieville's The Scar for sheer fucking badassness.- Kelhus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Napoleon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Napoleon!I knew it! He really is fictional! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahimsa Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I like Raven from Snowcrash a lot. I'd like to read a prequel just from his perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I like Raven from Snowcrash a lot. I'd like to read a prequel just from his perspective.Crazy survivalist guy who was the villain in Cryptonomicon was pretty good too. "Fractally weird". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahimsa Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Crazy survivalist guy who was the villain in Cryptonomicon was pretty good too. "Fractally weird". That guy was badass. I also loved that part in the book when he described the band as something like "pretty good for a band with two umlauts." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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