The characters we love to hate! As I was writing this I realized that there are not a lot of strictly villainous characters in YA. Most that I could think of have another side to them. I liked this realization 🙂 Thank goodness for the criminals and degenerates add on 🙂 A few of the ones listed below aren’t exactly characters you might expect to find on the list. I used the terms “criminal” and “degenerate” loosely so I could slip in a few favs 😉
1. Cassel Sharp from White Cat by Holly Black
I’m starting off with one that probably doesn’t really fit the intent of the this top ten but he IS a criminal. There’s the whole bookie/gambling ring thing as well as being associated with a top crime family. I just really love Cassel and Holly Black’s Curse Workers series so I had to include him 🙂
2. President Snow from The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The man’s breath smells like blood. This is enough to place him on the list. However, he is also willingly sacrifices children to The Hunger Games and plays cruel mind games with Katniss. Bad, bad man!
3. Voldemort & Severus Snape from Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Clearly He Who Shall Not be Named is a villain. Now, on the issue of Snape… I firmly believe he belongs in the villain category (or at least degenerate!) Yes, he did a good thing. No, he is NOT a good man. If it had been Neville who was “The Chosen One” I believe that Snape would have stayed 100% loyal to Voldemort. The only reason that he did what he did was his unhealthy obsession with Harry’s mother. I think he would agree that he would rather be a Death Eater than a member of The Order of the Phoenix.
4. Mr. Wickham from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
He takes advantage of impressionable young girls and then leaves them to suffer societies scorn. Still, he’s charming… perhaps the most charming degenerate/criminal you’ll ever know 😉
5. Nick from The Demon’s Lexicon & The Demon’s Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan
Again, I love him so I had to work him in! He is kind of a degenerate/criminal. I mean, he’s a demon. He doesn’t really care how you feel at all. Threaten Alan and your dead. This is the behavior of a criminal… or a degenerate… or a sociopath. But not a villain. He’s too good looking for me to admit he’s a villain. OhmystarsI’msoshallow.
6. Mommy Fortuna & King Haggard from The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Confession: I have never read this book. I did however watch the animated movie approximately 153,497 times between the ages of five and six. I’m fairly certain I was the only kid in my kindergarten class who wanted an America CD for Christmas. Still, as much as I loved the movie Mommy Fortuna and King Haggard TERRIFIED me. They were even creepier than the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. Both are undoubtably villains.
7. Miss Minchin from A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
What a mean, nasty lady! Poor, poor Sara Crewe. The old bat has it in for her and she still keeps her kind and generous spirit. I wanted to BE Sara Crewe. I also wanted her to push Miss Minchin down the stairs. I was not a normal child 😉
8. The White Witch from The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Another childhood villain. I didn’t know what “Turkish Delight” was but I knew to leave well enough alone. What was Edmund thinking?!? Winter without Christmas?!?! Only a villain of the worst kind would do that!
9. King Leck from Graceling & Fire by Kristen Cashore
Talk about Creepity McCreeperson. He can trick people in to believing anything he says… that’s a recipe for evil if I ever heard one! Plus there’s the fact that one of his eyes was red. **shudder**
10. Professor Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
He’s Sherlock Holmes’ arch-nemesis. A criminal Mastermind. A mafia boss of sorts. He basically rocks all three categories: villain, criminal, and degenerate.
Who are your top villains, criminals and degenerates? Do you love them or just the conflict they create?
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Jamie
Snow is definitely on mine! What a truly horrible bad guy! One of the worst I’ve read in a while! She does a great job describing him so that I want to vomit when I think of him!
hmz1505
I agree. And blood and roses… **shudder**
smellincoffee
I never considered what might have happened had Neville been the Chosen One.
I only know Moriarty from Star Trek, but he was a good villain there, too!
Laura @ Bunny Tales
Miss Minchin from A Little Princess ~ Ugh! makes me shudder just thinking of that horrible woman!! Good pick!
Rose
I think Damon from the Vampire Diaries is a pretty good villain – as well as sexy as, so he kind of fits with a lot of the ones on this list 😉
hmz1505
Damon was on the original list… I wonder where he went? Can’t believe I “lost” him. He for sure fits!!
Bibliophile
Nice list 🙂
I don’t remember Mommy Fortuna, but King Haggard in book of The Last Unicorn is villanous indeed. I also considered Moriarty and the White Witch for my list, but eventually they got pushed out by Tom Ripley and the Snow Queen.
When I first read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I wanted to know what kind of candy could possibly be so delicious as to cause someone to betray his siblings. Then I got a taste of Turkish Delight, and couldn’t understand what was so delightful about it. (This was before I learned to recognise a metaphor).
Kayla + Cyna
Moriarty! Nice to see some Holmes on the list. I picked Irene Adler for mine, mostly ’cause we at least see her a little more than Moriarty. Still, Holmes’ arch-nemesis, the man who almost killed him, warrants some respect. Nice list 🙂
Birdie
I have never read this book. I did however watch the animated movie approximately 153,497 times between the ages of five and six.
ME TOOOOOO!
you are so right about them!
Also, I just want to mention that I hated Miss Minchin from Little Princess so much I couldn’t finish the book. LOL I’m a wuss
readerbuzz
I did not realize that Moriarty was a baddie. Interesting.
Here’s my post.
runnernda
King Leck for sure! Just the thought of someone with that kind of grace gives me the creeps.