Now, we’ve already covered many of the most monstrous and terrifying creations that populate
the endless tapestry of literature, both modern and classic--but we’re yet to tread into
the most nightmarish depiction of horror in fiction--the evil of humanity.
Oftentimes, it is far too easy for writers to pen creatures and chaotic entities that
plague mankind with their evil ways, but as we all may know--fear is in the eye of the
beholder, and when those same entities take on the shape of our own human form--we’re
often posed with a much more palatable, and terrifyingly plausible notion.
And thankfully for us, literature is littered with some of the most despicable individuals
that the human mind can imagine.
So, let’s take a look.
Hello horror fans, what’s going on--and once again, welcome back to the scariest channel
on YouTube--Top 5 Scary Videos.
As per usual, I’ll be your horror host Jack Finch--as today, we curiously take a look
at the Top 5 Most Terrifying Villains In Literature.
Roll the clip.
For the curious amongst you, that clip was from--of course, Harry Potter and the Order
of the Phoenix--where the evil that is Dolores Umbridge served to make its first appearance.
Of course, J.K Rowling’s creation is one of the most terrifying villains of recent
times, but I think for this list in particular--we may find that the inspiration for her archetypal
villainy was penned well before the Wizarding Series.
Still--she again receives our most honorable mention, alongside many other terrifying villains
of fiction.
It’s important to note, that we also have already compiled a Top 5 Scary List of some
of Stephen King’s most horrifying characters--which if you haven’t yet seen, make sure to check
out.
And so as you may assume, King won’t be appearing on this list.
Let’s begin.
Kicking off at Number 5 - Mrs. Coulter
And if you haven’t read Philip Pullman’s fantastic series, His Dark Materials--I highly
suggest that you do, but in a tale that literally pits the eternal forces of evil against the
eternal forces of good, the terrifying Mrs. Coulter remains to be one of the most violent,
selfish and memorable villains of recent times.
And although Nicole Kidman’s performance in the widely-disappointing 2007 movie was
actually incredibly fitting for her character, I’m talking purely about the novels in this
particular instance.
Because yeah, the less said about that movie the better, really.
And it’s an interesting one, because if you know nothing about the novels, Pullman’s
His Dark Materials is a young adult trilogy that covers some incredibly weighty themes--but
it's in the later implication of Mrs. Coulter’s actions where the true consequences of her
villainy were finally revealed.
Although, that’s definitely not to say that throughout the story she’s not the literal
definition of evil wrapped up in an aesthetically pleasing package, because that’s exactly
what she is.
Now, I’ll try my hardest not to spoil the character of Mrs. Coulter--but perhaps the
best way to describe the nature of her evil, is with her daemon.
You see, in the world of His Dark Materials, people are explicitly connected to a creature
that serves as a physical manifestation of their human soul, which appears as various
kinds of creatures from the animal kingdom.
In this instance, Mrs. Coulter’s daemon was a male golden monkey--that on the surface,
appeared to be a beautiful, curious creature--and alongside his human familiar, the two of them
would entice and flatter adults and children alike, whilst working for the General Oblation
Board--the secret arm of the Magisterium, a corrupt Holy Church.
Her daemon perfectly reflected Mrs. Coulter’s personality--as a beautiful creature on the
surface, but running deep with malevolent intentions.
On one occasion, her daemon was seen tearing the wings off of cave bats--out of sheer boredom.
Yeah.
That says a lot.
Coming in at Number 4 - O’Brien
And this particular fictional creation comes from George Orwell’s resounding and highly
important novel, 1984.
And yeah, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to explain the evil behind this character
in particular without spoiling the novel, but hey--Orwell published this book 70 years
ago in 1949--so I think you’ve had fair warning.
In the world of 1984, the protagonist, Winston Smith--lives in a dystopian, oppressive, totalitarian
version of Britain--a portion of the Super-State of Oceania, which has been under the rule
of INGSOC and Big Brother for time long forgotten.
He who controls the past, controls the future.
In this society, nothing is safe from the eternal gaze of Big Brother--and even the
confines of the human mind aren’t safe from the Thought Police, an organisation that serves
as the secret, ever watchful eye of INGSOC.
And that’s where O’Brien steps in, an administrator that works in the Ministry of
Truth--and who leads Winston Smith to believe that he is secretly leading an underground
resistance, known as the Brotherhood--to bring down Ingsoc from within and overthrow the
Party.
In actual fact though, as is revealed in a vile moment of realisation in the novel--this
whole thing is just a game to O’Brien--and he in fact finds great joy weeding out citizens
that aren’t completely loyal to the Party and to INGSOC.
O’Brien’s entire method of operation is to lure in anyone who evens questions the
party’s authority by pretending to be on their side, and buy into their model of rebellion--and
then of course--instead arrest them, and cure them through moments of perverse torture of
the human mind.
I mean, compared to some entries on this list, O’Brien is the definition of a very human
fear.
He exemplifies totalitarian authority with every morsel of hope that he extinguishes.
In his own words--if you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human
face--forever.
Yeah.
Although perhaps not the root of all villainy--this guy comes pretty close.
Next up at Number 3 - Euron Greyjoy
And please.
No.
Don’t panic.
I’m not talking about the show’s representation of Euron Greyjoy, but purely the book series.
Although I still loved the show for the most part, Euron Greyjoy wasn’t given the portrayal
that his character deserved--and there’s no denying that in George Martin’s A Song
of Ice and Fire--The Crow’s Eye himself, Euron Greyjoy, is one of the most terrifying
villains in the whole of modern fantasy.
And again--it's because of his humanity, or lack thereof.
Now, George Martin is one of the finest writers of our time, and has a particular knack for
creating characters of pure evil--down to the fact that he segways the conventional
notions of light and dark, and instead focuses on areas of grey.
But nope.
Not for Euron.
Euron Greyjoy is just straight up the most truly evil inhabitant of The Known World.
Just compare him to some of the most memorable villains of the entire series, so far anyway--and
they all pale in comparison to Euron.
Ramsay Bolton, Tywin Lannister, Joffrey--all of them various shades of villainy, cruelty
and malice--that have all equally committed some of the most violent and horrifying atrocities
in the series.
And Euron still takes the cake.
You see, he’s not a psychopath in the conventional sense--he’s not prone to violent bursts
of anger by impulse alone--but maintains his own, entirely calculated sense of chaos without
once showing us the true rage that lies within him.
And believe me, there’s plenty of it.
Take for example, how Euron Greyjoy calmly ripped out the tongues of his entire crew
after a storm took his ship by surprise.
He ripped out every single crew members tongue, without a second thought--and his reason was
that he needed silence.
Allegedly, anyway--because as we all know, it’s pretty difficult to stage a mutiny
without a tongue.
And that isn’t even close to the worse of it, because the true evil of Euron’s character
is explicitly revealed throughout allusions to his childhood--pitting reason as to why
his brothers despise him with such hatred.
You see, the Greyjoy’s are pirates--reavers and pillagers, who take what they want in
pursuit of riches untold.
But Euron, despite having sailed pretty much across the entire known world--collecting
countless treasures along the way and becoming the most successful Iron Islander of all time--he
keeps none of it for himself.
Euron isn’t in it for the plunder--perhaps then his violent nature would make sense--he’s
in it for something else entirely.
What that something is--only he’ll ever know, and that’s the terrifying part.
Swinging in at Number 2 - Nurse Ratched
And this particular entry may get people’s blood boiling a little--because there’s
no denying the fact that Louise Fletcher’s performance in 1975’s One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest caused an entire generation to scream out in rage at the screen, as her
fantastic portrayal of Nurse Ratched relentlessly proved that there are few limits to the depths
that absolute power can corrupt absolutely.
And although Fletcher’s performance was without a doubt iconic in it’s own right--that’s
not to detract from the fact that Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel just so happened to pen one of
the most terrifying villains in the whole of literature.
And again.
It was down to her warped sense of humanity--or lack thereof--where the true nature of evil
was found.
However, the tragedy of Ratched’s character only serves to make *us* as an audience question
our own sense of morality--and ultimately, it forces us to confront whether we can or
should ever forgive evil.
I’ll try my utmost to not spoil anything behind this tale in particular, but as the
novel explains--Nurse Ratched is the head administrative nurse at Salem State Hospital--a
mental institution, where the novels narrator, Chief Bromden resides, alongside the iconic
Randle McMurphy--and a whole host of other patients that make up the fabric of Kesey’s
tragic tale.
At Salem State, Nurse Ratched exercises her absolute power over the patients--using her
patients access to medication and basic necessities as a means to malevolently maintain her corrupt,
cruel, authoritarian regime over some of the most vulnerable members of our society.
I mean, revealing the true nature of Nurse Ratched’s pure propensity for evil would
be spoilers enough--but holy moly, believe me when I say this character is a creation
of true, true evil.
Whether we can understand her motivations is a different question entirely, but Nurse
Ratched remains to be one of the most perverse demonstrations of authority and the evil that
so often comes with it.
Yeah.
She definitely deserves her place on this list.
And finally, coming in at our Number 1 spot -- Hannibal Lecter
And that should be Dr. Hannibal Lecter, because I’m not in the mood to piss off one of the
most complex and dangerous minds in the entirety of fiction.
Some would argue that in fact, Hannibal Lecter is the most perfect villain ever created--and
that’s without being, in many cases--the actual villain of his story.
Created by Thomas Harris, and first appearing in his 1981 novel Red Dragon--Hannibal Lecter
is a forensic psychiatrist on one side, and a cannibalistic serial killer on the other.
Throughout the events of Red Dragon--the novels protagonist Will Graham comes to the stark
understanding that Dr. Lecter doesn’t find any conventional psychological profile.
In fact, psychiatrists refer to him as a sociopath--simply because they don’t know what else to call
him.
A fact which is reinforced in the later novels, where Clarice Starling states, that they don’t
have a name for what he is.
In many ways though, Hannibal Lecter is the antithesis of what a human *should be*.
He operates more as a machine than he does a man, demonstrated through his unrivaled
intelligence--and his eidetic memory, where he often explains the details of his elaborate
memory palace--a narrative function that is often paired to a similar brilliant mind,
Sherlock Holmes.
However, despite his superior intellect--it comes with the extent and variability of his
actions where the fear truly lies.
Much like Euron Greyjoy, Hannibal Lecter is a pool of such depth and complexity--that
the understanding of his motivations would, or will--perhaps never be reached by the rest
of humanity.
And that’s where the true brilliance of Harris’ creation truly shines--because as
portrayed in the novels, and the later films, with the legendary performance of Sir Anthony
Hopkins--we, as an audience--find Lecter to be a likeable character.
He’s a cannibal.
He eats people with fava beans and a nice chianti--and yet we can’t help but finding
ourselves liking this guy.
He’s more akin to the likes of Frankenstein’s Monster--or Dracula--he’s a creation of
horror that can only serve to go along with their nature.
And strangely enough, for a human looking in--that fact forms a bizarre thread of curiosity
that draws us in.
Hannibal Lecter is the definition of horror.
Equal parts fear, equal parts curiosity.
And he’s a mystery that we’ll never truly understand.
Well, there we have it horror fans--our list for the Top 5 Most Terrifying Villains In
Literature.
What did you guys think?
Do you agree?
Disagree?
Have any more to add to this list?
Let us know your thoughts down in the comment section below.
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