I intended to make this a pool, but then I realized that I would probably forget some less obvious characters than some viewers might want to put in an “evil” list. So, just posting my list of bad guys instead (I didn’t list minor characters who might have done bad things, like for instance Polliver or Meryn Trant and the supernatural Night king) :
Ramsay Bolton
Gregor “the mountain” Clegane
Khal Drogo (might surprise some, but I think he’s one of the worst character of the series, living only to murder, rape enslave and plunder. He’s one of the reasons why I nerver could get behind Danaerys who ignored what an horrible person he was, and put to a cruel death the woman who very justifiably murdered him. The only reason I put him only in third place is that you can consider him “molded by his culture” and he seems to enjoy less that the two others inflicting pain and suffering.)
Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish. (One of the most ruthless character in the show, in particular with minor characters like the prostitutes he employs, acting only out of self-interest, with no regard whatsoever for the consequences on others, without any conceivable excuse, having carefully considered everything he does and its consequences)
Cersei Lannister
Joffrey Baratheon (some will find surprising that I put him so low in the list, but I think he has a “minority excuse” and “unfit parents excuse”)
Roose Bolton (put above Walder Frey because he shows repeatedly his ruthlessness, even though I liked this character)
Walder Frey
Tywin Lannister
Theon Greyjoy
Sandor Clegane
Jaqen H’ghar (as the leader of an assassin cult, definitely not a nice person)
The waif (same as above, except she’s a subordinate)
Qyburn
Jaime Lannister (no redemption from what he originally did in my book)
Ygrid (this one too might surprise some, but she definitely isn’t a nice person)
Ellaria Sand
Lysa Tully
Euron Greyjoy (putting him very low on the list, because despite him being supposed to be one of the main villains, I can’t really remember him actually doing much evil)
Stannis Baratheon (put him low in the list because he acts out of a mistaken sense of duty, not because he’s an evil man)
Melisandre (same as Stannis. Put her lower than him, because ultimately he’s the one deciding)
Viserys Targaryen (when you think of it, he didn’t do much evil. Vastly less than most characters, arguably including his sister.)
Did I forget someone?
Is he really evil? I don’t remember doing anything other than killing Ned. From his perspective, he’s killing a confessed traitor upon order of his king.
I edited the title to indicate spoilers were possible. I’m assuming this thread can include information from the books unless the OP indicates it’s “show only.”
Eddard Stark. Led a rebellion against the true King and put Mark Addy on the throne. Was too stupid at politicking.
Cut off a dudes head for jackshit reason in the opener.
The Slavers at slavers bay.
Dany Targaryen. Too happy to burn and crucify. Certifiably nuts in turn.
Everyone else seems to be more or less on the same page. Everyone is ruthless to get advantage and screw the small folk over big time.
The stupid ones are worse.
I would say The Mountain. He burned his young brothers face over something stupid like borrowing a toy. He tortured a bunch of innocent, random people to death to try to find gold(or something, I can’t remember the exact motivation). This was early on when Arya was captured and she first started her list. The thing about the people he tortured was that it was certain that none of them would know the answers to the questions they were being tortured for. So it was completely senseless.
Obviously the Boltons whole reputation was based on torture but at the very least they did it as a punishment or for political reasons. It’s not much but it’s very slightly better that just doing it for fun like The Mountain.
I would put Walder Frey way lower on the list, or remove him completely. Guy was completely fucked by the Starks, not only by their personal betrayal of their oaths to him but by their own self sabotage of their war. He did the only thing he could to save his family after making a huge mistake by supporting the Starks.
If we’re going that way, Robert Baratheon. He co-led the rebellion, took the responsibility of kingship, and then virtually abdicated to spend his time whoring, hunting, and drinking. Too stupid to figure out his wife was screwing her own brother under his nose. Virtually bankrupted his kingdom for stupid luxuries, exploited the smallfolk, and put monsters like Littlefinger in charge.
This seems an odd entry for a list of “villains” or “evil/heinous” characters. I don’t see how any of these things can be honestly characterized as villainous or evil or heinous.
In terms of the rebellion, he helped overthrow a cruel and arbitrary and arguably insane ruler. There are a lot of real people who have done such a thing without being judged villainous or evil or heinous.
Being “too stupid at politicking” isn’t villainous or evil or heinous. That’s just silly.
He was executing his duty as the designated representative of the king’s justice. Now, you might question the wisdom of the law, but Ned applied and executed the law in a manner that can’t fairly be described as villainous or evil or heinous.
It’s not like the law in question is in any way extraordinary given the cultural milieu.
Desertion has been punishable by death in most western cultures up until very recent times.
I’ll add Tormund. I rewatched the series last month, at least a couple episodes a day. It amazed me how Tormund became such a fan favorite. He was not a nice guy! He killed innocent men, women and children for no really justifiable reason. I guess watching it year to year, it softened what a bad guy he was when he started helping Jon. And the show wanted to use him for comic relief. But even though I love the character now, he was evil.
One great thing about the story (especially the books) is that there is very little good and evil. It’s mostly shades of gray. Most in the list are not pure villains or total evil. They are all products of a very violent medievalish society where if you are not hard you die. Nice guys don’t finish last they are ground under the hooves of people who know how to survive.
But there are some like Joffrey that have no gray. He’s just a dick.
Euron Greyjoy is a bad, bad man. We have not had a lot of time with him to do repeated bad things but his character has shown him to be utterly ruthless with no redeeming qualities and willing to kill his family willy-nilly in pursuit of his powergrab. He should be a lot higher on the list.
Likewise, the “good” characters are almost never lily-white. Even Jon, one of the best of the major characters, has broken his sacred oath, betrayed the trust of the woman he broke his oath for, and executed a child (admittedly one who had murdered him).
He is a pathetic character. He is lost, misguided, trying to make a name for himself and he keeps bungling it all. He is not evil or heinous. He is sad and tragic.
He did bad things to be sure but he was never a bad person really (I mean, he did bad things to be sure but his motives were not bad like his uncle Euron).
Some of the things he did were far worse than just “bad things.” He murdered or caused the murder of multiple people. Perhaps he did those things for pathetic reasons, but that doesn’t make those actions less evil. You can give him some credit for feeling bad about it but he still did those things.