Evil protagonists.

Cafe Society
41

You could argue that their enemies were even worse, but the Corleones in the Godfather movies racked up quite a body count.

Likewise, Robert DeNiro’s character in Casino.

As I recall, the guy in Goodfellas only turned “state’s evidence” in order to save his own neck.

He sorta kinda makes an attempt to turn it around. Although I am not certain that his final solution is any more moral than his original scheme.

Elric, in Michael Moorcock’s novels, committed the occasional mass-murder. (Yeah, sure, he felt really guilty about it, but he kept doing it!)

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Rorschach from Watchmen is certainly not a good guy.

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The hero of Milton’s Paradise Lost is arguably Satan himself.

Maybe I’m tripping, but the last time I read The Lord of the Rings I began to suspect that Gollum was the real protagonist.

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Couldn’t it be said that he was trying to do a good thing, though, by attempting to set everyone’s debt back to zero?

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What about V from V for Vendetta?

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Well, the Harlequin was arguably good, from Repent Harlequin said the Ticktock Man, so I don’t know if you can call V evil.

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Dr. Anton Phibes and Edward Lionheart. both of course played by Vincent Price.

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Danny Ocean wasn’t exactly a good person.

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But you couldn’t call Dortmunder evil. Just criminal.

Parker, though? Evil. From The Parker novels. (See: Mel Gibson in Payback)

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Quoth Skara_Brae:

Sheesh, it took 38 posts for someone to mention him? People just don’t appreciate the classics any more. And people tend to look at me funny when I mention that that play has a happy ending.

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To me the best literary villian is “Mrs Danvers” from the book Rebecca.

I like it because she’s never really overtly evil but that level of total visciousness is always simmering just below and perhaps at the end it finally surfaces. Though you can’t be sure even then. (I won’t ruin the ending)

Actually Rebecca would be a boring story without Mrs Danvers hovering around