# Great female villains **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455 "2012-01-14T00:12:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/41 "2012-01-14T16:43:59Z")
How about Mildred from **Of Human Bondage**? ---
**Author:** ![orderfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orderfire/32/10908_2.png) [@orderfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orderfire)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/42 "2012-01-14T16:44:32Z")
My #1 fave murderous, amoral, ass-kicking bitch: Lena Olin as Mona DeMarkov in _Romeo Is Bleeding_. Gentlemen, she may give you nightmares. Ladies, she may give you ideas. Also, a nod to all of the villainous bitches in the Kill Bill films. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/43 "2012-01-14T16:52:19Z")
Dunno if she’s been mentioned: Rhoda from The Bad Seed. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/44 "2012-01-14T16:57:01Z")
Mrs. Danvers from _Rebecca_ and Lady Catherine de Bourgh in _Pride and Prejudice_. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/45 "2012-01-14T17:18:01Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Holmes was after a photograph she had of herself and some guy who was minor German royalty. The guy was afraid she’d use it to blackmail him. She was an opera singer, and he was engaged to a princess who would consider him immoral for such a relationship. However, Irene never did blackmail him, IIRC, if for no other reason than that she was getting married herself. Thanks! Again, I am the Poster Child for Fighting Ignorance. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/46 "2012-01-14T17:30:39Z")
Oh yeah! Uma Thurman’s character in _Kill Bill_. The Bride. Beatrix Kiddo ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/47 "2012-01-14T19:16:15Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I nominate Agent June Stahl from **Sons Of Anarchy**. I just rewatched SOA Season 2 (I’ve seen Season 3, but not 4) and I was again impressed with Ally Walker’s work as Agent Stahl. It’s the weird head bobbing, like a Praying Mantis sizing up a cricket before she seizes it and bites it’s head off. Tough, smart, amoral. Loved/hated her. Amazing! I just finished Season 3 on Netflix (I saw it before when it was running weekly as first run) last night (actually early this morning) and was so moved by the way Stahl was disposed of that I had thoughts of starting this very thread, or one that focused on the demise of the bad guys/gals in particularly memorable ways. Jimmy O got his in the same episode and it was great, too. Stahl is who I thought of when I read the title. The next to hop to mind was Glenn Close in _Fatal Attraction_ and I’m sure I will agree with others as I read the rest of the thread. I just had to comment as soon as I read the OP, since that’s so fresh on my mind! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/48 "2012-01-14T19:25:57Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I nominate Mags Bennett from season 2 of Justified. > [@Sitnam](#): > > Nurse Ratched > [@spooje](#): > > Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction. > > Evil! Pure, sexy evil. > [@orderfire](#): > > Also, a nod to all of the villainous bitches in the Kill Bill films. I can endorse all of these, but I still favor Stahl as the main bitch. Ally has such weird eyes and such a venomous personality that acting Stahl was probably a piece of cake for her. Ever since her first scene, I kept hoping for something bad to happen to her, and having Opie be in on it a whole season’s worth later just fulfilled all the pent-up hate I had developed for her. That catharsis theme is being well exploited more and more in the shows I enjoy watching! ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/49 "2012-01-14T19:29:28Z")
007 films: Fiona Volpe, Helga Brandt, Octopussy, Elektra King, Xenia Onatopp, Fatima Blush. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/50 "2012-01-14T19:32:03Z")
Rosalind Shays on _LA Law_ ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/51 "2012-01-14T19:43:21Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Cersei Lannister in _A Game of Thrones_ (A Song of Ice and Fire). She’s played in the tv series by the excellent Lena Headey. I’ve only read the first book, so I don’t know how she fares after that, but she’s smart and cold and devious. Cersei isn’t smart at all; she’s devious but frequently outwitted. In a way, though, that makes her a great villain. She’s on the wrong side of things because she acts to defend things she’s emotional about, not because she’s “evil.” Cersei Lannister truly believes she’s right. It makes her seem real. It’s easy to make someone just “evil.” Why is Isabelle de Mertueil evil? Why, because she is. She’s just a psychopath. And hey, they can work really well, as in many examples cited ths far, and someone it’s the right way to go - Darth Vader is a far more compelling villain when he’s just Darth Vader than he is when he gets a detailed explanation. Making someone a villain without being evil, though, that’s a really neat trick, and George R.R. Martin does it with several characters; Cersei Lannister being one, and Danaerys being another. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/52 "2012-01-14T19:59:07Z")
She may be “just evil” but the Evil Queen in Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” is my nominee for a great female villain. That scene where she turns into a dragon gave me the shakes when I saw it in the theatre - & I wasn’t even that little! ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/53 "2012-01-14T20:05:45Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > I nominate: > > The Diamond Duchess in _Miss Bianca_, by Margery Sharp. > Mrs. Coulter in _The Golden Compass_, by Philip Pullman > The Emerald Witch in _The Silver Chair_, by C.S. Lewis > Ma Mattulich in _The Mountains of Mourning_, by Lois McMaster Bujold > Beth Curtis in _Island of the Sequined Love Nun_, by Christopher Moore > Matron in _Thursday’s Child_, by Noel Streatfeild > Caroline Kelling in _The Family Vault_, by Charlotte MacLeod > Hyacinth Hawthorne in _A Drowned Maiden’s Hair_, by Laura Amy Schlitz > The Elf Queen in _Lords and Ladies_, by Terry Pratchett And how could I forget Felice from Julian May’s _The Saga of Pliocene Exile_? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/54 "2012-01-14T20:19:14Z")
[Shego](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu6ECS8VtHg), from Disney’s _Kim Possible_. So delightfully [snarky](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kcUigdvKDc)! ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/55 "2012-01-14T20:22:50Z")
Vriska Serket from the webcomic _Homestuck_, although she sort of straddles the line between villain and protagonist. She’s an antagonistic protagonist, if that’s even a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Scholar\_Beardpig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Scholar\_Beardpig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scholar_Beardpig)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/56 "2012-01-14T20:30:47Z")
> [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](#): > > Vriska Serket from the webcomic _Homestuck_, although she sort of straddles the line between villain and protagonist. She’s an antagonistic protagonist, if that’s even a thing. Everyone loves Vriska. Well, some people hate Vriska. But they love to hate her. But yes, she’s absolutely the villain, and I at least cheered when Terezi took her out. But the best female villain has got to be, as was said above, Livia from I, Claudius. Not only is she the best female villain, but she’s one of the best female characters in any work of fiction - so say I. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/57 "2012-01-14T20:34:28Z")
Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke is a great character though she is perhaps not a clear-cut villain. High on my list of movies I would like to watch which will never get made is a prequel about how Eboshi gets to become leader of Iron Town. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/58 "2012-01-14T20:59:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke is a great character though she is perhaps not a clear-cut villain. One of the great things about that movie is that it doesn’t really _have_ a villain, just heroes who are nonetheless opposed. Not to blur the boundaries between forums, but my nomination is GLaDDOS from the Portal games. Underneath all that sarcastic snark about trying to kill you in various gruesome ways, she really _is_ trying to kill you in various gruesome ways. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/59 "2012-01-14T21:12:32Z")
Glinda the Good Witch from _The Wizard of OZ._ Undeniably, the most devious villian ever put on screen. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-female-villains/609455/60 "2012-01-14T21:15:31Z")
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