# The most evil fictional character in history is... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231 "2009-12-06T21:40:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/1 "2009-12-06T21:40:04Z")
Well, that’s what I opened to thread to discuss. Obviously answers may vary. Characters from any medium and genre are eligible. However, I do have one request in the interests of civility. If you feel the answer is _Yahweh_, _Jesus Christ_, _Allah_, or _Paul of Tarsus_, please express such opinions in a GD or Pit thread. That said: I will nominate Medea from Greek myth. Admittedly her total body count isn’t as high as even Cobra Commander’s, but murdering and dismembering your own brother to help your new boyfriend escape from your father, and then, when said boyfriend tosses you aside for a younger and hotter honey, murdering the new girlfriend AND your own children to get back at him, is something that even Mephistopheles would balk at. Anyway, that’s just me. Anybody else have a nomination? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/2 "2009-12-06T22:00:30Z")
Satan. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/3 "2009-12-06T22:03:46Z")
According to my roommate’s English professor, the most pure evil character in literature (I assume this only includes canonical Serious Literature) is Iago from _Othello_. The second worse is Abby from _The Crucible_. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/4 "2009-12-06T22:12:45Z")
I nominate Randal Flag the reoccurring embodiment of evil in Stephen King’s books. He is just evil for the sake of being evil. If its a shit bag thing to do he does it even if if screws his evil plans to hell. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/5 "2009-12-06T22:26:07Z")
I think Tim Roth’s character Archibald Cunningham from _Rob Roy_ has gotta be up there. Roth played that character so well I got nauseated watching him. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/6 "2009-12-06T22:32:49Z")
The Wicked Witch of the West was pretty wicked, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/7 "2009-12-06T22:44:31Z")
Darth Vader non-chalantly blew up a planet to make a point. That’s some pretty grade-A villany, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/8 "2009-12-06T23:05:21Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Darth Vader non-chalantly blew up a planet to make a point. That’s some pretty grade-A villany, IMHO. \\\Grand Moff Tarkin commander of the Death Star\\\ Played by the redoubtable Christopher Lee. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/9 "2009-12-06T23:06:02Z")
Hannibal Lecter ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/10 "2009-12-06T23:15:51Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Played by the redoubtable Christopher Lee. \\\Peter Cushing\\\ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/11 "2009-12-06T23:18:50Z")
Can anyone top Melkor aka Morgoth? I don’t think so. Unless you are only counting \*human \*characters. Then I’ll have to think about it a bit harder. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/12 "2009-12-06T23:19:40Z")
If blowing up planets and killing billions is the measure, then the villain in the recent Star Trek movie should win that one. C. Montgomery Burns gets my vote. He blocked the sun, made munitions for the Nazis, and stole a teddy bear from a baby. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/13 "2009-12-06T23:23:17Z")
I still think Mrs Danvers is the greatest literary villain Here’s a list of 50 greatest villains in literature from the UK’s [Telegraph](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3560987/50-greatest-villains-in-literature.html) ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/14 "2009-12-06T23:50:21Z")
> [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > C. Montgomery Burns gets my vote. He blocked the sun, made munitions for the Nazis, and stole a teddy bear from a baby. Semi-random question: haven’t they gone back and forth (way back and way forth) on C. Montgomery Burns? As in, haven’t they have him in six different things during WW2? I can’t recall quite clearly, so I can’t give him my vote… yet. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/15 "2009-12-07T00:00:02Z")
Cruella DeVille? She wanted to _skin puppies._ ---
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/16 "2009-12-07T00:01:35Z")
Louis DiPalma ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/17 "2009-12-07T00:03:26Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Cruella DeVille? She wanted to _skin puppies._ So did Mr.Burns, among all the other evil things. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/18 "2009-12-07T00:04:23Z")
I think body count needs to be excluded, as sci fi characters often kill billions. Even though he kills nobody, for simply the most shockingly unpleasant, sociopathic monster ever depicted on screen (Iago excepted), see Ben Kingsley’s character ‘Don Logan’ in _Sexy Beast_. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/19 "2009-12-07T00:06:10Z")
> [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > He blocked the sun, made munitions for the Nazis, and stole a teddy bear from a baby. Well, he _tried_ to take the teddy bear, but Maggie proved too powerful for him. She ended up giving Bobo the bear to him as an act of pity. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/20 "2009-12-07T00:09:54Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, he _tried_ to take the teddy bear, but Maggie proved too powerful for him. She ended up giving Bobo the bear to him as an act of pity. Yeah also when Burns was blocking the sun, he tried to take candy from a baby (Maggie in this case) and couldn’t do that either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231.md?page=2)