# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/21 "2009-12-07T00:11:23Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > So did Mr.Burns, among all the other evil things. AND steal candy from a baby!!! I vote for Emperor Palpatine. At least Vader had some good left in him – and his path to the Dark Side was to prevent those he loved from being harmed. How about Lord Voldemort? He likes to make people hurt themselves, just for the fun of it. (Even as a child) Total sociopath. He has no sense of empathy – all he wants is power, and to stop himself from dying. He has not a single friend in the world – nor does he want any. He only wants himself. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/22 "2009-12-07T00:25:27Z")
Francis Urquhart from _House of Cards_ was deeply evil, but great fun. Blue Duck from _Lonesome Dove_ was pretty irredeemably unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/23 "2009-12-07T00:25:53Z")
Thanos. Killer of zillions because he’s got this insane notion that he could get an abstract personification to fall in love with him. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/24 "2009-12-07T00:28:51Z")
Nobody yet for Cathy from _East of Eden_? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/25 "2009-12-07T00:39:20Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > 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_. What’s Aaron the Moor, chopped liver? For that matter, what of King Lear’s Edmund? Also, while I can see the argument, I’d be reluctant to call Abigail the _most_ evil character. She’s just too young and clueless to fully understand what she’s doing, I think. She’s, what, high school age? I’ve taught high schoolers - even the smart ones are pretty freaking clueless in surprising ways, sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/26 "2009-12-07T00:43:12Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Cruella DeVille? She wanted to _skin puppies._ So? I had deep-fried veal brains for dinner last night. Delicious! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Cleveland_Steamer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/27 "2009-12-07T00:44:25Z")
YHWH ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/28 "2009-12-07T00:44:44Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > \\\Grand Moff Tarkin commander of the Death Star\\\ > Played by the redoubtable Christopher Lee. And he may well have been doing it for far better reason than “to make a point”. Consider that Princess Leia certainly _said_ the planet was unarmed, but she had been far from a cooperative interrogation subject to that point. It’s entirely possible, given Leia’s role in the planetary government, that it housed significant numbers of Rebel personnel and equipment. And we all know the only way to be sure that such things are destroyed … ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/29 "2009-12-07T00:45:39Z")
Every creative writing student must study Darth Vader. From the music, introduction, voice, motivations, actions, coloring, backstory, fall, redemption, etc. etc. etc., he’s the most perfectly presented villain in history. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/30 "2009-12-07T00:47:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > AND steal candy from a baby!!! > I vote for Emperor Palpatine. At least Vader had some good left in him – and his path to the Dark Side was to prevent those he loved from being harmed. And the Emperor’s path was to save the Galaxy from anarchy. If there’s one thing that the first prequel made clear (other than that Lucas needs to hang it up), it’s that the Old Republic simply didn’t _work_, and had become vulnerable to endemic corruption and insurrection. The Empire delivered stable government for decades, until the rebel scum brought it down. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/31 "2009-12-07T00:49:02Z")
> [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](#): > > YHWH Come on, man - is it really _that_ far to Great Debates? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Cleveland_Steamer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/32 "2009-12-07T00:51:49Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Come on, man - is it really _that_ far to Great Debates? There were no complaints about Satan. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/33 "2009-12-07T00:58:07Z")
Cthulhu ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/34 "2009-12-07T00:59:44Z")
> [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](#): > > YHWH “A false friend, an unjust judge, a braggart, hypocrite, and tyrant, sincere in hatred, jealous, vain and revengeful, false in promise, honest in curse, suspicious, ignorant infamous and hideous–such is the God of the Pentateuch.” - Robert Ingersoll ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/35 "2009-12-07T01:01:59Z")
> [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](#): > > There were no complaints about Satan. Not that many satanists on the board afaik. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/36 "2009-12-07T01:10:17Z")
Eric Cartman. I mean he’s got it all; no empathy, total racism, greedy beyond belief, a manipulater of epic proportions, utterly ruthless, and incredibly competent at everything he does. And all this at only age 10. Give the kid a break, he’s gonna be something as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/37 "2009-12-07T01:13:47Z")
Nurse Ratched, _One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest_? But I also vote for Lord Voldemort. ---
**Author:** ![Race\_Harley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Race\_Harley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Race_Harley)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/38 "2009-12-07T01:23:39Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Every creative writing student must study Darth Vader. From the music, introduction, voice, motivations, actions, coloring, backstory, fall, redemption, etc. etc. etc., he’s the most perfectly presented villain in history. You don’t think his boss, the Emperor, was worst? The guy was pure evil. He was willing to let his Darth’s son off his #1 so that he could take his place and if that didn’t work out, oh well, I still have #1 working for me. I think Darth tossed him just for trying that bulls#$t. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/39 "2009-12-07T01:33:04Z")
As an honorable mention with an asterisk\*, how about Shakespeare’s version of Richard III? Granted, he was a real person but the play so thoroughly assassinates his character and exaggerates (and outright lies about) his misdeeds so much that he almost qualifies as a fictional. [QUOTE=The Cleveland Steamer] There were no complaints about Satan. [/QUOTE] The requirements of the OP aside, I think one complaint about including Satan is that in the best-known and most influential works where he’s a character–\*The Divine Comedy \*and _Paradise Lost_–he’s _not evil enough_. He doesn’t really do all that much in “The Inferno” section of _The Divine Comedy_ and is almost admirable at times in _Paradise Lost._ To be a great villain, you should be so detestable that even the most pacifistic person not only like to see you killed but also drawn and quartered. On a somewhat related note, is this thread strictly limited to fictional characters with known authors or can we nominate legendary characters as well? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/40 "2009-12-07T01:36:15Z")
> [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](#): > > There were no complaints about Satan. The OP didn’t explicitly ask people to go to GD or the Pit if they wanted to nominate Satan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231.md?page=3)