# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/101 "2009-12-08T00:52:39Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Nobody yet for Cathy from _East of Eden_? Oooh, good call. > [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > 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. Aaron the Moor is a little hard to take seriously. I mean, he’s kind of cartoonish. I dunno, I just don’t think that he’s as evil as Iago. Neither do I think Edmund is as evil as Iago, though he’s close. Goneril and Regan deserve mention too. I could make a sarcastic aside that _Titus_ isn’t _literature_ in the grandiose sense of the word, no matter who wrote it. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/102 "2009-12-08T01:33:15Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > This ought to be a feud. > > The brackets could be: > > Legendary/Historical > > Movies/TV > > Literature > > Other (Comics, Video Games, etc.) good idea that won’t come to fruition because this is the internet and we are all oh-so lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/103 "2009-12-08T01:39:48Z")
**Q** from STAR TREK is willing to destroy whole planets for petty revenge or his own amusement. While it’s unknown if he ever actually _did_ this, there was an episode where he was stripped of his powers and upon getting them back he was stopped just short of taking revenge on the star system whose people tormented him when he was powerless. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanTigerTamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SuntanTigerTamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanTigerTamer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/104 "2009-12-08T02:36:13Z")
> [@DLuxN8R-13](#): > > A few contenders are as follows: > \*The Judge, from _Red Meridian_ by Cormac McCarthy. It’s actually **Blood** Meridian. And Judge Holden wins for me, hands down. He delights in misleading men, sometimes at the expense of their very souls. His only enemy is the one man, The Kid, who he could not persuade. ---
**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 8, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/105 "2009-12-08T03:44:26Z")
> [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > I’ll go with Heathcliff (from _Wuthering Heights_, not the comic pages). Spent most of his life deliberately and methodically destroying everyone he possibly could, including his own child, because he was in a life-long snit over being rejected and insulted by a spoiled teenage girl. Sure, he didn’t destroy planets, but he did manage to mentally torture and/or kill everyone within his shpere of influence - something not even Palapatine did. Oh god, I just finished _Wuthering Heights_ a short bit ago, and I cannot agree more. What gets me is that it’s billed as a “great love story”. And that Heathcliff is supposed to be this Byronic hero, a dark, handsome lover. When he’s actually anything but. What about Victor Frankenstein? He gets it into his head to create a new being, and once he does, he’s disgusted by what he’s done, and simply abandons his creation, letting the creature fend for himself. The creature, searching only to find a friend yet rejected at every attempt, begins to seek out his creator. While the creature does become violent in his attempts to gain friendship, it could be argued that it was Victor’s responsibility to teach him and guide him, rather than abandoning the creator to his fate. And yet, he never accepts his own part in this. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/106 "2009-12-08T03:56:54Z")
Simon Legree literally whipped Uncle Tom to death. Plus, he has a truly evil-sounding name. ---
**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 8, 2009, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/107 "2009-12-08T10:58:34Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > What about Victor Frankenstein? He gets it into his head to create a new being, and once he does, he’s disgusted by what he’s done, and simply abandons his creation, letting the creature fend for himself. The creature, searching only to find a friend yet rejected at every attempt, begins to seek out his creator. > While the creature does become violent in his attempts to gain friendship, it could be argued that it was Victor’s responsibility to teach him and guide him, rather than abandoning the creator to his fate. And yet, he never accepts his own part in this. He gets a kid & dumps him. Same thing happens in every major American city 50+ times a day. Of course, in _those_ cases, less graverobbing involved… ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/108 "2009-12-08T11:33:33Z")
Alan, from Spider Robinson’s novel **Very Bad Deaths**. A nerdy computer genius serial killer who happens to enjoy finding out how long and how intensely people can be made to suffer before he kills them. The things I read in that book STILL freak me out at night. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/109 "2009-12-08T11:58:19Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Blue Duck from _Lonesome Dove_ was pretty irredeemably unpleasant. Good one. Mox Mox the Manburner was another depraved bastard created by McMurtry in _Streets of Laredo._ Come to think of it, Joey Garza was no peach either. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/110 "2009-12-08T12:20:14Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I still think Mrs Danvers is the greatest literary villain Okay, it’s been a long time since I read _Rebecca_, but I don’t remember Mrs. Danvers doing anything especially evil. She just treated the heroine like shit. ---
**Author:** ![DonJorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@DonJorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonJorge)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/111 "2009-12-08T16:16:18Z")
On “The Pillars of the Earth” (Ken Follet), William Hamleigh starts as an evil character, and gets progressively worse throughout the book. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/112 "2009-12-08T17:18:44Z")
> [@MidnightRadio](#): > > Okay, it’s been a long time since I read _Rebecca_, but I don’t remember Mrs. Danvers doing anything especially evil. She just treated the heroine like shit. That little game she played with the costume? ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/113 "2009-12-08T19:04:04Z")
What about [Evil Roy Slade](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067072/)? I mean, his first name is Evil and all. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/114 "2009-12-08T19:18:56Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > That little game she played with the costume? Inciting the heroine to suicide? Burning down Manderley? Oh, yeah. She was eeeeeeeeeevil. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/115 "2009-12-08T19:51:33Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > 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. I think we \*should \*only count human characters. Guys like Satan and satan-analogues like Morgoth are _supposed_ to be the most evil thing ever. They have no choice to be evil, it’s their nature. The way I figure, one cannot be evil without the capacity for doing good. It’s knowing the difference between good and evil and deliberately doing evil that matters. Without a frame of reference, morality has no real meaning. That being said, I’m not sure if I can answer the OP. I could nominate my favorite villain (s) but I can’t really decide if any of them are the most evil of all. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/116 "2009-12-08T20:07:33Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > What about Victor Frankenstein? He gets it into his head to create a new being, and once he does, he’s disgusted by what he’s done, and simply abandons his creation, letting the creature fend for himself. The creature, searching only to find a friend yet rejected at every attempt, begins to seek out his creator. > While the creature does become violent in his attempts to gain friendship, it could be argued that it was Victor’s responsibility to teach him and guide him, rather than abandoning the creator to his fate. And yet, he never accepts his own part in this. Which makes him not so much an evil bastard, just a deadbeat dad. An asshole to be sure, but no different than any jackass that knocks his girlfriend/wife up and up and leaves. Which makes the story way more sad than horrible. Because the Monster isn’t a monster, he’s a kid. With all the restraint and cruelty of a small child, but the strength of a strong man and perfectly innocent. He’s like Lennie from Of Mice and Men. I’ve always found the story to be heartbreaking than anything. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/117 "2009-12-08T20:44:13Z")
Intereseting if you look at this thread from the main page it says: The most evil fictional character in history is Skald the Rhymer Now I’m not one to normally jump to conclusions or anything, but the proof is right there in the pudding. Or at least very close to the pudding. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/118 "2009-12-08T22:53:44Z")
> [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](#): > > There were no complaints about Satan. Satan as _fictional character_, e.g., from Paradise Lost. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/119 "2009-12-08T22:55:26Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Intereseting if you look at this thread from the main page it says: > > The most evil fictional character in history is > Skald the Rhymer > > Now I’m not one to normally jump to conclusions or anything, but the proof is right there in the pudding. > > Or at least very close to the pudding. Well, according to the Hilda Sharp Theory of Universe Construction, there is a world somewhere where this is accurate. ---
**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 8, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231/120 "2009-12-08T23:01:05Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Satan as _fictional character_, e.g., from Paradise Lost. Hell, Satan from PL is often sympathetic. Though not to the degree as, say, Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar, who is about equally sympathetic as Jesus, and perhaps more tragic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-evil-fictional-character-in-history-is/520231.md?page=7)