# Truly evil characters in film and literature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988 "2011-02-28T22:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/1 "2011-02-28T22:56:10Z")
I’ve been re-watching [Oz](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118421/) on DVD recently. While many of the characters depicted on that show are of the most despicable type imaginable, Vern Schillinger has to be at the top of as far as evil bastards on that show goes. Besides running the Aryan Brotherhood, the things he did to Tobias Beecher, ranging from rape to having his kids kidnapped and tortured before killing one of them, makes him probably the most evil character I’ve ever come across. This got me wondering, what other really evil people have other authors and writers dreamed up? So I says to myself, let’s make a list. I’d like to keep anyone with any redeemable traits off the list altogether, just to make it a bit more challenging. Also, since I know my audience here on the SDMB pretty well, I request that nobody mention God or any other religious figure. If you’d like to mention a particular depiction of one of them, such as one of the many characterizations of Lucifer, go for it. But let’s leave the religious literature out of this one, okay? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/2 "2011-03-01T00:16:15Z")
Jonah Malloy, a mob boss played by David Paymer in ABC’s short-lived series **Line of Fire** , was one of the most frightening characters I’ve seen on network TV. Merciless to everyone, including his wife. Then there’s Al Swearengen and his rival–I forgot his name–on **Deadwood**. What mean, nasty people. I’m sure others can come up with a lot worse. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/3 "2011-03-01T00:33:36Z")
How about Stephen King’s [Randall Flagg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Flagg)? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/4 "2011-03-01T01:07:44Z")
From [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=546134) thread: > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Based on nearly half a century of horror fandom, I’ve often argued that Angelus from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ and _Angel The Series_ is one of the most terrifying of screen villains. > > I think it is a combination of the contrast with his non-evil, rather tediously mopey Angel persona, and the sheer delight he takes in his sadism - which, it should be noted is as much psychological as physical, although he certainly doesn’t scorn physical sadism. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/5 "2011-03-01T01:45:10Z")
Tim Roth as Archibald Cunninghman in _Rob Roy_. Few redeeming traits, and minus a short scene in which he seems to lament his own villainy, consistently destructive physically and psychologically. I was literally nauseated while watching some of his behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/6 "2011-03-01T01:50:13Z")
Ritser Brughel and Tomas Nau from “A Deepness in the Sky” and Mr. Steel and Flenser from “A Fire Upon the Deep” (both by Vernor Vinge). To give you an idea Tomas Nau raped and tortured to death a girl’s mother, then seduced the girl. Every time the girl figured out what had happened to her mother, Nau had her mind-wiped - he got a kick out of manipulating her, and a kick out of her repeated reliazations of what he had done - and in some ways, Flenser was worse ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/7 "2011-03-01T01:50:47Z")
Hannibal Lecter ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/8 "2011-03-01T02:12:36Z")
In a series filled with evil sons-of-bitches, Joffrey Baratheon from A Song of Ice and Fire tops my list. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/9 "2011-03-01T02:30:30Z")
Kaiser Soze from The Usual Suspects. I had a quote and stuff all ready, then “poof” it just disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/10 "2011-03-01T02:41:50Z")
Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/11 "2011-03-01T02:49:14Z")
Tom Riddle in Harry Potter seems to be nearly insane, unable to understand why others’ suffering is sad. Death, the ultimate human flaw, bothers him so much that he murders people in order to sever his soul into fragments and store them in objects. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/12 "2011-03-01T02:59:07Z")
I saw _Lonesome Dove_ last week for the first time since it was aired so this is fresh in my mind: Frederic Forrest as Blue Duck, the half-breed renegade. Pure, distilled evil, and the protagonists never laid a hand on him. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/13 "2011-03-01T03:13:12Z")
Anton Chigurh ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/14 "2011-03-01T03:14:15Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > ``` > Then there's Al Swearengen and his rival--I forgot his name--on **Deadwood**. What mean, nasty people. > > ``` You’re thinking of Cy Tolliver, and I totally agree. George Hearst belongs in this list, too. But Tolliver was the worst of all. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. He was a sadistic bully and a coward, and I wish he had died before the show ended. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/15 "2011-03-01T03:33:21Z")
Roland Croninger in Robert R. McCammon’s Swan Song would have to be up there. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/16 "2011-03-01T03:43:29Z")
Norman Stansfield from _Leon_ (or _Leon the Professional_ - whichever): “You killed my brother.” “I’m sorry. Do you want to join him?” “No.” “Always the same thing. It’s when you start to become really afraid of death that you learn to appreciate life. Do you like life sweetheart?” “Yes.” “Good. I take no pleasure in taking a life if it’s from a person who doesn’t care about it.” Mr Blonde from _Reservoir Dogs_: “Listen kid, I’m not gonna bullshit you, all right? I don’t give a good fuck what you know, or don’t know, but I’m gonna torture you anyway, regardless. Not to get information. It’s amusing, to me, to torture a cop. You can say anything you want 'cause I’ve heard it all before. All you can do is pray for a quick death, which you ain’t gonna get.” ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/17 "2011-03-01T03:46:05Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > In a series filled with evil sons-of-bitches, Joffrey Baratheon from A Song of Ice and Fire tops my list. I loathed Theon Greyjoy far more than Joffrey. In fact I can’t remember the last time I ever loathed a character as much as I loathed Theon. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/18 "2011-03-01T04:00:27Z")
I also came here to say Blue Duck fromk _Lonesome Dove_ as well. Even his own father (who was no goody-two shoes himself) disowned him for being too F-ed up. I’d add Dr. Potter from _English Passengers_. Nasty, horrible, EVIL. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/19 "2011-03-01T05:59:06Z")
Vorbis the Inquisitor from Terry Pratchett’s _Small Gods_. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/20 "2011-03-01T08:25:59Z")
The bad guy from Pan’s Labyrinth; he’s one sadistic son of a bitch, everybody (first of all his own men) is terrified of him. If you’re from Spain there’s an additional twist: that actor has a total everyman face and was previously known for family comedies. It’s like going to buy bread and having the baker come at you with a cavalry saber. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988.md?page=2)