# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/41 "2011-03-01T17:33:19Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I’ll nominate Senator Gregg Hartmann from the **Wild Cards** series. His name for himself is “Puppetman”; he can reach into the minds of others and manipulate their emotions, tugging them like a puppeteer pulls strings. One of his first uses of his power, at age 11, was manipulating a retarded teenager into raping and murdering a girl he had a crush on, while he enjoyed it all from inside the kid’s head. I’ve always wondered about the Wild Cards books. Are they any good? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/42 "2011-03-01T18:36:23Z")
Daniel Quilp from Dicken’s Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. There is no other character in a book that I have wanted to beat the shit out of more than this man. Several from Catch-22 Milo is evil. Col Cathcart and Col Korn may just be stupid and mean. Arfy may just be crazy but he is evil. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/43 "2011-03-01T18:38:58Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Iago. And Aaron the Moor from the lesser-known _Titus Andronicus._ Driven by pure malice, and at the end he boasts of it – “If one good deed in all my life I did / I do repent it from my very soul!” ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/44 "2011-03-01T19:02:20Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > I’ve always wondered about the Wild Cards books. Are they any good? I’d say they’re “uneven”. Since they’re mosaic novels that consist of stories/chapters by several different authors, you’ll probably like some parts and not like others. If you can find them, I thought they were worth reading; there are some damn interesting characters. ---
**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, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/45 "2011-03-01T19:04:16Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I’d say they’re “uneven”. Since they’re mosaic novels that consist of stories/chapters by several different authors, you’ll probably like some parts and not like others. If you can find them, I thought they were worth reading; there are some damn interesting characters. I thought the first was quite good, and each subsequent one was somewhat less good than the one before; I stopped after #3, having seen that pattern in other series before. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/46 "2011-03-01T19:21:31Z")
The aunt who worked her niece to death in Zola’s _The Earth_. Serena in Ron Rash’s book of the same name. Ellen in _Leave Her to Heaven_, who arranged the drowning of her husband’s disabled brother because she was jealous of their relationship. The little girl in _The Bad Seed_. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/47 "2011-03-01T20:30:51Z")
Uriah Heep. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/48 "2011-03-01T20:53:59Z")
Max Cady from Cape Fear was terrifyingly evil. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/49 "2011-03-01T21:08:36Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > 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. This, this, a thousand times this. I really hated Tim Roth for a while after watching the movie, which is a testament to how talented of an actor he is. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/50 "2011-03-01T21:27:42Z")
Richard III from Shakespeare’s play of the same name Elmer Gantry Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham in _Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/51 "2011-03-01T21:54:47Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > Richard III from Shakespeare’s play of the same name And, of course, Ma- . . . errmmm . . . the dude from the Scottish play. [eeeewwwww! hot potato off your drawers but we’ll make amends!] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/52 "2011-03-01T21:56:18Z")
Sauron is “truly evil” but, in the books or in the films, never develops as a “character.” No lines. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/53 "2011-03-01T22:01:47Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Vorbis the Inquisitor from Terry Pratchett’s _Small Gods_. Worse yet, he’s the kind of bad guy who is always absolutely convinced he’s the good guy. See [The Fundamentalist,](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheFundamentalist)[Well Intentioned Extremist,](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WellIntentionedExtremist) and [Knight Templar.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KnightTemplar) (TVTropes links.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/54 "2011-03-01T22:07:39Z")
Norman Arminger in S.M. Stirling’s [Emberverse](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Emberverse) series. He’ll do anything, kill or torture anyone, to forge his neo-Norman-French empire. And everyone keeps pointing out how many lives he saved by his ruthless methods after the Change, and how most cities the size of Portland ended up as death zones. Even the Prophet Sethaz, enemy in the more recent novels, isn’t so pure-evil as that (he is possessed by Higher Powers, after all). Stirling really likes pure-evil villains, so long as they’re total badasses. Like William Walker in the [Island in the Sea of Time](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IslandInTheSeaOfTime) series. Or the whole Draka culture. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/55 "2011-03-01T22:09:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And, of course, Ma- . . . errmmm . . . the dude from the Scottish play. [eeeewwwww! hot potato off your drawers but we’ll make amends!] [Edmund]Oh, you mean MacBeth?[/Edmund] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/56 "2011-03-01T22:11:41Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > [Edmund]Oh, you mean MacBeth?[/Edmund] Speaking of pure-evil characters . . . ---
**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:** [March 1, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/57 "2011-03-01T22:21:12Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] And, of course, Ma- . . . errmmm . . . the dude from the Scottish play. [eeeewwwww! hot potato off your drawers but we’ll make amends!] [/QUOTE] > [@Miller](#): > > [Edmund]Oh, you mean MacBeth?[/Edmund] Actually, his wife was a far nastier piece of work. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/58 "2011-03-01T22:24:17Z")
Carcer Dun, _Night Watch_. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/59 "2011-03-01T22:28:32Z")
Max Piper, from the prose Fables novel _Peter and Max_. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/60 "2011-03-01T22:38:14Z")
Francis Urqhart, from the “House of Cards” trilogy. Pure, unrepentant evil, with a knack for betraying and killing characters we’ve grown to like. That said, I’d vote for him (or, I suppose, for the Tories under his leadership.) As I’ve said previously on this Board, the greatest crisis of Urqhart’s time as PM was when the King became actively engaged in opposition to the Government. Never mind that the King was a decent man attempting to advance humane policies - a constitutional monarch who thinks he can shape policy in this way when it suits him is a grave threat to democracy. The King had to be taken down, and Urqhart did it quite neatly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988.md?page=4)