# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/61 "2011-03-02T00:04:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 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!” Yes but at least Aaron had a sort of twisted lovelife and admits his misdeeds in order to save his own child, which is a mitigating factor. Iago was just a world-class shitstirrer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Understander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3da27b/32.png) [@The\_Understander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Understander)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/62 "2011-03-02T00:45:07Z")
The Thénardiers. _Blech!_ ---
**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 2, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/63 "2011-03-02T01:06:36Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > [Edmund]Oh, you mean MacBeth?[/Edmund] Curses, now how does the counter-charm go “Hot potato, something something, a pinch will make an end (Ouch!)” Checking Wikipedia "“Hot potato, off his drawers, Puck will make amends.” The “Ouch” though is key (it gets louder and louder each time the actors twist each others’ noses ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/64 "2011-03-02T01:09:31Z")
AM (the computer) from _I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream_ ---
**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 2, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/65 "2011-03-02T01:14:47Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Curses, now how does the counter-charm go “Hot potato, something something, a pinch will make an end (Ouch!)” > > Checking Wikipedia "“Hot potato, off his drawers, Puck will make amends.” > > The “Ouch” though is key (it gets louder and louder each time the actors twist each others’ noses Missed the edit - I see I missed BrainGlutton’s post on this topic ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/66 "2011-03-02T01:22:48Z")
Amon Goeth in _Schindler’s List_- the movie character took joy at randomly murdering concentration camp prisoners (men, women, children, no difference) and the daughter of the real person concedes the real Goeth was probably even _worse_. Rose-Anne D’Arcey (Shelley Winters) in _A Patch of Blue_- a hard partying whore who (accidentally but remorselessly) caused her daughter’s blinding when she was young and hatches a plot to force her into prostitution when the girl’s a young adult and Rose-Anne is having to work as a maid. She also goes berserk when the completely decent guy her daughter has secretly been seeing is black. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Jay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@The\_Jay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Jay)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/67 "2011-03-02T02:49:38Z")
Cartman from South Park and Jordan Chase from Dexter. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/68 "2011-03-02T13:17:13Z")
O’Brien, lady’s maid & Thomas, footman, _Downton Abbey_ are pretty rotten. O’Brien had a few seconds of regret in the last episode & Thomas is heading toward what he thinks is an easy way to avoid battle in The Great War. Will their rottenness endure? Tune in next season… ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/69 "2011-03-02T23:14:19Z")
Geppetto from the comic series ‘Fables’ also thinks he’s the good guy, has millions killed to ‘save’ billions. From themselves. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/70 "2011-03-02T23:24:54Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Iago. That cute parrot? Annoying, yes, but evil? What? ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/71 "2011-03-02T23:32:55Z")
Danglars. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/72 "2011-03-02T23:38:49Z")
Xykon, from Order of the Stick. Not that he isn’t funny as hell while being utterly evil. ---
**Author:** ![Nathan\_E.Zephyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/dc4da7/32.png) [@Nathan\_E.Zephyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nathan_E.Zephyr)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/73 "2011-03-03T02:44:43Z")
John Lithgow’s character in the otherwise forgettable _Cliffhanger_, especially when he says _“Sacrifice is the greatest expression of true love…”:_ …just before killing his own wife.Apparently, he’s doing it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/74 "2011-03-03T03:58:37Z")
I don’t remember Marlo Stanfield or Snoop Pearson from The Wire having any redeeming qualities. ---
**Author:** ![Pandoranoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/75 "2011-03-03T04:14:28Z")
Count Rugen from the Princess Bride. And Prince Humperdinck, I guess. But Rugen was more devoted to evil for evil’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/76 "2011-03-03T04:36:02Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > Kaiser Soze from The Usual Suspects. I had a quote and stuff all ready, then “poof” it just disappeared. > [@Verbal Kint](#): > > One story the guys told me, the story that I do believe was from [Keyser Soze’s] days in Turkey. There was a gang of Hungarians that wanted their own mob. They realized that to be in power you didn’t need guns, or money or even numbers. You just needed the will to do what the other guy wouldn’t. After a while they came into power and came after Soze. They say he was small time then, just running dope they say. They came to his home, in the afternoon, looking for his business. They find his wife and kids in the house and decide to wait for Soze. He comes home to find his wife raped and children screaming. The Hungarians knew he was tough and not to be trifled with. So they let him know they meant business [by slicing the neck on his son]. They tell him they want his territory, all his business. Soze looks over the faces of his family; then he shows these men of will what will really was [he shoots 2 or the 3 Hungarians, then one of his daughters, his wife and his other daughter]. He tells [the last Hungarian] he rather see his family dead then live another day after this. He lets the last Hungarian go, waits until his wife and kids are in the ground and then he goes after the rest of the mob. He kills their kids, he kills their wives, their parents and their parents friends. He burns down the houses they live in, and the stores they work in, he kills people that owe them money. And like that…he’s gone. Underground, nobody’s ever seen him since, he becomes a myth Like that? ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/77 "2011-03-03T04:46:44Z")
Little House on the Prairie: Nellie Oleson ---
**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:** [March 3, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/78 "2011-03-03T04:57:13Z")
Another vote for Blue Duck. Also, Snoop from The Wire and Mrs. Danvers. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/79 "2011-03-03T05:10:15Z")
Johnny Quest: Dr. Zin ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988/80 "2011-03-03T05:15:48Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Cathy from _East of Eden_ is the purest kind of sociopath. Cathy “Kate” Trask from East of Eden is what I came in to add. A fully realized character that does all sorts of evil. The movie version is great. All the major characters in EoE were based on real people in the Salinas Valley. Becky Sharpe of Vanity Fair fame. Can’t believe I was the first to come in with that one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-evil-characters-in-film-and-literature/572988.md?page=5)