# Works of Fiction Where the Villain is the (or a) Main Character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778 "2012-05-13T15:53:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/1 "2012-05-13T15:53:43Z")
Mrs. Homie and I were discussing this last night over some… _medicine_. What are some movies, novels, etc., where the villain is the main character? Here are a few we came up with: [Some content will contain open spoilers] _The Phantom of the Opera_: He’s pitiful, yes. But he’s also into kidnapping, murder and extortion. Definitely the villain in the story, although the hero who gives him his comeuppance is a secondary character. _The Silence of the Lambs_: There’s no arguing about what a classic villain Hannibal Lecter is, and his evil seemingly knows no bounds. But he also has somewhat of a moral code- at least, inasmuch as it furthers his own needs. In this story he does some good, by helping Clarice to nab the actual villain in the story, Buffalo Bill. What are some others? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/2 "2012-05-13T16:06:53Z")
Dracula. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/3 "2012-05-13T16:11:45Z")
Well, the Joker had his own short-lived comic book series. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/4 "2012-05-13T16:16:05Z")
Patricia Highsmith’s sociopathic murderer Ripley. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/5 "2012-05-13T16:16:39Z")
Do short stories count? Because I automatically thought of Poe. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/6 "2012-05-13T16:34:48Z")
Lolita. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/7 "2012-05-13T16:36:22Z")
_The Day of the Jackal_ ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/8 "2012-05-13T16:40:04Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Dracula. At least as the book goes, I’m not sure I’d say he’s the ‘main’ character. The book certainly doesn’t follow him around the way it does Harkness and the others. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/9 "2012-05-13T16:41:10Z")
_Monster Psycho_ (after the first murder) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/10 "2012-05-13T16:46:33Z")
_Pulp Fiction_ - at least parts of it. Butch may be a good guy (for some value thereof) but everybody else is a Bad Motherfucker. ---
**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:** [May 13, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/11 "2012-05-13T17:05:50Z")
Despicable Me. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/12 "2012-05-13T17:08:54Z")
The Flashman series. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/13 "2012-05-13T17:12:55Z")
_A Princess of Roumania_, by Paul Park, has a great villainess in Nicola Ceaucescu. And, could we include Harold Hill in _The Music Man_? For a substantial chunk of the plot, he’s fully intending to swindle a town full of people. ---
**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:** [May 13, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/14 "2012-05-13T18:24:06Z")
In the movie [Laura](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037008/) the narrator, also a significant character, was the murderer. Great movie! ---
**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:** [May 13, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/15 "2012-05-13T18:38:28Z")
_The Usual Suspects_ springs immediately to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/16 "2012-05-13T18:45:53Z")
_Breaking Bad_ is turning towards that point - the protagonist becomes the antagonist. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/17 "2012-05-13T19:15:22Z")
With both _The Phantom of the Opera_ and _Dracula_ (original novel versions), the title character is the villain but spends little time “on screen”. I wouldn’t call either of them the main characters of the books. This isn’t true in all the various adaptations, though. For instance, Dracula has a bigger role in the 1992 film version. There are two Agatha Christie novels where the killer turns out to be the narrator, so the entire story is told from the perspective of the villain. I’ll spoiler the titles, since in both cases the reader does not learn until the end that the narrator is the killer. _The Murder of Roger Ackroyd_, and the lesser known _Endless Night_.Depending on how one interprets the end of the movie, the amnesiac main character (Leonard) in _Memento_ could be considered the villain. It depends largely on how much of Teddy’s account of Leonard’s backstory is true, and what Leonard’s motivations were when he decided to kill Teddy. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say Leonard _does_ kill Teddy, as this happens in the first scene of the movie, but I’ll spoiler my thoughts on Leonard’s possible motives.[spoiler]At the time Leonard decided to kill Teddy, he is aware that Teddy has manipulated him into killing local drug dealer Dodd by leading him to believe that Dodd was responsible for the rape and murder of Leonard’s wife. Teddy admits that Dodd had nothing to do with this, and tells Leonard that his wife’s assailant is already dead. I can’t remember if this was clear to Leonard or not, but Teddy sent him after Dodd partially because he wanted to get ahold of Dodd’s drug money. If Leonard decides to kill Teddy because he does not want Teddy to be able to continue manipulating him into killing other people for Teddy’s gain, then I’d say he’s not a villain. If Leonard kills Teddy because Leonard thinks Teddy is a liar who is interfering with his quest to avenge his wife’s murder, his decision is more questionable. If Leonard kills Teddy because Leonard _doesn’t_ think Teddy is a liar but would prefer to hold on to his mistaken beliefs about the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death and the ultimate fate of her assailant, then he’s a villain.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/18 "2012-05-13T19:33:57Z")
_Peter Grimes_ has been staged where Grimes is a murderer. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/19 "2012-05-13T20:41:58Z")
What, no mentions of the Scottish play? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778/20 "2012-05-13T23:24:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What, no mentions of the Scottish play? Also, _Richard III._ _Sweeny Todd_. _House of Cards_, and its sequels, _To Play the King_, and _The Final Cut_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-of-fiction-where-the-villain-is-the-or-a-main-character/621778.md?page=2)