Ah, villains. Where would we be without them? A well-written one can elevate any story to greatness, regardless of the genre. In my experience, the best villains I’ve read about in fantasy are not overwhelming, impersonal forces of evil. Instead, they are the schemers, the ones who are driven by ambition and ruthlessness to get what they want in life. The great villains are those defined by their relationships with others, even though it would be best for them to keep their distance. They have contradictions and flaws like any human being and are actually present in the story. These are the best ones that I have encountered so far.
10. The White Witch – The Chronicles of Narnia
I wanted to put a villain from children’s portal fantasy here, since it’s the sort of fantasy that was popular before Tolkien. The Wicked Witch of the West and the Queen of Hearts have their merits, but it’s Jadis who beats them all in terms of villainy. Her typical evil deeds include turning people to stone, manipulating children, or speaking the Deplorable Word that destroyed all life in the world of Charn. This is one ice queen you wouldn’t want to build a snowman with. She even banned Christmas at one point! Some may dismiss her as a simplistic Satan avatar, but for the story she’s in, she’s quite effective.
9. Steerpike – Gormenghast
Steerpike originally began as a kitchen boy in the labyrinthine castle of Gormenghast. As time went on, though, he revealed himself to be a Machiavellian schemer willing to do anything to achieve his goals. He ingratiated himself with the castle’s eccentric inhabitants until he became the Master of Ritual. This is where he went over the edge into pure villainy. Instead of passion, he is driven merely by reptilian self-interest. He presents any face required to climb the ladder of power, whether its kitchen boy, apprentice, or confidant. He speaks of equality and revolution while caring for no one but himself. That emptiness is why his shadow lingers long after he leaves the story.
8. Vorbis – Discworld
Terry Pratchett wrote plenty of monsters, but the most frightening one is a quiet man who never raises his voice. Vorbis is the head exquisitor of the Omnian Quisition, which means his job is torturing people into believing in a god he doesn’t actually listen to. His signature move is arranging an atrocity, blaming it on his enemies, and then genuinely believing his own version of events—for Vorbis, the truth is whatever Vorbis has decided it should be. He had a missionary beaten to death just to manufacture an excuse for holy war, and never lost a night of sleep over it. The worst thing about him, though, isn’t what he does to his victims. It’s what he does to everyone around him, slowly turning them into echoes of himself. Even his final punishment is memorable: crossing the desert of the afterlife utterly alone, with only himself for company. For Vorbis, there is no worse companion.
7. The Lord Ruler – Mistborn
A millennium prior to the start of Mistborn, Rashek was a Terris packman hired to guide Alendi, the man the world believed to be the prophesied Hero of Ages. Rashek hated him from the start. When Alendi reached the Well of Ascension, where he was meant to give up its power and end the world-threatening Deepness, Rashek murdered him and seized the power for himself. He went on to rule the world of Scadrial with an iron fist, wielding a combination of magic that gave him immense power and immortality. That makes him quite a challenge for anyone wanting to defeat him. What makes him more interesting than your average Dark Lord is that Rashek genuinely did hold back the Deepness and keep the world from ending, in his own brutal way. It’s the tragedy and the sheer breadth of his evil that makes him worthy of this list.
6. Bayaz – The First Law
Where do I even start with this guy? At first, Bayaz comes off as your typical eccentric fantasy wizard, mentoring the likes of Logen, Jezel, and Ferro in order to defeat one of his rivals. Later he reveals himself to be a power-hungry sociopath who won’t let anyone mess with his vision for the kingdom of The Union. His primary means of manipulation isn’t magic, but the omniscient bank of Valiant and Balk. If you happen to owe them money, you’re already a puppet dancing on his strings. He is the man that Sand dan Glokta fears the most, and for good reason. The Union’s recent revolution caused Bayaz to lose all his political power, but it is certain that he’ll do anything to put things back the way they were.
5. Morgause – Various
Modern writers of Arthurian books have found ways to make antagonistic characters like Morgan le Fay and Mordred sympathetic. However, if you come across a character named Morgause in a King Arthur adaptation, odds are good she’s going to be evil. In the original mythology she’s a sorceress famous for sleeping with the young King Arthur, who is her half-brother, producing Mordred, the child of incest destined to destroy Camelot. Modern retellings, following T.H. White’s lead, often go further and have her raise Mordred as a living weapon against his father. Adding to the drama is the fact that all of her sons, including Mordred, wind up becoming Knights of the Round Table. What makes Morgause interesting is how psychologically loaded she is. She represents everything that Arthur’s Camelot is trying to suppress, including matriarchy, pagan worship, and unbound sexuality.
4. Griffith – Berserk
By far the most tragic character on this list, the tale of Griffith is one of the most heartbreaking tales you’ll ever hear. When we first meet him he is the leader of the mercenary group called the Band of the Hawk. He dreams of one day becoming a king and making life better for those around him. He is willing to do anything to achieve this goal, including sleeping with a predatory noble lord in order to fund his ambitions. The whole time you’re rooting for him and his band to succeed. Then his possessive nature reveals itself when, reeling from Guts’ departure, he recklessly beds Princess Charlotte and lands himself in the king’s torture chambers, causing his tragic downfall. And then the Eclipse happens, where he sacrifices the Band of the Hawk to a group of demons called the God Hand so he can become one of them—and what he does to Casca in that moment is unforgivable. The sad thing is in spite of how much his followers love him, he only ever saw them as a means to an end. I’m still anticipating Guts getting revenge on him.
3. Saruman – The Lord of the Rings
Saruman started out as the leader of the Istari, a group of wizards sent to Middle-Earth to defeat Sauron specifically. For a while, he did exactly that. Then he became obsessed with power and dreamed of one day finding the One Ring to Rule Them All. This led to him betraying Gandalf and causing a fair amount of grief for the Fellowship. On top of that, he created an army of super-orcs called the Uruk-Hai for the purpose of destroying the kingdom of Rohan, all while his agent Grima Wormtongue whispered poison into the ear of Theoden, King of Rohan, leaving him a withered puppet on his own throne. Though Saruman was defeated, he managed to escape and caused the Scouring of the Shire, turning the peaceful home of the Hobbits into an industrial nightmare. As villains go, he accomplished quite a bit before Grima Wormtongue finally cut his throat.
2. Dolores Umbridge – Harry Potter
Few villains in general inspire as much hatred as this government bureaucrat. She was originally appointed as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher at Hogwarts so the Ministry of Magic could monitor the school’s activities. Her bubbly personality combined with her condescending and sadistic nature quickly made her an enemy of Harry and friends. As her power over the school continued to grow, her deeds only became worse. She fired teachers, abused students, and enforced increasingly absurd rules, turning Harry Potter’s true home into a prison. Umbridge even created a climate of fear and snitching so effective that one member of Dumbledore’s Army—an organization trying to teach the same subject she was supposed to teach in the first place—walked into her office and betrayed it voluntarily. She’s so hateable that being carried off by centaurs doesn’t seem like a fitting punishment. Her evil is personal in a way that Voldemort could never manage.
1. Tywin Lannister – A Song of Ice and Fire
George R.R. Martin is the best there is at creating compelling fantasy villains, with many despicable characters populating the world of Westeros. His best creation, though, is the patriarch of House Lannister. When he first took over, the Lannister name was a joke among the nobles. It took a combination of ruthless planning and patience to get his daughter crowned Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Tywin is a man defined by his obsession with his family’s name and reputation, even if it comes at the expense of his own children. He is also a master of monsters, enabling the likes of Joffrey, The Mountain, and Ramsay Bolton to spread death and misery across the kingdoms. He orchestrated the Red Wedding, led the sacking of King’s Landing, and ordered the ravaging of the Riverlands, all in the name of political policy. If someone made a move against House Lannister with him in charge, their annihilation was almost guaranteed. His worst crime, however, has to be the years-long abuse of his son Tyrion, whom he never forgave for the death of Tywin’s wife in childbirth. He may have died halfway through the story, but his legacy of practical cruelty casts a long shadow.
Tanner J. Parsons 