Haven’t you found yourself rooting for Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter, or despising with all your heart a supervillain from the Marvel multiverse? This will show you that villains are some of the toughest characters to create, because they drive the whole plot. Plus, the arouse vehement feelings in the reader’s heart, whether it be pity or hatred. Today we’re taking a look at the 10 most powerful villains from books.
10 Most Powerful Villains From Books:
Voldemort
Perhaps the first person who comes to the mind when talking about villains is the world famous antagonist of the Harry Potter series – Voldemort. Voldemort is a noseless tyrant wizard with extraordinary powers, who found himself defeated due to Harry’s mother’s love, which protected Baby Harry. Since then, Voldemort has been without a body, resorting to various means to kill Harry and wreak havoc in the wizarding world in his desire to gain power again.
Valentine
Clary Fray’s father in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instrument series is the powerful villain Valentine. No matter what his back story may be, he is a cruel and crazy man, willing to stake everything for his greed and desire. Valentine is the mortal enemy of his own daughter, which stands as a testament to just how villainous he is.
Loki
Loki is the Norse God of mischief and lying, so he represents everything that heroes do not – the search of truth and goodness. He is the troublemaker of the Norse pantheon – forever causing trouble and madness in everyone’s lives. Loki is the very embodiment of the modern ‘bad boy’ trope, and perhaps the most adorable of all villains.
Satan
How could a list of villains not include the primordial villain – the first ever conception of villainy that has inspired all these other villains. Indeed, the concept of Satan finds its complete characterization in John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. This novel length poetry speaks of the fall of man from Eden due to the temptation of Satan, and describes Satan as the opposite of God and everything good.
Moriarty
Arthur Conan Doyle created a masterpiece with Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps for the first time, he introduced the trope of the mad genius. Indeed, Holmes, the ingenious detective found a worthy rival in none other than Moriarty. Moriarty was an equal match for Holmes – just as intelligent, just as observant and just as incredibly knowledgeable. The only different was the use to which Moriarty put his intelligence – malevolence and maliciousness.
Lady Macbeth
Granted – Macbeth isn’t a book, it’s a play. But no list of villains is complete without this woman. She is the personification of Shakespeare’s typical villainous woman who becomes the centre of his tragedies. Lady Macbeth is more so the villain as her husband, because it is she who incites the man to kill his beloved king. She is ruthless, ambitious, devilish and devious. There is no end to the amount of villainy in this villain.
Dracula
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was the archetypal vampire villain – set apart from the world by his inhumaneness and cruelty. Since, Dracula has formed the core antagonist for several movies, tv shows, plays and games – demonstrating the extent of his infamous villainy.
Cruella De Vil
To be fair – the woman’s name literally has the word cruel in it. So you can imagine how cruel she actually is. Even though she is the protagonist cum antagonist of Dodie Smith’s novel One Hundred and One Dalmatians, lots of books (including the famous Geronimo Stilton books) have adapted her character. Today, she has become synonymous with the word villain.
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley’s monster, Frankenstein, even though his fiercest opponent is called a monster today. Frankenstein was the one who wanted to create a monster, who looked just like him and thought nothing of the implications of his act.
Big Brother
This man needs no introduction – he has even seeped into our modern political lingo. The greatness of George Orwell’s 1985 villain is that he never once appears in the book as a character. His mere idea and people’s conception of him in their minds is so villous and tyrannical that he becomes this all pervasive negative influence on mankind. Big Brother has no typical villain qualities – ambition, greed or selfishness – he is a villain in only the political sense of power. And that is what makes him all the more dangerous and scary for readers – because he is closer to reality than other villains will ever be.
Also Read: Who First Wrote About Dracula?
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