96 Greatest Villains in Literature – In No Particular Order

As Dr. Nekhorvich once said in Mission Impossible 2 – “Every search for a hero must begin with something every hero needs, a villain”. True enough anything opposite of good is simply evil, and there are not better group of characters to carry this title than villains themselves. In this case we’ve compiled 96 of the greatest villains in literature, in no particular order. The meter of evilness is too subjective to be quantified, hence we’ve sorted it alphabetically for your reading pleasure.

If you think we’ve missed out anything, feel free to let us know in the comments section below and of course, feel free to disagree if any of the mentioned characters below do not actually deserve in the list. Some are downright evil, a few probably belong to the neutral evil category, but then again we shall leave that to your own interpretation. Do enjoy this list below.

Without further ado, here’s the list:- (Stay tune as we’re coming up with a video on this very soon!)

1. Aaron – Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
2. Agatha Trunchbull – Matilda by Roald Dahl
3. Alec d’Urberville – Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
4. AM – I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
5. Ambrosio – The Monk by M. G. Lewis
6. Annie Wilkes – Misery by Stephen King
7. Arturo – Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
8. Augustus Melmotte – The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
9. Barabas – The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe
10. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen – Dune by Frank Herbert
11. Becky Sharp – Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
12. Big Brother – 1984 by George Orwell
13. Bill Sikes – Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
14. Captain Ahab – Moby Dick by Herman Melville
15. Captain Hook – Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie
16. Cathy Ames – East of Eden by John Steinbeck
17. Claudius – Hamlet by William Shakespeare
18. Count Dracula – Dracula by Bram Stoker
19. Count Fosco – The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
20. Count Olaf – A Series of Unfortunate Events by Daniel Handler
21. Cruella de Vil – The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
22. Cthulhu – The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
23. David Melrose – Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn
24. Dolores Umbridge – Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
25. Don Juan – El Burlador de Sevilla by Tirso di Molina
26. Dr. Frankenstein – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
27. Edmund – King Lear by William Shakespeare
28. Eduard de Gex – The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson
29. Ernst Stavro Blofeld – James Bond by Ian Fleming
30. Ferdinand – The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
31. Fred – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
32. Gil-Martin – The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
33. Grendel’s Mother – Beowulf by Anonymous
34. Hannibal Lecter – Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, etc. by Thomas Harris
35. Helen Grayle / Velma Valento – Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
36. Henry – The Secret History by Donna Tartt
37. Humbert Humbert – Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
38. Iago – Othello by William Shakespeare
39. Infertility – The Children of Men by P. D. James
40. Judge Holden – Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
41. Lady Macbeth – Macbeth by William Shakespeare
42. Long John Silver – Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
43. Lord Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger) – A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin
44. Marcos Inaros – The Expanse Series by James S. A. Corey
45. Marquise de Merteuil – Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Lady Macbeth – Macbeth by William Shakespeare (Image by Alfred Stevens)

46. Milo Minderbinder – Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
47. Mitsuko – Quicksand by Junichiro Tanizaki
48. Moriarty – The Final Problem by Arthur Conan Doyle
49. Mr Hyde – Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
50. Mr Kurtz – Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
51. Mr Rochester – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
52. Mrs Coulter – His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
53. Mrs Danvers – Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
54. Napoleon – Animal Farm by George Orwell
55. Nurse Ratched – One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
56. O’Brien – Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
57. Patrick Bateman – American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
58. Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov – Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
59. Pennywise – IT by Stephen King
60. Pinkie Brown – Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
61. Professor Moriarty – The Final Problem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
62. Quilp – The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
63. Randall Flagg – 9 Novels by Stephen King
64. Ridgeway – The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
65. Robert Lovelace – Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
66. Rufus Weylin – Kindred by Octavia Butler
67. Samuel Whiskers – The Tale of Samuel Whiskers by Beatrix Potter
68. Sand – The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
69. Satan – The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
70. Satan – Paradise Lost by John Milton
71. Sauron – The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
72. Shere Khan – The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
73. Signor Montoni – The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
74. Slavery – Beloved by Toni Morrison
75. Steerpike – Titus Groan and Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
76. Suburban Ennui – Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
77. Surtur – A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay
78. Svengali – Trilby by George du Maurier
79. The Earth – The Broken Earth series by N. K. Jemisin
80. The General – The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez
81. The Grand Witch – The Witches by Roald Dahl
82. The Joker – Batman by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jenny Robinson
83. The Judge – Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
84. The Kid – The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
85. The Man with the Yellow Hat – Curious George by H. A. Rey and Margret Rey
86. The Prison-industrial complex – The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
87. The Republic of Gilead – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
88. The Shark – Jaws by Peter Benchley
89. The White Witch – The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
90. Tom Ripley – The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
91. Uriah Heep – David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
92. Vanity – The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
93. Vindice – The Revenger’s Tragedy by Thomas Middleton
94. Voldemort – Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
95. Woland – The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
96. Zenia – The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood