Top Five Literary Villains

Hey, look at that, it's a post that I promised a while back. You know...right after I did top five movie villains because there were some of those bad guys that started off in book form first. So, here's that list.

The Joker
He is one of the most insane, sadistic and kooky bad guys that have ever graced the pages of a book. Don't believe me, read Arkham Asylum. Then there are all the people that he inspires to follow him. Just look at Harley Quinn. That girl has some serious issues if she thinks the Joker really loves her. I know that he is better known thanks to the late Heath Ledger but still, he is one bad guy I would never want to meet at any time.

Hannibal Lector
The ultimate gentleman and connoisseur, not to mention, completely insane. His insanity is clouded by his brilliance in most cases and he has bested many foes all while helping said foes capture other bad guys. He is a true anti hero.

Sauron
Do I really need to explain this choice? He wanted to kill or enslave Middle Earth and he would go to any means to do this. Talk about your power hungry bad guys. Thank goodness for Frodo and Samwise...oh and we cannot foget Gollum.

Iago
One of Shakespeare's best villains. He betrayed, schemed and, ultimately, destroyed nearly every character in Othello. What's worse is that there is no real reason for him to do any such thing aside from revenge and, even then, that is just an excuse. Basically he was a real bastard.*

Bill Sikes
Oliver Twist is one of my favourites of Dicken's work and Bill Sikes is a just awful, which makes him a great villain. He kills Nancy, beats his dog and is just  a real bastard. I was always told that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their dogs...

So, this is my list for today. Runner ups include Huck Fin's pa, Steerpike, Mrs Coulter, Captain Hook and many more.
Enjoy your day and hopefully it is not as soggy as mine is turning out to be.

*Yep, I swore. But it is the truth. 

Top Five Movie Villains...

I thought I'd go to the dark side for today* and delve into the world of bad guys and movies. There are so many different kinds of bad guys so this list may seem a bit scattered but they will be bad guys from movies. So, although the Joker (especially when portrayed by Heath Ledger) is a great villain he had origins in a graphic novel so I am going to attempt to focus purely on characters that came from movies first. I hope that makes sense and please let me know if I have made an error as sometimes my brain gets lost int he wealth of information on the interwebs.

The requirements for my views of a bad guy is someone who manages to do horrible things but do them in a memorable way. I promise I'm not as morbid as this list may make me seem. So, are you ready?

The Terminator - Terminator
This one is a given. Seriously. Sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor and he does it methodically, going through the phone book and eliminating anyone called Sarah Connor. That's pretty intense but it makes sense. And then to find out about the whole machine aspect. This perfectly blends our fears of machines and death.

Leatherface - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original and Remake)
What makes him terrifying is that he is human and he wears a mask made out of a human face. The fact that you never really see what is behind that mask makes him all the more creepy. Then there is the whole cannibalism thing that makes for creepy watching.

Verbal Kint - The Usual Suspects
Who is Keyser Soze? I can't elaborate more on this without giving anything else away. Trust me on this.

Freddy Kruger - A Nightmare on Elm Street (The Original)
"One two Freddy's coming for you..." In the first film he is pure evil. They played him up for comedic effect int he sequels but in this first one he is at his most terrifying.

Darth Vader - Star Wars A New Hope
Before we learn any of his back story Darth Vader is pretty terrifying. Force choking people left, right and centre. He even kills the man he once called friend and mentor. That is pretty cold and calculating don't you think?

This list was a lot harder than I originally thought because I eliminated some of the great villains by restricting my list to those who weren't from novels first. I am pretty sure that none of the above were from a novel first but if I am wrong please let me know. Tomorrow I'll have to write about the best literature villains cause that is a list that will be fun and challenging.

Until tomorrow my good readers...


*Pun totally intended.