Comments on: MIND MELD: Bad Guys We Love to Hate: The Best Literary Villains in SF/F/H

By: Dani

Dani — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:04:17 +0000

How is it that everyone forgot Blade Runner's, Eldon Tyrell of the Tyrell Corporation? The guy plays God with humans ("'More human than human' is our motto") and has no qualms about limiting his "children" to 4 year life spans. Wonderfully creepy; horribly prescient.

By: prophet666

prophet666 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:39:51 +0000

the good guys in history are the winners because they are the ones who write history.

By: Chad

Chad — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:32:56 +0000

Peter Wiggin. A bad guy to individuals, but a good guy for the human race.

By: Cerddaf

Cerddaf — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:19:59 +0000

Best Villian - Servalan in Blake's 7.

Favourite line

Her Current Lover (as he embraces her): How many men have you killed Servalan?

Servalan (as she kisses him, then stabs him in the back)) : 29, now.

By: bloginhood

bloginhood — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:52:34 +0000

How about the AI in Harlan Ellison's I have no mouth and I must scream? A character that wipes out humanity except for a couple of survivors it keeps around to torture endlessly always sticks out in my mind as particularly unsettling.

Dan Simmons' two Endymion additions to the Hyperion Cantos have two memorable villains as well: the extraordinarily vicious cybrid Rhadamanth Nemes, who's almost capable of taking out the Shrike, but who's central focus is the torture and slaughter of a young woman; and Cardinal Lourdusamy who sends out a death squad to assasinate a child, orders the murder of Paul Dure repeatedly, and sells out his entire race to the AI Technocore so he can have power and be immortal. The interesting thing about Simmons' books is that no matter how bad the supernatural or ultra-high-tech Grendels might be, it's always human beings who commit the greatest evils on each other.

By: shah8

shah8 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:56:00 +0000

If someone is going to do anything from Octavia Butler, I simply can't see any more compelling a villian than Doro.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:12:33 +0000

Best Bad guy is Darth Vader??

You need to go back and watch the Star Wars movies again. He is nothing more than a whiney Lackey with bad self control. He spends the first movie following orders from Grand Moff Tarken and getting told off by other Officers. In the second movie he has problems controling Bounty Hunters ("And no Disintegrations"). Finally in Return of the Jedi he can't even follow through with his plans to overthrow the Emperor without getting killed himself. Vader looks evil but in the end he was rather weak.

For a real thinking villain try Rasalom from F. Paul Wilsons Adversary Cycle and the Repairman Jack books

By: Amanda C

Amanda C — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:38:41 +0000

Some of the best villains are the ones that have just that one redeeming quality that occasionally makes them hesitate, keeps them from being just pure evil (boring), and lets you empathize just a touch.

One of my favorite villains (or villainess) is Melisande Sharizai from Jacqueline Carey's fantasy/alternate history Kushiel series. She is beautiful, powerful, cunning, but absolutely cold in her calculations. The scope of her plotting is truly epic and her actions unabashedly reprehensible - yet, through the eyes of the narrator Phedre, you can't completely hate her. She does have one (or two) things she cares about more than her political machinations, but I won't give away anything here. It really is an excellent series, which I highly recommend: Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, and Kushiel's Avatar.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:51:32 +0000

^ Moriarty is the arch villain in Sherlock Holmes.

Best Bad guy in Science Fiction? Darth Vader hands down.

By: Joshua Corning

Joshua Corning — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:43:00 +0000

Q: Who are the best bad guys in science fiction, fantasy, and/or horror literature?

Moriarty was in a detective novel. I don't know what genre you would call the novel Tom Ripley was in.