Five for Friday: Chilling Antagonists in Adult Novels

Actually there are six villains in this post, but Six for Friday just doesn’t have the same ring to it as five does! Around this time last year I wrote a post featuring my favorite fantastic villains in children’s literature. You can see it here if you missed it: http://lauramarcella.blogspot.com/2010/10/five-for-friday-best-villains-in.html

This year I thought it would be ghoulishly fun to feature who I think are super chilling villains in adult novels. Villains are some of the most fascinating characters, and while I wouldn’t want to meet any of them in real life, I do like reading about them especially around Halloween!

Sometimes I can’t decide who is scarier: those who know they’re doing wrong and choose it anyway, or those who really-truly believe the wrong they’re doing is so right. Both kinds of villains are chilling, and both kinds are featured here:

Blue Duck

from Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

This is one of my favorite novels (and the TV mini series had casted each character perfectly) but I really hate it when I get to the Blue Duck part (though it’s a small portion compared to the novel’s length). I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t read it! It’s good, but it makes me shiver. Blue Duck is part Comanche and part Mexican, so he grew up never fitting in anywhere. The U.S. western territory doesn’t want him. Mexico doesn’t want him. Even the Comanches don’t want him. Blue Duck keeps to himself, gathering a pack of like-minded bandits and renegades who he has no problem killing if they slow him down in any way. He murders, pillages, and rapes all over the territory and is never, ever sorry.

Waleran Bigod

from The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Does he get what he deserves in the end? I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t read it, but I guarantee you will certainly hope he doesn’t come out #winning. Waleran Bigod makes my blood boil. He is much too ambitious and uses his position as a priest to achieve whatever he desires all in the name of God. He’s one of those alarming villains who knows the right choice, yet chooses the wrong one anyway to advance himself and his religious career. He’s selfish, manipulative, and loves himself even more than he loves God (though he would never admit it). He knows he can get away with anything because he claims to be a humble servant of God.

Silas 

from The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Silas is one of those villains who blindly follows whatever anyone tells him. He truly believes the Teacher is in the right, so he has no qualms about murder and other hideous crimes. It’s all in the name of the Lord’s good work, the Teacher tells him. Silas believes it, and he does whatever is needed. I pity this kind of villain. He’s a terrible person, but I feel sorry for his ignorance and how he’s manipulated.

Benito Ramirez

from One for the Money and High Five by Janet Evanovich

The Stephanie Plum novels are mostly fun, hilarious, and bawdy, but a couple of the novels are chilling. The Trenton boxer Benito Ramirez is one of the creepiest antagonists, and he shows up twice in the series. Since he’s somewhat of a celebrity in Trenton, he often gets away with brutal crimes against women. If he does end up in jail, it’s never for long and the victim who put him there mysteriously disappears. He hungers for his opponent’s fear; it excites him and feeds his murderous nature. In the boxing ring, he “plays” with his opponents before brutally attacking them to unconsciousness. Outside the ring, he does the same with women…but sometimes they don’t regain consciousness.

Percy Wetmore

from The Green Mile by Stephen King

Whether you went to school with him or work with him now or perhaps are related to him, some of you might know a character like Percy Wetmore: the annoying, frustrating individual who does anything he wants because he has connections and knows the right people in high places. In the novel, Percy is the governor’s nephew. He’s an arrogant spoiled brat who cares for no one but himself. Percy knows he is inferior to the other prison guards and because the other guards know it too, Percy does everything he can to make them miserable. He knows they won’t retaliate since it would risk their jobs. Percy is chilling in the sense that he has no compassion, no empathy or sympathy. He feels nothing except hate and rancor.

Saruman

from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

This kind of villain is the one that bums me out the most! The character who you think is the protagonist’s loyal friend, but he betrays him when he’s needed most. Saruman is a powerful, ambitious wizard, and he uses that power to join forces with the evil Sauron in order to eventually gain power for himself. In the end when the One Ring is finally destroyed, his life is spared. But too much bitterness rages in his black heart, and he retaliates by nearly destroying the Shire. Those villains who keep on retaliating even though they’ve lost everything and know they were wrong are some of the worst!

Who are your favorite villains in adult literature?

Who is more chilling to you: the villains who know they’re doing wrong and choose it anyway, or the villains who really-truly believe the wrong they’re doing is so right?

Happy weekend, Zizaggers! May it be filled with good, loyal friends and family!