Who Are The Mostest NASTY Bad Guys/Villians Ever in Fantasy???

[The Fisher King]

A comment by Barid Bel Medar over there across the way in The General WOT Discussion Forum about ''Bad Guys and Fantasy'' and ''what can you expect - the good guys always win'' really got me to thinking. And when I do THAT, my head hurts, so I figured I better get it out ...Yeah...Sadly, all too often ''Bad Guys'' are portrayed as cartoonish, ineffective and destined to fail.

 

It seems it is RARE that they ever really HURT Team Good. So...It got me thinking...Are there any qualitiy exceptions to this in Fantasy?

 

A few I think Maybe:

 

1 Semirhage trying to make Rand kill Min ... The Forsaken have never really impressed me...but this was pretty nasty of Semi to do.

 

2 Eldred Jonas (Dark Tower) did end up basically getting Susan killed.

 

3 A Song About Ice And Fire ... Well...Too many to name here, lol!!!

 

4 I have NOT read MBOTF but I have HEARD promising things about Andamamnder Rake?

 

Thats all I got for now.

 

 

Fish

 

 

[Lilbaz]

Artemis Entreri, never really liked Dritzz but loved Entreri.

 

Raistlin from Dragonlance.

 

Ishamael has got to be in there.

 

Dracula

 

Can't think  ???

 

 

[Bridge]

1. Lord Valdemort (Harry Potter)

2. Darken Rahl (SoT)

3. Gigang (SoT)

4. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Dune)

5. Galbatorix (The Inheritance)

6. DO (WoT)

7. Sauron (Lord of the Rings)

8. Grendel's mother (Beowulf)

9, 10...A Song of Ice and Fire.

 

[Elend]

In terms of Forsaken in WoT, Graendal has been rather effective. Well, until the whole balefire incident. But she still did a rather solid job. I'd argue the balefire incident also hurt a number of good guys :D

 

The Lord Ruler in Mistborn. I won't spoil it though.

 

If we go beyond books, I'd argue Aizen in Bleach has been... perhaps a bit too effective. Something of a villain sue, in fact.

[Sagacious Lu]

Arioch (The Elric Saga)

Mr. Motley (Perdido Street Station)

The Fnords (The Illuminatus)

[Barid Bel Medar]

Whoo, I am mentioned in this topic  ;D I will have to reply.

 

my opinion, there are a few.

 

1. Gregor Clegane (A song of ice and Fire) that guy is just plain crazy evil. Ill not ruin it, but really, he is just crazy, and kills a lot of people.

 

2. Huge of Austra (sp?) Kate Elliot's A Crown of Stars. Ill not reveal too much, but he NEVER goes away. Always keeps comming back.

 

3. Moridin (so far, hes done pretty well)

 

4. Timekeeper Demons (Sara Douglas, Wafarerers Redemtion) Now if what they did wasnt effective, Ill eat my hat.

 

5. Voldemort (I know, it sounds gay, but he did pretty well)

 

6. Darth Sidious (Star Wars) destroying the Old Republic and forming the Empire ? How is that not crazy sucess

 

7. Those fellas in the Serpentwar Saga (R.E.Feist) Ill not say much for fear of spoilers, so for those who have read it, you should know by this one word. Krondor anyone?

 

8. Ill agree, Sauron did pretty good, Forces of the West were pretty owned.

 

9. Now I am only up to "The Bonehunters" in Malazan Book fo teh Fallen, so I am not sure how accurate my statement will be, and i would appreciate if there were no spoilers concerning this, just a yes or no I would appreciate. But - Kallor. He has done some pretty insane stuff, and is basically immortal (as I said, I have not read all the way, but as of now, he has been pretty hardcore.)

 

Replying to Fish about Anommander Rake, as above, I havent read all the way through the current books, but from what I know, Anommander Rake is a good guy, at least, I like to think of him as a good guy, people have reason to say not, but I like him.

[Hallow]

Not gonna rank them but; Gregor Clegane (A Song of Ice and Fire), Morgoth (Silmarillion), Semirhage (Wheel of Time), Voldemort (Harry Potter), The Pale Woman (Farseer/Tawny Man Trilogies), Mordred (The Dark Tower), Death (The Demonata), Glaurung (Children of Hurin/Silmarillion). Probably more that I can't think of right now.

[Crael123]

Harkonen from Dune

 

Voldemort

 

lord foul from Thomas Covenant

 

The Piper and superior Saturday from keys to the kingdom

 

Semirhage

 

the joker (have to put him in here)

 

Sauron i guess

 

thas all for me

 

 

 

 

[Werthead]

The Inchoroi in Scott Bakker's PRINCE OF NOTHING trilogy take every single 'nasty' bad guy mentioned previously in this thread, chew them up and spit them out. They're a seriously horrific enemy.

[Lanthirrhos]

Morgoth (Silmarillion), Glaurung (Children of Hurin/Silmarillion). Probably more that I can't think of right now.

 

I'm so glad that these two made it into some's list... I'm not the only one to have read them :P

 

Scorpious (Farscape)

 

I figure scifi is allowed given the number of Star Wars References already here... Speaking of which: Darth Sion (No, not for his appearence)

[TheBeerPatriot]

In addition to the names mentioned here already, I nominate Pryrates from the Memory, Sorrow & Thorn trilogy (Tad Williams)

[Blackhoof]

I would say martel from David Eddings Elenium, the demons in the darkwar saga, and the demon Jaken from the Serpentwar saga. they all did some real damage, proving that the good guys HQ isn't invincible

[Ozzie_aiel]

Sorry, I'll have to say the number one bad guy I've ever come across is Apocalypse from the X-men comics. The name says it all

 

Others include the Daemon Prince Be'lakor and Dark Elf ruler Malekith (from Warhammer), Angron, Fulgrim and Konrad Kurse (also known as the Night Haunter) from Warhammer 40K.

[Blackhoof]

Grimgor Ironhide from Warhammer is pretty bad, if not inherently evil. he cant go a day without killing someone and lives in a mountain specifically so he has an endless supply of rat-men to kill. talk about psychotic.

[Ozzie_aiel]

Zagstrukk from Warhammer 40K is the same. Its said he was spawned in the middle of a human settlement, strangled his way out of there and joined his clan in the wilderness, and has killed at least one person/ork every day since he was born.

[Nomos]

I don't remember much about the story, since it was almost 20 years since I read it, but the Gord the Rogue series by Gygax had one of those bad guys that kind of just jumped out of nowhere.  A god named Entropy.  This was an obscure series from Greytower back in the early days of D&D, so not many people have read it.  No matter what the good guys did, Entropy always won.

 

As far as sinister bad guys, Otherworld by Tad Williams was pretty freaking amazing as far as your typical bad guys go.  Can't explain it without giving the story away.  We have a couple months till ToM, so go pick up the series if you haven't read it yet. It's only about 3500 pages.

 

I agree with Pryrates in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, and the Storm King by association.  That whole series was one of those that seemed the good guys couldn't win. 

 

I wouldn't say the Lord Ruler is a villain, but I can't explain who the real villain is without giving that story away.  But the real villain behind the Mistborn series is probably one of the best.

 

Feist has some of the more creative villains.  The misguided Tsurani, the armies of moredhel in A Darkness at Sethanon, Macros' ex-wife (can't remember her name, ???)  in King's Buccaneer and then the Serpentwar Saga...they were all not only believable but Feist did a great job of making the conflict seem like the good guys couldn't win.  He also lets key people die, when people like Eddings make sure everyone survives and gets to have a witty, sardonic victory speach.

 

(It may seem in my response here that I don't like Eddings...nothing could be further from the truth!  Belgarion and Mandorallen are two of my all-time favorite characters.  My only complaint with Eddings is the forced humor and the almost identical plot mechanics.  The stories are still great.)

 

Jim Butcher is also getting some good villains going in the Dresden Files.  They always beat the crap out of Harry, and you never know how he's going to be able to pull a win out of his butt.

[Hallow]

Granted I've only just recently started on Well of Ascension, and realize that there is more behind the Lord Ruler than I know. I still think that he was a disgustingly horrible person and has made his way to my list of worst villains.

[Majsju]

Sorry, I'll have to say the number one bad guy I've ever come across is Apocalypse from the X-men comics. The name says it all

 

 

 

Oh come on. If you want to go with Marvel, I think a guy like Thanos makes Apocalypses antics look like childs play. I mean, he wiped out half of the sentient life in the universe just to impress a lady ;D

[Matrim DeLaneous]

A Song About of Ice And Fire ... Well...Too many to name here, lol!!!

However, you must mention Sir Gregor Clegane.  While not for the weak of heart, Wikipedia states:

 

A freakishly large man…he is often called "The Mountain That Rides" or simply "The Mountain". Ser Gregor Clegane is well known for his size, cruelty, brutality, and absolute dominance on the battlefield (even the ruthless, implacable Tywin Lannister refers to Gregor as "terrible in battle"). Gregor is known to torture nearly all of his prisoners, regardless of their gender or age. Gregor is thought to have held his seven year old brother's face to a hot brazier as punishment for taking a discarded toy of his, rumored to have killed his father, sister, and his first two wives, his keep is said to be a grim place where servants vanish unaccountably and even the keep dogs are afraid to enter the halls. Gregor has committed numerous rapes and murders, but his most infamous deed came when Gregor killed the infant Aegon (son of Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen) by, reportedly, dashing his head against the wall; then, he violently raped and killed Rhaegar's wife, supposedly with the boy's blood and brains still on his hands.

 

[Azrael Maravaile]

well, if we are including movies, I would have to say the most effective and all time most evil villian of all time(yes i meant to say that twice)has to be.....MICHAEL BAY