Top Ten Tuesday

TTT – My Favorite And Least Favorite Villains

By on • ( 29 Comments )

Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.

I can’t believe how fast this last week flew by, but it was a very busy week on our end. As usual, spending all week running around to appointments and then taking care of Mom after an outpatient procedure. Mom is recovering nicely, and I got to take a little downtime over the weekend so I was able to rest and regain some energy. 

This week, the prompt is villains, and we have a bit of creative license in what kind of villains we want to talk about. They can be favorites, best, worst, lovable, creepiest, most evil, or any other characteristic we want to discuss. I am rarely the kind of person who falls for the villain in a book, instead I find myself rooting for the protagonists. So this week, I’m going to come up with a list of ten villains and then tell you what earned their spot on this list.

  1. Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. While Kaz isn’t necessarily a good guy, he’s nowhere near as bad as Pekka Rollins. But there is something about Kaz and his crew that I just can’t resist. The Crows lean into morally gray characters than an actual villainy.
  2. Rufus from Kindred by Olivia E. Butler. This is an amazing book, and while Rufus does have a few positive characteristics, he does exhibit the commonly held beliefs and speech of the times. He spends a lot of time during the book justifying his actions in comparison to those of his father, but he is a villain in his own right.
  3. Patrick Bateman in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I’ve read the book and seen the movie, and in both, Patrick is a total sociopath. He comes across initially as weirdly charming, but also kind of sadly pathetic. 
  4. Gilead from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. While the commanders are villainous, the real villain in this book is a fundamentalist Christian theocracy that sets up what is basically a caste system depending on your ability to reproduce. 
  5. Sethe in Beloved by Toni Morrison. It’s hard to even include Sethe as a villain, because she isn’t a bad or unlikable person, but rather became morally gray because of her experiences. More villainous than Sethe though, is the system of chattel slavery that fractured her mind.
  6. Randall Flagg from The Stand by Stephen King. This book is an absolute brick, but it boils down to the battle between good and evil, with Randall, or the Man in Black, leading the forces of evil.
  7. Adrius au Augustus in Red Rising by Pierce Brown. There are no shortage of villains, and basically everyone in the book is on the spectrum of baddies, although I struggled to find any redeeming characteristics in The Jackal.
  8. Patria Bartholomew Claver from The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan. Here is another one of the most awful villains I’ve read in a book. He’s also got no redeeming characteristics, and I spent the whole book hoping for terrible things to happen to Claver.
  9. Rin from The Poppy War by Rebecca F. Kuang. This was one of the coolest villain arcs that I’ve read, starting early in the book and carrying on throughout the series. I’ve heard that her character was inspired by Mao Zedong, and we can see her growing into that reputation.
  10. The Kaul siblings in Jade City by Fonda Lee. There are a lot of villains in this series that is like The Godfather plus martial arts, but Lan, Hilo, and Shae are some of my favorite morally gray characters. Even though they definitely weren’t good guys, I was rooting for the No Peak clan to win over their rivals.

Have you read any of these? Which is your favorite or least favorite villain?

Categories: Top Ten Tuesday

Tagged as: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

29 replies »

  1. I’m not sure I’ve ever liked a baddie or villain, but of course I do sometimes like a “bad guy” in the stereotype storytelling trope. Usually though most of the “bad guys” I like end up actually being a good guy. 🙂

    Glad your mom is doing well! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you!

      I love a bad boy that turns out to secretly be a good guy, otherwise it feels too realistic 🤣 But what I was thinking of was how it felt like everyone loved The Darkling in Shadow & Bone, but I was pretty lonely on Team Mal.

      Like

      Reply

  7. I only know a few of these villains, but I wasn’t too fond of Kaz and his crew. The Kauls on the other hand were such morally grey characters and Lee did a great job in elaborating them and their difficulties in chosing what they want and whether it’s for their own personal sake or for the clan’s sake. What they needed to do often was not what they wanted to do and this is a fine line this family had to cross multiple times.

    My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2025/09/09/top-ten-tuesday-vacation-time/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Lee did a fantastic job with the Kaul siblings and showing them as truly great morally gray characters. Especially as they climbed to positions of leadership and had to hold themselves to a higher standard than those around them, while balancing their personal needs against those of the clan.

      Like

      Reply

    • Thank you! I think the whole point is to have mixed feelings about Sethe – yes, she’s been oppressed and subjected to brutality, but on the other hand, she’s carried on some of that legacy.

      Like

      Reply

  13. That’s a fantastic list! It’s so interesting to see your take on what makes a great villain. I’ve been meaning to read The Poppy War – Rin sounds like a complex character. It’s on my TBR pile and now I’m tempted to move it further towards the top.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.