Friday Favorite Five: Villains

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For previous posts and future FFF topics check out my Friday Favorite Five page here.

Favorite Five Villains

Here were are again at another FFF! Favorite villains is a tricky one because who do you go with as favorites? Villains that you just love because they’re status as villains is sometimes ambiguous, such as Loki from The Avengers? Or villains who are the generic Big Bad? Or more subtle villains? Or the kind that you just LOVE to hate? For me, it could be all of those things and even more. Let’s go!

  • Regal – The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

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Regal is literally the worst. Well, when you take him at face value he’s kind of a typical villain, really. He’s just power hungry, petty, vain glorious, and doesn’t care who or what gets in his way–he’ll treat everyone terrible. But, the thing that makes him literally the worst is how he KEEPS GETTING AWAY WITH IT, ARGH. DAMN YOU, REGAL, I HATE YOU SO MUCH.

 

 

  • Dolores Umbridge – Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

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I don’t think any list of villains is complete without Dolores Umbridge. She’s the petty bureaucrat who loves her job WAAAY too much and gets pleasure out of being able to wield her power over others. The thing that makes Umbridge so disturbing is that we’ve probably all encountered someone similar to her at some point or another in our lives. It’s so easy to hate her, but we don’t often think much about the systems we put in place that allow Dolores Umbridge’s to thrive…

 

  • Systemic Oppression, Bigotry, and all of the ‘isms’ – The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

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Yeah, ok, there IS a big ass meteor that wipes out a large chuck of the east coast of the U.S. And there are even specific characters who are assholes in the book too. But the real villain of the piece something more nebulous than just one person or one thing, because what our characters are fighting against is society itself. And how do you fight against ideas, and a system that’s set up against you from the beginning? How do you get people to change their minds?

 

  • Dracula – Dracula by Bram Stoker

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Because I’m me, I have to include a vampire novel here, and what better vampire villain is there than the original, Dracula? The amount of other books this inspired are innumerous. And if you’re a fan of the film version staring Gary Oldman as the title character, then maybe he’s not so much of a villain as a possible love interest who happens to have a dark side…just sayin. ;P

 

 

  • Roland – Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews

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One of the things I love most about Roland is that he is clearly the bad guy. He has done and continues to do very terrible things. And yet…he has a complicated relationship with his daughter, Kate, the protagonist of the series. Sometimes you catch just the tiniest glimpse of humanity within him but then it’s gone again with the blink of an eye and you’re once again reminded why he’s the villain.

 

 

 

Those are my picks for this week! I’m sure I could have chosen a ton of other villains, but I’m happy with these for now. Maybe I’ll do a part II post at some point. 🙂  What are some of your favorites? Leave me a note in the comments, I’d love to know your thoughts on this topic!

16 thoughts on “Friday Favorite Five: Villains”

  1. Realms of My Mind says:
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    Ah “isms”…. a villain constantly defeated, yet it always rises from the dead!

    I do hate/love a villain who keeps getting away with his nefarious plots because he just knows how to navigate the waters. Makes you want to reach out and strangle them….

  5. foreverlostinlit says:
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    I love a good villain! I tend to prefer not overtly black and white Bad, but sometimes they just fit and are fun. I think Umbridge is definitely just the ultimate villain, haha. I think every fan comes together over their hatred for her. All of those villains you mentioned for The Calculating Stars are definitely some of the worst out there. Great list

  6. Kathy @ Pages Below the Vaulted Sky says:
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    Haha have you read the Liveship Traders books? I never thought I would come across another villain who boiled my blood like Regal, but whooo boy, Kyle Haven proved me wrong.

    And sorry for the barrage of comments right now! 😀 I’ve mostly been away for the week and am trying to catch up on all the posts

  7. Zezee says:
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    Ugh! Regal was so annoying but of all Robin Hobb’s books, I think Kennit is the worst. Have you read her Liveship Traders books yet? I can’t remember if you said you did or not. I wanted to kick Kennit in the ass the whole time. He angered me to the very end.

    Umbridge is actually one of my favorite characters in the books lol! I don’t like her, but I think she’s the best villain in all the HP books. I feel like Voldy is evil for evil’s sake whereas Umbridge is just a horrible human being and, as you said, someone we might have encountered IRL.

    • waytoofantasy says:
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      I haven’t started Liveship yet, I hope to read the first one at least sometime this year (it took me forever to complete the first trilogy because I was so angry at Regal in book two…..lol). Ooh, yay, more villains to hate, I look forward to it. 🙂

      She’s definitely the best villain in HP, she has so much more depth than Voldemort! She’s also a good stand in for the down side to bureaucracy.

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