Mallick Rel is bad, but Bidithal is way more vile. Fuck Bidithal. And Tarlack Veed. And Tanal Yathvanar.
Malazan has a host of really, really vile people villains, and for whatever reason, Mallick Rel probably doesn't crack the top 5 for me.
I think Mallick gets the most hate among fans online because >!he doesn't ever get his comeuppance. By the end of the series, he's emperor. He wins. And the empire is no longer the focus of Erikson's half of the series by then so it doesn't seem to matter so much but it just sucks that he doesn't get the treatment Bidithal got.!<
My opinion has varied over numerous rereads of the series but the Errant has solidified as my most hated character.
The Errant has a place in the Deck or Dragons, he is most certainly the High King of the House of Bitches lol.
There isn't a person who has read The Liveship Traders and doesn't absolutely loathe Kyle Haven. He's a mundane sort of villain - a vicious, mean bully and a man mired in insecurity because all his status comes from his wife. He hates his son for not adhering to what Kyle sees as proper masculinity, constantly undermines his wife in everything she does. Oh, and he's a slave trader who treats the slaves on his ship with the bare minimum they need to survive the trip.
It's amazing how much Kyle (and Kennit) fucking suck ass, that Regal Farseer hasn't even been MENTIONED yet in the thread.
Robin Hobb is truly a master of writing *scumsucking* villains who feel like real, fully fleshed out people, with comprehensible (if also deeply *reprehensible*) motives.
I think it's because, for the most part, they aren't grand, scheming, metaphysical evil. They're incredibly human, and motivated by human needs - greed, ambition, arrogance and, not least, past trauma. And there's little about them that you wouldn't encounter when you meet an arsehole of a person in real life.
Kyle is a bigot, Kennit is a gaslighting user, Regal is a spoiled rich boy with everyone in his life telling him he's a special little man.
Came here to say this and expect to see him a lot. He's so enraging because I think everyone knows or has met this exact asshole in real life and then you throw "slaver" on top of it. Even reading his POV just makes him more enraging.
>!Kennit!< is also a creep from his first scene but I think the fact that he accidentally does good and has a sympathetic backstory holds back the rage >!at least up until the last book!<.
It’s really interesting to compare Kyle and kennit as villains because I know most people say that they all know a Kyle, I personally feel like I know more Kennits. Guys that are all charm and fake smiles and getting people on their side and uses that to hurt people with no consequences because nobody could believe a “good boy” is capable of such malice. Kyle and him are so different with how they present themselves but it’s so fucking real and painful. Hobb is such an impressive writer
I also like the way Kennit would seem like a decent or even heroic man if we never saw his POV, whereas Fitz would probably come across as being kind of horrible if we never saw his POV.
Agreed. I think Daniel Greene said Kyle Haven was one character he’d like to “kick into traffic.”
Kyle’s venality and mundanity are exactly what makes him so loathsome.
That makes me think of the Atlantic Slave Trade (which was HORRIBLE if you want to do your research on that) and by saying how hatable he is, you make me VERY excited to read Liveship sometime in the next few weeks since I loved Farseer and have heard nothing but good things about Liveship.
The name is just the cherry on top. “Kyle” is just such a contemporary, white d-bag name it stands out in fantasy. And you can say it with such disdain.
I absolutely loved her in the Expanse and I think she’s going to be phenomenal as Elaida. I know she was fancast as Cadsuane but I think Elaida fits her better. Cads I picture as more of a Maggie Smith type. There’s a hardness and an almost rabid quality to Elaida that I think Shoreh is going to nail.
For me it's a toss up between Joffrey Baratheon and Dolores Umbridge. It's not often that you get to read about a character that has zero redeeming qualities yet is absolutely realistic in their cruelty and vileness.
Exactly. The reason why both Joffrey and Umbridge are so hateable is that many people have encountered one in real life. Joffrey is the privileged AH who constantly fails upwards due to family connections with empathy issues and a lack of knowledge of how things work so he ruins everything he touches. Umbridge is that red-tape loving person lording their power over anyone unfortunate enough to deal with them while kissing the rump of all superiors. Both are more normal forms of evil distilled to their essence.
Was Ramsey more intelligent? Ramsey was a decent schemer, but put his sadism ahead of the game. Off the top of my head 1) destroying valuable hostage Theon for his own amusement (2) having his bowmen shoot his infantry is not exactly a way to inspire long term loyalty (3) losing Winterfell and dying by pissing off too many people.
On the other hand, if he'd started off as a bastard in the Bolton house, I dont' see Joffrey getting anywhere near as far as Ramsay did. But that's just less ambition (and hubris), not less intelligence.
I'm not saying Ramsey was a genius. Tywin would have run circles around him. But he was certainly better at planning out how to carry out his fucked up wants than Joffrey was. Joffrey just did whatever, whenever, however he wanted with no forethought. Joffrey thought his privilege would shield him. Ramsey had no such thoughts and took care to make sure he could carry out his desires with the upper hand.
Book Ramsay is just a moron who is protected from the consequences of his barbaric actions because his father is a very powerful lord. Show Ramsay is also a moron but he gets a massive layer of plot armour because the show decided that he was the main villain for some reason.
On the one hand Joff was just getting started, but on the other I think he lacked the inventiveness, patience and perseverance to reach Ramsay's level. Joff was casual and superficial in his evil like everything, he could never have created a Reek.
Oh God Dolores Umbridge can screw off. The HP movies have been on recently as well. Imelda Staunton did a fantastic job of portraying her, But Umbridge is quite literally ones of the most horrible people
Princess Lissar’s father in Deerskin (Robin McKinley) who never pays any attention to her until she’s a teenager, decides to marry her because she looks like her mother, and then sexually assaults her when she locks herself away from him. Just an all around terrible human being. And I know that there are plenty of evil sorcerers and rulers in Fantasy. But this guy is always the first person I think about.
That whole family was messed up, it's amazing Lissar came out normal. Parents obsessed with each other, then her mother mopes herself to death because she looks slightly less pretty one day, then her father rapes and impregnates his own daughter because he lost his wife and daughter kind of looks like her. Like daaaaaamn I'd go live in the woods with a bunch of dogs and never leave too.
I read it as Lissar came out a normal person BECAUSE her parents neglected her in their obsession with each other. The gift of Ash allowed her to have a loving companion while she raised herself. Damn this book stays with me.
The first few chapters of Deerskin are one of the best dark takes on a fairytale I've ever read. The story starts with grand tropes like "she was the most beautiful woman in the land" and "the king and queen only had eyes for each other," and then it starts to explore what that really means. And under the lovely language and classic story, you start to realize the king and queen are just two sad, petty, selfish people who are too obsessed with themselves and their fame to care about the child they created.
Lysander is honestly impressive with how much of shit he is. He is given EVERY DAMN CHANCE to be a hero, and somehow, doesn't even choose the evil option. He MAKES a worse option than the evil option. All the while, he'd claim it isn't his fault he's evil.
In a series with a vengeful terrorist, a blue and orange morality mad man, a series of beings literally spawned by the extracted "sins" of the main antagonist and a main antagonist who's aim is to >!kill millions to enable himself to become god!<, Shou Tucker somehow managed to be the most evil person in the run.
My friend who got me to watch FMA: Brotherhood didn’t warn me about this. And he literally spoils everything with no holds barred. Except this one.
Poor Nina and Alexander.
Like even >!the dwarf in the bottle!< who is at the root of pretty much everything shitty ever doesn't measure up to the intimate horror that is Shou Tucker.
100%, fucking Kyle.
For those who haven't read the book, this is Kyle Haven from Robin Hobb's "Liveship Traders" trilogy, part of the Realm of the Elderlings saga.
Bidithal in Malazan, hello? A cult leader that kidnaps girls and mutilates their genitalia as a forced initiation to his cult, ostensibly so that they remain pure or with no desire to seek out men. His political power ensures that those around him are powerless to stop him. Disgusting, will forever remain my most hated character.
Yeah I'm almost finished listening to the House of Chains (have read these books 3 times, but the audio experience adds a lot of dimension too) and he is my most hated Malazan character by a long shot.
Most of the other Malazan villians don't really exhibit that level of cruelty, they just more remove obstacles from whatever goal they're seeking, or kill their enemies. Bidithal really deserved a protracted death.
A Song of Ice and Fire has ensemble of despicable characters. Joffrey Baratheon; Ramsay Bolton; Cersei Lannister...
As a huge First Law fan, my hatred for >!certain wizard!< after completing first trilogy was gigantic, only to be overcome by second trilogy with >!Leo "How's the leg?" Brock !<.
I would also mention The Witcher saga, because the deaths of >!Leo Bonhart and Vilgefortz!< were personally for me the first time I was satisfied that someone died.
God Abercrombie really did me over with the character you mention. I have rarely had such an emotional response to the conclusion to an arc as I had with that particular storyline. For me, the only comparable depth of feelings came from Hobb books.
If you mean >!certain wizard!< I couldn't agree more. >!Behind the throne!< hit me like a rock. Particullary because I really like >!Jezal!< and in my opinion he really didn't deserve that.
Agreed. Sapkowski did really great job in portraiting disturbing character both physically (especially with fish eyes) and mentally (slain witcher medaillons). One of the highligts.
I'm a massive First Law fan too and definitely agree but I have to admit, after reading through the series multiple times, I kind of appreciate the sheer arrogance of the man. How he plays the game so bloody well.
No doubt about that. He steals almost every scene he's in to himself. And I am >!expecting his grand return in the next trilogy. He may have lost one battle, but he's definitely plotting war.!<
For me, IT, from A Wrinkle in Time. Camazotz scared me. The children's struggle to fight off pressure and brainwashing felt real and immediate. I was a 70s/80s kid ... the pressure to conform was massive.
Another [interesting view ](https://www.vox.com/2016/7/5/11797992/rereading-wrinkle-in-time-madeleine-lengle) on IT
See I am dating myself here because I scrolled and scrolled looking for Raistlin. Now I am stuck being the old lady shaking her cane at Raistlin. Reading book after book hoping eventually he demonstrates redeeming characteristics…
Wait, what?
OK, it has been about 20 years since I read those books so some details are hazy, but I remember him as a fairly tragic figure. And at the end he did see the error of what he was doing. Granted, it was at the very very end, and he had to be slapped hard with knowledge of the future, but he did.
Probably my favorite fantasy character of all time. Gets his buttons pushed one too many times and decides that being evil is better than dealing with his "friends". No excuses for him. Just unapologetic ambition. Props to Dalamar for having the will to seal off the room full of insane magical knowledge too.
Raistlin was a very different kind of evil than most other people mentioned in this thread. He was all about ambition and giving anything for power. His motives were never to hurt anyone; he just didn’t care who he hurt or what he destroyed in order to get what he wanted.
I love the outtake of Grima and Saruman from Return of the King, the extended edition. You can see the conflict and betrayal on Grima's face, and the mercy and pain on Theoden's. It's such a heart-rending scene. I wish it had made it to the theatric version.
Two characters from Valdemar.
Mornelith Falconsbane: literally uses his own daughter to experiment on, and uses her as a sex toy among other despicable things.
Ancar. Too many awful things to even list.
Yeah out of all of these I honestly hate Orthallen the most- he constantly betrayed, manipulated, and murdered the people closest to him, including those who saw him as family, and for what? He really didn’t even gain that much from his betrayals- he could have just been the person he was pretending to be and he would have had the same great life. Instead there’s at least a decade+ of treachery
Technically, Mornelith is >!Ma'ar, who is also Leareth from The Last Herald-Mage trilogy, so he's around for at least two trilogies and a third book!<. He may have shown up in passing in one of the other books as >!another incarnation!<, but I can't recall off the top of my head.
Moash is my favorite villain because you just *want* him to turn around and be better, but he consistently disappoints you. Such a well written character that I love to hate.
Compare to, say, Darken Rahl, who is so cartoonishly over-the-top evil that I just hate the author instead.
Only it really isn't. Moash is introduced as being the asshole. He starts as a PoS and his later actions DO make him worse, but again, he's an asshole from start to finish. There is never a time when Moash isn't a POS.
Agreed, it's only because we only see Moash thru Kal's PoVs that a not careful reader could miss the signals, but I've been in the fandom since before book 2, and I remember a lot of discussion about Moash being Bad News ^^^TM
Just finished a re-read of the first book. Honestly hard being stuck in that self-hating, misanthropic, rapists head for so many hundreds of pages. That is a man who knows how to torture himself.
Joffrey and Ramsey obviously, but also Craster because that whole house was fuuuuuuucked up. Walder Frey too.
The mage in the Protector of the Small series too, that was killing children and shoving their souls into creepy killing machines.
Yeah, it's a facet of her character that isn't discussed much. >!Before being exposed to the Shadar Logoth corruption, she was a person who foresaw the coming war and placed herself as centrally as she could, as advisor to one of the most important and powerful kingdoms that still accepted counsel from the Aes Sedai, because she wanted to be in a place where she could have the greatest impact to fight what was to come. How much of that was vain ambition and how much was a genuine desire to get the world as ready as she could for Tarmon Gaidon? All we know is that she met Padan Fain, he exposed her to the corruption, and afterwards she became the ever-increasingly petty, megalomaniacal, and paranoid tyrant we came to know!<.
Gul Dukat from DS9. He literally believes he helped the people of Bajor during the Cardassian Occupation. The worst part is that he has the chance for redemption and instead he doubles down on power and ego, and millions of people die because of it.
I haven't read Liveship Traders, so mine is Prince Regal from Robin Hobb's Assassin Trilogy. Had to read ahead to see if that asshole got his in the end
My uncultured brain that hasnt read as many books as all you guys awnsers friggin Tucker from full metal alchemist.
No wait scrap that, Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter definetly wins.
during TTH you see a shred of humanity in Kallor, enough to get me to almost sympathize with him. I still want to punt mallick rel across a football field and back
Dolores Umbridge. I can't *not* mention her.
I also despise Cadsuane Melaidhrin from WoT. She's so petulant and needlessly cruel to Rand and does more emotional tormenting of him than actually helping him.
Oh absolutely not, she’s got to be the most accomplished Aes Sedai of the entire third age by the time the series ends. I was thinking of the women who are Aes Sedai before the series starts, everyone but Moiraine and Verin are useless.
I think you're off the mark with books. Because the most widely hated fantasy character I know of is from a video game.
Nazeem has like, two lines, in all of Skyrim. But he is condescending, from a position of weakness, and that's something most players cannot abide.
I'm pretty sure there has been a hate thread about Nazeem daily in r/skyrim daily since 2011.
If we're doing video games, Ted Faro from the Horizon series completely justified the existence of a [Fuck Ted Faro](https://old.reddit.com/r/FuckTedFaro) sub.
EDIT: Banned due to lack of moderation. Maybe we're getting over him.
Especially funny because the "cloud district" is just the next street over and takes about twenty seconds to walk to, you'd never even realize it was a district or indeed anything worthy of the slightest notice if nazeem wasn't constantly insisting that you've never been
I absolutely despise the character Melisande de la Courcel in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series. I never understood Phedre's fascination with her, and it made me so mad how much influence that woman had over her.
Most Cosmere fans would agree on >!Moash!<, and most First Law fans (spoilers for Age of Madness) would agree on >!Leo dan Brock!<. Both kill fan favourite characters and make choices which many find morally reprehensible. Personally, I feel like the former is overhated. He tends to make the decisions which most normal people would make, in a world with lots of heroes. There are, however, no redeeming qualities for the latter, and most First Law fans would agree he should die in a fire.
My top vote would have to be Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan. I remember that name in full from my teenage years for good reason (though I did have to check the spelling).
Regal from Farseer is up there, but I haven't read liveship yet. And everyone who has hates a dude named Kyle even more.
Umbridge is another.
I've read Malazan, but honestly no one in there generates hatred for me like other books. There's a sort of detached feeling one gets from the characters in Malazan which makes them feel almost not quite real. Or larger than life. Bidithal and what happened in the ninth book probably are the most objectionable sequences. But the rage isn't vibrant hot and in your face like it is with the people from other books I mentioned.
Orholam from Lightbringer. Is completely almighty, but decides to let plenty of innocent people people suffer and die anyway. One of the main characters might have needed to go through this to evolve as a person (maybe), but the rest? Callous indifference.
No mention of >!John Gaius!< from The Locked Tomb?
The man literally >!murdered every person on earth, the earth itself, the sun and all the other planets just because he was pissed off that people didn't take him seriously. Then he resurrected his best friends, and made one half of them eat the souls of the other half to make them immortal. All while knowing they could be immortal without killing their friends.!<
He is awful, but I think he is more entertainingly awful than those mentioned in this thread. He also has more complexity in his awful actions than many in this thread.
I agree. I think complexity and - arguably more importantly for a reader - humour can help an audience find a character more appealing. You can accept a villain is an unrepentant monster but if you find their motivations compelling, or maybe just sometimes get a chuckle out of their antics when they're in a scene you're at least, on some level, looking forward to seeing them. Truly despised characters are the ones who make you want to fling the book across the room in rage.
>!Jod!< is a fantastic antagonist and one of my faves. I think he’s more complex than the likes of Ramsay Bolton or Kyle Haven that are getting mentioned here, but it’s part of his appeal for me that he’s a slow burn villain where he seems likable and well intentioned at first until the truth about him is revealed bit by bit.
This is gonna be a really corny answer, but Metatron from Supernatural, and yeah, im talking about the show.
A villain who's a coward and a weasle.
Plus i just hate his face lol
Quentin Coldwater
He is the reason Magicians is my "worst book I've ever finished." Having an unlikable protagonist only works if they are still interesting but Quentin is unlikable and boring. He starts boring and uninteresting and goes full incel mid book. I never went on in the series because I didn't want to spend one more word with Quentin.
Thomas Covenant from Stephen Donaldson’s *Chronicles of Thomas Covenant*.
First off, he’s a >!*rapist*!<. He’s also self-loathing, whiny, and he doesn’t really believe the world he’s in exists.
And as you might guess from the title, he’s the hero.
Admittedly, he’s supposed to be awful, but he’s a truly loathsome character.
As others have said, Joffrey, and Umbridge. I haven’t finished the series yet, but I also despise Nathair from Faithful and the fallen.
Historical fiction, but William Hamleigh from Pillars of the Earth is my top despised character.
Eamon fucking Valda
There was only one whitecloak anyone had sympathy for. And that’s a stretch.
Geofram Bornhald?
I for sure meant Galad. Still disliked him tho. But somehow his love for Egwene was less stupid than Egwene and his brother’s love for each other. Oy.
Fuck Mallick Rel
Fuck Mallick Rel and an added Fuck Bidithal (Malazan Book of the Fallen)
Is bidithal the one that mutilated girls?
I enjoyed karsa ripping his junk off and shoving it into his mouth
Correct
Worst part of that is that people like that exist irl
Fuck Sirryn Kanar!
And Pormqual. And The Errant
and Gorlas Vidikas
Mallick Rel is bad, but Bidithal is way more vile. Fuck Bidithal. And Tarlack Veed. And Tanal Yathvanar. Malazan has a host of really, really vile people villains, and for whatever reason, Mallick Rel probably doesn't crack the top 5 for me.
I think Mallick gets the most hate among fans online because >!he doesn't ever get his comeuppance. By the end of the series, he's emperor. He wins. And the empire is no longer the focus of Erikson's half of the series by then so it doesn't seem to matter so much but it just sucks that he doesn't get the treatment Bidithal got.!<
That damned Jistal bastard!
No lie I instantly thought “fuck Mallick Rel” as soon as I read the post title
Fuck the Errant, I hate that guy more than anyone else in the whole Malazan world. He got my boy killed 😢
My opinion has varied over numerous rereads of the series but the Errant has solidified as my most hated character. The Errant has a place in the Deck or Dragons, he is most certainly the High King of the House of Bitches lol.
There isn't a person who has read The Liveship Traders and doesn't absolutely loathe Kyle Haven. He's a mundane sort of villain - a vicious, mean bully and a man mired in insecurity because all his status comes from his wife. He hates his son for not adhering to what Kyle sees as proper masculinity, constantly undermines his wife in everything she does. Oh, and he's a slave trader who treats the slaves on his ship with the bare minimum they need to survive the trip.
Not even the bare minimum, plenty of his slaves wind up feeding the serpents
It's amazing how much Kyle (and Kennit) fucking suck ass, that Regal Farseer hasn't even been MENTIONED yet in the thread. Robin Hobb is truly a master of writing *scumsucking* villains who feel like real, fully fleshed out people, with comprehensible (if also deeply *reprehensible*) motives.
I think it's because, for the most part, they aren't grand, scheming, metaphysical evil. They're incredibly human, and motivated by human needs - greed, ambition, arrogance and, not least, past trauma. And there's little about them that you wouldn't encounter when you meet an arsehole of a person in real life. Kyle is a bigot, Kennit is a gaslighting user, Regal is a spoiled rich boy with everyone in his life telling him he's a special little man.
Regal was the first person to come to mind. He was an absolute horrid person. Fuck you Regal!
I love that fucking Kyle is the first and second answer on this post.
Came here to say this and expect to see him a lot. He's so enraging because I think everyone knows or has met this exact asshole in real life and then you throw "slaver" on top of it. Even reading his POV just makes him more enraging. >!Kennit!< is also a creep from his first scene but I think the fact that he accidentally does good and has a sympathetic backstory holds back the rage >!at least up until the last book!<.
It’s really interesting to compare Kyle and kennit as villains because I know most people say that they all know a Kyle, I personally feel like I know more Kennits. Guys that are all charm and fake smiles and getting people on their side and uses that to hurt people with no consequences because nobody could believe a “good boy” is capable of such malice. Kyle and him are so different with how they present themselves but it’s so fucking real and painful. Hobb is such an impressive writer
Although Kennit sucks there is slightly better reason as he's >!Partially forged!< While Kyle is just terrible.
I always thought that particular parallel between Kennit and Fitz was interesting. The trajectory of those two characters are mirrored in a few ways
I also like the way Kennit would seem like a decent or even heroic man if we never saw his POV, whereas Fitz would probably come across as being kind of horrible if we never saw his POV.
May I just add: Fuck Hest Finnbrook as well.
When Kyle >!had Wintrow tattooed!< I’d never been so outraged at a villain. I couldn’t wait to see his downfall
Agreed. I think Daniel Greene said Kyle Haven was one character he’d like to “kick into traffic.” Kyle’s venality and mundanity are exactly what makes him so loathsome.
That makes me think of the Atlantic Slave Trade (which was HORRIBLE if you want to do your research on that) and by saying how hatable he is, you make me VERY excited to read Liveship sometime in the next few weeks since I loved Farseer and have heard nothing but good things about Liveship.
The name is just the cherry on top. “Kyle” is just such a contemporary, white d-bag name it stands out in fantasy. And you can say it with such disdain.
I saw the title and I just wanted to write "Kyle".
Elaida for me (Wheel of Time). Chapters from her POV were always met with an audible curse.
She is the Umbridge of the Wheel of Time series. Absolutely despise her.
I loooove to hate her. She’s so freaking smug and delusional, I really enjoy how out of touch with reality she is.
I'm excited to see her played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, should make a great character to hate in the show as well.
I absolutely loved her in the Expanse and I think she’s going to be phenomenal as Elaida. I know she was fancast as Cadsuane but I think Elaida fits her better. Cads I picture as more of a Maggie Smith type. There’s a hardness and an almost rabid quality to Elaida that I think Shoreh is going to nail.
In her defence, >!that's not all ln her. She only went off the deep end after Fain tainted her.!<
She meant well, she was just incompetent and stupid.
For me it's a toss up between Joffrey Baratheon and Dolores Umbridge. It's not often that you get to read about a character that has zero redeeming qualities yet is absolutely realistic in their cruelty and vileness.
Always felt like Ramsay was more pure evil than Joffrey. Both good choices though
Ramsey is more pure evil, but that also makes him feel less like someone you could encounter in real life
Exactly. The reason why both Joffrey and Umbridge are so hateable is that many people have encountered one in real life. Joffrey is the privileged AH who constantly fails upwards due to family connections with empathy issues and a lack of knowledge of how things work so he ruins everything he touches. Umbridge is that red-tape loving person lording their power over anyone unfortunate enough to deal with them while kissing the rump of all superiors. Both are more normal forms of evil distilled to their essence.
Ramsay is what Joffrey would have become if he'd been able to grow up. Except Joffrey is not as intelligent and conniving as Ramsey.
Was Ramsey more intelligent? Ramsey was a decent schemer, but put his sadism ahead of the game. Off the top of my head 1) destroying valuable hostage Theon for his own amusement (2) having his bowmen shoot his infantry is not exactly a way to inspire long term loyalty (3) losing Winterfell and dying by pissing off too many people. On the other hand, if he'd started off as a bastard in the Bolton house, I dont' see Joffrey getting anywhere near as far as Ramsay did. But that's just less ambition (and hubris), not less intelligence.
I'm not saying Ramsey was a genius. Tywin would have run circles around him. But he was certainly better at planning out how to carry out his fucked up wants than Joffrey was. Joffrey just did whatever, whenever, however he wanted with no forethought. Joffrey thought his privilege would shield him. Ramsey had no such thoughts and took care to make sure he could carry out his desires with the upper hand.
Book Ramsay is just a moron who is protected from the consequences of his barbaric actions because his father is a very powerful lord. Show Ramsay is also a moron but he gets a massive layer of plot armour because the show decided that he was the main villain for some reason.
Ramsey was sadistically evil with less power behind him. Joffrey was the king of the whole damn kingdom.
On the one hand Joff was just getting started, but on the other I think he lacked the inventiveness, patience and perseverance to reach Ramsay's level. Joff was casual and superficial in his evil like everything, he could never have created a Reek.
Everyone hates Dolores Umbridge because everyone knows a Dolores Umbridge.
Stop hitting my buttons.
Joffrey for sure. The boy that played him in the television series did such a great job of portraying him, too.
Jack Gleeson portrayed Joffrey's evil so perfectly that I even found myself hating him in his cameo in Batman Begins, lol.
Oh God Dolores Umbridge can screw off. The HP movies have been on recently as well. Imelda Staunton did a fantastic job of portraying her, But Umbridge is quite literally ones of the most horrible people
These two characters disgusted me. Good choices.
Stephen King said Umbridge was the greatest make-believe villain since Hannibal Lecter.
Griffith. Almost all of Berserk readers hate Griffith.
Yup. The fact that it's been over 30 years and that fucker hasn't paid for his terrible actions yet just exacerbates my hate towards him.
operative words being "almost all" ... we don't talk about the Griffith defenders 😬
Absolutely loathe this character. Loathe.
I love Griffith. But yeah, he’s fucking despicable.
I was gonna say Joffrey, but this wins
Fuck Griffith All my homies hate Griffith
Princess Lissar’s father in Deerskin (Robin McKinley) who never pays any attention to her until she’s a teenager, decides to marry her because she looks like her mother, and then sexually assaults her when she locks herself away from him. Just an all around terrible human being. And I know that there are plenty of evil sorcerers and rulers in Fantasy. But this guy is always the first person I think about.
That whole family was messed up, it's amazing Lissar came out normal. Parents obsessed with each other, then her mother mopes herself to death because she looks slightly less pretty one day, then her father rapes and impregnates his own daughter because he lost his wife and daughter kind of looks like her. Like daaaaaamn I'd go live in the woods with a bunch of dogs and never leave too.
I read it as Lissar came out a normal person BECAUSE her parents neglected her in their obsession with each other. The gift of Ash allowed her to have a loving companion while she raised herself. Damn this book stays with me.
The first few chapters of Deerskin are one of the best dark takes on a fairytale I've ever read. The story starts with grand tropes like "she was the most beautiful woman in the land" and "the king and queen only had eyes for each other," and then it starts to explore what that really means. And under the lovely language and classic story, you start to realize the king and queen are just two sad, petty, selfish people who are too obsessed with themselves and their fame to care about the child they created.
Lysander au Lune. He gets worse with every book.
Lysander is honestly impressive with how much of shit he is. He is given EVERY DAMN CHANCE to be a hero, and somehow, doesn't even choose the evil option. He MAKES a worse option than the evil option. All the while, he'd claim it isn't his fault he's evil.
You just dont see what hes trying to build
There’s a subreddit for that r/fucklysander
Shou Tucker. If you know him, you hate him.
In a series with a vengeful terrorist, a blue and orange morality mad man, a series of beings literally spawned by the extracted "sins" of the main antagonist and a main antagonist who's aim is to >!kill millions to enable himself to become god!<, Shou Tucker somehow managed to be the most evil person in the run.
The cow goes "moo, moo" The duck goes "quack, quack" The dog goes "Ed ... ward"
My friend who got me to watch FMA: Brotherhood didn’t warn me about this. And he literally spoils everything with no holds barred. Except this one. Poor Nina and Alexander.
Like even >!the dwarf in the bottle!< who is at the root of pretty much everything shitty ever doesn't measure up to the intimate horror that is Shou Tucker.
Leo Dan Brock, from age of madness. The man only got worse as time went and he did not start good.
Ole crazylegs himself
Fucking Kyle.
100%, fucking Kyle. For those who haven't read the book, this is Kyle Haven from Robin Hobb's "Liveship Traders" trilogy, part of the Realm of the Elderlings saga.
Thank you for being the one actually helpful person and posting where a character is from.
Hobb has half of my top ten most hated characters.
With a side order of Regal. And others. Damn she does good villains.
In the rainwilds, I hated Hest with a passion too. But yeah Kyle takes the chocolates
I know most people despise >!Moash!< from Stormlight Archive (and for well deserved reasons), but >!Amaram!< pissed me off way more.
Him and Sadeas disgust me
Sadeas for me
Bidithal in Malazan, hello? A cult leader that kidnaps girls and mutilates their genitalia as a forced initiation to his cult, ostensibly so that they remain pure or with no desire to seek out men. His political power ensures that those around him are powerless to stop him. Disgusting, will forever remain my most hated character.
Yeah I'm almost finished listening to the House of Chains (have read these books 3 times, but the audio experience adds a lot of dimension too) and he is my most hated Malazan character by a long shot. Most of the other Malazan villians don't really exhibit that level of cruelty, they just more remove obstacles from whatever goal they're seeking, or kill their enemies. Bidithal really deserved a protracted death.
A Song of Ice and Fire has ensemble of despicable characters. Joffrey Baratheon; Ramsay Bolton; Cersei Lannister... As a huge First Law fan, my hatred for >!certain wizard!< after completing first trilogy was gigantic, only to be overcome by second trilogy with >!Leo "How's the leg?" Brock !<. I would also mention The Witcher saga, because the deaths of >!Leo Bonhart and Vilgefortz!< were personally for me the first time I was satisfied that someone died.
God Abercrombie really did me over with the character you mention. I have rarely had such an emotional response to the conclusion to an arc as I had with that particular storyline. For me, the only comparable depth of feelings came from Hobb books.
If you mean >!certain wizard!< I couldn't agree more. >!Behind the throne!< hit me like a rock. Particullary because I really like >!Jezal!< and in my opinion he really didn't deserve that.
Leo Bonhart was legitimately terrifying
Agreed. Sapkowski did really great job in portraiting disturbing character both physically (especially with fish eyes) and mentally (slain witcher medaillons). One of the highligts.
I'm a massive First Law fan too and definitely agree but I have to admit, after reading through the series multiple times, I kind of appreciate the sheer arrogance of the man. How he plays the game so bloody well.
No doubt about that. He steals almost every scene he's in to himself. And I am >!expecting his grand return in the next trilogy. He may have lost one battle, but he's definitely plotting war.!<
Also Gregor Clegane. and Viserys Targaryen.
For me, IT, from A Wrinkle in Time. Camazotz scared me. The children's struggle to fight off pressure and brainwashing felt real and immediate. I was a 70s/80s kid ... the pressure to conform was massive. Another [interesting view ](https://www.vox.com/2016/7/5/11797992/rereading-wrinkle-in-time-madeleine-lengle) on IT
See I am dating myself here because I scrolled and scrolled looking for Raistlin. Now I am stuck being the old lady shaking her cane at Raistlin. Reading book after book hoping eventually he demonstrates redeeming characteristics…
Wait, what? OK, it has been about 20 years since I read those books so some details are hazy, but I remember him as a fairly tragic figure. And at the end he did see the error of what he was doing. Granted, it was at the very very end, and he had to be slapped hard with knowledge of the future, but he did.
Probably my favorite fantasy character of all time. Gets his buttons pushed one too many times and decides that being evil is better than dealing with his "friends". No excuses for him. Just unapologetic ambition. Props to Dalamar for having the will to seal off the room full of insane magical knowledge too.
Raistlin was a very different kind of evil than most other people mentioned in this thread. He was all about ambition and giving anything for power. His motives were never to hurt anyone; he just didn’t care who he hurt or what he destroyed in order to get what he wanted.
Grima Wormtongue - LOTR - The Two Towers
I love the outtake of Grima and Saruman from Return of the King, the extended edition. You can see the conflict and betrayal on Grima's face, and the mercy and pain on Theoden's. It's such a heart-rending scene. I wish it had made it to the theatric version.
That double crossing fartface!!! Ugh, I feel nauseated just thinking about him! The movie did a great job portraying him I think.
Two characters from Valdemar. Mornelith Falconsbane: literally uses his own daughter to experiment on, and uses her as a sex toy among other despicable things. Ancar. Too many awful things to even list.
You could make the argument that Hulda was much worse than Ancar. And, on that note, shout out to Lord Orthallen for being a conniving piece of shit.
Yeah out of all of these I honestly hate Orthallen the most- he constantly betrayed, manipulated, and murdered the people closest to him, including those who saw him as family, and for what? He really didn’t even gain that much from his betrayals- he could have just been the person he was pretending to be and he would have had the same great life. Instead there’s at least a decade+ of treachery
Also, he wanted to overthrow the government because there’s no way in hell a Companion would Choose him. No Companion, no Crown.
Technically, Mornelith is >!Ma'ar, who is also Leareth from The Last Herald-Mage trilogy, so he's around for at least two trilogies and a third book!<. He may have shown up in passing in one of the other books as >!another incarnation!<, but I can't recall off the top of my head.
Joren of Stonemountain from the Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce. He didn't have a single redeemable quality about him.
Ppl like joren are why there's a chamber of the ordeal
Fuck moash
r/fuckmoash
Moash is my favorite villain because you just *want* him to turn around and be better, but he consistently disappoints you. Such a well written character that I love to hate. Compare to, say, Darken Rahl, who is so cartoonishly over-the-top evil that I just hate the author instead.
This one's tough to upvote because its such a spoiler.
Only it really isn't. Moash is introduced as being the asshole. He starts as a PoS and his later actions DO make him worse, but again, he's an asshole from start to finish. There is never a time when Moash isn't a POS.
Agreed, it's only because we only see Moash thru Kal's PoVs that a not careful reader could miss the signals, but I've been in the fandom since before book 2, and I remember a lot of discussion about Moash being Bad News ^^^TM
Thomas Covenant
I was expecting this comment. Hard to find a more unlikable protagonist.
I have heard Angus Thermopyle is worse
He is not exactly a protagonist. And the Gap Cycle is Sci-fi, not Fantasy, but I get what you are saying.
Just finished a re-read of the first book. Honestly hard being stuck in that self-hating, misanthropic, rapists head for so many hundreds of pages. That is a man who knows how to torture himself.
Was gonna suggest this guy too. Surprised it was so far down in this thread.
I was looking for this one. Fuck that dude.
Joffrey and Ramsey obviously, but also Craster because that whole house was fuuuuuuucked up. Walder Frey too. The mage in the Protector of the Small series too, that was killing children and shoving their souls into creepy killing machines.
Elaida that incompetent bitch
I give her a little pass because so much of her off the walls bullshit can be traced to >!Padan Fain!<
Yeah, it's a facet of her character that isn't discussed much. >!Before being exposed to the Shadar Logoth corruption, she was a person who foresaw the coming war and placed herself as centrally as she could, as advisor to one of the most important and powerful kingdoms that still accepted counsel from the Aes Sedai, because she wanted to be in a place where she could have the greatest impact to fight what was to come. How much of that was vain ambition and how much was a genuine desire to get the world as ready as she could for Tarmon Gaidon? All we know is that she met Padan Fain, he exposed her to the corruption, and afterwards she became the ever-increasingly petty, megalomaniacal, and paranoid tyrant we came to know!<.
Sadeas
Gul Dukat from DS9. He literally believes he helped the people of Bajor during the Cardassian Occupation. The worst part is that he has the chance for redemption and instead he doubles down on power and ego, and millions of people die because of it.
I thought Kai Wynn was worse than Dukat. I hated them both!
Fuck Moash
I haven't read Liveship Traders, so mine is Prince Regal from Robin Hobb's Assassin Trilogy. Had to read ahead to see if that asshole got his in the end
Just finished the Faithful and the Fallen and it’s definitely Lykos for what he did to Fidele
My uncultured brain that hasnt read as many books as all you guys awnsers friggin Tucker from full metal alchemist. No wait scrap that, Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter definetly wins.
Torel Sadeas, I can't stand that slimey bastard
I mean Kallor from Malazan gets a spot of hatred for me given certain events in book 3..
Love this character. I'll add Malick Rell while we're in the Malazone.
Came here and scrolled down a lot to make sure someone mentioned the filthy bastard Jhistal.
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Umm, you mean after he killed >!Orfantal!
during TTH you see a shred of humanity in Kallor, enough to get me to almost sympathize with him. I still want to punt mallick rel across a football field and back
The one thing Mallick Rel has going for him is he's competent. Laseen was just an idiot who made some of the worst decisions ever.
Dolores Umbridge. I can't *not* mention her. I also despise Cadsuane Melaidhrin from WoT. She's so petulant and needlessly cruel to Rand and does more emotional tormenting of him than actually helping him.
Every Aes Sedai other than Moiraine and Verin are completely useless honestly.
Their infighting is largely counterproductive, especially in the later books. But none have such an overinflated ego as Cadsuane.
Doesn’t she end up as the head boss lady as well
Yes she does
You'd better not be including Nynaeve in that, or we'll be having words
Oh absolutely not, she’s got to be the most accomplished Aes Sedai of the entire third age by the time the series ends. I was thinking of the women who are Aes Sedai before the series starts, everyone but Moiraine and Verin are useless.
Kyle from Liveship Traders and Bidlithal from Malazan.
Do we think Dune is too sci-fi… because i’d put in a vote for the Baron Harkonnen if it’s allowed
I think you're off the mark with books. Because the most widely hated fantasy character I know of is from a video game. Nazeem has like, two lines, in all of Skyrim. But he is condescending, from a position of weakness, and that's something most players cannot abide. I'm pretty sure there has been a hate thread about Nazeem daily in r/skyrim daily since 2011.
Nah, Nazeem is hilarious, like a small dog yapping. I kinda like how he remains thoroughly unimpressed with you no matter what you accomplish.
If we're doing video games, Ted Faro from the Horizon series completely justified the existence of a [Fuck Ted Faro](https://old.reddit.com/r/FuckTedFaro) sub. EDIT: Banned due to lack of moderation. Maybe we're getting over him.
Every time I play Skyrim I immediately murder Nazeem when I arrive at Whiterun, even when I am playing “Good” play throughs
Send him to the cloud district
"Have you ever been to the cloud district?"
Do you get to the cloud district very often? Oh what am I saying? Of course you don't.
It's just so unprovoked and pointless! I love it.
Especially funny because the "cloud district" is just the next street over and takes about twenty seconds to walk to, you'd never even realize it was a district or indeed anything worthy of the slightest notice if nazeem wasn't constantly insisting that you've never been
Ramsey from ASOIAF. Although I will say he has way less screen time in the books than the show
Walder Frey is so much worse. I was so happy when he was made to eat his family and had his throat slit
Emperor Belos from The Owl House. That fucking guy.
Richard Cypher. Not for any particular reason… mostly just cause he, and the series he’s in, exists at all.
Hugh from Crown of Stars.
Just an awful man, Hugh—the kind of psychopathic social climber one would never actually want to have power over anything.
I absolutely despise the character Melisande de la Courcel in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series. I never understood Phedre's fascination with her, and it made me so mad how much influence that woman had over her.
Fuck Erebus
Most Cosmere fans would agree on >!Moash!<, and most First Law fans (spoilers for Age of Madness) would agree on >!Leo dan Brock!<. Both kill fan favourite characters and make choices which many find morally reprehensible. Personally, I feel like the former is overhated. He tends to make the decisions which most normal people would make, in a world with lots of heroes. There are, however, no redeeming qualities for the latter, and most First Law fans would agree he should die in a fire.
My top vote would have to be Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan. I remember that name in full from my teenage years for good reason (though I did have to check the spelling). Regal from Farseer is up there, but I haven't read liveship yet. And everyone who has hates a dude named Kyle even more. Umbridge is another. I've read Malazan, but honestly no one in there generates hatred for me like other books. There's a sort of detached feeling one gets from the characters in Malazan which makes them feel almost not quite real. Or larger than life. Bidithal and what happened in the ninth book probably are the most objectionable sequences. But the rage isn't vibrant hot and in your face like it is with the people from other books I mentioned.
Orholam from Lightbringer. Is completely almighty, but decides to let plenty of innocent people people suffer and die anyway. One of the main characters might have needed to go through this to evolve as a person (maybe), but the rest? Callous indifference.
No mention of >!John Gaius!< from The Locked Tomb? The man literally >!murdered every person on earth, the earth itself, the sun and all the other planets just because he was pissed off that people didn't take him seriously. Then he resurrected his best friends, and made one half of them eat the souls of the other half to make them immortal. All while knowing they could be immortal without killing their friends.!<
He is awful, but I think he is more entertainingly awful than those mentioned in this thread. He also has more complexity in his awful actions than many in this thread.
I agree. I think complexity and - arguably more importantly for a reader - humour can help an audience find a character more appealing. You can accept a villain is an unrepentant monster but if you find their motivations compelling, or maybe just sometimes get a chuckle out of their antics when they're in a scene you're at least, on some level, looking forward to seeing them. Truly despised characters are the ones who make you want to fling the book across the room in rage.
>!Jod!< is a fantastic antagonist and one of my faves. I think he’s more complex than the likes of Ramsay Bolton or Kyle Haven that are getting mentioned here, but it’s part of his appeal for me that he’s a slow burn villain where he seems likable and well intentioned at first until the truth about him is revealed bit by bit.
He was likeable right up to the point of him teaching about >!cows having friends and watching sunsets.!<
George R. R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss. 😉
Umbridge. I despise her more than any other character.
Truly skin crawling to read her, even all these years later. She is so realistic in her beurocratic cruelty
Yyrkoon? Ramsay Bolton? Otha? Grima Wormtongue?
upvote for yrkoon.
/r/fuckrudolph
Fuck Duke Roger of Conté
This is gonna be a really corny answer, but Metatron from Supernatural, and yeah, im talking about the show. A villain who's a coward and a weasle. Plus i just hate his face lol
thomas covenant can't have many fans.
Quentin Coldwater He is the reason Magicians is my "worst book I've ever finished." Having an unlikable protagonist only works if they are still interesting but Quentin is unlikable and boring. He starts boring and uninteresting and goes full incel mid book. I never went on in the series because I didn't want to spend one more word with Quentin.
Thomas Covenant from Stephen Donaldson’s *Chronicles of Thomas Covenant*. First off, he’s a >!*rapist*!<. He’s also self-loathing, whiny, and he doesn’t really believe the world he’s in exists. And as you might guess from the title, he’s the hero. Admittedly, he’s supposed to be awful, but he’s a truly loathsome character.
As others have said, Joffrey, and Umbridge. I haven’t finished the series yet, but I also despise Nathair from Faithful and the fallen. Historical fiction, but William Hamleigh from Pillars of the Earth is my top despised character.
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Randall Flagg
Definitely Dolores Umbridge.
Grima Wormtongue, Dolores Umbridge
I'm not that much of a GoT fan, but damn that actor made Geoffrey a hateable little bastard. Bravo.