Evil characters often give us a horrifying glimpse into what dark traits humans are truly capable of. Their dark complexity is usually necessary for driving the plot forward while testing our protagonist. When it comes to villainous masterminds, tragic figures, or just utterly evil characters, here are 5 that give us chills every time we see their names.
#5 Cathy Ames
Featured in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Cathy Ames is as manipulative as she is irredeemable. She constantly weaponizes people’s misfortunes against them, a trait of someone truly evil. Ames also harbors a strong propensity for violence and cruelty, all of which is made apparent through her unending detachment from morality.
# 4 Anton Chigurh
Author Cormac McCarthy is known for his sadistic and evil incarnations. In his book No Country for Old Men, we’re introduced to the psychotic Anton Chigurh, a man with an inexplicable and scornful vengeance against mankind.
# 3 Norman Bates
Loosely inspired by the twisted serial killer Ed Gein, Norman Bates has remained a staple in the realm of evil characters for quite a while. Featured in Robert Bloch’s 1959 horror novel, Psycho, Norman Bates is just as terrifying today as he was during his debut. Bates embodies several dark psychological themes, including dissociative identity disorder, repressed trauma, and Oedipal Complex – all of which allow him to harness his fragile mind to commit heinous acts.
# 2 Randall Flagg
Randall Flagg was created by author Stephen King to be the literal embodiment of evil. First appearing in King’s 1978 apocalyptic novel The Stand, Flagg has been a recurring character ever since, resulting in several follow-up appearances in future novels. Flagg’s atrocities are too long to list here, but his complete lack of empathy and desire for absolute power solidify him as one of fiction’s most evil characters.
# 1 Judge Holden
Another of Cormac McCarthy’s masterful creations, Blood Meridian (or The Evening Redness in the West) features many evil and depraved characters. Holden is the ultimate epitome of evil. Perhaps the eeriest part of Judge Holden is that he was based on a real-life “professional scalp-hunter” in Mexico and the American Southwest during the mid-19th century. Holden may be the scariest depiction of evil in all of literature. This supernatural behemoth terrorizes every page he’s on, demanding the reader to give him their unwilling and undivided attention.
Conclusion
Portrayals of evil are central to a book’s narrative function. They offer more than just conflict, evil characters bring nuance, character development, themes of the human condition, and tension to our favorite stories.
