Villains You Hate Most in Novelistic History

Oooh, oooh, I hate Dolores too! Because she's a monstrously sadistic bitch who hides behind cuddly kitten paraphenalia!

She makes Voldemort look good.

Esper said:

Which villain(s) from novels do you hate the most? Whose that d-bag that stomped all over your best buddy protagonist and made your insides churn with anger every time they entered a scene?

And most importantly: Why? What about this villain worked to provoke that reaction from you?

I really hated:

Professor Umbridge - Harry Potter

It was her position of authority and the fact that Harry was put into a situation where he couldn't fight back, but had to grit and bear her awful punishment. The froglike descriptions and Ron's "Old Toadface" remark didn't hurt, either, in encouraging my disdain for her.

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To me, a villian that stomps over an MC is what I like in an antagonist. A villian should make your guts churn. My favourites would be someone like Alec in Tess of the D'Urbevilles, or [in Drama] Shakespeare's Iago.

I have read some pretty ineffectual villians too. That I don't like.

Phaeal said:

Oooh, oooh, I hate Dolores too! Because she's a monstrously sadistic bitch who hides behind cuddly kitten paraphenalia!

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100% agree

I think perhaps the most frustrating thing about her was that she had blind hatred for Harry. She was most likely in the dark about Voldemort and all of his evil plans, and simply hated Harry just because the Ministry told her to. So she was THAT bad when she was only feeding off of someone else's hate

It's funny, when I saw the title of this thread I immediately thought of Delores Umbridge as well, even though HP isn't one of my favorite series. Many of my favorite books have much scarier villains, who do many more terrible things, and yet none of them seem to have evoked the same reaction of visceral hate Umbridge did. I honestly don't know why that is, but I'd sure like to know.

Count me as another who hated Umbridge, even though she wasn't the main villain.

I HATED Umbridge. Seriously, loathed her. Everytime I reread HP, even though I know what happens, I still get so angry.


-t.

I hated Umbridge, too. Weird, as I liked Bellatrix, who was twice as evil. Bellatrix was just a likable evil, I guess?

I really don't know why I hated her, as opposed to Bellatrix, though.

Also, Grima Wormtongue. And Doro in the Patternmaster series.

I'd go with Joffrey Baratheon. A sadistic, psychopathic bully with no redeeming or 'cool' tendencies. He deserves to die a painful, undignified death.

I think one of the reasons Umbridge worked so well as a villain was she represents the sort of 'villains' we meet in real life all the time - people with power over us that we can't effectively counter. The worst ones smile at us while we're seething with impotent rage and put on that 'I'm being so reasonable' tone while they go about making our lives more miserable.

So for me, I read Umbridge and recognised her. She was Margaret Thatcher - for you she might be another politician, or a traffic warden, or an old teacher, but I'd bet I wasn't the only one who kind of knew her right off the bat =D

Umbridge, hands down. She was the first one that came to mind. I remember reading the scenes in which she tormented Harry and I was so angry I wanted to punch the pages, scream, and cry all at the same time. I think it's because she was a stellar embodiment of the irrational. Think about other villains in the HP world (and other novels as well) -- Voldemort, Malfoy, Bellatrix, etc. They all had motives to hurt the protagonist. There was some rationality behind their actions, at least in their own minds. Umbridge on the other hand had no "reasonable" motive to make Harry's life hell, but did it anyway.

That one was actually my least favorite book in the series because of how angry I was all the time while reading it, but later I realized it was one of the best in terms of how Rowling got us as readers to react on such a purely emotional level. Heck, Umbridge was more villainous to us as readers in terms of our emotional response than the dementors-- and they literally suck the happiness out of people! That's because the dementors lack the traits of reason and empathy, basic human traits that differentiate us from other species. But Umbridge is this totally human character (let's leave the magic out of it for now) who also lacks the ability to reason and empathize and essentially be HUMAN. There's no arguing with her using logic; there's no convincing her of the truth. She's just creating chaos and pain for chaos's and pains' sake akin to the Joker, but with no backstory. She's in such a place of power that there is no one to tell. It's abuse in its rawest form. It's intense.

I think there could be a lot of great stories in the future if more people could aspire to write a villian like Umbridge. I think the best characters in literature are the ones that fill you with passion, whether it's extreme love or extreme hate.

Lhipenwhe said:

I'd go with Joffrey Baratheon. A sadistic, psychopathic bully with no redeeming or 'cool' tendencies. He deserves to die a painful, undignified death.

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Another vote for that little punk.

Another vote for Umbridge. She was the first one I thought of, as well. I've never in my life been so angry while reading a book as I was when Umbridge was on the page. And I've never been quite as pleased when reading a book as when Fred and George crashed her party.

I disagree (to some extent) that she created chaos for the heck of it. I think what really made her so loathsome was that she kept saying this is for your own good and you will like it, like when she made Harry carve into his own hand.

Marquel, from the Second Sons Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon.
She was just so completely without conscience, and she did the most horrific things to people to suit her ends. Reading that, she sounds like a fairly typical villain...maybe she was just well executed for the type?


Never have I so enjoyed hating a character with such passion.

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Umbridge was the first person I thought of. I get that Voldy killed people, but her mannerisms with all of those pink skirts and kittens...it just made my skin crawl. She looked so neat and sweet, but she was really a horrid monster. Her little laugh whenever she would try to make a "point" made me hate her all of the more.

The actress who played her in the films did a phenominal job. I truly hated that character's guts. It's weird because compared to Voldemort and Belletrix, she wasn't that bad. Yet I literally wanted to punch her when I was reading that book.

Also, the mean chick from The Help irritated me to know end. When I watched the film, I was actually close to saying a really foul name out loud. She was horrible and I think the reason I hated her and Umbridge is that you know people like that in the real world.

Belle_91 said:

She was horrible and I think the reason I hated her and Umbridge is that you know people like that in the real world.

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I think this is a big part of it. Another part of it, at least for me, is that she was, in many ways, being protected by the people who were supposed to be the good side. There's a real sense of helplessness and betrayal there.

Also, Umbridge had this weak, pathetic quality I can't recall having seen in any other villain. She wasn't cool, powerful evil like Voldemort or tragic-yet-cool evil like Bellatrix. She was a horrible, weak person who prayed on children while fooling the establishment because she would never have the nerve to actually do something as big as Voldy did. A lot of villains, I sort of respect their power and resourcefulness, even if they're using it for pure evil. Umbridge had none of those qualities.

I don't know. I'd love to dissect what makes her so hated so I could replicate it in one of my own villains.

Umbridge was a villian--and not even a major or terribly bad one--who you hated pretty much off the bat. When she does that first "ahem" in that squeaky voice...When I re-read the books or re-watch the films, I get angry when her scenes come up. I know what's going to happen, yet she still makes me flinch. JK did such a great job writing such strong characters, but she really out does herself with Umbridge. Everyone hates her probably worse then Voldemort. She doesn't kill anyone, but she helps promotes lies with all of the propeganda both at the school and within the ministry. Like Chasing said, she doesn't have much power and is very weak, but she steps on people--including small children--to get what she wants.

One of the scenes where I REALLY just want to smack her is when she's interegating the witch. She truly believes that this poor woman "stole" her wand from Olivander's and wasn't truly a witch even though she had gotten a letter from the school. You can see how deliuted she is in her eyes. Again, hats off to both JK and the actress.

Side note -- before I knew about Snape actually wanting to protect Harry and had this undying love for Lily, he irked me. Not, however, to the extent Umbridge did and still does.

From a young age I've hated The Fleshlumpeater, the Bonecruncher, the Manhugger, the Childchewer, the Meatdripper, the Gizzardgulper, the Maidmasher, the Bloodbottler and the Butcher Boy.

All, of course, from the BFG. And while we're on Roald Dahl: Trunchbull from Matilda.

Even though I read both of those stories when I was really young, my dislike of those villains has endured.

Lhipenwhe said:

I'd go with Joffrey Baratheon. A sadistic, psychopathic bully with no redeeming or 'cool' tendencies. He deserves to die a painful, undignified death.

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Add another name to this one, and Walder Frey too.

angeliz2k said:

I disagree (to some extent) that she created chaos for the heck of it. I think what really made her so loathsome was that she kept saying this is for your own good and you will like it, like when she made Harry carve into his own hand.

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*Shudders* Yeah. I guess she wasn't a total chaos-creator, but she was like the ultimate two-faced bully. Kittens and all on one side, supposedly being on the team of good-guys, but bullying people directly under her small patch of authority. It was frustrating because she was so narrow-minded. Once she was convinced of something (i.e. said punishment is in Harry's best interest), she never let go and...well...her behavior was just so irrational to me I was convinced she should see a therapist to get that personality problem checked out. But hey, that's what makes a great villain right?

This is not a novel, but it bothered me so so so so so much that I'm going to share anyways. The ATF agent on sons of anarchy. I never wanted a person in a story to die so much. I was foaming at the mouth for her death. Ugh. I hated her. And they killed her way to quickly for me.


But in novels, since that's the question, hmmm...I can't think of any villains. I can only think of main characters I hated, haha. But Umbridge was pretty awful.

Reading all of these very, very good points about Umbridge made me realize who she was.

She was a mean girl.



Evil for the sake of being evil. Petty and manipulative, with no real motive or goal. Awesome.

I'll add another vote for Umbridge. Girl makes my skin crawl. If she were real, I'd have no choice but to punch her in the face.

Also, agreeing with Joffrey Baratheon. I hated him in the books, but I think the TV series managed to make him even worse.