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Every so often I come across a villain who is so sympathetic, personable, or just plain interesting that I can’t help but to hope they’ll win whatever conflict they’re having with the main character or characters.
1. Dracula from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Vampires are supposed to be alluring creatures who don’t show you their terrifyingly dark side until it’s too late to escape their clutches. In my opinion, this monster work best when both of these parts of their personalties are played up as much as possible for the audience. The beautiful thing about this book is just how well it did exactly that. I simultaneously wanted to run screaming from Dracula while at the same time feeling irresistibly drawn to him.
2. Carrie from Steven King’s Carrie.
Carrie’s backstory was so detailed and heartbreaking that I understood why she became so dangerous later on in the plot. Growing up in an abusive home and being relentlessly bullied at school made her feel completely out of control, and that can lead someone to do pretty extreme things to change that.
Honestly, I kept hoping that a friendly adult who had similar powers would notice how badly she was struggling and offer some kind of help for her.
3. Johnny from S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders.
I never would have thought I’d have so much empathy for a gang member who killed someone, but this story changed my mind about that. There are reasons why some people make the decisions they do. Johnny’s childhood had made it very difficult for him to handle conflict or strong emotions in a healthy way.
No, I obviously didn’t want him to kill anyone, but I did keep hoping that he’d find a way to escape his rival gang long enough to get some help and make better choices in the future. Given the way the plot was written, the only way for this to happen would be if he got away with murder.
4. Kingpin (aka Wilson Fisk) from the Daredevil graphic novels (various authors).
If you haven’t already noticed a certain pattern in today’s post, you will now.
Just like with Carrie and Johnny, Kingpin’s childhood was anything but a happy one. He grew up watching his father physically and emotionally abuse his mother. It only grew more severe over time since this character was raised in a community that looked the other way when it came to these sorts of things.
Kingpin grew up to be a powerful crime boss who regularly had run-ins with Daredevil and the law in general. His personality was so friendly, at least to those who didn’t cross him, that it was easy to forget how many laws he’d broken. He also used his ill-gotten wealth and power to take care of people in his community who had no one else to turn to.
Despite all of my misgivings, I can’t help but to keep rooting for Kingpin.
5. The monster from Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls.
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The first time I read this story, I was quite annoyed with the monster for refusing to help Conor the first time he asked. Conor’s mom was severely ill, and all the boy wanted was for her to be well again. He had completely unselfish, pure motives for wanting a magical fix to her health problems.
It took me some time to see the world from the monster’s point of view. Without giving away spoilers, I couldn’t help but to change my mind about him once I figured out why he was acting like an antagonist.
6. Dexter from Jeff Lindsay’s Darkly Dreaming Dexter.
A small percentage of people are born with the desire to harm and even kill others. What I liked the most about Dexter was how he harnessed his uncontrollable urge to be a serial killer to oddly do a lot of good in the world. (Now that is a sentence I never thought I’d write!)
7. Elphaba from Gregory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
This retelling of The Wizard of Oz explained why Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, did all of the things she did to Dorothy and other characters. I loved this universe even more after getting to know its biggest villain so well.
8. Lucifer from Glen Duncan’s I, Lucifer.
After stealing a human body and living among us, the devil learned a few things about humanity that truly surprised him. This was such an unusual premise that I really didn’t know what to think of it at first, but I did love seeing ordinary human customs through the eyes of someone who was bewildered by some of them. There were so many funny moments that I couldn’t help but to hope this character would have a happy ending.
9. V from Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta.
I struggled a little bit with whether or not to include V today because of the truly terrible things he did. In no way am I trying to excuse him or anyone else in this list, but I did love the way he reframed what the relationship between an individual and their government should be like and how people should respond when their rights begin to be stripped away.
10. Guy Montag from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
Imagine being paid to hunt down books and burn them! I wanted to hate Guy for all of the knowledge and stories he’d purposefully destroyed, but I only grew to like him the more I got to know him.
Based on his limited and twisted knowledge of how books were used, it made perfect sense for him to want to destroy all of them. If the only thing I ever heard about this topic was all of the destructive things that have happened as a result of people being exposed to knowledge, I’d feel the same way.
The plot made it seem as though the only way for this character to survive in such an oppressive society was for him to keep destroying books. Therefore, I had to root for him. There was really no other option that I could see.
Which villains have you rooted for in the past?
I definitely like Kingpin better in the comics/ graphic novels than on the Daredevil Netflix show. Not that he’s not played well, but the comic version seems more sympathetic to me in many ways.
And ooh Johnny from the Outsiders!
I’ve actually never read any Daredevil graphic novels. I only know Kingpin through the Netflix series, but now I want to check out the source material as well. 🙂
Those awful people drove Carrie to the edge. It was horrible what they did to her.
Yes, absolutely.
I love your list!
And that’s an interesting take on Guy Montag. I never really saw him as the villain but more as a brainwashed coward who broke free and made the right choice in the end. I loved Chief Beatty as the villain. He had a great backstory that expalined why he hated books and he was so smart.
Here’s our Top Ten Tuesday: https://dinaratengri.com/2018/10/its-good-to-be-bad-ten-best-bad-guys-on-tv/
Yes, Chief Beatty was a great villain. I think I was so horrified by the thought of burning and destroying books that Guy was solidified in my mind as a terrible human being immediately. Ha!
This list has a lot of variety! Definitely agree with you about Carrie, who can help feeling sorry for her? (Although I don’t think it was King’s best.) I love A Monster Calls. Wicked was a really interesting read although I’m still not sure whether I like it or not…but the world was really fascinating!
Thank you!
What is your favorite King book? I haven’t been keeping up with his work so well over the past decade, but I’ve read nearly all of his earlier stuff.
What a fascinating list! I love your little insights about each of the characters. And V is such a relevant character in the present context! I’m glad you included him. ?
Thank you very much for your kind words. Yes, V is a very relevant character at the moment.
Dracula in real life was one of those characters where you don’t know whether he was a bad guy or not. The history behind the guy is amazing.
I think the villain I root for the most is Adelina Amouteru. I’m in the middle of a fanfic about it, I felt so strongly about the subject (it’s around 265 pages at the moment).
Yes, absolutely. His backstory was fabulous.
I hadn’t heard of Adelina Amouteru before. What did you like most about her?
Great choices! I absolutely loved the way Wicked give us a whole new perspective on Elphaba, I kind of can’t watch The Wizard of Oz without thinking of her that way now. I have to admit though, I prefer the musical to the book.
What was it about the musical that made you prefer that version? I must admit that I haven’t seen it. Someday I’d like to, though.
Oh hey, always cool to see Marvel characters show up on these lists–brings me back to my high school days, when I was super into X-Men.
Thank you! So glad you liked that section. Which X-Men character did you like the most?
This is a bit more esoteric, but probably Sage from her run on X-treme X-Men.
Cool!
I will probably never get over what happened to Johnny in The Outsiders. I found myself kind of loving Dally as well.
I know, right? It was such a hard thing to read.
Dally was an interesting character as well.
I haven’t read any of these books (although many are on my TBR) but I love rooting for a great villain!
I’m glad I’m not alone there. Who is your favorite villain?
Number one on my list is the Night King (from Game of Thrones) simply because he’s so terrifying! But for her complexity and ruthlessness, I really like Mrs Coulter!
I definitely think Dexter came off more sympathetic in the TV show than he did in the book. Maybe because we’re not IN HIS HEAD as much and are just going by what we see, which is him killing people that were bad. Great list!! It’s hard for me to root for villains, but there are a few exceptions for sure!
Thank you. I totally agree with your thoughts on book vs. TV Dexter, too.
Ooooh Carrie is a really good choice! I really love both the book and movie adaptations. Great list!
Thank you very much.
I just finished reading A Monster Calls recently! I think it would be really interesting to read it again in a few years with a new perspective.
Oh, I’d highly recommend doing that. It gets better with every reread.
Kingpin is an excellent addition — I only know the TV version of the character, and he is mesmerising, I’d forgotten about I.Lucifer! You’ve reminded me I need to add this to my TBR!
It’s so nice to meet another fan of Kingpin. I hope you enjoy I, Lucifer!
I totally get what you mean about Carrie. Wonderful review.
I meant list. Sorry! I’ve got a bit of a fever x
It’s okay. I understood what you were trying to say. Hope you feel better soon.
Carrie and Johnny are great choices. I like characters who get stuck in a bad situation that just keeps getting worse. I always want them to get out and make their lives better.
Yes, exactly! Thank you for your kind words.
I feel as if I’ve heard generally good things about “A Monster Calls,” but haven’t read it. I’d say it seems like an ideal book/character for today’s list though! 🙂
Thanks so much for the Finding Wonderland visit – as always.
You’re quite welcome. Based on what I’ve noticed about your reading habits, I think you might really like A Monster Calls.
This list is a lot different from others I have seen, which is a great thing! I have never read the original Dracula, but now I want to! I only know what popular culture says about him, which I guess doesn’t do his story justice.
One villain I always root for is the monster in Frankenstein. There are so many more nuances in the original book than in any of the movies. The story really questions who the real monster is.
Thank you. What a nice compliment.
Since you’re a fan of Frankenstein, I think you’d really like reading the book version of Dracula. Just like Frankenstein, there were a lot of nuances in it that almost never end up in the film version. I suspect you’d enjoy seeing all of that quite a bit.
I couldn’t help but be hooked on Dracula too. Great choices!
Thank you.
Yes I rooted for the monster of a monster calls too. He wasn’t a real villain. 🙂
Yes, exactly!
LOL the Dexter comment. Definitely not a thing you’d expect to say too often. Heh