Top Ten Tuesday, #5

It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday. It’s hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Do visit this fun blog and read all the other lists. It’s a lot of fun and you’ll be sure to add books to your TBR pile. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is: top ten favorite/most compelling villains in books, top ten of the most vile villains/bad guys in books, top ten villains I secretly (or not so secretly) love, favorite TV villains, favorite comic book villains, ten “villains” of contemporary lit. Beware! This is NOT a spoiler free zone! Spoilers are everywhere!

1. Madame Therese DeFarge from A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. Can you argue that a woman who is a bloodthirsty revolutionary who knits the names of the victims of the guillotine into an item of clothing is not a villain?
2. Miss Havisham from Great Expectations by Dickens. She is truly awful. Her goal of raising Estella to be a “man eater” in order to get revenge on the world is awful. And her use of Pip to train Estella is cruel. She is deliberately cruel to two innocents in such a cold, calculating way.
3. Snape from Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling. This one is controversial, but he is presented as a villain until almost the end of the series. So, for our heroes, he is a villain. Now, after reading the final novel, we can go back and see all of his actions in a different light, but the first time through he is one of the baddies.
4. Amy from Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Amy is evil. She will burn everything done in order to win. That is all I’m gonna say about that!
5. Black Jack Randall from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Both the books and the TV series. The actor on the show brings this awful, horrible character to life, and it is horrifying. I’ll be glad not to see him when series three begins!
6. Bluebeard from a French fairytale by Charles Perrault. This one intrigued and frightened me from a young age. He is such an interesting character. He reminds me in many ways of The Beast in Beauty and the Beast except Blue Beard is much more dangerous.
7. Satan from Inferno by Dante. I read this in college years ago and the vision of Satan trapped in ice, weeping as he chomps down on sinners is, well, amazing. He isn’t the gleeful  demon of cartoons or even of Sunday school, but someone who is suffering and is causing suffering. It’s a fascinating depiction.
8. Satan from Paradise Lost by John Milton. This Satan is seductive and interesting and more compelling a character than anyone else in Paradise Lost. I think Milton did more for Satan in this story than he intended!
9. Captain Hook from Peter Pan both the Disney animated version and the 2003 live action version starring Jason Isaacs as George Darling and Captain Hook. I’ve always been fascinated by this depiction of a pirate. The swashbuckling, the knee high boots, the swishy coats! It’s just so appealing. To many pirate themed romance novels in my youth, I’m afraid. Captain Hook in the Disney version looks like romantic pirate, but is a bumbling fool of a pirate that is punished much to my childish glee. But Jason Isaacs’ performance is hot. Really hot. And I want him to defeat Peter and sweep me off my feet to live with him forever in Neverland. Isaacs wears that Reformation style clothing well. And he is seductive much like Satan in Paradise Lost.
10. Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights  by Emily Bronte. He is a villian. He and Catherine have a passionate love for each other, but it wrecks havoc on everyone within their reach. After Catherine’s death, Heathcliff doubles down and torments his own child and Catherine’s child. He destroys everything he touches. One of these days I’m writing a post explaining why Wuthering Heights is a cautionary tale for women, not a romantic love story. I think Emily wanted to warn us all to run away from dudes like Heathcliff!
11. Bonus villain since I just finished this book last week and I feel the need to put this out there. All the characters in The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Everyone in this book are just awful, horrible people. There is just no one to root for, much less like in this one.

So what do you think of my list? Do you agree with it or do you think some should be removed? Make your case in the comment below!