My Top 10 Villians

Welcome to this week's My Top 10. Right now we are tackling those guys we love to hate, the villains *cue evil laugh*
Like I said for the protagonists, I have a hard time ranking and it just gives me a headache and a jumble of a list. And so, in no particular order, the villains:

1. Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling

First, did you know that the reason why Voldemort can't love is because he was conceived under the influence of love potion? It's true. And this is one of the reasons why he makes it into my top ten. Rowling gives Voldemort real reason to be evil, delving into his psyche and past. And it's not some lame one-dimensional reason. It's rich and thorough and amazing. His coldness and brutality (and lack of a nose) makes him truly frightening, as well.

2. President Alma Coin, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
So you read Catching Fire and expect District 13 to be a warm fuzzy utopia, right? With plenty of food and love for the rest of Panem? WRONG. Enter in President Coin. You're suspicious of her at first, you don't know whether or not to trust her, but hey, she's taking down Snow, right? Yeah, sure, while also willing to do things that are just pure evil and yet some may debate that they weren't. For the gray area which surrounds Coin, I present her into my top ten. Because in real life, pure evil is rare. And Coin isn't pure evil, but that doesn't make her to be a weak villain. In fact, it makes her stronger.

3. Vaughn Ashby, Wither by Lauren Destefano
Keeping dead bodies in your basement? Forcing three girls to marry your son? Using babies as experiments? Yeah, this guy definitely makes it into the top ten. His ideals and what he does, the threats he uses to get these girls to do what he says makes for a sickening, although realistic, villain.

4. Iago, Othello by William Shakespeare

Oh, Iago. This deluded and crazed man is an absolute terror! How devote he is to ending Othello and everyone who he believes did him wrong makes for an amazing drama as it unfolds, his layers are overwhelming. His brilliance and his determination make him the most fascinating character in the entire play.

5. Valentine, The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
Now, for this series overall, I'm lukewarm about. But Valentine is an excellent villain because he skews what is wrong into good, and even at times I questioned whether he was really the bad guy. In the end, doesn't that make him a scary good villain?

6. The White Witch, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Anyone who dumps snow on me and takes away Christmas is just plain mean. Her manipulations and cold-heart as well as her persistence to stay queen lands the White Witch on my list.

7. President Snow, The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
I tried to avoid having another villain from the same series again, but I couldn't leave Snow out of here. The man who began the Hunger Games, I mean really, how can he not make my list? I find the most chilling part about his character is how honest he is, how he lets Katniss know right away she's being watched. And oh my gosh, what he did to the victors? He's awful. But the fact that he wasn't so evil as to be "wasteful" as he put it, again makes him realistic.

8. Capricorn, Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

 Gah Capricorn! He burns books! That in and of itself is evil! He scared me so much in middle school when I first read this book, how just plain determined he was to take over our world, how fascinated he was by our weapons. Evil, evil.

9. Nellie Olsen, The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I almost feel silly putting her down, but not all villains are out to murder people or take over the world. Nellie is the type of villain you see every day. She's selfish and stuck-up, and she tries to steal people's beaus. And she takes their candy and teases them. I absolutely detested Nellie.

10. Hattie, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
More like Nellie than Voldemort, but still so awful. She's stupid, but not quite as much as you'd think, and she manipulates Ella for her own gain. She's selfish and horrible, attempting for nothing more than her own desires.

Villains. Without them, the story would be a snore. They're as diverse as our protagonists, but I find there to be one serious difference: their flaws outweigh their virtues, whereas the opposite is true for the protagonist.

Who are some of your top villains? What is it about them that makes them so evil to you?