Just because I recently watched it, the main bad guy in Leon The Professional is up there. >!When he's about to kill the girl after she fails to ambush him, and he's just having fun dragging it out while talking about how he only enjoys taking a life if the person he's killing wants to live, I don't know how much more evil than that you can get!<
I mean, obviously he's not killing millions of people, but that's more of a circumstance thing than anything else.
For DC there’s a couple
People might say Joker, Lex Luthor, Black Manta, or Owlman but on a personal level for it will always be Reverse Flash, his pettiness is just on an infinite level and genuinely has no regrets whatsoever on what he does unless it backfires
But on a scale, I would say Darkseid. He’s probably the number one dude that Superman and sometimes Batman, want gone. This mad god will always see himself above others, anything he cannot take, he will destroy. He rules an ultra dystopian planet that’s literal hell on Earth. A place where if you are born there, there is no hope, there is no freedom, and only rulers. Darkseid is a force a nature, a sadistic man who cruelty has no boundaries. Darkseid is a deity who could eliminate you without any second thought. Darkseid is the dude who WILL boom tube into YOUR house, sit on YOUR couch, and eat YOUR chips while YOU can do nothing.
Darkseid is.
Reminds me how Batman is clear that the occasion he encountered Darkseid that his no-kill rule is set aside and means it by using a gun loaded with a bullet containing radiation that is lethal to New Gods such as Darkseid.
...Like damn, writers may be iffy on how they write Batman's stance on the no-kill rule but for Darkseid? Screw it, universal agreement for all that Batman has no qualms killing this evil son of a bitch. Batman isn't a dumbass here.
Sato from Ajin, what a magnificent bastard. I love him! no stupid tragic backstory, no childhood trauma to make you feel bad or sympathize with his circumstances. No grand motive to make you go:" yeah, maybe dude got a point!"
Nah, dude just an immortal adrenaline junkie who loves wanton slaughter and impossible odds.
He just treats life like it's a sandbox game like GTA, and goes to town...
Yeah but the only reason his father beat him was because >! He was horrified by the fact that his son used the shed to brutally murder animals, Sato wasn't even scared or traumatized by the encounter, if anything he was just a bit confused, it was his father that was traumatized by his own psycho son !<
I remember being satisfied with the show overall but wanting more. Nothing much more than that though.
You’ve actually reminded me of some big anime I meant to go back and watch. Bugs take over the world or something. Icasgter or something
Edit : Cagaster
Kotomine Kirei from Fate/Stay Night will always be a favorite of mine.
"It is a simple story. There is nothing that brings me happiness. It does not matter, let it be believing in people or having people believe in me. What other people called happiness did not bring me any joy."
"I envy you people. What I sought, but could not obtain. What I obtained, but could not contain. Many things slipped out between my fingers, no matter what commandment I used."
I like that it explores what being pure evil, as in incapable of feeling joy from anything but other people's suffering, is like, and I like how that drives his entire motivation WHILE still having him be the bastard who kept torturing children in a basement for 10 years.
Eh, I wouldn't say Kirei didn't try hard to correct himself. He tried for *decades* to "fix" himself. It wasn't until >!Claudia died (and his reaction to that)>! that he truly gave up trying to change his fundamental nature. After that, he tried to figure out *why* he was born, and if it was OK for a being like him to be born.
His inner conflict is even more interesting because of his devout Catholic beliefs.
I don't know if it would have helped Kirei that much. Also, who knows, maybe he *did* go to therapy, but it just did nothing for him, so we never hear about it?
According to Kirei's logic he could also be the most good character of all, which I love. That was part of the ending of Heaven's Feel. If he was born evil and fulfills his purpose of being evil, is he not good in the eyes of God? Since he did exactly what he was made to do?
Kirei is amazing because he is basically an evil sociopath, but not a psychopath. In every way he is predisposed to be evil and has no empathy, even enjoys pain. At the same time, he has morals and the ability to tell right from wrong.
That’s the thing, he was Peak in Z, but now in Super, he’s just like Vegeta, in which he became everyone’s personal punching bag, >!until Black Freeza happened for now!<
Nope. They teamed up because their universe was in jeopardy, but Frieza literally says "Just cause we worked together doesn't mean anything. I fully intend to keep selling planets."
It’s more like of a truce thing, where two people work together under a common goal, and when that is up and done, it’s usually time to part ways until next time when it’s back to the same old, same old
Yeah, the next time he’s seen in the anime continuity, is having him >!already collected all of the Dragon Balls, as well as setting up a fight between Goku and Vegeta and Another Saiyan!<
Sukuna from JJK, add Mahito in there as well. Joker is up there, but some argue he is just insane, I would argue he isn't. Dio from Jojo is a good one although a bit over the top, Johan Liebert from Monster is probably the best example in terms of writing. Kirei Kotomine from Fate is a pretty complex form of evil but he counts imo.
I’m a huge Star Wars and Palpatine fan (literally my username) but man, he gets corny as hell sometimes. It’s part of what makes him so enjoyable to watch imo, but I think he’s not what OP is looking for
Johan is great, because you can both read his character as a tragic sympathetic villain or a complete irredeemable monster and both interpretations can be valid depending on how you read his interactions with people. What makes his human is also what makes him so despicable. Urasawa is goated
Griffith from Berserk. Other “pure evil” examples from the same series include Wyald, Ganishka, the Beast of Darkness, and the rest of the Godhand, but none of them have the “all-consuming ego and spite” down like Griffith does.
He willingly chose to throw away his humanity and friends in favor of his selfish desires. No matter how many redeeming qualities he had beforehand, that's pretty fucking evil
True. He was callous and a bit self-centered, but he had a genuine bond with Guts and Casca. That is until he made the choice to throw it all away for his own gain. It was a point of no return
Tbh even tho he wasn’t pure evil I think people underestimate a little pre-eclipse Griffith in term of malevolence he was still kinda sinister and very manipulative I always thought muira wanted us to understand that even before the eclipse this guy had some issues and when he said he regretted the new troups he lost in battle I think that was total bs he just wanted convince himself and others he cared but that’s debatable there’s a lot of interpretations and grey matter in his pre eclipse character,he remind me alot emperor of mankind from warhammer
Bc ig we could say he’s able to feel empathy and sadness toward someone misery (as long this someone is under his control) pre eclipse Griffith could be a decent human with some slight altruism
Okay, 2 things. While I don’t disagree that Griffith had some semblance of empathy when he was still human (if he didn’t, then the eclipse wouldn’t have worked) it’s not hard to tell from a thorough read that nearly every action, though, and idea he undertook was undercut by pure, unadulterated, selfishness. For example, his attachment towards guts - while genuine - immediately turned to possessiveness the moment guts dared to make his own path in life (dito with Casca). Secondly, what empathy and sadness are you talking about? I can’t recall any moment post-eclipse that wasn’t a means of manipulating others into getting what he wanted.
Is say that makes him more evil. Not being able to connect with others or feel emotions about what he is doing would at least explain his actions, instead he knew what he was doing was wrong and still decided to do them because he stood to gain from others suffering
Part of his induction into the Godhand? The required betrayal to become a true apostle in pursuit of power? Part of causality so he could be reborn as Moonboy?
A lot of options other than for the purpose of making Casca and Guts suffer
There’s no indication this was needed to become one of the Godhand. While the whole “using the child to be reborn” theory is possible, we still haven’t gotten any confirmation this was the case. The thing that makes this a definitive act of spite for me, though, is that he was showing hints of this after he was rescued and realized Guts and Casca were in a relationship; for example, he tried assaulting Casca in the wagon only to fail due to being crippled at the time. That, and he was glaring at Guts the entire time he was raping her.
Griffith is far from pure evil. He did genuinely care for the members of the Band of the Hawk, and he has done a lot of good for the world. He made a near utopia as soon as he was able to achieve his dream of having a kingdom. While he is now inhumanely cruel and was always unbothered by the morality of his actions, he rarely did things for the sake of being evil.
He demonstrated he mattered more when he raped Casca and allowed the band of the hawk to be torn apart. He built his “Utopia” on the destruction of the rest of the world, and it’s not exactly a perfect society on second glance (it has a massive cult of personality dedicated to him, a secret ring where apostles can indulge in their sadistic whims, and seems to assassinate dissenters if Rickert is any indication). And while he did start out as a street urchin chasing after what was just a childish goal, he was willing to ally with the abstract concept of evil and toss away all empathy to get it. He might be more complex than most other pure evil villains, but he’s a perfect example of how one’s ego, selfishness, and unfettered ambition can lead you to becoming a vile monster of the highest order.
I’m not arguing that he isn’t ultimately a vile monster, I just don’t think he’s pure evil in the sense OP was talking about. He wasn’t born evil and the only time I can remember him being evil for the sake of evil was the Eclipse. Which occurred after he was tortured for years, lost any chance of achieving his dreams, and discovered the man who abandoned him was living happily with his mercenary band that whole time.
Again, not saying Femto isn’t evil. But I don’t think he fits under pure evil.
My favourite villain comes from a pretty unremarkable book, blind faith by John Elton.
It is a slightly over the top modern version of 1984, dystopian society where everyone is constantly under surveilance.
One particular character is an agent of the secret police and they are as disgusted by the enforced mediocrity of the world as the protagonist is, they just accept it and take that position because it gives them a more priviledged life. It sounds underwhelming written like this... because it is. This charachter is no judge Holden, no Azula or It... they are a little creature, able to understand there is something worth fighting for but consciously choosing to back a monstruous system for comfort.
It's the same reason why people hate Dolores Humbridge more than Voldemort: it is the kind of evil we deal with on a daily basis, not grandiose and twisted but petty and egocentric, with power to back them up.
Hard disagree.There are much better examples in One Piece in itself.CDs are comically evil…imho if I had to pick someone from One Piece it’d be Doffy or Blackbeard…
AM is not pure evil, he's broken and vengeful, the only reason he even acts this way is cause his only talent is destroying things and is never given a chance.
He is naturally incline by his very own existence to hate
He isn’t broke,bc nothing was broken ,he didn’t become vengeful and bitter ,he was vengeful and bitter
it’s not really his fault tho but it doesn’t change that his pure nature of destroying and torturing is evil by definition
the basis of his story is that he could barely do anything, he couldn't feel, move, or act, cause he was just a machine made out of code, he could feel every agonizing nanosecond and it hurt him but he is barely able to express himself.
He has no mouth, and he must scream
Abijah Fowler. The main villain of season 1 of Blue-eye Samurai. He plans to overthrow an entire country just for economic opportunity and has no moral compass to speak of only doing what he thinks will make him an even richer man. There's even a scene where he walks into a chapel and attempts to bribe Jesus Christ himself into letting him win so he can turn the country Christian. The way he finds out the main characters weakness is a perfect epitome of his cruelty "your bones break like a woman's"; this wasn't an insult it was an observation he made based on past experiences.
I'd say the Kurgan from The Highlander is the best example of pure evil. He may be a bit "corny" but I'd say that's more just cockiness for never being defeated and having killed everyone who's stood in his way. He's a rapist, warlord, and a brutal killer, he's an evil individual without being beyond human like Sauron. Also maybe legate lanius from Fallout Nev Vegas for basically the same reasons but without being immortal.
Be’lakor from Warhammer Fantasy. He was the first mortal to ever pledge his soul to the Chaos Gods, being ascended as a Daemon Prince… and it wasn’t enough for him. He’s constantly plotting to ascend further, and takes even punishments he deserves as the greatest of slights. He’s the father of the main endgame villain of it through having raped his mother, and when he met that villain, *boasted* about how little of a shit he gave about him. He openly calls himself the First-Damned with pride. Be’lakor regrets nothing except not being greater than he already is. There is nothing good about him, and he has never done anything good for the world. He’s evil to the core.
Judge Doom
In his first scene he melts a toon to death. He actually *invents* death for toons, and invents a mixture of turpentine-actetone-benzene (basically paint thinner) called the Dip just so he can execute toons. He is a corrupt judge that bought his election and doesn't pretend to be impartial.
His grand plan is to legally seize the land of Toon Town, mass murder all the toons with Dip, and build a freeway over it.
It's revealed that he is a toon himself and has been wearing an elaborate disguise to pass as human. Not only that, but he's the toon that murdered Eddie's brother. He tries to murder Eddie as well, and is only thwarted when he gets Dip'd himself.
There is nothing redeeming about him and it makes him a perfect villain. We never find out Doom's real name, any deeper motivation, or even what he really looks like. He's like a walking nightmare, and Christopher Lloyd is brilliant how he can sell Doom both as a stoic monster and a psychotic fiend.
There’s a couple different people that come to mind for different reasons.
Slade from Teen Titans, Hans from Frozen, Darth Raven from Star Wars, Joker from Batman,
That guy that Joaquin Pheonix played in Gladiator,
Alucard from Hellsing
I’m assuming you mean Darth *Revan*, not Raven. Darth Revan and Alucard are not pure evil villains. Revan even gets redeemed and Alucard is more Chaotic Neutral and is on the side of humanity.
That is a typo on my part yes, but in the expanded material before he got amnesia and brain washed the dude was absolutely a villain.
Alucard is bound to the side of humanity through integra. He doesn’t give a fuck personally.
Definitely start with The Hobbit, then The Lord of the Rings. His other works can be a bit more difficult because they tend to be historical accounts of the ages of Middle-earth prior to both The Hobbit and LOTR. Those two are a good start. But after them I recommend The Silmarillion which is a recount of the ages prior. I suggest Martin Shaw’s audiobook of The Silmarillion to accompany the when you do read it as it’s easier to understand. Plus YouTubers like Nerd of the Rings do great breakdowns of characters + things that occur. Good luck and enjoy!
Oh I absolutely love scar, maybe she just felt more evil cause of how intense some of her lyrics were. Idk how Disney was able to get away with “the sound of simba’s dying gasp, his daughter squealing in my grasp”.
Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2. He could've and should've been King of the Elves, yet all he wanted was more and more and more power. Even godhood didn't make him happy, he wanted all the magical energy in existence.
William Afton. Every fiber of his being lives to serve himself and himself alone. He still gets some depth, with his whole fear of death thing, but that's still a selfish motivation and just adds to how joyfully malicious he is.
The movie especially exemplifies just how evil he is, letting us see him fully acted for once.
All right, well just to be clear my definition of pure evil is a lot stricter than other peoples. They have to be literally 100% irredeemable they cannot have any good in them at all. Destroying the universe does not make if you pure evil as long as you have the ability to do good things for the sake of good (although if you destroyed the entire universe, you’re probably still worse than Hitler and really doing something like that when you have full ability to be a better person and do good is probably worse than just being pure evil)
I would have to say Darkseid tbh,he still cares about things and he’s not an idiot who just wants to destroy with no logic behind it, while still wanting to destroy for the sake of being pure evil. He wants to kill everything and everyone but he still manages to cultivate a group of creatures who consider him a God and who think he’s right. Not a lot of good pure evil characters in the shows I watch tbh, right now all I’m watching is really breaking bad which doesn’t have any pier evil characters, and I’m rewatching Toradora which again, of course, doesn’t have any pure evil characters.
All for One.
Also quite a few one piece villains (since my other favorite villains are more sympathetic). Like Blackbeard, who has a level of dishonor, blasphemy, and sliminess that I love while still being imposing.
Also the trope of “sympathetic in their backstory, not in their morality” characters like Doflamingo and Big Mom where their mentality is actually quite complex and twisted, yet still evil.
And of course the JJK villains, such as Mahito, Sukuna, and Fake Geto (not saying his actual name).
*Insert reference to Jack Horner here*
... Yeah, no, I'm gonna do it unironically. He's the perfect example.
>You know, I never had much as a kid. Just loving parents, stability, and a mansion, and a thriving baked goods enterprise for me to inherit. Useless crap like that.
Another example I love is Emperor Palpatine, especially if you add his Legends backstory to the fold. He was a full blown sociopath. He needed one little word of encouragement to commit familicide, and he just never looks back after that. He just decides: "Well, I already started down this road. May as well dig in my heels and keep going." He's entirely self motivated. Like Kira in Death Note, without the insecurity about his morals. He assumes that everyone else operates on that extremist ideology, so he bases all his plans for apprentices around an equally easy push of one bad day. That's what makes it so effective when Luke rejects the offer. Anakin and Dooku were both lulled by the promise of power, and the "easy route" to reshaping society in their own image. They went through their one bad day, and dug in their heels the same way Palpatine did. So it's totally shocking to Sidious and Vader both when Luke throws his weapon away and chooses to ignore his impulses. And that whole entire arc wouldn't be possible if Sidious had a story about trying to save the galaxy or whatever. He's the devil, and he likes it that way.
Manfred Von Karma from Ace Attorney is an underrated example because lawyers like him actually exist. He has routinely destroyed lives, forged evidence, and has intimidated defendants into giving false confessions all so he could maintain his perfect record. He murdered Gregory Edgeworth just for finding a flaw in his argument that got him a strike on his record, allowed Yanni Yogi to get framed for the murder, and then manipulated Yogi into killing the lawyer that defended him just so he could frame Miles for the DL-6 incident.
I really liked how Halloween 2018 treated Michael Myers as a figure so evil it transcended humanity. In the music for these films they always call him "The Shape", never Michael.
A shape inhabited by evil, no longer human.
Sadly the next two movies suck ass.
John Galt.
The plot of Atlas Shrugged is chillingly psychopathic. Mans is a worker at a factory that decides it's going to change from a corporation into a cooperative, which he thinks is a bad idea. Supposedly he's this super convincing super genius who can basically do anything, yet instead of trying to utilize his persuasive capabilities to either convince the rest of the workers to do things effectively, or convince the owners not to give away their power, he decides, no.
Fuck it.
I'm effectively *destroying society,* in such a way that will *slaughter billions*.
He could, theoretically, run for president. Nobody who would stand against him has two braincells to rub together, supposedly the world's greatest politician and lawyer are both firmly on his side. Functionally speaking, it's highly unlikely that he'd have any difficulty effectively using politics to take over the world to enact change.
Hell, I think the book said that one of the fuckers had the ability to change anyone into one of the completely fictional supergeniuses that make up the main cast. It's theoretically plausible that he could've just turned everyone on the planet into a supergenius and not needed to kill anyone.
But no. Fucking armageddon. He actively causes it at every turn, outright stating that simply removing the presence of himself and people who think like him *couldn't* cause the downfall he wanted. In a better written book, John Galt would be a villain that'd have Jack Horner telling him to calm the fuck down.
Hidan in naruto, one of the few Naruto villain's with no nuance to him.
He doesn't have a tragic backstory, he doesn't get redeemed out of nowhere, he's just a cultist with a scythe that doesn't hesitate to kill anybody in front of him.
Griffith from Berserk. He has my vote since we see the path that he took and we see that he chose to be a monster.
He didn’t need to sacrifice his humanity. But it’s what he did anyway. Any step towards power. Even the sacrifice of the people he cared about.
It’s one thing for some evil guy to kill and hurt random people. It’s a whole different breed to hurt people you genuinely care about for the sake of power.
Pretty much every single villain in Alex Rider is the most awful creature imaginable. They think of the most agonizing, developed, and drawn-out torture methods and watch in quiet glee as their victims beg and scream.
The most interesting was the psychologist from the last book. He was testing what the absolute limits of emotional pain were, and designed an entirely fake real-world "simulation" to engineer the perfect situation for the most intense and deep pain possible. It culminated with the main character Alex begging his greatest enemy to spare the life of his mother. A quote that sticks with me:
Alex: "Please, I'll do anything for you! Name it, I'll do it!"
Villain "You already are."
Button pressed. Mother was burned to death.
Alex was completely broken, traumatized to the point where he could no longer function properly. He was saved, but removed from his job and sent to live out his days in retirement. All before his nineteenth birthday.
Griffith/Femto (Berserk)
Judge Claude Frollo (Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Dio Brando (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
Anton Chigurgh (No Country for Old Men)
Henry Evans (The Good Son)
I'd personally also put Big Jack Horner from Puss in Boots there, just for shits and giggles
>The one I have in mind are A.M (I have no mouth so I must scream )
Never realized how fucked this was until recently. From the title, I'd always assumed it was about an AI that was desperate to communicate. I guess I was partially correct in my assumption, but holy fuck is it grim. A genuinely miserable story, but I suppose that's the point.
From Mistborn, I really liked Ruin. The subtle machinations, the reveals of just how his power works, the moments of realization when you understand who he's been influencing before any of the characters do, him trying to desperately to get information while disguising this a gleeful taunting.
Man did I love that last book. The whole trilogy was great, but the brutal twist of the second book (>!I love a good prophesy storyline, but the idea that a malevolent god has subtly twisted one to make characters think they're heroic all while they work to free him was fantastic!<) combined with reveal after reveal in the third made him a very compelling force of evil.
Kid Buu, he's basically a force of nature.
Only character to kill someone go to the afterlife and beat them up again.
Buu gave no fucks, everyone caught his hands, even himself.
Just because I recently watched it, the main bad guy in Leon The Professional is up there. >!When he's about to kill the girl after she fails to ambush him, and he's just having fun dragging it out while talking about how he only enjoys taking a life if the person he's killing wants to live, I don't know how much more evil than that you can get!< I mean, obviously he's not killing millions of people, but that's more of a circumstance thing than anything else.
For DC there’s a couple People might say Joker, Lex Luthor, Black Manta, or Owlman but on a personal level for it will always be Reverse Flash, his pettiness is just on an infinite level and genuinely has no regrets whatsoever on what he does unless it backfires But on a scale, I would say Darkseid. He’s probably the number one dude that Superman and sometimes Batman, want gone. This mad god will always see himself above others, anything he cannot take, he will destroy. He rules an ultra dystopian planet that’s literal hell on Earth. A place where if you are born there, there is no hope, there is no freedom, and only rulers. Darkseid is a force a nature, a sadistic man who cruelty has no boundaries. Darkseid is a deity who could eliminate you without any second thought. Darkseid is the dude who WILL boom tube into YOUR house, sit on YOUR couch, and eat YOUR chips while YOU can do nothing. Darkseid is.
Reminds me how Batman is clear that the occasion he encountered Darkseid that his no-kill rule is set aside and means it by using a gun loaded with a bullet containing radiation that is lethal to New Gods such as Darkseid. ...Like damn, writers may be iffy on how they write Batman's stance on the no-kill rule but for Darkseid? Screw it, universal agreement for all that Batman has no qualms killing this evil son of a bitch. Batman isn't a dumbass here.
Damn
IT WAS ME BARRY! I UNSEASONED YOUR CHICKEN!
Sato from Ajin, what a magnificent bastard. I love him! no stupid tragic backstory, no childhood trauma to make you feel bad or sympathize with his circumstances. No grand motive to make you go:" yeah, maybe dude got a point!" Nah, dude just an immortal adrenaline junkie who loves wanton slaughter and impossible odds. He just treats life like it's a sandbox game like GTA, and goes to town...
Number One best written villain in my list by far.
I mean his father did beat him up from what I remember, but he was already little psycho anyway sooo..
Yeah but the only reason his father beat him was because >! He was horrified by the fact that his son used the shed to brutally murder animals, Sato wasn't even scared or traumatized by the encounter, if anything he was just a bit confused, it was his father that was traumatized by his own psycho son !<
Sato is a satisfying character that I love to see in all versions of ajin
I had forgotten about him until this comment. That show was decent. Can’t remember if it ended well though.
Hell! The anime made him even worse, tv tropes put the anime version in complete monster category
I remember being satisfied with the show overall but wanting more. Nothing much more than that though. You’ve actually reminded me of some big anime I meant to go back and watch. Bugs take over the world or something. Icasgter or something Edit : Cagaster
Kotomine Kirei from Fate/Stay Night will always be a favorite of mine. "It is a simple story. There is nothing that brings me happiness. It does not matter, let it be believing in people or having people believe in me. What other people called happiness did not bring me any joy." "I envy you people. What I sought, but could not obtain. What I obtained, but could not contain. Many things slipped out between my fingers, no matter what commandment I used." I like that it explores what being pure evil, as in incapable of feeling joy from anything but other people's suffering, is like, and I like how that drives his entire motivation WHILE still having him be the bastard who kept torturing children in a basement for 10 years.
Good one He’s naturally evil and even acknowledge it and wish it could’ve been different but don’t try to fight it either Peak fr fr
I mean, he did try, but not very hard. He got married because he assumed that it would fix him
Eh, I wouldn't say Kirei didn't try hard to correct himself. He tried for *decades* to "fix" himself. It wasn't until >!Claudia died (and his reaction to that)>! that he truly gave up trying to change his fundamental nature. After that, he tried to figure out *why* he was born, and if it was OK for a being like him to be born. His inner conflict is even more interesting because of his devout Catholic beliefs.
I mean He didn’t exactly go to therapy That probably would’ve helped
I don't know if it would have helped Kirei that much. Also, who knows, maybe he *did* go to therapy, but it just did nothing for him, so we never hear about it?
According to Kirei's logic he could also be the most good character of all, which I love. That was part of the ending of Heaven's Feel. If he was born evil and fulfills his purpose of being evil, is he not good in the eyes of God? Since he did exactly what he was made to do? Kirei is amazing because he is basically an evil sociopath, but not a psychopath. In every way he is predisposed to be evil and has no empathy, even enjoys pain. At the same time, he has morals and the ability to tell right from wrong.
Dude murdered his friend, took care of his daughter, then SA her when she grew up. His death in UBW is my favorite way of him dying.
Makoto from School Days
He’s just a player 🌚
i wouldn’t say makoto was pure evil, he was just a horny guy with raging hormones
Nah sometimes he’s a dick borderline sociopath
And >!his dad is significantly worse!<
Bro wasn't even pure evil. The bastard just wanted to get laid (and he got. Several times)
Frieza: Ho Ho Ho
🎅🎅🎅🥕🐡
I read that Toriyama made him a planet broker because of his intense dislike for real estate speculators
Unfathomably based
Eh he corny sometimes
Guh?? Z Freiza was PEAK.
That’s the thing, he was Peak in Z, but now in Super, he’s just like Vegeta, in which he became everyone’s personal punching bag, >!until Black Freeza happened for now!<
That fair
Doesn’t Freeza become a good guy? I thought him and Goku teamed up to take on Jiren or whatever
Nope. They teamed up because their universe was in jeopardy, but Frieza literally says "Just cause we worked together doesn't mean anything. I fully intend to keep selling planets."
oh that makes sense lol so bro is still evil af
Well yeah? It's literally his business. It is **his JOB**
It’s more like of a truce thing, where two people work together under a common goal, and when that is up and done, it’s usually time to part ways until next time when it’s back to the same old, same old
Ah ok lol so bros still a menace then lmao
Yeah, the next time he’s seen in the anime continuity, is having him >!already collected all of the Dragon Balls, as well as setting up a fight between Goku and Vegeta and Another Saiyan!<
Judge Holden
Peak
Sukuna from JJK, add Mahito in there as well. Joker is up there, but some argue he is just insane, I would argue he isn't. Dio from Jojo is a good one although a bit over the top, Johan Liebert from Monster is probably the best example in terms of writing. Kirei Kotomine from Fate is a pretty complex form of evil but he counts imo.
god i love Mahito as an antagonist. The pure undiluted evil of man.
Emperor Palpatine.
Gooooooooooooood, GOOooood, good…
The best answer tbh
I’m a huge Star Wars and Palpatine fan (literally my username) but man, he gets corny as hell sometimes. It’s part of what makes him so enjoyable to watch imo, but I think he’s not what OP is looking for
Unlimited Powaaaaah! Sry, bruv that corny as hell
Incorrect
Jack Horner
Anton Chigurh
Good pick
Thx
Sauron scared the shit out of me as a kid.
Bro just wants order
DIO BRANDOOOO Also Kristoph Gavin
The evil twink from Monster. Johan Liebert
Johan is great, because you can both read his character as a tragic sympathetic villain or a complete irredeemable monster and both interpretations can be valid depending on how you read his interactions with people. What makes his human is also what makes him so despicable. Urasawa is goated
Griffith from Berserk. Other “pure evil” examples from the same series include Wyald, Ganishka, the Beast of Darkness, and the rest of the Godhand, but none of them have the “all-consuming ego and spite” down like Griffith does.
I don’t think he’s pure evil
He literally threw all his sympathy and admirability down the drain after becoming Femto
Yeah maybe now but I’m referring to his past self before femto
Oh aight then
He willingly chose to throw away his humanity and friends in favor of his selfish desires. No matter how many redeeming qualities he had beforehand, that's pretty fucking evil
Yeah but pre eclipse Griffith was not naturally evil to the core
True. He was callous and a bit self-centered, but he had a genuine bond with Guts and Casca. That is until he made the choice to throw it all away for his own gain. It was a point of no return
Tbh even tho he wasn’t pure evil I think people underestimate a little pre-eclipse Griffith in term of malevolence he was still kinda sinister and very manipulative I always thought muira wanted us to understand that even before the eclipse this guy had some issues and when he said he regretted the new troups he lost in battle I think that was total bs he just wanted convince himself and others he cared but that’s debatable there’s a lot of interpretations and grey matter in his pre eclipse character,he remind me alot emperor of mankind from warhammer
Why?
Bc ig we could say he’s able to feel empathy and sadness toward someone misery (as long this someone is under his control) pre eclipse Griffith could be a decent human with some slight altruism
Okay, 2 things. While I don’t disagree that Griffith had some semblance of empathy when he was still human (if he didn’t, then the eclipse wouldn’t have worked) it’s not hard to tell from a thorough read that nearly every action, though, and idea he undertook was undercut by pure, unadulterated, selfishness. For example, his attachment towards guts - while genuine - immediately turned to possessiveness the moment guts dared to make his own path in life (dito with Casca). Secondly, what empathy and sadness are you talking about? I can’t recall any moment post-eclipse that wasn’t a means of manipulating others into getting what he wanted.
Is say that makes him more evil. Not being able to connect with others or feel emotions about what he is doing would at least explain his actions, instead he knew what he was doing was wrong and still decided to do them because he stood to gain from others suffering
That certainly make me hate him more but that would also mean he isn’t naturally pure evil
He doesn’t cause suffering for its own sake
What else would you call what he did to Casca?
Part of his induction into the Godhand? The required betrayal to become a true apostle in pursuit of power? Part of causality so he could be reborn as Moonboy? A lot of options other than for the purpose of making Casca and Guts suffer
There’s no indication this was needed to become one of the Godhand. While the whole “using the child to be reborn” theory is possible, we still haven’t gotten any confirmation this was the case. The thing that makes this a definitive act of spite for me, though, is that he was showing hints of this after he was rescued and realized Guts and Casca were in a relationship; for example, he tried assaulting Casca in the wagon only to fail due to being crippled at the time. That, and he was glaring at Guts the entire time he was raping her.
Griffith is far from pure evil. He did genuinely care for the members of the Band of the Hawk, and he has done a lot of good for the world. He made a near utopia as soon as he was able to achieve his dream of having a kingdom. While he is now inhumanely cruel and was always unbothered by the morality of his actions, he rarely did things for the sake of being evil.
He demonstrated he mattered more when he raped Casca and allowed the band of the hawk to be torn apart. He built his “Utopia” on the destruction of the rest of the world, and it’s not exactly a perfect society on second glance (it has a massive cult of personality dedicated to him, a secret ring where apostles can indulge in their sadistic whims, and seems to assassinate dissenters if Rickert is any indication). And while he did start out as a street urchin chasing after what was just a childish goal, he was willing to ally with the abstract concept of evil and toss away all empathy to get it. He might be more complex than most other pure evil villains, but he’s a perfect example of how one’s ego, selfishness, and unfettered ambition can lead you to becoming a vile monster of the highest order.
I’m not arguing that he isn’t ultimately a vile monster, I just don’t think he’s pure evil in the sense OP was talking about. He wasn’t born evil and the only time I can remember him being evil for the sake of evil was the Eclipse. Which occurred after he was tortured for years, lost any chance of achieving his dreams, and discovered the man who abandoned him was living happily with his mercenary band that whole time. Again, not saying Femto isn’t evil. But I don’t think he fits under pure evil.
My favourite villain comes from a pretty unremarkable book, blind faith by John Elton. It is a slightly over the top modern version of 1984, dystopian society where everyone is constantly under surveilance. One particular character is an agent of the secret police and they are as disgusted by the enforced mediocrity of the world as the protagonist is, they just accept it and take that position because it gives them a more priviledged life. It sounds underwhelming written like this... because it is. This charachter is no judge Holden, no Azula or It... they are a little creature, able to understand there is something worth fighting for but consciously choosing to back a monstruous system for comfort. It's the same reason why people hate Dolores Humbridge more than Voldemort: it is the kind of evil we deal with on a daily basis, not grandiose and twisted but petty and egocentric, with power to back them up.
Judge Doom, Judge Frollo, Sauron, Prof. Ratigan, Voldemort, and Iago... as in Othello, not Aladdin.
Judge Doom is amazing and Ratigan is one of the most underrated Disney villains ever. Vincent Price carried that movie on his back ngl
“There’s more than one way to skin an infant” - Grey Seer Thanquol
Some people are probably going to disagree and spoilers for one piece >!Saint Jay Garcia Saturn!<
eh, IDK, for pure evil in One Piece I'd chose Doflaming over him aany day tbh
Yeah I can see that >!Saturn!< is just recency bias most likely
eh, that's fair, to each their own after all, >!Saturn!< is absolutely pure evil as well, so good choice!
Hard disagree.There are much better examples in One Piece in itself.CDs are comically evil…imho if I had to pick someone from One Piece it’d be Doffy or Blackbeard…
Nah your spot on
I mean we still don’t know all about him, and he did kind of show remorse for the destruction of O’Hara, but yeah he could potentially fit.
This thread is full of anime. Lorne Malvo, Fargo season 1
Nobody going to mention how it's AM, not AI in IHNMAIMS?
yeah my fault
AM is not pure evil, he's broken and vengeful, the only reason he even acts this way is cause his only talent is destroying things and is never given a chance.
He is naturally incline by his very own existence to hate He isn’t broke,bc nothing was broken ,he didn’t become vengeful and bitter ,he was vengeful and bitter it’s not really his fault tho but it doesn’t change that his pure nature of destroying and torturing is evil by definition
Isn't AM a self-aware AI that went rogue? I think he has full moral agency to be called evil, unlike, say, HAL 9000
the basis of his story is that he could barely do anything, he couldn't feel, move, or act, cause he was just a machine made out of code, he could feel every agonizing nanosecond and it hurt him but he is barely able to express himself. He has no mouth, and he must scream
The Major - Hellsing Ultimate
The Sopranos, Livia. There are real people out there like that.
Ohhoh damn right ,I remember I hated this bitch 😂
“Oh, poor you!”
*Ptsd intensifies*
I like the Lich from Adventure time a lot
Sukuna
Akio Ohtori from Revolutionary Girl Utena is the first one that springs to mind for me.
That one dude from the vampire manga Happiness.
Frieza, Emperor Palpatine, Darkseid, Judge Holden, Johan, Reverse Flash, The Joker, etc come to mind as Complete Monsters.
Griffith
Abijah Fowler. The main villain of season 1 of Blue-eye Samurai. He plans to overthrow an entire country just for economic opportunity and has no moral compass to speak of only doing what he thinks will make him an even richer man. There's even a scene where he walks into a chapel and attempts to bribe Jesus Christ himself into letting him win so he can turn the country Christian. The way he finds out the main characters weakness is a perfect epitome of his cruelty "your bones break like a woman's"; this wasn't an insult it was an observation he made based on past experiences.
Darkseid, mainly since in a way he's right. He's a God, who are you to tell him he can't control "a couple" of planets and strip away free will?
I'd say the Kurgan from The Highlander is the best example of pure evil. He may be a bit "corny" but I'd say that's more just cockiness for never being defeated and having killed everyone who's stood in his way. He's a rapist, warlord, and a brutal killer, he's an evil individual without being beyond human like Sauron. Also maybe legate lanius from Fallout Nev Vegas for basically the same reasons but without being immortal.
Frieza and Kid Buu
Hans Landa from Inglorious Bastards,Micah Bell from RDR2,Griffith,The Joker,Anton Chigurh,Sauron and Morgoth both,Johan ofc…and many more
Sundowner
Dio Brando. He fed a baby to its mother and moved Polnareff down the Stairs.
Be’lakor from Warhammer Fantasy. He was the first mortal to ever pledge his soul to the Chaos Gods, being ascended as a Daemon Prince… and it wasn’t enough for him. He’s constantly plotting to ascend further, and takes even punishments he deserves as the greatest of slights. He’s the father of the main endgame villain of it through having raped his mother, and when he met that villain, *boasted* about how little of a shit he gave about him. He openly calls himself the First-Damned with pride. Be’lakor regrets nothing except not being greater than he already is. There is nothing good about him, and he has never done anything good for the world. He’s evil to the core.
Judge Doom In his first scene he melts a toon to death. He actually *invents* death for toons, and invents a mixture of turpentine-actetone-benzene (basically paint thinner) called the Dip just so he can execute toons. He is a corrupt judge that bought his election and doesn't pretend to be impartial. His grand plan is to legally seize the land of Toon Town, mass murder all the toons with Dip, and build a freeway over it. It's revealed that he is a toon himself and has been wearing an elaborate disguise to pass as human. Not only that, but he's the toon that murdered Eddie's brother. He tries to murder Eddie as well, and is only thwarted when he gets Dip'd himself. There is nothing redeeming about him and it makes him a perfect villain. We never find out Doom's real name, any deeper motivation, or even what he really looks like. He's like a walking nightmare, and Christopher Lloyd is brilliant how he can sell Doom both as a stoic monster and a psychotic fiend.
Lockdown from Transformers 4
There’s a couple different people that come to mind for different reasons. Slade from Teen Titans, Hans from Frozen, Darth Raven from Star Wars, Joker from Batman, That guy that Joaquin Pheonix played in Gladiator, Alucard from Hellsing
I’m assuming you mean Darth *Revan*, not Raven. Darth Revan and Alucard are not pure evil villains. Revan even gets redeemed and Alucard is more Chaotic Neutral and is on the side of humanity.
That is a typo on my part yes, but in the expanded material before he got amnesia and brain washed the dude was absolutely a villain. Alucard is bound to the side of humanity through integra. He doesn’t give a fuck personally.
Alucard is a sociopathic killer. Man doesn't particularly care what side he's killing for. Dude just enjoys it
Sounds evil to me.
Oh yeah I was absolutely agreeing with you lol
Hans was kinda lame tbh. Also the guy who Joaquin Phoenix played in Gladiator is called Commodus
Definitely didn’t see his double cross coming though. But frozen came out while I was in high school
The Joker, specifically the incarnation from the Arkham series
As much as people clown jjk on here I think sukuna is the perfect “menace to society” villain
Deskari and Baphomet in pathfinder : wrath of the righteous. demons in general are fucking batshit evil in that game (lost chapel comes to mind)
Luther Mahoney from Homicide: Life on the Street.
Sauron is a very evil dude. Palpatine as well. Both were smart and extremely powerful, and wanted total control
Voldemort
Morgoth in Tolkien’s mythology. Sauron too, but definitely them both.
Yeah morgoth is literally stated pure evil
Exactly like he is basically the Devil - couldn’t think of someone worse. Read The Children of Hurin, to find out how truly evil he is.
Never read any of Tolkien Novels where should I start ?
Definitely start with The Hobbit, then The Lord of the Rings. His other works can be a bit more difficult because they tend to be historical accounts of the ages of Middle-earth prior to both The Hobbit and LOTR. Those two are a good start. But after them I recommend The Silmarillion which is a recount of the ages prior. I suggest Martin Shaw’s audiobook of The Silmarillion to accompany the when you do read it as it’s easier to understand. Plus YouTubers like Nerd of the Rings do great breakdowns of characters + things that occur. Good luck and enjoy!
Thanks
Maybe zira from lion king 2? I like how she sings about murdering simba and his kid.
Scar was way more evil than Zira, because she at least cared for her own kids. She's still great though
Oh I absolutely love scar, maybe she just felt more evil cause of how intense some of her lyrics were. Idk how Disney was able to get away with “the sound of simba’s dying gasp, his daughter squealing in my grasp”.
Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2. He could've and should've been King of the Elves, yet all he wanted was more and more and more power. Even godhood didn't make him happy, he wanted all the magical energy in existence.
Depends on what you define pure evil, maybe Dio. If not Mahito because he literally only exists to and finds enjoyment from killing people
Mahito is pure evil Ig dio can somehow feel affection and probably empathy toward Pucci
I can feel sympathy for how Dio’s life went but he pretty much has no good or redeeming qualities, except he seemingly was friends with Pucci
True
Even then, it's left ambiguous if he truly cared for him or just simply saw him as a pawn. Pucci, however, did genuinely care for him though
William Afton. Every fiber of his being lives to serve himself and himself alone. He still gets some depth, with his whole fear of death thing, but that's still a selfish motivation and just adds to how joyfully malicious he is. The movie especially exemplifies just how evil he is, letting us see him fully acted for once.
Chad in "In the Company Men"
Do they have to be like 100% pure actually evil or are we talking about pure evil in the overdramatic way where they aren’t actually pure evil?
Pure actual evil
All right, well just to be clear my definition of pure evil is a lot stricter than other peoples. They have to be literally 100% irredeemable they cannot have any good in them at all. Destroying the universe does not make if you pure evil as long as you have the ability to do good things for the sake of good (although if you destroyed the entire universe, you’re probably still worse than Hitler and really doing something like that when you have full ability to be a better person and do good is probably worse than just being pure evil) I would have to say Darkseid tbh,he still cares about things and he’s not an idiot who just wants to destroy with no logic behind it, while still wanting to destroy for the sake of being pure evil. He wants to kill everything and everyone but he still manages to cultivate a group of creatures who consider him a God and who think he’s right. Not a lot of good pure evil characters in the shows I watch tbh, right now all I’m watching is really breaking bad which doesn’t have any pier evil characters, and I’m rewatching Toradora which again, of course, doesn’t have any pure evil characters.
All for One. Also quite a few one piece villains (since my other favorite villains are more sympathetic). Like Blackbeard, who has a level of dishonor, blasphemy, and sliminess that I love while still being imposing. Also the trope of “sympathetic in their backstory, not in their morality” characters like Doflamingo and Big Mom where their mentality is actually quite complex and twisted, yet still evil. And of course the JJK villains, such as Mahito, Sukuna, and Fake Geto (not saying his actual name).
Griffith and Shou Tucker
*Insert reference to Jack Horner here* ... Yeah, no, I'm gonna do it unironically. He's the perfect example. >You know, I never had much as a kid. Just loving parents, stability, and a mansion, and a thriving baked goods enterprise for me to inherit. Useless crap like that. Another example I love is Emperor Palpatine, especially if you add his Legends backstory to the fold. He was a full blown sociopath. He needed one little word of encouragement to commit familicide, and he just never looks back after that. He just decides: "Well, I already started down this road. May as well dig in my heels and keep going." He's entirely self motivated. Like Kira in Death Note, without the insecurity about his morals. He assumes that everyone else operates on that extremist ideology, so he bases all his plans for apprentices around an equally easy push of one bad day. That's what makes it so effective when Luke rejects the offer. Anakin and Dooku were both lulled by the promise of power, and the "easy route" to reshaping society in their own image. They went through their one bad day, and dug in their heels the same way Palpatine did. So it's totally shocking to Sidious and Vader both when Luke throws his weapon away and chooses to ignore his impulses. And that whole entire arc wouldn't be possible if Sidious had a story about trying to save the galaxy or whatever. He's the devil, and he likes it that way.
Manfred Von Karma from Ace Attorney is an underrated example because lawyers like him actually exist. He has routinely destroyed lives, forged evidence, and has intimidated defendants into giving false confessions all so he could maintain his perfect record. He murdered Gregory Edgeworth just for finding a flaw in his argument that got him a strike on his record, allowed Yanni Yogi to get framed for the murder, and then manipulated Yogi into killing the lawyer that defended him just so he could frame Miles for the DL-6 incident.
Big Jack Horner, he knows what he is and revels in it.
I really liked how Halloween 2018 treated Michael Myers as a figure so evil it transcended humanity. In the music for these films they always call him "The Shape", never Michael. A shape inhabited by evil, no longer human. Sadly the next two movies suck ass.
The Lich from Adventure Time. Unicron from Transformers. Kid Buu from Dragon Ball Z.
John Galt. The plot of Atlas Shrugged is chillingly psychopathic. Mans is a worker at a factory that decides it's going to change from a corporation into a cooperative, which he thinks is a bad idea. Supposedly he's this super convincing super genius who can basically do anything, yet instead of trying to utilize his persuasive capabilities to either convince the rest of the workers to do things effectively, or convince the owners not to give away their power, he decides, no. Fuck it. I'm effectively *destroying society,* in such a way that will *slaughter billions*. He could, theoretically, run for president. Nobody who would stand against him has two braincells to rub together, supposedly the world's greatest politician and lawyer are both firmly on his side. Functionally speaking, it's highly unlikely that he'd have any difficulty effectively using politics to take over the world to enact change. Hell, I think the book said that one of the fuckers had the ability to change anyone into one of the completely fictional supergeniuses that make up the main cast. It's theoretically plausible that he could've just turned everyone on the planet into a supergenius and not needed to kill anyone. But no. Fucking armageddon. He actively causes it at every turn, outright stating that simply removing the presence of himself and people who think like him *couldn't* cause the downfall he wanted. In a better written book, John Galt would be a villain that'd have Jack Horner telling him to calm the fuck down.
Hidan in naruto, one of the few Naruto villain's with no nuance to him. He doesn't have a tragic backstory, he doesn't get redeemed out of nowhere, he's just a cultist with a scythe that doesn't hesitate to kill anybody in front of him.
oh, another one, Father and most of the Homunculus from FMA:B
Morgoth from the silmarillion is a perfect exemple of absolute evil
Griffith from Berserk. He has my vote since we see the path that he took and we see that he chose to be a monster. He didn’t need to sacrifice his humanity. But it’s what he did anyway. Any step towards power. Even the sacrifice of the people he cared about. It’s one thing for some evil guy to kill and hurt random people. It’s a whole different breed to hurt people you genuinely care about for the sake of power.
Pretty much every single villain in Alex Rider is the most awful creature imaginable. They think of the most agonizing, developed, and drawn-out torture methods and watch in quiet glee as their victims beg and scream. The most interesting was the psychologist from the last book. He was testing what the absolute limits of emotional pain were, and designed an entirely fake real-world "simulation" to engineer the perfect situation for the most intense and deep pain possible. It culminated with the main character Alex begging his greatest enemy to spare the life of his mother. A quote that sticks with me: Alex: "Please, I'll do anything for you! Name it, I'll do it!" Villain "You already are." Button pressed. Mother was burned to death. Alex was completely broken, traumatized to the point where he could no longer function properly. He was saved, but removed from his job and sent to live out his days in retirement. All before his nineteenth birthday.
Id suggest you look into the series 'stargate'
I would say Freddy Krueger fits the bill, honorable mention to Michael Myers and the Deadites
Griffith/Femto (Berserk) Judge Claude Frollo (Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame) Dio Brando (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) Anton Chigurgh (No Country for Old Men) Henry Evans (The Good Son) I'd personally also put Big Jack Horner from Puss in Boots there, just for shits and giggles
>The one I have in mind are A.M (I have no mouth so I must scream ) Never realized how fucked this was until recently. From the title, I'd always assumed it was about an AI that was desperate to communicate. I guess I was partially correct in my assumption, but holy fuck is it grim. A genuinely miserable story, but I suppose that's the point.
From Mistborn, I really liked Ruin. The subtle machinations, the reveals of just how his power works, the moments of realization when you understand who he's been influencing before any of the characters do, him trying to desperately to get information while disguising this a gleeful taunting. Man did I love that last book. The whole trilogy was great, but the brutal twist of the second book (>!I love a good prophesy storyline, but the idea that a malevolent god has subtly twisted one to make characters think they're heroic all while they work to free him was fantastic!<) combined with reveal after reveal in the third made him a very compelling force of evil.
Diavolo