Top 5 villains more interesting than the hero

Happy Top 5 Tuesday, everyone! It’s my favourite book blog meme of the week, hosted by Shanah the Bionic Bookworm! This week is actually a suggestion from yours truly, and it was a lot harder than I thought.

I couldn’t just go and a top villains list, because some villains have counterparts that just as interesting, or more so. Like the characters in the Hunger Games or Red Rising series. Just about everyone is interesting! Okay, here it goes:

I AM NUMBER FOUR
Five

It’s not tough for a villain to be more interesting than Four. He’s BORING. Always makes the right decision, says the right thing, is chivalrous, valiant and BORING! So anyone who comes up against him, whether for the whole series or just a chapter, is a more interesting adversary. However, I want to focus on number 5. He’s not really a bad guy, I know, but he has his moments. When the series was done, I desperately wanted a spinoff book all about number 5. Doubt I’ll ever get it, though.

HEX
The Black Rock Witch

The Black Rock witch is straight up fascinating. She walks around the town, her eyes and mouth sewn shut, going wherever she wants, whenever she wants, and everyone just deals with it. There isn’t really a hero that sits directly opposite of her, but I assure you, any of the characters that could be considered her opposite don’t compare.

THE STAND
Randall Flagg

Randall Flagg is basically the devil in Stephen King’s books. If there isn’t a bad guy named Randall Flagg, there’s probably one with the initials R.F. Makes me wonder if it’s the name of a schoolyard bully for King’s past. This guy isn’t just insanely powerful, he’s charming. He can explain his crimes to you, without hiding any of details, but he does it with a smile on his face and you have trouble hating him for any of it. The way Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Megan really reminds me of Randall Flagg.

HARRY POTTER
Lord Voldemort

Let’s be real. We all wanted Harry to win. But at the same time, the most interesting parts of the series was when we got to delve into something in Voldemort/Tom Riddle’s past. Look at the way the Death Eaters flocked to him. His control of people as well as magic. In another Universe, Voldemort is just trying to live his life and this little hellion keeps showing up and killing him.

BATMAN
The Joker

Okay, so it’s not directly related to specific book, but is there any villain more interesting than the Joker?! He’s out there, in your face, not trying hide even a little. But at the same time, he’s shrouded in such mystery that they’ve never definitively said what his real name is. Did you know some comic historians have even reasoned that Joker has a superpower, and it’s super-sanity. SUPER-SANITY! You might have thought he was insane, but that’s only because you’re regular sane like a chum!

Fun fact about this post: Shanah recently threatened to take away my ‘bookworm card’ when she though I might have walked out of a bookstore without buying a book. (I didn’t)