A Battle Royale: Villains in children's and YA books (Round 1)
There are plenty of memorable villains in children’s and young adult books, the kinds that get their hooks into you when you’re young and then creep into your nightmares and shape your adulthood. But WHO is the evilest of all?
This week, we’re hosting a Battle Royal to determine just that. Here is round one…
Warning: This post contains spoilers!
Battle of the evil mages
Valentine Morgenstern (The Mortal Instruments) vs. the Mage (Carry On)
Both these mages want to change the world and they go about doing so in ways that are destructive and let’s face it – pretty freaking evil. Both these ambitious men commit terrible acts, and not least by using the women who love them in unforgivable ways: Valentine feeds his pregnant wife Jocelyn demon blood without her knowledge, and the Mage manipulates his partner Lucy into bearing a child through magical means that lead to devastation. But while the Mage has some noble (however misguided and warped) reasons for his actions, Valentine is motivated by his obsession with power and his hatred of the ‘other’ which does make him the more villainous of the two.
Winner: Valentine Morgenstern
Battle of the evil queens
Queen Amarantha (A Court of Thorns and Roses) vs. Queen Levana (The Lunar Chronicles)
Both these queens are extremely evil – attempted murder, manipulation and torture. Admittedly, both suffered blows in their childhood that attribute to their behaviour in later life: Amarantha’s beloved sister was brutally murdered by a human, igniting her hatred of humankind, and Levana was tricked into throwing herself into a fire by her sister, causing disfiguring burns. Levana attempts to use her victimhood to justify her brutal behaviour to others which is fairly despicable. Ultimately though, Amarantha’s brand of cruelty is marked with a creativeness that tips her over the line.
Winner: Queen Amarantha
Battle of the fascist government officials
President Snow (The Hunger Games) vs. Mayor Prentiss (Chaos Walking)
Behind his carefully crafted spectre of respectability, President Snow is a monster who sends children to their deaths every year and turns it into entertainment. His smugness and smooth use of power for his own means is abhorrent. Then there’s Mayor Prentiss, another leader who acts high and mighty but in reality, is motivated by his desire for power and his hatred for what he doesn’t understand. He’s as ruthless as Snow, even going so far as to murder his own son… which bumps him in the number one spot.
Winner: Mayor Prentiss
Battle of the fascist teachers
Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter) vs. Miss Trunchbull in (Matilda)
Just remembering these teachers give me an awful sinking feeling in my stomach. Dolores Umbridge’s simpering, Machiavellian behaviour is vomit-inducing and Miss Trunchbull is a straight-up maniac. But while Trunchbull lays claim to her awfulness, owning it with full candour, Umbridge’s villainy is more deceitful and insidious – placing her higher (or is it lower?) in this warped competition of evilness.
Winner: Dolores Umbridge
Battle of the schoolyard tyrants
A (Pretty Little Liars) vs. the Cabinet (Laurinda)
The Cabinet is a tradition at prestigious Ladies’ College, Laurinda, in which a group of girls reside over the students and teacher with the goal of maintaining the status quo. They’re bullies and they know it. This situation might feel somewhat familiar to some readers, but it’s highly unlikely that anyone has ever encountered someone like ‘A’ – an anonymous, seemingly all-knowing character that sends threatening messages to a group of friends, and worse… The Cabinet hardly stands a chance here. They’re a group of teenage girls who are allowed to (encourage to) behave badly by the school administration but A is a first-class sociopath!
Winner: A
Battle of the family tyrants
Griffin Willow (Sleeping Dogs) vs. Corrine Dollanganger/Foxworth (Flowers in the Attic)
Who can forget Corrine’s shocking behaviour to her children? (She claims to love them but allows them to be treated abominably by their grandmother, and oh, also attempts to poison them with powdered doughnuts.) But in many ways, the violent and controlling Griffin is the more frightening character. The emotional and physical abuse he inflicts on his children, particularly his son Jordan, is ever-present in this novel, and its open acceptance by the entire family is deeply disturbing.
Winner: Griffin Willow
Battle of the brutal warmongers
Thiago (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) vs. Ramage (The Road to Winter)
Ugh, these guys are the worst. Thiago is an attempted rapist, a purity obsessed hypocrite and an all-round disgusting entity. Ramage is a vicious and pitiless slave-owner who seemingly lacks even a speck of humanity. They’re almost on equal standing but for the horrifying plausibility of Ramage’s behaviour against the Sileys (asylum seekers who have been enslaved in this future imagining of Australia). Throughout the novel, it’s also implied that Ramage’s abuse is sexual as well as emotional and physical, again frighteningly plausible and very close to home.
Winner: Ramage
Battle of the charming snakes
Mrs Coulter (His Dark Materials) vs. Tom Riddle/Voldemort (Harry Potter)
Before Voldemort was the Dark Lord and ‘you-know-who’ – he was the charming and handsome Tom Riddle. His power was in working behind the scenes, sowing discontent and ill feelings. Mrs Coulter works in a similar way, charming and manipulating those around her, and only revealing the full extent of her power when she decides to. By the trilogy’s end, Mrs Coulter does try to redeem herself (in an unforgettable, heart-racing scene) but Tom never does, and in fact, he never even tries to.
Winner: Tom Riddle/Voldemort