Another Tuesday, another round of Top Ten Tuesday. Today’s topic is Villains. While thinking about this topic, I realized that not every book has a good villain.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Without further adieu, these are some of the villains that I found interesting:
Valentine: The Mortal Instruments (Books 1-3). Valentine from The Mortal Instruments series is a great villain. He thinks that he’s doing the right thing. Perhaps at one time, he was doing the right thing, but he got carried away. And he became very, very bad. Real life villains are often the same way.
Adelina Amouteru: The Young Elites. It’s not often that the villain and the heroine are the same people. You have to feel sorry for Adelina because you know her story, and you know that deep down inside, she’s a decent person, but she’s wicked at the same time. Somehow, you just can’t help but root for her and hope that she redeems herself.
Vicomte de Séguin: Enchantée. I don’t think that there’s many redeeming qualities about the Vicomte de Séguin in Enchantée (it’s an amazing book, you’ll want to read it when it comes out). He is so devious and smart though. And in the end, it seems like he might feel that he has no choice but to be evil. Of course, we all have choices.
Maven: Red Queen series. Maven is one of those villains that you have to like, at least a little. He had crappy parenting and might have been a decent person, if he hadn’t been pushed to the dark side. I was even hoping that he would change.
Pit Viper: Frequency. He seems like such a nice guy! People seem to love him. And he was treated horribly. Still, once you find out what he’s planning, you realize that he’s not such a great guy after all. Maybe he’ll change. You want him to change. That’s why he makes a great villain.
Redacted: Everless. Unless you read Everless, then you probably don’t know who the true villain of this story is. If I was to say who this person was, it would be too much of a spoiler. This person makes a great villain because you don’t even suspect him/her! He/she seems so nice. I’m not sure if there are any redeeming qualities to him/her, but he/she’s a great villain because he/she blends in so well!
Zero: Warcross. Is Zero really the villain? Or is he a hero? Or is someone else altogether the villain? One of the things that I love about the villainy in the Warcross duology is that there’s a point in Wildcard where you’re thinking “there is nobody in power that is good in this story.” Sometimes real life is like that, especially when it comes to politics.
Prince of Hearts: Legendary. He probably doesn’t have too many redeeming qualities to him, but he puts Tella in a seemingly impossible situation. He’s quite devious, and as a result, he’s a fairly noteworthy villain.
Catherine: Heartless. I’m not sure if we can consider Catherine to be the villain of this story or not, but we know that she becomes a villain. Maybe that’s why she makes such a good villain in this story. She’s not really a bad person, is she? But life’s circumstances shape her in a way that cause her to become a bad person. Often, that’s the way people become villains in real life.
The Nightbringer: Ember in the Ashes tetralogy. This guy is really creepy. I don’t want to give out spoilers if you haven’t read the series, but the way he uses people is just disgusting. Which makes him a good villain. Because you have to loathe him. Maybe at one point there were good things about him, but his interactions with Laia… ::shudder::. Another good thing that for a long time, he fools some of the readers into thinking that he’s not really a bad guy. Now that I know better, I’m going to have to think of this when I reread the series prior to Ember 4 coming out.
So there are all the baddies for this week! I who are your favorite villains? I can’t wait to find out. Leave a link to your Top Ten Tuesday and I’ll visit!
Next week: Stories with Dark Magic and darkness. I’m not a real Halloween person (I’ll give you the back story next week) but there are plenty of stories with dark magic to go around!
I really like how each of your descriptions goes into the character of the villain in question–even for the books I haven’t read, I can get an idea of what makes the villain compelling. You bring up a few aspects that can make for compelling villains that I hadn’t considered–specifically, the villain being pushed into that role, and villains who can disguise themselves as good guys.
Thank you! I like how you did your villains as well!
I love your take on the list! I definitely need to read Wildcard, I loved Warcross.
Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk
Cora @ Tea Party Princess recently posted…Ten Villains I Love
It’s definitely worth reading!
I abhorred Valentine. He was one I loved to hate, but Adelina was one I was pulling for. The changes she experienced over the course of the book were horrifying and heartbreaking. I was happy and sad about her ultimate fate, but Lu always has to break my heart a little.
Well, she did turn to stardust… is that her ultimate fate after all? 😉
Great point about Warcross. the ambiguity of who is the bad guy, or who it WILL be, is great. And Pit Viper- what a great name!
I still need to read The Yong Elites…
Greg recently posted…Top Ten Villains
Yes you do. It’s a great series.
Oooh, I like Adlina! That series is one I have seen so many people love, but I’ve never got to it on my TBR. wonderful list!
Thank you. I hope you get the chance to read it someday.
I haven’t read any of these except Heartless (yet), but I definitely agree, you do feel a great deal of sympathy for Catherine. (You also want to yell ‘NO! DON’T DO THAT!’ but it doesn’t quite work out that way, sadly!)
Lakshmi recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday [Villains]
Unfortunately, since you know who she turns into, you know what has to happen, but at the same time, you want things to change, LOL.
Oh, I love it when stories surprise you with who the villain is. That’s always cool.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
🙂 When I was outlining my NaNoWriMo novel for this year in my head, I got towards the end of the book, and something happened, and I was like “wait, what?” This one character that I thought was a decent guy turned out to be a villain! So it looks like I’ll be writing one of those stories next month where a guy you don’t suspect to be bad ends up being a villain. I just hope I can write it well.
Good luck. I hope it goes well for you.
Thank you! I’m really excited about it, but I’m nervous that it won’t end up as good on paper as it is in my head!
I loved the Prince of Hearts in Legendary!
Jo recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #182
Ms. Garber did a great job with him!
Intrigued by what you say about this Warcross character. Hopefully I get to meet Zero soon.
🙂
My boy is reading Wildcard right now… I told him a mini-spoiler about one character and now he wants to know who I’m talking about! But I won’t do that here.
Great list! I totally didn’t see that coming in Everless and I’m really looking forward to Evermore!
The Queen of Hearts made my list – Mainly because I loved the back story Heartless added.
Sarah @ SWB recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – Come To The Dark Side
I was really surprised with Everless myself.
I loved Adelina! And I thought Zero and Hideo were both great villains. Marie Lu is so good at writing complex, morally ambiguous characters!
Maybe that’s why she’s so good. Because people are like that IRL.
I haven’t read any of these, but I swear I’ll get to An Ember in the Ashes someday. I really want to read that series.
Aj @ Read All The Things! recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Why I Love Your Villain
An Ember in the Ashes is great! There will be one more book though, so if you don’t like cliffhangers, you might want to read the series when the last book comes out in April.
How could I have forgotten about Valentine?! He’s such a great villain! Many of these books are on my TBR and I’m even more excited to read them now!
I had forgotten some of the villains featured on people’s lists this week too. Like President Snow.
That’s one of the reasons I love reading other people’s TTT lists – not only do I find about great books that I haven’t read, but I’m also reminded of all the amazing books I HAVE read!
I never met him in the novels, but I 100% feel like I should have added Valentine to my list! Dude is EVIL! Also, Zero is a great addition. We’re never really sure if he’s good… or bad, and that’s what makes him so interesting.
Bunches of thanks for the Finding Wonderland visit. 🙂
Rissi recently posted…8 Perfect & Spooky Reads to Enjoy for All Hallows Eve!
My pleasure! Thank you for the visit back!