"You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit." ~ Oscar Wilde

When I was writing my last blog post, "The characters I love to hate", I began thinking about all the literary villains I love. Here are some of the best:


1. Count Fosco in The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins (1859)

"I am thinking,’ he remarked quietly, ’whether I shall add to the disorder in this room, by scattering your brains about the fireplace."


2. The White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis (1949-54)

"But he still wanted to taste that Turkish Delight more than he wanted anything else."


3. Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, William Shakespeare (1611)

"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it."


4. Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens (1837)

"It was a ghastly figure to look upon. The murderer staggering backward to the wall, and shutting out the sight with his hand, seized a heavy club and struck her down."


5. Count Dracula in Dracula, Bram Stoker (1897)

"But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window, and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, face down, with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings."


6. Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter Boxset, JK Rowling (1997-2007)

"I killed Sirius Black!"


7. Satan in Paradise Lost, John Milton (1667)

“Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven.”


8. Windsor "Win" Horne Lockwood III in The Myron Bolitar Collection: 9 Great Novels, Harlan Coben (1995-2011)

"You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Win."


9. The Grand High Witch in The Witches, Roald Dahl (1983)

"She is all-powerful. She is without mercy. All other Witches are petrified of her."


10. Professor James Moriarty in The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle (1887-1978)

"I wanted to end the world, but I'll settle for ending yours."