Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is villains which is pleasing in a number of ways. We may all wish for the hero to survive but it is villains that really stick in the mind. A poor villain ruins a book much more readily than a poor hero.

Here is my ten – in alphabetical order because I couldn’t decide who was the most villainous.

1. Joffrey Baratheon – Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin – There are many potential possibilities for the most villainous GofT character. Joffrey gets my vote because he is unequivocally bad. There is no ambiguity. And his death was perhaps the most satisfying in the whole series.
2. Patrick Bateman – American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. This is not an easy read and is probably the most brutal book I have ever read. In the end, it may be that the killings are a desperate attempt by Bateman to create some sort of identity for himself in a world of designer labels and meaningless fashion trends.
3. Big Ger Cafferty – The Rebus novels – Ian Rankin – Cafferty is Rebus’ nemesis in a number of the novels. Rebus has a suitably morally ambiguous relationship with the ageing gangster.
4. Count Dracula – Dracula by Bram Stoker – Dracula is the archetypal vampire and upper-class villain. He has a mask of respectability that often slips when his plans are frustrated.
5. Mr. Hyde – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson – Mr. Hyde represents that part of all of us that would wish harm on people. Here the bestiality of man is given a free range with suitably horrible results.
6. Hannibal Lecter – Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. I’ve read the third book in the series but I didn’t like it so much. Lecter is fascinating in a way that makes you question your own morals. It’s hard not to imagine Anthony Hopkins but the books stand up well against the movie versions.
7. Long John Silver – Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Another morally ambiguous character, Silver constantly tries to judge which side is going to win and then place himself on that side.
8. President Snow – The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins – It is hard to imagine Snow in the books without thinking of Donald Sutherland in the films. He manages to show exactly how creepy and controlling Snow was. A ruthless tyrant responsible for many deaths.
9. Voldemort – Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling. There are other Potter bad guys but ultimately Voldemort is relentlessly evil throughout all  of the books.
10. Annie Wilkes – Misery by Stephen King. Who will ever forget Paul Sheldon’s misfortune at being rescued by his number one fan, Annie Wilkes? I’m glad I had read this before I saw the film as Kathy Bates was even more frightening than the character in the book.