Welcome to the fifth, semifinal round of Literary Hub’s inaugural Ides of March Madness bracket:
The Best Villains in Literature.
It’s come to this, just four remaining.
We’ve finally found out who you, our readers, think are the top villains of each of our categories: O’Brien, Orwell’s sinister Ministry of Truth member, is your top Authority Figure; Hannibal Lecter, Harris’s hungry human hunter, is your favorite Manipulative Bastard; Tolkien’s big bad Sauron is your most villainous Monster; and Satan, the introspective ex-angel of Milton, is your #1 Anti-Villain. Check out yesterday’s full results here.
Shakespeare finally got the old exeunt last round, with Iago getting knocked out by Dr. Lecter. Iago’s conniving proved to be no match for Lecter’s hands-on experience—sometimes you just have to take care of business yourself. I’ll bet Lecter gets a good academic psychology paper out of the experience, too.
Two match-ups remain until we hit the finals tomorrow. The last four are some popular, frequently adapted villains, and three of the four are from the 20th century, with the exception of John Milton’s 1660s poem.
Hannibal Lecter versus Satan feels like it’s the one to watch today: two demons who were locked away because they wanted to be gods. I think these two would bond over being misunderstood by a world they don’t think is ready for their power, and would have a fun time swapping tips on being smugly superior. But ultimately, I don’t think they can tolerate the other’s existence: the universe just ain’t big enough for the both of them.
Sauron and O’Brien are probably not going to face off personally—they don’t strike me as the types to get their hands too dirty. This one’s going to be fought between their two equally wicked and bloodthirsty armies: orcs and cops.
We’ve got more staff reflections on our favorite villains coming on the blog today and tomorrow, along with our personal brackets—all thoroughly busted at this point. If you filled out your own bracket (a blank one is here), share it and tag us! We’d love to see your picks.
Who will make it to the finals tomorrow? Voting is now open!
Check out the updated bracket and start voting below:
[Click for a zoom-enabled version]
Rules
You may be wondering: What makes a villain “best”? That, friends, is really up to you. You can vote for the most iconic villains, the most memorable villains, or the most villainous villains. You can vote for the villain you enjoyed reading about the most, or the one that kept you up at night. You can vote for the cutest villain, if that’s your thing. The point is, there are no rules. Villains are rule-breakers, and so are we.
Voting Schedule
Ignoble Round of 64: Voting open now until Sunday, March 9th at 7:00 PM EST
Round of 32 Assholes: Voting open now, from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST
on Monday, March 10th
Not-So-Sweet 16: Voting open from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST on Tuesday, March 11th
The Hateful 8: Voting open from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST on Wednesday, March 12th
The Drawn and Quarter Finals: Voting open from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST on Thursday, March 13th
The Final Showdown: Voting open until Sunday, March 16th at 7:00 PM EST on Friday, March 14th
And the Best Villain In Literature will be announced on Monday, March 17th!
How To Vote
You know this by now: simply select the villain you think should advance, and we’ll tabulate the votes tonight before the big finale.
O’BRIEN (1) vs. SAURON (3)
(1) O’Brien (George Orwell, 1984)
Our top seed for authoritarians is this extremely memorable villain from one of the most widely read books about villainy. Orwell’s O’Brien combines all the worst villains from the real world into one of the nastiest guys in literature: he’s a fascist, a boss, and a snitch all rolled into one, a sort-of fascist Megazord, if you will.
Weapon of Choice: Lying, Rodents, Party-Members-Only Wine
Grim Prediction: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
2+2: 5
Read: 75 Years of 1984: Why George Orwell’s Classic Remains More Relevant Than Ever and George Orwell’s 1984 is Always Just Around the Corner
vs.
(3) Sauron (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings)
The Lidless Eye, The Monster from Mordor, The Rascal with the Rings—Sauron’s the all-seeing Orcs’ mate you love to hate. As readers, we’re told very little about Sauron’s appearance and we never meet him, but we see his presence everywhere. He’s a pervasive evil influence corrupting Middle Earth, a hazy darkness with vast influence. The one thing he seems incapable of doing, though, is holding onto jewelry—take off your all-powerful rings before a swordfight, dude! It’s like swimming with your wedding ring on: don’t do it!
His Horde Includes: Nazgûl, Uruks, Easterlings, Haradrim, Trolls, Tolkein Nerds Correcting Factual Inaccuracies in Articles Like This One
The Eye Gazes on Thee: “Its wrath blazed like a sudden flame and its fear was like a great black smoke, for it knew its deadly peril, the thread upon which hung its doom.”
Rings To Rule Them All: 1
HANNIBAL LECTER (3) vs. SATAN (1)
(3) Hannibal Lecter (Thomas Harris, Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, etc.)
When we were putting this list together, we knew immediately that Dr. Lecter would be a top seed. What other villain could turn Fava beans into a scary line? Though real Harris-heads know the famous meal in the book is served with Fava beans and Amarone—not Chianti.
Fillets With: His Memory Palace, Big Culinary Choices
Boiling Him Down: “He’s a monster. I think of him as one of those pitiful things that are born in hospitals from time to time. They feed it, and keep it warm, but they don’t put it on the machines and it dies. Lecter is the same way in his head, but he looks normal and nobody could tell.”
Menu of Victims: 28 killed, 7 eaten
Read: Hannibal Lecter: 20 Years Later; The Silence of the Lambs: The Seminal Serial Killer Novel, and Still the Best
vs.
(1) Satan (John Milton, Paradise Lost)
Is evil incarnate just a misunderstood bad boy? Our top seed in the anti-villains category is the Western embodiment of wickedness, whom Milton treated with more depth of character and contradiction than anyone else in his poem. Milton’s Satan is still a fallen angel who corrupts Adam and Eve with sin, but as readers, we feel his alienation and frustrations. It turns out even Satan struggles with big decisions.
Weapon of Choice: Army of Fallen Angels, Apples
Reasoning: “Here we may reign secure, and in my choice/to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:/Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.”
Number of Furies Fierce As: 10
Read: Satanic Sympathies: On the Demon Depictions That Helped Jamie Quarto Write Two-Step Devil
Thanks for voting! See you in the finals!
