Who is the scariest villain in horror fiction books?
Fully Booked, one of the largest bookstore chains in the Philippines, released its ranking of the “scariest villains in fiction” in time for Halloween.
It also uploaded the covers of these books on its Facebook account.
“They’ve haunted the pages of some of the best horror reads and your nightmares — here are 10 of the scariest villains in fiction, ranked,” Fully Booked said.
“Did your favorite literary fiend make the cut? Who do you think should be included in our list?” it also said.
Here is top 10 scariest villains in books, according to Fully Booked:
- Pennywise in Stephen King’s “It” – “an extraterrestrial and ancient shape-shifter, It prefers taking the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown to lure children”
- The Grand High Witch in Roald Dahl’s “The Witches” – the leader of witches who has fun turning children into mice and killing them
- The Other Mother in Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline” – who looks like Coraline’s mother except for curved fingernails and dark buttons for eyes
- The Hill House in Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” – “a sprawling 80-year-old mansion surrounded by hills built upon an unspecified countryside”
- The Cannibals in Agustin Bazterrica’s “Tender is the Flesh” – humans eating humans in a dystopian novel
- Beloved in Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” – “the malevolent spirit that haunts the home of former slave Sethe and her dysfunctional family”
- Griffin in H.G. Wells’ “The Invisible Man” – is “a scientist who creates a serum to render himself invisible”
- The Institute in Stephen King’s “The Institute” – “a secret organization that specializes in kidnapping children, particularly those gifted with the powers of telepathy and ”telekinesis”
- Aunt Lydia in Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” – “the brutal religious teacher slash handmaid wrangler”
- Patrick Bateman in Bret Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho” – a “mild-mannered, gold-trim business card-wielding investment banker by day, psychopath, sexual predator and murderer by night”
Some of these antagonists and monsters are also included in Penguin Books UK’s “50 Greatest Horror Villains in Fiction.”
In this ranking, Penguin Books, a well-established British publishing house, considered “Big Brother” in George Orwell’s “1984” as the scariest and greatest villain of all.
“He’s always watching, always listening; his cold, totalitarian breath forever on your neck. And if you don’t dance merrily to his tune, he has the power to torture you with a literal manifestation of your darkest fear… a sort of Freddy Kruger of the authoritarian industrial complex,” the description reads.
Here’s the rest of the list The 50 greatest horror villains in fiction (penguin.co.uk).
