Male literary villains

main antagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series

fictional character in the Harry Potter series

title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula

Sauron () is the title character and the main antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, where he rules the land of Mordor. He has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middle-earth using the power of the One Ring, which he has lost and seeks to recapture. In the same work, he is identified as the "Necromancer" of Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit. The Silmarillion describes him as the chief lieutenant of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. Tolkien noted that the Ainur, the "angelic" powers of his constructed myth, "were capable of many degrees of error and failing", but by far the worst

fictional character of the Harry Potter series

Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. The character was introduced in his short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published by the American pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. Considered a Great Old One within the pantheon of Lovecraftian cosmic entities, he is depicted as a gigantic entity worshipped by cultists, in a green humanoid form incorporating visual elements similar to an octopus and dragon. As the namesake of the Lovecraft-inspired Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu has since been featured in numerous pop culture references.

Gollum is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth. He was introduced in the 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, and became a major character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings. Gollum was a Stoor Hobbit of the River-folk who lived near the Gladden Fields. In The Lord of the Rings, it is stated that he was originally known as Sméagol before he was corrupted by the One Ring, and later named Gollum after his habit of making "a horrible swallowing noise in his throat".

fictional character created by Thomas Harris

"Bluebeard" ( ) is a French folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by in Paris in 1697 in . The tale is about a wealthy man in the habit of murdering his wives and the attempts of the present one to avoid the fate of her predecessors. "The White Dove", "The Robber Bridegroom", and "Fitcher's Bird" (also called "Fowler's Fowl") are tales similar to "Bluebeard". The notoriety of the tale is such that Merriam-Webster gives the word Bluebeard the definition of "a man who marries and kills one wife after another". The verb bluebeardi

thumb|Mephistopheles by Paul Mathey, 1888 Mephistopheles ( , ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in other works of arts and popular culture. Mephistopheles never became an integral part of traditional magic.

Saruman, also called Saruman the White, later Saruman of Many Colours, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is the leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, the main antagonist of the novel. He comes to desire Sauron's power for himself, so he betrays the Istari and tries to take over Middle-earth by force from his base at Isengard. His schemes feature prominently in the second volume, The Two Towers; he appears briefly at the end of the third volume, The Return of the King. His e

"Rumpelstiltskin" ( ; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of ''Children's and Household Tales''. The story is about an imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a woman's firstborn child.

thumb|An illustration of Grendel by J. R. Skelton from the 1908 Stories of Beowulf. Grendel is described as "very terrible to look upon."

fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created by French writer Maurice Leblanc

thumb|338x338px|Hercule apporte à Eurysthée la ceinture de la reine des Amazones by Daniel Sarrabat

fictional character from Sherlock Holmes

thumb|Illustration of an Attic red-figure calyx-krater; Acrisius puts Danaë and [[Perseus into the chest.]]

fictional character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four

Mordred or Modred ( or ; Welsh: Medraut or Medrawt) is a major figure in the legend of King Arthur. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle Annales Cambriae, wherein he and Arthur are ambiguously associated with the Battle of Camlann in a brief entry for the year 537. Medraut's figure seemed to have been regarded positively in the early Welsh tradition and may have been related to that of Arthur's son.

The Nazgûl (from Black Speech 'ring', and 'wraith, spirit')introduced as Black Riders and also called Ringwraiths, Dark Riders, the Nine Riders, or simply the Nineare fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. They were nine Men who had succumbed to Sauron's power through wearing Rings of Power, which gave them immortality but reduced them to invisible wraiths, servants bound to the power of the One Ring and completely under Sauron's control.

1818 fictional character by Mary Shelley

fictional pirate

Fantômas () is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914).

fictional character from The Godfather series

fictional character from Treasure Island

Lord of the Rings character

character in A Song of Ice and Fire

fictional James Bond villain

fictional character from Star Wars

cycle of Old French fables

Norman Bates is a fictional character created by American author Robert Bloch as the main antagonist in his 1959 horror novel Psycho, and later the main protagonist of the Psycho franchise. He has an alter ego, Mother, who takes the form of his abusive mother, and later victim, Norma, who in his daily life runs the Bates Motel.

character in A Song of Ice and Fire

The Grinch is a character created by children's author and cartoonist Dr. Seuss. He is best known as the titular main protagonist of the 1957 children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! He has been portrayed and voiced by many actors, including Boris Karloff, Zero Mostel, Hans Conried, Bob Holt, Walter Matthau, Anthony Asbury, Jim Carrey, Rik Mayall, Benedict Cumberbatch, Matthew Morrison, David Howard Thornton, and James Austin Johnson.

character in A Song of Ice and Fire

Nyarlathotep is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft. The character is a malign deity in the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared universe. First appearing in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem "Nyarlathotep", he was later mentioned in other works by Lovecraft and by other writers, to the point of often being considered the main antagonist of the Cthulhu Mythos as a whole. He is presented as the messenger of Azathoth. He is later described by other authors as being part of the Other Gods, an alien pantheon.

fictional character from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book"

character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four

fictional serial killer barber

supervillain in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer during the first half of the 20th century, based off ethnic stereotypes

character in A Song of Ice and Fire

fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories

Azathoth is a deity in the Cthulhu Mythos and Dream Cycle stories of writer H. P. Lovecraft and other authors. He is the supreme deity of the Cthulhu Mythos and the ruler of the Outer Gods, and may also be seen as a symbol for primordial chaos, therefore being the most powerful entity in the entirety of the Cthulhu Mythos.

fictional character of American Psycho

fictional character in the Star Wars universe

character in A Song of Ice and Fire

fictional character from Star Wars

Woland () is a fictional character in the novel The Master and Margarita by the Russian (Soviet) author Mikhail Bulgakov, written between 1928 and 1940. Woland is the mysterious foreigner and professor whose visit to Moscow sets the plot rolling and turns the world upside-down.

fairy tale character

Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago hates Othello and devises a pernicious scheme to destroy him by making him believe that Desdemona is having an affair with his lieutenant, Michael Cassio. With 1,097 lines, Iago has more lines in the play than Othello himself.

fictional character appearing as the protagonist of the 1996 Chuck Palahniuk novel Fight Club

fictional character

Javert (), no first name given in the source novel, is a fictional character and a main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables. He was presumably born in 1780 and died on June 7, 1832. First a prison guard, and then a police inspector, his character is defined by his legalist tendencies, authoritarian worldview, and lack of empathy for criminals of all forms. In the novel, he persecutes the protagonist Jean Valjean after his violation of parole and theft from the child Petit Gervais.

fictional character from The Vampire Diaries television series

Fagin () is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel Oliver Twist. Originally depicted by Dickens as explicitly Jewish, in the preface to the novel, he is alleged to be a "crafty old Jew" and a fence. In the story, Fagin is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates among them) whom he teaches to make their livings by pickpocketing and other criminal activities, in exchange for shelter. A distinguishing trait is his constant and insincere use of the phrase "my dear" when addressing others. At the time of the novel, he is sai

fictional character from Dune

Hastur (known by the epithets The Unspeakable One, The King in Yellow, Him Who Is Not to be Named, Assatur, Xastur, '''H'aaztre, Fenric, or Kaiwan''') is an entity of the Cthulhu Mythos.

fictional character created by Patricia Highsmith

fictional character and the main antagonist in George Orwell's novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”

the main villain in the legend of Robin Hood

fictional character from The Godfather series