Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Hi everybody and welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesday! Today I’m highlighting my favorite bookish villains!
Now to be fair, I have the memory of a goldfish, so while I’ll remember how a book made me feel, I may not always remember specifics… like who exactly the villain was. But sometimes these details do stick with me, so that’s how I know these were memorable villains. Whether it’s because I hated them with a fiery passion, or whether it’s because I kind of understood them and maybe even rooted for them a little tiny bit… what matters is: these villains are my favorite!
The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins – Snow is one of those classic villains we can all agree to hate.
Villains series by V.E. Schwab – “There are no good men in this game.” I mean, the series IS called Villains…
Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo – The Darkling is another beloved classic villain. Though honestly, the real villain is whoever decided to cancel the TV series and deny us more crows.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien – Again, a classic villain.
Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas – The King of Adarlan, Maeve, Erawan… all amazing villains
Direbound series by Sable Sorensen – No spoilers here but wow did I hate this one.
Red Winter trilogy by Annette Marie – Again, no spoilers but what a complicated villain indeed.
The War of Lost Hearts series by Carissa Broadbent – This had villains I hated and villains I was rooting for… so amazing indeed.
Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan – Kronos has got to be another classic one.
Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab – From the Dane Twins to Osaron, these were villains I loved to hate. Holland, on the other hand, I wanted to hug.
Tell Me:
What are some of your favorite villains, whether to love or to hate? Any we have in common?
Snow made my list this week! He’s one of those easy-to-dislike villains. Happy Top ten Tuesday!! 🙂
Snow’s indeed so easy to dislike! Not even his own POV/origin story could get me to like him even a little bit.
The Darkling is honestly the first villain where I absolutely swooned over him! My TTT: https://romantasylife.com/enemies-to-lovers/
Me too! 🙂
The real villain is whoever decided to cancel the TV series and deny us more crows. Hahaha yes preach girl!
Ugh, I’m still so salty about that as the cast was amazing and there was still so much potential!
I hated the one in Dire Bound too!
I hope the villain will get what they deserve in the next books!
Why has no one mentioned the King of Adarlan before? He’s such a nasty villain, but so is the king of Hybern.
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2025/09/09/top-ten-tuesday-vacation-time/
True, they’re both such great villains!
Yeah, I kind of wanted to hug Holland too…
Holland deserved all the hugs.
Kronos – yes! But Luke was a pretty good villain in the first book, too!
Yes! Kronos was such an easy-to-hate villain, but Luke was somehow a bit more understandable.
Yes, to the Percy Jackson baddie!
Here’s a link to my post
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2025/09/09/%f0%9f%93%9atoptentuesday-villains-favourite-best-worst-creepiest-tuesdaybookblog-booktwitter-booktwt/
He’s such a classic villain 🙂
Love your list!
Thanks!
Snow! That was the first character I thought of. He’s so easy to hate. lol
Snow’s indeed such an easy to hate villain!
I struggle to remember little – or even bigger in some cases- details in certain books, too.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one! 🙂
complicated villains – or villains we have complicated feelings for – are so intriguing to read! My TTT
They really are!
Kronos is such a villain! I feel his whole purpose for existing is to be a villain.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/the-ps-have-it-ten-titles-starting-with-p/
So true! 🙂
I have the memory of a goldfish, LOL! I have never heard it said like that, but I can totally relate! I skipped the topic and did something else. Have a good week!
Haha, it just felt fitting somehow 🙂 It was a tricky topic indeed!
Great list!! I just bought Direbound and this kind of makes me want to pick it up now. haha.
I hope you’ll love Direbound! It was one of my favorite reads of the year 🙂
Ohh, I feel like I need to read that sooner then!
My memory is also terrible, so I always struggle with these kinds of prompts. I’m glad you were able to come up with ten memorable villains!
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Glad to know I’m not the only one who struggles with this type of prompts though 🙂