B = Bad Boys

When I say, "Today I'm talking about Bad Boys," I want you to know I don't mean the ones with the James Dean looks who want to sweep you off your feet. Anyone can talk about the heroes of a story, but I want to draw attention to the men who make heroes possible... I want to talk about the terrifying and deranged, self-righteous devils who want to challenge socially acceptable morals.

In yesterday's post, I mentioned JK Rowling; her Lord Voldemort is an obvious choice, but I feel another deserves credit: Fenrir Greyback. He isn't a Death Eater and he doesn't give a hoot about Voldemort's cause... He is in fact a werewolf, who delights in death and violence so much, he not only chooses to be You Know Who's errand boy for fun, but he also desires the taste for blood while in human form. As if that's not bad enough, children are his victim of choice: he makes sure he's in a position to bite one when ever the moon rises... So not only is Fenrir Greyback a werewolf, he's a were-pedo. Who thinks up something like that?

And what about William Peter Blatty's infamous ticket to fame:  Captain Howdy. Such a cute little name for a dirty little devil...or is it devils? Multiple personalities or multiple persons aside, Captain Howdy takes a sweet little girl and turns her into one of the most vile creatures in literary and cinematic history. "The power of Christ compells you..." to sleep with the goddamned lights on so the monsters can't get in.

And lastly, I want to mention Patrick Ness's Mayor Prentiss of The Chaos Walking Trilogy.  Mayor Prentiss, King of Misogynists, organized the mass genocide of an entire gender. Then lied about it, brain washing his townsmen into becoming obedient,  uneducated, murderers... Followed up by enslaving a sentient race of extraterrestrials beings. When confronted with the outside world, he lied to cover up the uglier parts of his involvement and tricked his men into turning what was left of the female race into more slaves. He emotionally tormented his own son for years before finally stabbing the poor clueless bastard in the back... Needless to say, he was a villain worthy of the title.

It's kind of funny, when you really think about it, that the Good Guys ever win. After all the work authors put into their most terrifying creations, it's almost a sin to not let them win. Do you think they let the hero conquer his enemies for the readers benefit, so that hope may live on... Or because they've secretly got death-dungeons in their basements and they're trying to trick the police?

 If you're participating in the A-to-Z challenge feel free to leave me a link!...and tell me about your favorite literary villains!