I love Narnia, but – the White Witch? I’d rather see her than Voldemort!

When I first read the title of the article I was confused…“worst” is REALLY misleading there. “Most evil” or “one of the best villains” or something would suit it more, lol.

You might want to change the article title to ‘Voldemort Named Among BEST Literary Villains’ – worst implies he’s a poorly written character, and not scary at all. That’s what I thought when I read it, anyway.

Way to go Voldy!

Narcissus brings up a good point: how Voldy makes the reader feel. What would/can/should disgust us about him is who he’s roughly patterned after: Hitler, and as someone else pointed out, the fact that Hitler was reality and could be again. (….which goes deeper than children would read.) Part of what makes others fear him goes beyond him specifically, it’s the ‘persuasive’ effect he has on others.

I don’t think Jo wanted us to feel simply fear for Voldy, but something more complex. She wanted a bit of sympathy, (if someone had sympathized with him early on, he wouldn’t have become Voldemort AND that not recognizing others deserving of sympathy could lead them to violent ‘paths’.) She also gave the sense of not giving in to fear, but to actively fight for hope.

Most importantly, Voldy’s an excellent villain, who’s above all crude ranking, because JK Rowling ‘wrote’ him so well!!! (We know who’s best!) Carry on all you want about lists, though, because they’re still fun and make us all think, read and debate!!

:)

Possible someone has already said this, but the title “worst villains” makes it sound like they are not scary, but wimpy or badly-written. You probably would have been better off writing “most evil villains” or something.

I don’t know, Padfootlover, right now eternal winter is pretty freaking scary to me! :)

“And yeah, he is kinda like a totalitarian dictator, but when I think of a Hitler or a Stalin, I feel disgust, not fear. Two totally different emotions.”

You would feel fear if you were living in in Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s USSR. Thats how Voldemort was supposed to make us and the wizarding world feel.

I was disappointed that Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty) didn’t make it, since they included several Disney movies. Even more than Voldemort, she’s the baddest villain of all time – evil for the sake of evil. Voldemort was evil, but it was in pursuit of power and control – Maleficent was just evil. But I do agree, Voldemort probably should have been further up in the list.

WHAT?! the wicked step mother isn’t scary or the white witch or trunchball the dark lord is sooooooooooooo much scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter’s the one, and Voldy’s gone moldy, so now let’s have fun!”

Voldemort gets his commeupance! And to the people who think Voldemort is not a classic scary villain then don’t say anything at all. Voldemort is the best even if he is the villain! :)

hrm …. I don’t really think scary is how we should judge them …evil, maybe …. or maybe most notorious villains of all time ….. XD hahaha ….. on that note …. Jadis wasn’t scary either. XD

For a second there I was thinking ‘worst’ as in most poorly written villian..!

That list is a little.. predictable for my liking. Seriously, people are still considering Grimm’s versions of folk tale ‘villians’ scarey? They weren’t even proper villians in the originals..

Most of those villians appear to be very two-dimensional, aside from Voldemort. I guess if they all got to tell their story of how the got ‘bad’ then maybe they would seem more believable.

Voldie is brilliant though – the rise to evil, seeking blind revenge, attacking a little baby, and his fall from grace – just a true villian through and through!!

Hello. I’m a Japanese Harry Potter fan.
On January 17th, new HBP trailer was aired on Japanese TV after GoF was broadcasted.
This trailer includes a lot of never before scene footage.
You should see this!
http://www.pottermania.jp/Gallery/HarryPotter6/index_Screenshot4.htm

Saint Dane from the Pendragon series should be up there.