10 Worst Villain Pet Peeves
- Jenna Moreci
- Jun 9
- 6 min read
HelloOoOo everybody!
I'm ranting about villains, ‘cause when the bad guy sucks, the whole book sucks. Here are the top ten worst villains in fiction, in my personal, completely biased, and 100% correct opinion. Because I'm a perfect person who's never wrong about anything.
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Number 1: The Cartoon Villain
This is just your run-of-the-mill bad guy. There was no thought put into them. They just meet all the generic bad guy criteria. Wears lots of black? Check. Do they have a scary name like The Dark One or the Overlord? Check. Ominous laughter, nameless henchmen, a handlebar mustache that he occasionally twirls while concocting evil schemes? Triple check.
Look, your bad guy doesn't need to be the most original character in the world, but could you maybe not get their dialogue straight from a cartoon? “The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!” If your villain's voice is reminiscent of a mouse from a children's show, maybe work on it.
Number 2: The Poor Little Bad Guy
Everywhere I turn, someone is writing a villain with a pathetic, tortured backstory. Let me guess, did they have a hard childhood? Did someone they love die? Did everyone they loved die?
First of all, statistically speaking, people who have gone through heavy shit tend to be more empathetic because of it. So, there's that. Second, this tumultuous past is usually used to humanize the villain, which is some gross shit.
“See? It's not his fault that he’s evil. His dad died.”
Oh, you know what, you're right. Because everyone whose dad dies ends up enslaving entire civilizations. Unless it's directly relevant to the plot, I honestly don't give a shit about your villain's backstory. And I don't know why you're telling us about it. Lots of people have sad childhoods, and yet somehow managed to not slaughter innocent human beings.
Number 3: The Unnecessary Redemption Arc
Not everyone needs to be redeemed, okay? Some people are just shit piles; they don't have goodness within them, they're not gonna get better, and even if they do, I don't care. “I've seen that error in my ways. I wanna change.” That's great, but you committed genocide, so me thinks this might be too little too late.
Writers, I’m gonna let you in on a secret. Some people just suck, and plenty of bad people remain bad for their entire lives. That's not cynicism, it's just reality.
Number 4: The Guy Who’s Evil, Just ’Cause
This works in comics, comedy, and that's about it. We get that your bad guy is evil. That's why they're called the bad guy. But I'm gonna need a bit more than that. A motivation, an impetus, something. No one wakes up one morning and thinks, “You know what? I'm a well-connected billionaire living in the side of a mountain. I think I’m just gonna blow up the entire planet.”
“But Jennaaa, my bad guy does have a motivation. He loves being evil.”
But why does he love being evil?
“Ugh. ‘Cause he's the bad guy.”
Wow, you literally put zero thought into this. Look, if you took the time to figure out why your hero wants to save the world, you should take the same amount of time to figure out why your villain wanted to destroy it in the first place.
Number 5: The Sexy Villain Love Interest
This character is vile, they commit terrible crimes, and they have definitely tried to kill the MC multiple times. But they're also hot, which means your MC is probably going to fuck them. Now, don't get me wrong, people make mistakes. And sometimes that mistake is putting a scumbag’s dick in your mouth.
But your MC isn't just going to fuck this character, they're also going to fall desperately in love with them. Which is horrifying. Who needs trust, loyalty, and respect when you have rock-hard abs and blind rage? They may be a liar, a murderer, and a sexual predator. But let's try to look beyond the layers of human garbage and see the hot piece of ass within. Focus on what matters, folks. (Sarcasm, just in case you didn’t catch it.)
Number 6: The Othered Villain
Wow! What a homogenous cast of characters you've got there. Well, except for the villain. We've all seen it. Every character in the book is white, except the villain. Every character in the book is straight, except the villain. Every character in the book is gorgeous, able-bodied, or neurotypical, but somehow the one person who happens to be disfigured, disabled, or mentally ill is the villain.
Now I'm not saying you can't make your villain gay, or they can't be unattractive. But the only character? The only one? In the whole book? You decided to give one person a disability, and you gave it to the evil piece of shit that everyone hates. Wow. You're kind of an asshole, aren’t ya?
Number 7: The Villain Doesn’t Do a Goddamn Thing
Your bad guy is so evil. And how do your readers know this? Because everyone in your book talks about it all the time. “Watch out for Zordon! He's the most evil alien in the galaxy. He does things. Evil things.”
That's great, but is he gonna actually do any of these things on page? I'm not gonna hate your villain just because your characters hate ‘em. This isn't high school. If you want me to fear Zordon, I'm gonna need him to blow up a planet, okay? Have him flay some peaceful aliens, and then maybe I'll believe he's the most evil dick-weasel in the galaxy.
Number 8: The Chatty Villain
It's the climax of the novel, and your villain is about to do the very thing they threatened to do throughout the entire book. But first, a soliloquy where they explain their plan and boast of their genius. Now, don't get me wrong. I understand the purpose of this; the writer needs the reader to learn these specific details, and this is the easiest way to do it. And sometimes the soliloquy works, but most of the time the reader is just sitting there thinking, “For God’s sake, just destroy the world already. You're wasting your opportunity.”
Writers, I know you gotta deliver the goods, but don't make your villain look like an idiot in the process.
Number 9: The Femme Fatale
This villainess is gonna waltz into your story wearing a pleather catsuit. She's gonna throw a knife at the good guy, then crawl across the table seductively in order to retrieve it. She's gonna lick her lips, she's going to squish her boobs together, and every piece of dialogue is gonna include a sexual innuendo.
Meanwhile, straight women around the world are rolling their eyes, and straight men would roll their eyes too, but they're too busy masturbating. She's a villain who controls men with her sexuality. Because apparently, sexuality is the only weapon women are allowed to have.
I get that she has tits and knows how to use them. But can she do something else? Remember that knife she was throwing around? Who needs sexuality when you could just stab dudes in the dick?
Number 10: The Bad Guy Who Absolutely Sucks at Being a Bad Guy
“I am pure evil. The cruelest mortal to ever walk this land. But somehow your protagonist is going to destroy my genius plan on the first try, without any assistance, knowledge, or training.”
I know you're just trying to make your hero come off as a badass, but that's not how this is translating. Your hero doesn't look awesome. The villain just looks really pathetic. And hey, I love a happy ending. I want the hero to win, but I also want them to bleed a little. Okay, I want them to bleed a lot. The climax of the novel is a lot like a climax in the bedroom. If it's over in two seconds, you probably suck at this.
So that's all I've got for you today!
Sometimes villains suck, and not for the intended reasons. I'm supposed to hate them, not hate the way they're written. And if you have a problem with anything I've said, just remember every day is my birthday, which means you're not allowed to find fault with me. It's the law.
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