History AxCrazy / Literature

* [[spoiler:Gaithim in ''Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned'', [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity as a side effect of becoming a hoshek]].]]

** He's actually more of a subversion as it is stated that he does have a personal code that he lives by. Unfortunately, the code he follows only makes sense to him alone and doesn't make him any less evil.

* Drake Merwin from the ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' series, especially once [[spoiler: Sam burns his arm off and gets it replaced by a [[CombatTentacles snake-esque whip arm]]]]. And even worse now that he's back from the dead and SharingABody with Brittany, who Sam won't kill because she's innocent.
** Also Caine after his [[spoiler: visit with the Darkness in ''Hunger.'']]
** Gaia might as well be the poster child for this trope.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In the ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' Joruus C'baoth was a completely insane dark Jedi who was a clone of the Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth. Because of the speed at which he had been cloned he fell victim to the clone madness. Combined with the ability to use the Force this made C'baoth a very dangerous character, potentially even more dangerous the Emperor had been. [[note]] This was before further ''Legends'' works established the Emperor had transferred his consciousness to a clone body. [[/note]]
** Further ''Legends'' works established that the original C'baoth wasn't all that stable himself.

* Holloway Roberts becomes AxeCrazy in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' as a result of ever more dire circumstances while trying to explore the house's [[BiggerOnTheInside labyrinthine halls.]]

* In ''LightNovel/GatheringTheEnchanted'' Bannor ends up going AxeCrazy... Or more, fire crazy, when his friends are shot.

* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', all male [[WitchSpecies Channelers]] eventually either go Ax Crazy or die of a hideously disfiguring disease, thanks to a curse levelled on them by [[GodOfEvil the Dark One]] (and the ones who ''do'' go crazy still die eventually -- it's a toss-up what order the symptoms manifest in, how strong they are, and when). From the same series, recurring villain Padan Fain is also like this -- being an imperfect merge of the original Fain and the ancient, malevolent spirit Mordeth he's about as far from stable as you get and is prone to lashing out violently at anyone unfortunate enough to be in his vicinity, though his real target is [[TheChosenOne Rand]]. Scarily, he can still be charming (in an oily sort of way) when he wants to be, and has even shown the ability to supernaturally infect those he spends time around with his own Ax Crazy.

-->The spirits of Hell woke up in me to their full rage. I hit the defenceless body within intoxicating ecstasy and I enjoyed every single hit. Then I ran along the lit street still full of this amphibious euphoria, gloating about my crime and at the same time planning lightheadedly new ones, although listening carefully in case for the steps of chasing avenger. With a song on his lips Hyde mixed the potion, and upon drinking it he drank the toast of dead man.

* Maurild De Voye from ''Literature/JKRowlingUsesMagicToTurnTransvestitesIntoSerialKillers'' slaps her minions so much that they have come to hate her. She's completely willing, even eager to do her dirty work herself though.

* No female fits this description better than [[{{Yandere}} Annie Wilkes]] of the Creator/StephenKing novel ''{{Literature/Misery}}''. She started out as a mercy killer, killing babies who were not expected to live due to poor birthing. When she was fired from her nursing job, and she was no longer able to perform her 'public service,' she became absolutely bonkers. She has a scrap book containing news articles relevant to her murders, kidnaps her favorite author to force him to write a new book, resurrecting her favorite character which the author had killed (She treats this as if he had actually killed a real person), breaks the author's ankles with a sledgehammer to prevent his escape, and murders a sheriff who discovers her deeds. She's so horrifying, that even after the protagonist has [[spoiler: bashed her head into a fine paste, he can't convince himself she's dead. He sees her every where he goes.]] She was so crazy she was contagious!
** To give you a real insight into just how dangerously unhinged Annie is, there's this one part in the book where she takes a rat she trapped in her basement upstairs and puts it in front of Paul. She then begins to crush the poor creature to death with her bare hands, all the while discussing her extremely nihilistic view of the world, with humans being merely trapped rats with broken backs. Then she takes the rat's blood and licks it off her fingertips.
** While in the movie she breaks his ankles, in the novel she goes a bit further by chopping off one of his feet with an axe, and then cauterizing the wound with a blowtorch.

* Jack Torrance from Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheShining'', especially the Creator/JackNicholson [[TheFilmOfTheBook version]], who uses an actual ax instead of a croquet mallet when he finally goes over the edge. "Heeeeeere's Johnny!"

** Carcer, a sadistic sociopath in ''Night Watch''

%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
%%
%%

* Deca in ''Literature/TalesOfAnMazingGirl'' seems to be a LargeHam of a villain in a vaguely-ComicBook/IronMan suit. However, his actions tend to play a lot creepier and more psychopathic then a classic villain. He's not above killing people — not to make a point, but to make a point that there is no point.

* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', all male [[WitchSpecies Channelers]] eventually either go Ax Crazy or die of a hideously disfiguring disease, thanks to a curse levelled on them by [[GodOfEvil the Dark One]] (and the ones who ''do'' go crazy still die eventually- it's a toss-up what order the symptoms manifest in, how strong they are, and when). From the same series, recurring villain Padan Fain is also like this- being an imperfect merge of the original Fain and the ancient, malevolent spirit Mordeth he's about as far from stable as you get and is prone to lashing out violently at anyone unfortunate enough to be in his vicinity, though his real target is [[TheChosenOne Rand]]. Scarily, he can still be charming (in an oily sort of way) when he wants to be, and has even shown the ability to supernaturally infect those he spends time around with his own Ax Crazy.

* ''Literature/{{Renegades}}'' has The Detonator, a MadBomber with the ability to create explosives with her thoughts. She's also obsessed with harming Captain Chromium, to the point of endangering her teammates. RealityEnsues in that the moment this comes to light, the other Anarchists boot her out before she can harm them further.

*** Luman is considered this at first, not helped by the narrator who doesn't trust him. The fact that he lives with lots of weapons, in his own piss and that his childhood is about getting to discover every nuthouse in the country, there's some reason to. It gets slowly subverted tough, as Luman shows more and more remorse and interest in his brothers, sisters and bastards. Late in the story he shows some intelectual acumen and helps Maddox accepting his past faults.

* Subverted in ''Literature/WorldWarZ''. T. Sean Collins is a mercenary who lives to kill, and seems incapable of stopping himself. He was a PrivateMilitaryContractor before World War Z, and switched to zombies when the war broke out. The subversion comes in the fact that he is [[MadHatter deeply introspective and well-aware of his mental state,]] and under no illusion of being able to give up killing. He states an intention to go on hunting zombies for as long has he can, and then killing himself so he will never risk relapsing into killing humans.

* ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'': Brinkley, the replacement Bertie hires when [[TheJeeves Jeeves]] quits in ''Thank You, Jeeves'', is a BattleButler GoneHorriblyWrong. Ordinarily he's merely unpleasant and creepy, but when he gets drunk, he chases ''everyone'' relentlessly with carving knives, choppers and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking potatoes]]. And, since Bertie never actually gets near enough to fire him, there's some FridgeHorror inherent in the fact that ''he's still on the loose'', and may at any moment decide to [[{{Pun}} take a stab at]] being Bertie's valet again.

* Stygg from ''Literature/TheLastDragonChronicles''. He kills lots of families, just to replenish [[spoiler:Grella's]] sewing supplies. [[spoiler:He gets worse after ingesting dilute Ix.]]

* Stygg from ''Literature/{{Dragons}}''. He kills lots of families, just to replenish [[spoiler:Grella's]] sewing supplies. [[spoiler:He gets worse after ingesting dilute Ix.]]

** The Faceless Men, an assassins' guild, sometimes use a substance called basilisk blood. It gives meat a savory scent, but when eaten induces a violent madness in any creature with warm blood, man or beast. Reportedly, a mouse will attack a lion after eating it.

** Jaime Lannister considered the Smiling Knight to be his boyhood's Mountain, only "Half as big but twice as mad."

** Jonathan Teatime the assassin in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}''

** Mr. Tulip and Mr. Pin, aka The New Firm, in ''Discworld/TheTruth''
** Wolfgang from ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'' is the prototype for the later character of Carcer.
** ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'' has multiple ax-crazy moments, such as Jeremy Clockson's behavior when he hasn't had his medicine, and Mr. White's mental breakdown while holding an actual ax.
** Discworld's greatest example of a ''hero'' who has the potential to go Ax Crazy is Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. All who know him are very afraid to make him too angry for fear that he'll snap and (to use the British term) "go spare". His most notable instance of rage, as seen in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', made a group of dwarves, normally trained to fight to the death, flee in terror. To his credit, Vimes remains able to escape his rages before going beyond the point of forgiveness.
** Andy Shank, football hooligan and general sociopath, from ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals''.

** ''Literature/PetSematary'': Every person buried in the Micmac burying ground beyond the titular Pet Sematary comes back from the dead as a sadistic HumanoidAbomination possessed by a [[DemonicPossession Demon]] or MonsterBeyondTheVeil.

%%
%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%

* Quinton from Zane's ''Addicted''. Add Dempse as well.

* Sallie Declan, the VillainProtagonist of A. N. Wilson's ''A Jealous Ghost,'' has longstanding... issues. While babysitting a six-year-old boy, she [[spoiler: loses her temper and hits him on the side of the head, hard, sending him smashing into a faucet.]] Later on, in college, she [[spoiler: loses her temper again and nails a fellow student with an iron.]] And, making the third time the charm, when Sallie is [[spoiler: dismissed from her job as a nanny]], she [[spoiler: murders a young girl by smashing her skull in and slashing her face to bits.]]

** ''Literature/DeathComesAsTheEnd'' counts as well, with the killer proceeding in short order to murder more than half of the named characters.

** Taylor. And probably Rachel. No, Ax is not Ax crazy. (He may ''act'' crazy around certain foods, though.)
** David in ''The Solution''.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has a lot of these given the series BlackAndGrayMorality:
** Gregor Clegane, who, when he was a teenager, burned off half the face of his kid brother for playing with one of Gregor's discarded toys, is implied to have murdered his father, younger sister, wives and multiple servants, smashed a baby's head against a wall before raping and murdering his mother, and who spent the majority of the War of Five Kings leading a band of {{Sociopathic Soldier}}s in raping, burning and murdering all across the Riverlands. You know you're insane when even [[BloodKnight The Hound]] is scared of you.
** Interestingly enough, Arya Stark (a survivor of one of Gregor's murderous rampages through south-central Westeros) seems headed in this direction. [[SociopathicHero She's one of the good guys, though.]] It's a real pity that she never got the chance to give Gregor a taste of ''valar morghulis'' ([[spoiler: High Valyrian for "Everyone Dies"]]) before his death.
** Ramsay Bolton, a vicious SerialKiller whose favorite hobbies are [[FlayedAlive flaying people alive]] and HuntingTheMostDangerousGame. His father Roose also qualifies, though he is the calculating, stoic type of crazy rather than the out-and-out blade-happy like his bastard son is.
** [[TheCaligula Mad King Aerys Targaryen]] was famous for having his people horribly maimed and/or killed, especially by fire, with little to no provocation. He was also a bit of a sore loser:
--->"The traitors want my city ... [[TakingYouWithMe but I’ll give them naught but ashes]]. [[OmnicidalManiac Let Robert be king over charred bones and cooked meat.]]"
** Joffrey Baratheon is an interesting example. He's a sadistic sociopath and has almost no regard for human life whatsoever, but he's also an abject coward who can't win a fight against a girl half his size, so rather than do the deed himself, he likes to have his thugs kill and beat people in front of him or shoot defenseless people with a crossbow from a safe distance.
** Jaime Lannister considered the Smiling Knight to be his boyhood's Mountain, only "Half as big but twice as mad."
* ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}'': Taur Urgas, King of Cthol Murgos. This is a man who beats his wives, {{Bad Boss}}es his underlings, tortures his enemies slowly, encourages his children to murder one another in order to become his heir, froths at the mouth in battle, chews the furniture during fits of madness, and dies screaming for his opponent to "[[BloodKnight come back and fight]]!"
* Dwayne Hoover in Creator/KurtVonnegut's ''Literature/BreakfastOfChampions'' winds up going on an insane rampage, which the author/narrator attributes to the influence of "bad chemicals."

* Lydia of ''Caught In The Act'' by Peter Moore.

* ''Creator/{{Clive Barker}}'' is quite fond of them.
** ''Film/{{Dread}}'' -- [[spoiler:Steve]] becomes ax crazy at the end of the short story. After [[BreakTheCutie enduring psychological torture that causes his mind to snap]], he takes a fire axe from the homeless shelter where he was dropped off, tracks down [[spoiler:Quaid]], and proceeds to [[KarmicDeath slowly hack him to death]] [[BewareTheNiceOnes over the course of the night]].
** Played straight, subverted, averted, and everything in between in ''Literature/{{Galilee}}''. Although the Barbarossa get the most of it, the Gearys being more of the drunk-with-power type.
*** Luman is considered this at first, not helped by the narrator who doesn't trust him. The fact that he lives with lots of weapons, in his own piss and that his childhood is about getting to discover every nuthouse in the country, there's some reason to. It gets slowly subverted tough, as Luman shows more and more remorse and interest in his brothers, sisters and bastards. Late in the story he shows some intelectual acumen and helps Maddox accepting his past faults.
*** Cesaria gets the worst of it. Sure, she can show some genuine compassion and love... but no one who even remotely knows her forgets that she could kill anyone at any moment should she get angry. And she gets angry fast.
*** Late in the book, [[spoiler:Mitchell]] slips firmly into it and it's hinted that [[spoiler:Garrisson]] could end up the same way.
* Odiana, a recurring antagonist in ''Literature/CodexAlera'', is a powerful watercrafter driven mad by [[RapeAsDrama being raped]] just as TheEmpath part of her watercrafting was coming in. She is quite nonplussed about physical violence, at the very least.
-->'''Odiana:''' If you go and kill the ugly little girl right now, won't the steadholder object? And then you'd have to kill him as well. And anyone else upstairs. And all these people here... Why shouldn't we do this again?
** Phyrgiar Navaris, an antagonist in the fifth book ''Captain's Fury'', is obsessed with becoming known as the greatest blade in Alera and has an official kill record in the three-digit range (potentially ''four'' if you include "self-defense" and suspected killings).

* ''Literature/ColtRegan'' -- Johnny Nobody's reaction to Colt stealing a job from him is this.

* A number of villains in books by Creator/TomHolt display this. For instance, there's the evil genie in ''Literature/DjinnRummy'', or Jupiter in ''Literature/YeGods'', who plans to wipe out the Earth and replace it with a nearly identical one. Neither one is very rational.
* In ''LightNovel/GatheringTheEnchanted'' Bannor ends up going Ax Crazy... Or more, fire crazy, when his friends are shot.
* Erroy Gere in ''Gifts'', the first book in ''Literature/AnnalsOfTheWesternShore''. His power is "twisting", which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin twists the victim's body in awful and painful ways]], and he exercises it on cruel whim. Canoc warns him off by a conspicuous display of his own power.
* Luca Brasi in ''Film/TheGodfather.'' Just ask Al Capone.

* In ''Literature/{{Harahpin}}'', Eyrco and Euron become this briefly when they first arrive on Untoria. If it wasn't for Euron's silver glow, Eyrco would have ripped out his throat.

* Holloway Roberts becomes Ax Crazy in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' as a result of ever more dire circumstances while trying to explore the house's [[BiggerOnTheInside labyrinthine halls.]]

* Brinkley, the replacement Bertie hires when [[TheJeeves Jeeves]] quits in ''[[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Thank You, Jeeves]]'', is a BattleButler GoneHorriblyWrong. Ordinarily he's merely unpleasant and creepy, but when he gets drunk, he chases ''everyone'' relentlessly with carving knives, choppers and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking potatoes]]. And, since Bertie never actually gets near enough to fire him, there's some FridgeHorror inherent in the fact that ''he's still on the loose'', and may at any moment decide to [[{{Pun}} take a stab at]] being Bertie's valet again.
* Stygg from ''[[Literature/{{Dragons}} The Last Dragon Chronicles]]''. He kills lots of families, just to replenish [[spoiler:Grella's]] sewing supplies. [[spoiler:He gets worse after ingesting dilute Ix.]]

* William Hamleigh from ''Literature/ThePillarsOfTheEarth'' has elements of this.

* Roderick Whittle, aka UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, from Creator/RichardLaymon's ''Literature/{{Savage}}''.

* ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' -- If Edward Hyde isn't Ax Crazy then who is? He does pretty horrible things throughout the book, but the most gruesome of his deeds is the murder of one of the leaders of parliament. He has completely no reason for it, no provocation, and bashing in the face of a random, old gentleman isn't really anything that sane men would do. As described in the book:
--> The spirits of Hell woke up in me to their full rage. I hit the defenceless body within intoxicating ecstasy and I enjoyed every single hit. Then I ran along the lit street still full of this amphibious euphoria, gloating about my crime and at the same time planning lightheadedly new ones, although listening carefully in case for the steps of chasing avenger. With a song on his lips Hyde mixed the potion, and upon drinking it he drank the toast of dead man.

* Deca in the ''TalesOfAnMazinggirl'' seems to be a large ham of a villian in an vaugely iron man suit. However his actions tend to play a lot creepier and more Pyscopathic then classic villian. Hes not above killing people-not to make a point, but to make a point that there is no point.

--> A casebook sociopath, if ever he'd seen one.
--> People called Larkin mad, but he wasn't mad like Cuu. Cuu was a cold killer. A psycho.
* Literature/MalusDarkblade from the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}: Deamons Curse'' series is a shining example of Ax Crazy. He eats the heart of a previous captor, makes his oldest brothers face into a mask, and murders his father for a knife. And that's before the deamon stole his soul.
** This is not in any way unusual in Druchii culture, for example, that father of his tortured him for about a week for some reason. And he really, really needed the magic knife, and didn't know who had it until he barged in and started killing people about it. The others had also tried/succeeding in doing rather nasty things to him in the past.

* Holloway Roberts becomes Ax Crazy in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' as a result of ever more dire circumstances while trying to explore the [[color:blue:house's]] [[BiggerOnTheInside labyrinthine halls.]]