History EnfantTerrible / Literature

* Kludd from ''Literature/GuardiansOfGaHoole''. At first, he seems like a stereotypical annoying big brother, but Mrs. P. senses that there's something very off about him, "unowlish." [[spoiler:Kludd pushes Soren from the nest in an attempt at fratricide, threatens to eat Mrs. P., kills his parents, takes Eglantine to the Pure Ones, and by ''The Rescue'' has become Metal Beak, the BigBad.]]

** Euron Greyjoy, in a preview chapter for ''The Winds of Winter'', confirms to his brother Aeron while torturing him that he has murdered (or orchestrated the murder of) three of their brothers. His first being their half-brother Harlon who was murdered as a child. One needs to remember that Harlon was at least a few years older than Euron when the deed was committed. While he was still young, Euron also regularly sexually abused Aeron and another brother, Urrigon, explaining Aeron's hatred and utter terror of Euron.

* ''Literature/{{Confessions}}'': From observing other babies, Augustine deduces that he himself was as corrupt and self-centered as a child as he was in his adult life. He probably wailed and whirled his limbs around with as much force as possible, a behavior only tolerated because of how weak and pathetic his attempts at harm were.

* Jane and Alec from ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Despite their eternal childlike appearance, the twins are very feared and respected by every vampire who knows their rare psychic powers and evil personalities.
** "Immortal children", AKA very young kids turned into vampires. Unable to control themselves at all, they are killed when found, as are their creators, anyone who tries to protect them, and anyone who knows about them.

* Amity Adora ("Amma") Crellin in Gillian Flynn's ''/Literature/SharpObjects''; charming, childlike, spoiled, vicious, manipulative, morbid, sexually precocious, and, incidentally, [[spoiler:a triple murderer]] by the age of thirteen.

* Josephine in Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Crooked House''. [[spoiler:She's responsible for a series of murders starting with her grandfather.]]

* ''Literature/{{Struwwelpeter}}'': "The Story of Cruel Frederick" is about a boy who abuses animals, breaks things, and bullies his sister Mary for his own amusement. Frederick [[LaserGuidedKarma gets his comeuppance]] when a dog he beats bites him on the leg, leaving him bed-bound for days and forced to take nasty-tasting medicine.

* Leck in ''Fire''/''Literature/{{Graceling}}''. Guess it comes with being able to [[spoiler:put thoughts into people's heads]]...but a lot of people are damaged or killed thanks to him.

* Tara Webster, Michael's little sister from the Literature/{{Goosebumps}} book ''The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'' appears to gain a sadistic pleasure from making her brother's life difficult, and displays no redeeming qualities at all. It appears that she's ALWAYS been like this, to the point that she would make things difficult for her brother even when she could barely speak. [[spoiler:At the end of the book, it's hard to feel bad about Tara's existence being erased.]]

* ''Literature/Struwwelpeter'': "The Story of Cruel Frederick" is about a boy who abuses animals, breaks things, and bullies his sister Mary for his own amusement. Frederick [[LaserGuidedKarma gets his comeuppance]] when a dog he beats bites him on the leg, leaving him bed-bound for days and forced to take nasty-tasting medicine.

* ''And the Ass Saw the Angel'' (a book written by Music/NickCave, whose musical career formerly provided the page quote -- See Music, below) has the character of Beth. The UnreliableNarrator can't quite make up his mind whether she's actually a demonic witch or not.

** Subverted with Clay. As a teenager, he doesn't feel particularly evil or violent, which confuses the others because of how he was as a hatchling. Right after hatching he attacked the other eggs and had to be torn away from them by force. However, it turns out he wasn't actually attacking them. This is normal [=MudWing=] behavior. The first-hatched egg (called a "[=BigWing=]") has a natural BigBrotherInstinct which causes them to help break their siblings out of their eggs.
** Peril was [[TykeBomb was raised]] as one. She has a FictionalDisability where she produces too much fire. Just touching her causes severe burns. So, an evil queen decided to raise Peril to kill others for blood sport.

* ''And the Ass Saw the Angel'' (a book written by Music/NickCave, whose musical career formerly provided the page quote - See Music, below) has the character of Beth. The UnreliableNarrator can't quite make up his mind whether she's actually a demonic witch or not.

%%* Max and Moritz in Creator/WilhelmBusch's ''Literature/MaxAndMoritz''. They are completely amoral pranksters.
%%* The two children, Miles and Flora, in Henry James's ''Literature/{{The Turn of the Screw}}''. Although there is some speculation as to whether or not they really were Enfants Terrible or whether the narrator was insane...
%%* [[spoiler:Florence]] in ''Florence and Giles,'' John Harding's [[WholePlotReference version]] of ''The Turn of the Screw'', turns out to be very much this, given her habit of [[spoiler:murdering her governesses.]]
%%* Clark Fries in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/PodkayneOfMars''. [[spoiler:(Although he's on the way to reform at the end of the book.)]]
%%* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' combines this with VillainProtagonist and AntiVillain [[spoiler: until his HeelFaceTurn]].
%%* The titular Kevin from ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin'' and the film based on it. He only gets worse as a teenager...
%%* The Career Tributes in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', especially Clove. TheFilmOfTheBook takes this UpToEleven.
%%--> "Where's lover boy?"

* Young Tom Riddle as seen in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' is already convinced that he's [[{{Ubermensch}} special and different from everyone around him]], honing his magical skills by torturing other children and killing animals, and manipulating adults by [[DeliberatelyCuteChild putting on a polite and quiet act]] when he wants something. He was also a murderer at least twice over--and also a [[ImmortalityImmorality lich]]--by the time he grew up.

* In ''Literature/{{Palimpsest}},'' people who can travel to Palimpsest in their dreams are marked with a tattoo of a region of the city somewhere on their body. One woman so marked had a baby after receiving her tattoo - and her baby was born ''covered'' in tattoos - not of Palimpsest, of someplace else - and minutes after birth he looked at his mother and said "''I want to go back.''" His mother had a sort of FreakOut and gave him up for adoption.

** At age twelve Gregor Clegane burned off half of his younger brother Sandor's face when the latter dared to play with one of Gregor's toys, a toy that Gregor did not want anymore.

** Cersei was arguably even ''worse'' than her son Joffrey in her youth -- for all she was a lot brighter when it came to covering her worst offences up successfully as, at most "just a mean, but cute, brat". Abusing her baby brother Tyrion, seducing her twin brother (Jaime), accusing a servant girl of theft and having her beaten so badly that she lost an eye, [[spoiler:murdering her best friend to keep her quiet about their visit to a fortune teller (and because said friend also fancied Jaime)]]...she did all this and more as a lass. What's worse is that she doesn't regret any of this as an adult. If anything, she's ''proud'' she was so "bold", so young. In light of this, it's no wonder Joffrey turned out the way he did with Cersei as his primary parental figure.
** Unsurprisingly occurs in House Frey, the poster House for BigScrewedUpFamily. Two of Walder Frey's young grandsons, "Big" Walder and "Little" Walder, who are only 52 days apart in age, embody this in different ways, both being bullies. However, Little Walder shows a nastier and more sadistic streak, taking part in the cruelties of the sadistic [[BastardBastard Ramsay Bolton]]. His cousin Big Walder, despite being very low in the line of succession (his father is Walder Frey's 13th son) makes it clear early on he intends to become Lord of the Crossing. [[spoiler:Its almost certain he murdered Little Walder, who was ahead of him in the line of succession, even though he was only 9.]] However he still comes across as sympathetic, considering what an AssholeVictim they were, and the fact Big Walder shows a more decent side in "A Dance with Dragons".
* Princess Violet from Literature/TheSwordOfTruth. A spoiled princess who orders to chop off heads a-la the Red Queen. [[spoiler: A few books later, she is taught to cast curses through magical drawings. Cut to a LittleMissBadass coming to visit; ''Well... Who's that on the drawing? Oh, that's right, it's me. (draws a few lines) Well, Violet, now it's you. Cut to SoundOnlyDeath'']].

* The BigBad of the Literature/{{Tunnels}} series is one: [[spoiler:Rebecca Burrows, the protagonist's 12-year-old little sister.]]

** Peril was [[TykeBomb was raised]] as one. She has a FictionalDisability where she produces too much fire. Just touching her causes severe burns. So, an evil queen decided to raise Peril to kill others for blood sport.

* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'''s Veil Sixclaw. He's an AlwaysChaoticEvil ferret, who ends up being raised by the good mice. From the start he makes them suspicious, hence the name they choose for him. [[spoiler:It's an anagram of "evil" and "vile".]] His foster-mother Bryony puts it down to fear of CarnivoreConfusion and adores him, but by his teens, he's attempting to poison fellow Abbeydwellers. Some fans who see him as the {{Woobie}} forget that he continues this behaviour in his wanderings, committing highway robbery and murdering two foxes (who admittedly had captured him earlier). [[InTheBlood He apparently gets his psychotic tendencies and grudge-holding abilities from his father]]. What really mixes up this example is the fact that he [[spoiler: pulls a HeroicSacrifice to save Bryony at the end of the book.]] This has the effect of convincing Bryony that he really was evil in his heart all along [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext (it doesn't make sense in context either)]].

* ''Literature/{{Haunted}}'': [[spoiler:Brandon Whittier is a 13-year-old cursed with progeria, a disease which causes its victims to age at seven times the normal rate, becoming YoungerThanTheyLook. He tricks the female volunteers at the nursing home where he works into thinking he's eighteen, begging them not to let him die a virgin, and then threatening to report them for child molestation unless they give him ten thousand dollars.]]