History Monster / StephenKing

* In ''{{IT}}'' we have the titular monstrous entity that actively hunts and eats people of all ages (most of which are children), gruesomely murders the main protagonist's brother by tearing his arm off, and who also drives Henry Bowers on to murder the other characters during their adult years.

* In ''{{IT}}'' we have the titular monstrous entity that actively hunts and eats people of all ages (most of which are children), gruesomely murders the main protagonist's brother, and who also drives Henry Bowers on to murder the other characters during their adult years.

* In ''{{IT}}'' we have the titular monstrous entity that actively hunts and eats people of all ages (most of which are children), and who also drives Henry Bowers on to murder the other characters during their adult years.

* In ''{{IT}}'' we have the titular monstrous entity that actively hunts and eats people of all ages, and who also drives Henry Bowers on to murder the other characters during their adult years.

* In ''{{IT}}'' we have titular monstrous entity that actively hunts and eats people of all ages, and who also drives Henry Bowers on to murder the other characters during their adult years.

* From ''{{IT}}'':
** The titular monster that eats children, and who also drives Henry Bowers on to murder the other characters during their adult years.
** Patrick Hockstetter, who [[spoiler: murders his baby brother in his cradle ''at the age of five'' and steals his neighbor's dog and locks it in a fridge to slowly die while checking it every few days]]. He is described as so profoundly sociopathic that the concept of morality was impossible for him to grasp. In a sense, he was born on the far side of the MoralEventHorizon.

** Tom Rogan, an abusive asshole who is a virtual carbon-copy of Beverly Marsh's equally abusive father. When Beverly finally stands up to him and leaves him, he tracks down Beverly's best friend Kay and tortures her into revealing her whereabouts before going after her in revenge. He doesn't get too far, however, and [[spoiler:dies of fright when It reveals Its true form to him]].

* Leland Gaunt from NeedfulThings is a very different kind of a monster villain, a genial and well spoken owner of a little novelty shop that just happens to have your heart's greatest desire in stock. He's willing to sell it to you for a paltry sum and a little favor. This is a harmless prank to play on your neighbor. What you don't know is that your "needful thing" is in fact a malevolent charm that will make you paranoidly obsessed over it and drive you into murderous insanity, not to mention that all the harmless little pranks are designed to thrive on old grudges and insecurities, exploit all the dirty secrets your neighbors (and you) have and stir up all the incipient feuds, turning people against each other until your whole town tears itself apart with weapons that Mr. Gaunt helpfully supplies. Even if you're spared by the slaughter and general madness, it is only so you could realise that you're partially responsible for it and kill yourself. Mr. Gaunt will just stand there at the window of his little shop, savouring chaos and death, like he'd done countless times before all across the world.
* Bobbi's sister Anne from the Tommyknockers might count she is a cruel heartless woman who takes a great enjoyment in verbally abusing others including her own parent's, its pretty much stated that she killed her father with all of her nagging, she is also a huge control freak and she goes to Haven the town Bobbi's living in just so she can bring her back home so she can control. Though probably the worst thing she did was when she was at the hospital after her father's death she tried to call Bobbi and after she didn't answer the phone told her family including her grieving mother that Bobbi had said that she was glad that there father was dead all out of spite.

StephenKing has written some pretty nasty villains in his day, but these {{Complete Monster}}s particularly stand out. With rare exception, the actual monsters of his works tend to pale in comparison to the more human villains.

* Rose's husband Norman in StephenKing's ''RoseMadder''. Setting aside for a moment the fact that he's been beating and sexually abusing Rosie for ''fourteen years'', including causing her to miscarry, after he finds out that she left him, he is determined to hunt her down and torture her to death. His methods for locating his ex-wife are tracking down, torturing, and murdering the people who helped her. His favorite method of killing is biting his victims to death. He is also a racist, sexist, homophobic creep who thinks all feminists are lesbians and despises one of his victims as soon as he finds out he's Jewish. His feelings about women are summed up in the fact that when he is in disguise and has to come up with the name of a woman who's protected him, he uses the first and last names of his two favourite porn actresses. When he finally meets his admittedly gruesome fate, there is no chance that the reader feels any sympathy for him.

* From ''{{IT}}'':

* In ''TheDarkHalf,'' George Stark is an utterly remorseless, brutal killer whose favored weapon is a [[KnifeNut straight razor]].

* Bobbi's sister Anne from the Tommyknockers might count she is a cruel heartless woman who takes a great enjoyment in verbally abusing others including her own parent's, its pretty much stated that she killed her father with all of her nagging, she is also a huge control freak and she goes to Haven the town Bobbi's living in just so she can bring her back home so she can control. Though probably the worst thing she did was when she was at the hospital after her father's death she tried to call Bobbi and after she didn't answer the phone told her family including her grieving mother that Bobbi had said that she was glad that there father was dead all out of spite.

* As noted in the Film section, {{Carrie}}'s mother Margaret and AlphaBitch Chris Hargensen are both utterly horrible people; their abuse of the titular character is the main reason she's more a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds than just an OmnicidalManiac at the end.
** While the movie tones Billy Nolan down, the original book makes it clear that he's a total psychopath. He often [[DomesticAbuse beats up his girlfriend, Chris, and humiliates her]], and his own "friends" are terrified of him. He barely knows who Carrie is; he just wants to destroy her life. What makes him arguably the scariest character is that he has absolutely no connections to Carrie and does the prom prank only ForTheEvulz -- he took over the plan from Chris and did most of it himself, and it's stated that he would find it just as funny if Chris were the victim of the prank.

* Percy Wetmore from Stephen King's ''TheGreenMile''. [[spoiler:It's bad enough when he steps on, yes, ''steps on'' Eduard Delacroix's pet mouse and kills it. But later on, when it's Del's turn in the electric chair, Percy insists on being in charge of the execution and then sabotages the execution by deliberately neglecting to soak the sponge on the electrode cap in brine (which is necessary to ensure a quick death) so that Del will [[CruelAndUnusualDeath die as slowly and painfully as humanly possible]], subjecting the audience of his loved ones and his victims' loved ones to watch. It's no wonder [[TheMessiah John Coffey]] infects him with madness in the end. And keep in mind, Coffey only does that procedure to people that are PURE evil.]]
** The biggest CompleteMonster of ''TheGreenMile'' is Wild Bill, because he [[spoiler: actually murdered the two girls that John Coffey is being put to death over, as well as committing multiple murders that he eventually got caught for]]. Percy is almost saved from this trope when he [[spoiler: shoots Wild Bill to death, only staying in it when you realize that he's not really in control of his actions at this point]].

* Liland Gaunt from NeedfulThings is a very different kind of monster. He's genial and well spoken owner of a little novelty shop that just happens to have your heart's greatest desire in stock. And he's willing to sell it to you for a paltry sum and...a little favor. A harmless prank to play on your neighbor. What you don't know is that your "needful thing" is in fact a malevolent charm that will make you paranoidly obsessed over it and drive you into murderous insanity. And that all the harmless little pranks are designed to thrive on old grudges and insecurities, exploit all the dirty secrets your neighbors (and you) have and stir up all the incipient feuds, turning people against each other until your whole town tears itself apart with weapons that Mr. Gaunt helpfully supplies. And even if you're spared by the slaughter and general madness, it is only so you could realise that you're partially responsible for it and kill yourself. And Mr. Gaunt will just stand there at the window of his little shop, savouring chaos and death, like he'd done countless times before all across the world.

* NeedfulThings' Leland Gaunt manipulates an entire town into [[spoiler:destroying itself]]. Although he is ''heavily'' implied to be [[spoiler: a demon]], so it makes sense.

* From ''{{IT}}'', obviously the titular monster that eats children, but also Patrick Hockstetter. Patrick [[spoiler: murders his baby brother in his cradle ''at the age of five'' and steals his neighbor's dog and locks it in a fridge to slowly die while checking it every few days]]. He is described as so profoundly sociopathic that the concept of morality was impossible for him to grasp. In a sense, he was born on the far side of the MoralEventHorizon, and even world-class asshole Henry Bowers is terrified of him.

* From ''{{IT}}'', obviously the titular monster that eats children, but also Patrick Hockstetter. Patrick [[spoiler: murders his baby brother in his cradle ''at the age of five'' and steals his neighbor's dog and locks it in a fridge to slowly die while checking it every few days]]. He is described as so profoundly sociopathic that the concept of morality was impossible for him to grasp. In a sense, he was born on the far side of the MoralEventHorizon.

* Rose's husband Norman in StephenKing's ''RoseMadder''. Setting aside for a moment the fact that he's been beating and sexually abusing Rosie for ''fourteen years'', including causing her to miscarry. After he finds out that she left him, he is determined to hunt her down and torture her to death. His methods for locating his ex-wife are tracking down, torturing, and murdering the people who helped her. His favorite method of killing is biting his victims to death. He is also a racist, sexist, homophobic creep who thinks all feminists are lesbians and despises one of his victims as soon as he finds out he's Jewish. His feelings about women are summed up in the fact that when he is in disguise and has to come up with the name of a woman who's protected him, he uses the first and last names of his two favourite porn actresses. When he finally meets his admittedly gruesome fate, there is no chance that the reader feels any sympathy for him.
* Selectman Jim Rennie from ''UnderTheDome''. At best, he's a cold-blooded amoral, greedy, psychopathic bastard. Soon after the start of the novel, [[spoiler:we learn that the man is the ringmaster of a MASSIVE drug ring, apparently one of the biggest suppliers of meth in the whole country.]] Then it gets worse. [[spoiler: Not only do we learn that he killed his own wife by smothering her with a pillow (a woman already dying of cancer, none the less), but over the course of the novel, to ensure that he remains absolute master of the town, he covers up the various murders and rapes committed by his son Junior and the gang of thugs he's commissioned as a police force, he kills three or four people (including a pastor, smashing his head in with a gold-covered baseball) who threaten to reveal to his subjects what kind of a monster he is, he purposefully causes a riot over supplies just so he can claim need for greater control, and he frames the main protagonist, Dale Barbara, for everything that he and his gang has gotten away with. Then, because he had his gang steal huge amounts of propane (the only fuel source in town) just so he could make more meth, he sets the stage for the massive explosion that consumes almost everything in the town, turning the atmosphere into little more than an assortment of poisonous gases, and then gets away with it, hiding away in a fallout shelter. Even worse, he refuses to accept fault for ANYTHING that either he did, or happened because of his decisions, even so far as to excuse his multiple murders as "sending them into the arms of Jesus," his faith allowing him to dismiss any of the multiple atrocities he does.]] Jim Rennie is easily one of Stephen King's worst villains. Happily, he gets one of the more horrifying deaths. [[spoiler:Either he suffocates when he tries to get out of the fallout shelter when the power fails, choking on the bad air while suffering a massive heart attack, or, doing the same while pursued by all the various dead people who died because of him.]] Either way, he deserved it.

** While the movie tones Billy Nolan down, the original book makes it clear that he's a total psychopath. He often [[DomesticAbuse beats up his girlfriend Chris and humiliates her]], and his own "friends" are terrified of him. He barely knows who Carrie is, he just wants to destroy her life. What makes him arguably the scariest character is that he has absolutely no connection to Carrie, and he does the prom prank only ForTheEvulz -- he took over the plan from Chris and did most of it himself, and it's stated that would find it just as funny if Chris were the victim of the prank.

** The biggest CompleteMonster of ''TheGreenMile'' is Wild Bill because he [[spoiler: actually murdered the two girls that John Coffey is being put to death over, as well as committing multiple murders that he eventually got caught for]]. Percy is almost saved from this trope when he [[spoiler: shoots Wild Bill to death, only staying in it when you realize that he's not really in control of his actions at this point]].

* NeedfulThings's Leland Gaunt manipulates an entire town into [[spoiler:destroying itself]]. Although he is ''heavily'' implied to be [[spoiler: a demon]], so it makes sense.
* From TheDarkTower -series:
** Jack Mort, a sadistic psychopath, who's responsible for ruining Odetta Holmes' life twice(first by dropping a brick on her head, causing her multiple personality disorder, then later shoving her on the railtrack, causing her to lose her legs, not knowing or caring it was the same woman) and killing Jake by shoving him under the bus. Roland gives back a fitting death by control his possessed body to jump before an oncoming train and leaving Jack's body, leaving Jack to die alone.
** Hitler Brothers, fascist scumbags, who torture Father Callahan's friend Lupe Delgado and later assault Callahan for being a 'nigger-lover'.

* Rose's husband Norman in StephenKing's ''RoseMadder''. Setting aside for a moment the fact that he's been beating and sexually abusing Rosie for ''fourteen years'', including causing her to miscarry. After he finds out that she left him, he determines to hunt her down and torture her to death. His methods for locating his ex-wife are tracking down, torturing, and murdering the people who helped her. His favorite method of killing is biting his victims to death. He is also a racist, sexist, homophobic creep who thinks all feminists are lesbians and despises one of his victims as soon as he finds out he's Jewish. His feelings about women are summed up in the fact that when he is in disguise and has to come up with the name of a woman who's protected him, he uses the first and last names of his two favourite porn actresses. When he finally meets his admittedly gruesome fate, there is no chance that the reader feels any sympathy for him.

* Rose's husband Norman in StephenKing's ''Rose Madder''. Setting aside for a moment the fact that he's been beating and sexually abusing Rosie for ''fourteen years'', including causing her to miscarry. After he finds out that she left him, he determines to hunt her down and torture her to death. His methods for locating his ex-wife are tracking down, torturing, and murdering the people who helped her. His favorite method of killing is biting his victims to death. He is also a racist, sexist, homophobic creep who thinks all feminists are lesbians and despises one of his victims as soon as he finds out he's Jewish. His feelings about women are summed up in the fact that when he is in disguise and has to come up with the name of a woman who's protected him, he uses the first and last names of his two favourite porn actresses. When he finally meets his admittedly gruesome fate, there is no chance that the reader feels any sympathy for him.

* Selectman Jim Rennie from ''Under The Dome''. At best, he's a cold-blooded amoral, greedy, psychopathic bastard. Soon after the start of the novel, [[spoiler:we learn that the man is the ringmaster of a MASSIVE drug ring, apparently one of the biggest suppliers of meth in the whole country.]] Then it gets worse. [[spoiler: Not only do we learn that he killed his own wife by smothering her with a pillow (a woman already dying of cancer, none the less), but over the course of the novel, to ensure that he remains absolute master of the town, he covers up the various murders and rapes committed by his son Junior and the gang of thugs he's commissioned as a police force, he kills three or four people (including a pastor, smashing his head in with a gold-covered baseball) who threaten to reveal to his subjects what kind of a monster he is, he purposefully causes a riot over supplies just so he can claim need for greater control, and he frames the main protagonist, Dale Barbara, for everything that he and his gang has gotten away with. Then, because he had his gang steal huge amounts of propane (the only fuel source in town) just so he could make more meth, he sets the stage for the massive explosion that consumes almost everything in the town, turning the atmosphere into little more than an assortment of poisonous gases, and then gets away with it, hiding away in a fallout shelter. Even worse, he refuses to accept fault for ANYTHING that either he did, or happened because of his decisions, even so far as to excuse his multiple murders as "sending them into the arms of Jesus," his faith allowing him to dismiss any of the multiple atrocities he does.]] Jim Rennie is easily one of Stephen King's worst villains. Happily, he gets one of the more horrifying deaths. [[spoiler:Either he suffocates when he tries to get out of the fallout shelter when the power fails, choking on the bad air while suffering a massive heart attack, or, doing the same while pursued by all the various dead people who died because of him.]] Either way, he deserved it.

* Two examples from StephenKing's ''{{IT}}'': Patrick Hockstetter and Henry Bowers. In the case of Patrick he [[spoiler: murders his baby brother in his cradle ''at the age of five'' and steals his neighbor's dog and locks it in a fridge to slowly die while checking it every few days]]. He is described as so profoundly sociopathic that the concept of morality was impossible for him to grasp. In a sense, he was born on the far side of the MoralEventHorizon. In the case of Henry he [[spoiler: poisons Mike Hanlon's dog, and then he murders his father with a razor It gave him]].
** Let's not leave It Itself off the list! The thing eats children.

StephenKing has written some pretty nasty villains in his day. With rare exception, the actual monsters of his works tend to pale in comparison to the more human villains.

StephenKing has written quite a few horrific villains into his works, but these ones particularly stand out.

StephenKing has written quite a few horrific villains in his works, but these ones particularly stand out.

** More recent Stephen King example - Selectman Jim Rennie from ''Under The Dome''. At best, he's a cold-blooded amoral, greedy, psychopathic bastard. Soon after the start of the novel, [[spoiler:we learn that the man is the ringmaster of a MASSIVE drug ring, apparently one of the biggest suppliers of meth in the whole country.]] Then it gets worse. [[spoiler: Not only do we learn that he killed his own wife by smothering her with a pillow (a woman already dying of cancer, none the less), but over the course of the novel, to ensure that he remains absolute master of the town, he covers up the various murders and rapes committed by his son Junior and the gang of thugs he's commissioned as a police force, he kills three or four people (including a pastor, smashing his head in with a gold-covered baseball) who threaten to reveal to his subjects what kind of a monster he is, he purposefully causes a riot over supplies just so he can claim need for greater control, and he frames the main protagonist, Dale Barbara, for everything that he and his gang has gotten away with. Then, because he had his gang steal huge amounts of propane (the only fuel source in town) just so he could make more meth, he sets the stage for the massive explosion that consumes almost everything in the town, turning the atmosphere into little more than an assortment of poisonous gases, and then gets away with it, hiding away in a fallout shelter. Even worse, he refuses to accept fault for ANYTHING that either he did, or happened because of his decisions, even so far as to excuse his multiple murders as "sending them into the arms of Jesus," his faith allowing him to dismiss any of the multiple atrocities he does.]] Jim Rennie is easily one of Stephen King's worst villains. Happily, he gets one of the more horrifying deaths. [[spoiler:Either he suffocates when he tries to get out of the fallout shelter when the power fails, choking on the bad air while suffering a massive heart attack, or, doing the same while pursued by all the various dead people who died because of him.]] Either way, he deserved it.
** Two examples from StephenKing's ''{{IT}}'': Patrick Hockstetter and Henry Bowers. In the case of Patrick he [[spoiler: murders his baby brother in his cradle ''at the age of five'' and steals his neighbor's dog and locks it in a fridge to slowly die while checking it every few days]]. He is described as so profoundly sociopathic that the concept of morality was impossible for him to grasp. In a sense, he was born on the far side of the MoralEventHorizon. In the case of Henry he [[spoiler: poisons Mike Hanlon's dog, and then he murders his father with a razor It gave him]].
*** Let's not leave It itself off the list! The thing eats children.
** Randall Flagg from ''TheStand'', of course. He has a history of inspiring some of the world's worst people, raping and murdering for generations before the events of the book even start.
** As noted in the Film section, {{Carrie}}'s mother Margaret and AlphaBitch Chris Hargensen are both utterly horrible people; their abuse of the titular character is the main reason she's more a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds than just an OmnicidalManiac at the end.
*** While the movie tones Billy Nolan down, the original book makes it clear that he's a total psychopath. He often [[DomesticAbuse beats up his girlfriend Chris and humiliates her]], and his own "friends" are terrified of him. He barely knows who Carrie is, he just wants to destroy her life. What makes him arguably the scariest character is that he has absolutely no connection to Carrie, and he does the prom prank only ForTheEvulz -- he took over the plan from Chris and did most of it himself, and it's stated that would find it just as funny if Chris were the victim of the prank.
** [[SinisterMinister Reverend Sunlight Gardener]] in ''Literature/TheTalisman''. Brainwashing children is probably the least despicable thing he does.
*** "Can ya gimme Hallelujah?"
** Percy Wetmore from Stephen King's ''TheGreenMile''. [[spoiler:It's bad enough when he steps on, yes, ''steps on'' Eduard Delacroix's pet mouse and kills it. But later on, when it's Del's turn in the electric chair, Percy insists on being in charge of the execution and then sabotages the execution by deliberately neglecting to soak the sponge on the electrode cap in brine (which is necessary to ensure a quick death) so that Del will [[CruelAndUnusualDeath die as slowly and painfully as humanly possible]], subjecting the audience of his loved ones and his victims' loved ones to watch. It's no wonder [[TheMessiah John Coffey]] infects him with madness in the end. And keep in mind, Coffey only does that procedure to people that are PURE evil.]]
*** The biggest CompleteMonster of ''TheGreenMile'' is Wild Bill because he [[spoiler: actually murdered the two girls that John Coffey is being put to death over, as well as committing multiple murders that he eventually got caught for]]. Percy is almost saved from this trope when he [[spoiler: shoots Wild Bill to death, only staying in it when you realize that he's not really in control of his actions at this point]].
** In ''TheDarkHalf,'' George Stark is an utterly remorseless, brutal killer whose favored weapon is a [[KnifeNut straight razor]].
** NeedfulThings's Leland Gaunt manipulates an entire town into [[spoiler:destroying itself]]. Although he is ''heavily'' implied to be [[spoiler: a demon]], so it makes sense.