History Monster / StephenKing

* ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'': [[EldritchAbomination Tak]], a monstrous, incorporeal entity released from the Desperation mining pits, runs amok in the titular town, gruesomely slaughtering almost everyone who lives there and [[DemonicPossession taking one of the local police as a host]]. When other people near Desperation, Tak murders one young woman's husband and the Carver family's [[WouldHurtAChild 7-year-old daughter]], before steadily slaughtering the survivors for fun. Realizing that Kirsten's 12-year-old brother David has been sent by God to stop him, Tak stops at nothing to murder the boy after killing his entire family, intending on spreading his influence throughout the world by destroying whatever stands in his path.

Entries from his [[Monster/LiveActionFilms film]] (and related Monster/{{scripts}}) or [[Monster/LiveActionTV TV]] adaptations can be found at their respective pages.

* ''[[Literature/DifferentSeasons Apt Pupil (or, Summer of Corruption)]]'': [[TeensAreMonsters Todd Bowden]] is a budding psychopath obsessed with the war crimes committed by the Nazis in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and as such, is overjoyed when he learns his [[NaziGrandpa elderly neighbor]], Arthur Denker, is in fact Kurt Dussander, a former Nazi commander in hiding. Blackmailing Dussander into regaling him with tales of his atrocities, Todd slowly becomes aroused at the very thought of the crimes Dussander committed, even fantasizing about raping Jewish women while they scream in terror. Beginning to show his sadistic tendencies by [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals cruelly crushing a bird to death]], Todd begins [[SerialKiller butchering homeless people]] for his own entertainment, claiming that [[DisposableVagrant they are just subhuman trash that no one will miss]]. Regularly lusting to murder his loving parents and girlfriend for minor annoyances, staying his hand only to keep out of trouble, Todd realizes he will be caught for his association with Dussander, and decides to go out with a bang, murdering his guidance counselor before heading to a highly-populated location and [[SpreeKiller opening fire]] on any random citizens in the area for five hours straight before being stopped. Representing the evil that Dussander spent decades trying to move past, Todd Bowden was a teenager whose only pleasure in life was the suffering of others and his own well-being, and, despite being unremarkable in almost every way, stands out as one of Stephen King's youngest, but no less wicked, villains.

* [[TheDreaded Los' the Red]], best known as the [[HumanoidAbomination Crimson King]], is the demonic offspring of Arthur Eld and the OverarchingVillain of King's multiverse. A sadistic entity who proclaims the glory of chaos, or "The Red", the Crimson King presides over a court of nightmare and slaughter while sowing evil and chaos across the realms. The being behind all the evil and destruction of Randall Flagg; the rampaging armies of John Farson; and agents such as Atropos and Munshun, the Crimson King has the nation of Gilead annihilated and its people slaughtered, while having psychic children known as Breakers taken to have them sucked dry so their powers may be used to help open the path to Franchise/TheDarkTower. The Crimson King's ultimate goal is to ascend to the top of the Tower and [[OmnicidalManiac consume all the multiverse]], ending everything that exists so the King may rule the primordial chaos that results. At last poisoning his own court to become undead and losing his mind and power, the Crimson King faces Roland while seeking to ascend the Tower and end all reality.

* ''Literature/NeedfulThings'': [[ManipulativeBastard Leland Gaunt]] is a [[HumanoidAbomination devilish figure]] appearing as a [[FauxAffablyEvil genial and well-spoken]] owner of a [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday novelty shop]] that just happens to have his customers' greatest desire in stock, which he's willing to sell for a small sum and a [[DealWithTheDevil little favor]]; as he puts it, "a prank". In actuality, it is a malevolent charm which makes his customers paranoid and obsessed, driving them into murderous insanity; the pranks are designed to fuel grudges, insecurities, and exploit the dirty secrets his victims all [[ForTheEvulz for his amusement]]. He also [[YourSoulIsMine takes the souls]] of those who die because of him and admits to himself he doesn't really need to anymore. Showing up in Castle Rock, Gaunt starts his business as usual, with a notable instance of his pranks causing two women to murder each other after one of the pranks ends with a dog being killed; as a result, a young boy responsible for these pranks decides to [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]]. Gaunt also starts to sell his customers guns to "defend their property" as paranoia gets the better of them, and begins to get two criminals to work for him to cause more chaos, with the ammo of said guns being poisoned. This culminates in the town going on a riot that nearly tears the town apart before Gaunt is defeated by Sheriff Alan Pangborn. After being beaten, Gaunt leaves Castle Rock and its implied that he will continue his work elsewhere.

Entries after Flagg are by publication date.

!![[Administrivia/SpoilersOff All spoilers are unmarked]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!

* ''Literature/RoseMadder'': [[BigBad Norman Daniels]], Rose Daniels's husband, is a horrific example of a DomesticAbuser. He has been beating and sexually abusing her for fourteen years; his abuse has caused her to miscarry, threatening to kill her if she ever tells anyone about the incident. 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 [[ManBitesMan biting his victims to death]]. He is also a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain 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.

* ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'': [[BigBad Tak]], a [[EldritchAbomination monstrous, incorporeal entity]] released from the Desperation mining pits, runs amok in the titular town, gruesomely slaughtering almost everyone who lives there and [[DemonicPossession taking one of the local police as a host]]. When other people near Desperation, Tak murders one young woman's husband and the Carver family's [[WouldHurtAChild 7-year-old daughter]], before steadily slaughtering the survivors for fun. Realizing that Kirsten's 12-year-old brother David has been sent by God to stop him, Tak stops at nothing to murder the boy after killing his entire family, intending on spreading his influence throughout the world by destroying whatever stands in his path.

* ''[[Literature/JustAfterSunset The Gingerbread Girl]]'': The psychotic [[SerialKiller Jim Pickering]] is a wealthy man who owns a house on the Florida Keys. Pickering lures young woman to his home to [[SerialRapist rape]] and murder them. When Emily discovers the latest of many victims in his car, Pickering knocks her out, intending to kill her as well. When he believes the nearby drawbridge keeper knows she's nearby, Pickering heads to murder him while Emily tries to escape. Upon getting free, Pickering pursues Emily, using [[ShearMenace scissors]] to brutally murder a random man who tried to protect her.
* ''Literature/UnderTheDome'': [[BigBad Selectman James P. "Big Jim" Rennie]] is the ringmaster of a massive drug ring, apparently one of the biggest suppliers of meth in the whole country, and killed his wife—already suffering from terminal cancer--by smothering her with a pillow. 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 several people who threatened to reveal to his subjects what kind of a monster he is; purposefully causes a riot over supplies just so he can claim a need for greater control; and 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 tow-- 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. He [[NeverMyFault 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 "[[HidingBehindReligion sending them into the arms of Jesus]]", his faith allowing him to dismiss any of the multiple atrocities he does.

![[Administrivia/SpoilersOff All spoilers are unmarked]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!

Creator/StephenKing has written some pretty nasty villains, but [[CompleteMonster these]] particularly stand out. It is not uncommon for the actual monsters of his SharedUniverse to [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters pale in comparison to the more human villains]].

** In ''Literature/TheStand'', [[BigBad Flagg]] appears as a DarkMessiah in a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]], plague-ravaged United States. Here he builds a new civilization in Las Vegas, calling to him those with penchants for destruction, power and fascism. Flagg has people publicly crucified for opposing or failing him, murders his pregnant girlfriend for enraging him, and plans on destroying the peaceful "Free Zone" settlement just so his civilization can be the dominant one.
** In ''Literature/TheEyesOfTheDragon'', Flagg is an EvilSorcerer in the medieval country of Delain. Here, Flagg has Queen Sasha murdered, poisons King Roland, frames Prince Peter for the crime, and then plunges Delain into a new Dark Age by manipulating the remaining heir, Thomas.
** In ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, it is revealed that Flagg, real name Walter Padick, has lived for so long and accumulated so much power that he has become the emissary for the [[{{Satan}} Crimson King]]. Flagg earns [[TheProtagonist Roland Deschain]]'s undying hatred for beating and sleeping with Roland’s mother, and for aiding the revolutionary John Farson in causing the destruction of the city of Gilead. Flagg also forces Roland to let his preteen companion Jake Chambers die, and drives a girl insane by telling her the trigger phrase which causes a formerly dead man to [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow recount the afterlife to her]]. Corruptive, treacherous and sadistic, Flagg's ultimate goal was to betray his master and climb to the top of the Dark Tower in order to become God of all.

* ''[[Literature/JustAfterSunset The Gingerbread Girl]]'': The psychotic [[SerialKiller Jim Pickering]] is a wealthy man who owns a house on the Florida Keys. Pickering lures young woman to his home to [[SerialRapist rape]] and murder them. When [[TheProtagonist Emily]] discovers the latest of many victims in his car, Pickering knocks her out, intending to kill her as well. When he believes the nearby drawbridge keeper knows she's nearby, Pickering heads to murder him while Emily tries to escape. Upon getting free, Pickering pursues Emily, using [[ShearMenace scissors]] to brutally murder a random man who tried to protect her.

** [[FauxAffablyEvil Kurt Barlow]] himself is an ancient, insidious vampire. His ultimate goal is to turn Jerusalem's Lot into a nest for vampires by [[ManipulativeBastard playing on the townspeople's desires and insecurities]] and [[DealWithTheDevil offering them a chance to achieve what they want]], which always ends in him turning them. After losing control of his thirst and killing a wounded Straker, blaming Mark for the incident, he turns Susan, driving Ben to seek her out and kill her, murders Mark's parents in front of him, and, after a standoff of faith with Father Callahan—which the priest lost—he forces him to drink some of his blood, barring him from holy ground for the rest of his life. One of his final acts in a last-ditch effort to stop Ben from staking him is to hypnotize Mark to kill him, all the while threatening to castrate Mark before turning him. And, even after his final demise, [[TheBadGuyWins he still succeeded in his goal]], sealing the fate of anyone who walks into the town of 'Salem's Lot.

* ''Literature/TheGreenMile'': [[AxCrazy William "Wild Bill" Wharton]] is a PsychopathicManchild awaiting execution at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary for murdering three people in an armed robbery, one of whom was a pregnant woman. When he first appears in the prison he manages to convince the guards he's in a drugged stupor, only to attempt to strangle Dean Stanton to death when his guard is down. Failing in that, Wild Bill contents himself with causing as much mischief as he can before his eventual execution. Eventually it comes to light that Wild Bill's worst known crime was the [[WouldHurtAChild rape and murder of the two little girls]] who John Coffrey was accused of killing. In order to stop the girls from calling for help, he told them that if one of them screams, [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure it's her sister that he'd kill]].

* ''[[Literature/JustAfterSunset The Gingerbread Girl]]'': The psychotic [[SerialKiller Jim Pickering]] is a wealthy man who owns a house on the Florida Keys. Pickering lures young woman to his home to [[SerialRapist rape]] and murder them. When [[TheProtagonist Emily]] discovers the latest of many victims in his car, Pickering knocks her out and intends to do the same to her. When he believes the nearby drawbridge keeper knows she's nearby, Pickering heads to murder him while Emily tries to escape. Upon getting free, Pickering pursues Emily, using [[ShearMenace scissors]] to brutally murdering a random man who tried to protect her.

** [[TheRenfield Richard Throckett Straker]] is an antique salesman as well as Kurt Barlow's human [[TheDragon servant]] who brings him into the small town of Jerusalem's Lot. During the first half of the novel, he murders a young boy, Ralphie Glick, as a sacrifice to Satan, and abducts his brother, Danny, giving him to Barlow to be turned, an act which results in Danny infecting many people over the course of the novel. Within this time frame, Straker [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals kills Win Purinton's dog]], Doc, and hangs him on a fence, then buys every rose in town, all to protect himself from his master, while everyone else in town is left vulnerable. Later, when Mark Petrie goes to investigate Straker's place of residence, the Marsten House, he finds a scrapbook [[HumanResources bound in human flesh]] that has a picture of a naked man--likely Straker himself--holding the corpse of a child, implying that Ralphie was [[SerialKiller far from the first child he killed]]. Shortly afterwards, Straker catches Mark and ties him up and leaves him to be turned by Barlow.
** The aforementioned BigBad, [[FauxAffablyEvil Kurt Barlow]], is an ancient, insidious vampire. His ultimate goal is to turn Jerusalem's Lot into a nest for vampires by [[ManipulativeBastard playing on the townspeople's desires and insecurities]] and [[DealWithTheDevil offering them a chance to achieve what they want]], which always ends in him turning them. After losing control of his thirst and killing a wounded Straker, blaming Mark for the incident, he turns Susan, driving Ben to seek her out and kill her, murders Mark's parents in front of him, and, after a standoff of faith with Father Callahan—which the priest lost—he forces him to drink some of his blood, barring him from holy ground for the rest of his life. One of his final acts in a last-ditch effort to stop Ben from staking him is to hypnotize Mark to kill him, all the while threatening to castrate Mark before turning him. And, even after his final demise, [[TheBadGuyWins he still succeeded in his goal]], sealing the fate of anyone who walks into the town of 'Salem's Lot.

* ''Literature/{{Insomnia}}'': [[PsychopathicManchild Atropos]] is one of the three "[[GrimReaper little bald doctors]]" responsible for cutting the life threads of the mortals whose time has come,. Unlike the other two, Atropos absolutely despises humans for being such short-lived creatures, and takes great pleasure in ending their lives. So, in addition to doing his job, Atropos goes after people whose fate isn’t decided and causes them to die horribly, which he has done enough times to fill a cave with [[CreepySouvenir trophies]] of his victims. When his boss, the [[Franchise/TheDarkTower Crimson King]], wants him to [[WouldHurtAChild kill a young boy]] before said boy grows up to oppose his plans, Atropos uses this opportunity to harm as many people as possible, proceeding to [[TheCorrupter corrupt]] a nice family man called Ed Deepneau into becoming a [[HeManWomanHater wife-beating extremist]]. Under Atropos's manipulation, Deepneau gets together with like-minded maniacs and assaults a woman care center, where they murder dozens of people, as a distraction for his real plan: to have Deepneau crash with a plane full of explosives onto a pro-abortion rights rally that the kid will be attending with his mother, killing them along with the other two thousand people present. Along the way, Atropos has several of the protagonist’s friends killed just to piss him off, and taunts him about it. Finally, when his plans are foiled, Atropos tries to kill Deepneau’s six-year old daughter, who the hero befriended, just to get back at him for humiliating him in front of his boss.

** The aforementioned, elderly [[ImAHumanitarian Charles Burnside]] embraces his twisted desires when he meets Munshun. Forming a willing pact with the demon, Burnside is allowed to rape, murder and [[ChildEater cannibalize innocent children]] while attempting to enslave the Breakers for the eventual overthrow of reality. In his pact with Munshun, Burnside shows himself to be as monstrous as his demon partner, even [[JackTheRipoff modeling himself]] after Albert Fish to [[EvilerThanThou outdo the past killer in evil]], gleefully using Munshun's power to brutally [[WouldHurtAChild kill the children]] he encounters with no care to the consequences as long as he is able to bring his desires into reality.

* ''Literature/TheOutsider'': [[AntagonistTitle The Outsider itself]] plays at being an [[EldritchAbomination unknowable entity]], but is in truth a deviant pervert and sexual sadist. Hunting [[WouldHurtAChild children]], the Outsider rapes and brutally murders them, devouring their flesh to feed itself while [[EmotionEater absorbing their negative emotions]]. The Outsider leaves behind the DNA of those it [[SkinWalker shapeshifts into]] for the act, resulting in them being ruined or killed as well. When the heroes begin to investigate, the Outsider tries to have them murdered by another proxy, its lies at being only a predator harshly deconstructed next to all the children it has violated and killed.

* ''[[Literature/DifferentSeasons Apt Pupil (or, Summer of Corruption)]]'': [[TeensAreMonsters Todd Bowden]] is a budding psychopath obsessed with the war crimes committed by the Nazis in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and as such, is overjoyed when he learns his [[NaziGrandpa elderly neighbor]], Arthur Denker, is in fact Kurt Dussander, a former Nazi commander in hiding. Blackmailing Dussander into regaling him with tales of his atrocities, Todd slowly becomes aroused at the very thought of the crimes Dussander committed, even fantasizing about raping Jewish women while they scream in terror. Beginning to show his sadistic tendencies by [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals cruelly crushing a bird to death]], Todd begins [[SerialKiller butchering homeless people]] for his own entertainment, claiming that [[DisposableVagrant they are just subhuman trash that no one will miss]]. Regularly lusting to murder his loving parents and girlfriend for minor annoyances, staying his hand only to keep out of trouble, Todd realizes he will be caught for his association with Dussander, and decides to go out with a bang, murdering his guidance counselor before heading to a highly-populated location and opening fire on any random citizens in the area for five hours straight before being stopped. Representing the evil that Dussander spent decades trying to move past, Todd Bowden was a teenager whose only pleasure in life was the suffering of others and his own well-being, and, despite being unremarkable in almost every way, stands out as one of Stephen King's youngest, but no less wicked, villains.

** The aforementioned BigBad, [[FauxAffablyEvil Kurt Barlow]], is an ancient, insidious vampire. His ultimate goal is to turn Jerusalem's Lot into a nest for vampires by [[ManipulativeBastard playing on the townspeople's desires and insecurities]] and [[DealWithTheDevil offering them a chance to achieve what they want]], which always ends in him turning them. After losing control of his thirst and killing a wounded Straker, blaming Mark for the incident, he turns Susan, driving Ben to seek her out and kill her, murders Mark's parents in front of him, and, after a standoff of faith with Father Callahan—which the priest lost—he forces him to drink some of his blood, barring him from holy ground for the rest of his life. One of his final acts in a last-ditch effort to stop Ben from staking him is to hypnotize Mark to kill the him, all the while threatening to castrate Mark before turning him. And, even after his final demise, [[TheBadGuyWins he still succeeded in his goal]], sealing the fate of anyone who walks into the town of 'Salem's Lot.

-->-- '''Pennywise (played by Creator/TimCurry'''), ''Literature/{{IT}}'' ([[Film/It1990 the 1990 film adaptation]])

* ''Literature/BlackHouse'': [[ImAHumanitarian The Fisherman]], real name [[SerialKiller Charles Burnside]], is a murderer who [[ChildEater preys on children]]. He modeled the modus operandi of his crimes [[JackTheRipoff after the actual serial killer Albert Fish]] to outdo him in evil. He rapes, kills, and eats at least three children in the town of French Landing, Wisconsin. He is eventually revealed to be a human agent of the [[Franchise/TheDarkTower Crimson King]]. The Fisherman travels through dimensions to seek out psychic children called "Breakers," personally murdering them if they fail to live up to their abilities. Once he has enlisted them in the Crimson King's army, they will then be used to break the remaining beams of the Dark Tower and end all of existence.

Creator/StephenKing has written some pretty nasty villains in his day, but [[CompleteMonster these]] particularly stand out. With rare exception, the actual monsters of his SharedUniverse tend to [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters pale in comparison to the more human villains]].

* Randall Flagg is a demonic, quasi-immortal being who frequently appears throughout King's works as an embodiment of evil. Living through different lives in different worlds, the one constant about Flagg is that he is always working to sow the seeds of chaos and despair wherever he goes. Flagg was part of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, Ku Klux Klan lynchings, police murders, and race riots, and each time he was part of a violent experience it would ultimately serve to empower the evil within him.
** In ''Literature/TheStand'', Flagg appears as a DarkMessiah in a post-apocalyptic, plague-ravaged United States. Here he builds a new civilization in Las Vegas, calling to him those with penchants for destruction, power and fascism. Flagg has people publicly crucified for opposing or failing him, murders his pregnant girlfriend for enraging him, and plans on destroying the peaceful "Free Zone" settlement just so his civilization can be the dominant one.

** In ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, it is revealed that Flagg has lived for so long and accumulated so much power that he has become the emissary for the [[{{Satan}} Crimson King]]. Flagg earns Roland Deschain's undying hatred for beating and sleeping with Roland’s mother, and for aiding the revolutionary John Farson in causing the destruction of the city of Gilead. Flagg also forces Roland to let his preteen companion Jake Chambers die, and drives a girl insane by telling her the trigger phrase which causes a formerly dead man to [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow recount the afterlife to her]]. Corruptive, treacherous and sadistic, Flagg's ultimate goal was to betray his master and climb to the top of the Dark Tower in order to become God of all.
* ''[[Literature/DifferentSeasons Apt Pupil (or, Summer of Corruption)]]'': [[TeensAreMonsters Todd Bowden]] is a budding psychopath obsessed with the war crimes committed by the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and as such, is overjoyed when he learns his elderly neighbor, Arthur Denker, is in fact Kurt Dussander, a former Nazi commander in hiding. Blackmailing Dussander into regaling him with tales of his atrocities, Todd slowly becomes aroused at the very thought of the crimes Dussander committed, even fantasizing about raping Jewish women while they scream in terror. Beginning to show his {{sadist}}ic tendencies by [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals cruelly crushing a bird to death]], Todd begins [[SerialKiller butchering homeless people]] for his own entertainment, claiming that [[DisposableVagrant they are just subhuman trash that no one will miss]]. Regularly lusting to murder his loving parents and girlfriend for minor annoyances, staying his hand only to keep out of trouble, Todd realizes he will be caught for his association with Dussander, and decides to go out with a bang, murdering his guidance counselor before heading to a highly-populated location and opening fire on any random citizens in the area for five hours straight before being stopped. Representing the evil that Dussander spent decades trying to move past, Todd Bowden was a teenager whose only pleasure in life was the suffering of others and his own well-being, and, despite being unremarkable in almost every way, stands out as one of Stephen King's youngest, but no less wicked, villains.
* ''Literature/BlackHouse'': [[WouldHurtAChild The Fisherman]] (Charles Burnside) is a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalistic]] SerialKiller who [[ChildEater preys on children]]. He modeled the ''modus operandi'' of his crimes [[JackTheRipoff after the historical RealLife serial killer Albert Fish]] to [[EvilerThanThou outdo him in evil]]. He rapes, kills, and eats at least three children in the town of French Landing, Wisconsin. He is eventually revealed to be a human agent of the [[Franchise/TheDarkTower Crimson King]]. The Fisherman travels through dimensions to seek out psychic children called "Breakers," personally murdering them if they fail to live up to their abilities. Once he has enlisted them in the Crimson King's army, they will then be used to break the remaining beams of [[CosmicKeystone the Dark Tower]] and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end all of existence]].
* ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'': [[BigBad Tak]], a [[EldritchAbomination monstrous, incorporeal entity]] released from the Desperation mining pits, runs amok in the titular town, gruesomely slaughtering almost everyone who lives there and [[DemonicPossession taking one of the local police as a host]]. When other people near Desperation, Tak murders one young woman's husband and the Carver family's [[WouldHurtAChild 7-year-old daughter]], before steadily slaughtering the survivors for fun. Realizing that Kirsten's 12-year-old brother David has been sent by God to stop him, Tak stops at nothing to murder the boy after killing his entire family, intending on spreading his influence throughout the world by destroying whatever stands in his path.
* ''[[Literature/JustAfterSunset The Gingerbread Girl]]'': Jim Pickering is a wealthy man who owns a house on the Florida Keys. A psychotic SerialKiller, Pickering lures young woman to his home to [[SerialRapist rape]] and murder them. When [[TheProtagonist Emily]] discovers the latest of many victims in his car, Pickering knocks her out and intends to do the same to her. When he believes the nearby drawbridge keeper knows she's nearby, Pickering heads to murder him while Emily tries to escape. Upon getting free, Pickering pursues Emily, using [[ShearMenace scissors]] to brutally murdering a random man who tried to protect her.
* ''[[Literature/FullDarkNoStars A Good Marriage]]'': [[FauxAffablyEvil Robert "Bob" Anderson]] seems like a loving husband and father, but is actually a vicious SerialKiller named "Beadie" who has been killing for decades. Having planned a school shooting in his youth with a friend, Bob satisfied his urges by [[SerialRapist raping]] and killing women he deemed "snoots" after torturing them, often by [[ImAHumanitarian biting]] them before killing them. In one instance, a victim's young son Robert stumbled upon Bob killing his mother, making him a victim as well. Despite Bob's lies that the boy didn't suffer, his wife Darcie later learns [[WouldHurtAChild the boy was horribly tortured and mutilated before being killed]]. When Darcie discovers Bob's secret life, she realizes he won't stop killing and that every act of kindness or love he ever showed her was simply camouflage for the evil within.
* ''Literature/TheGreenMile'': [[AxCrazy William "Wild Bill" Wharton]] is a PsychopathicManchild awaiting execution at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary for murdering three people in an armed robbery, one of whom was a pregnant woman. When he first appears in the prison he manages to convince the guards he's in a drugged stupor, only to attempt to strangle Dean Stanton to death when his guard is down. Failing in that, Wild Bill contents himself with causing as much mischief as he can before his eventual execution. Eventually it comes to light that Wild Bill's worst known crime was the [[WouldHurtAChild rape and murder of the two little girls]] that John Coffrey was accused of killing. In order to stop the girls from calling for help, he told them that if one of them screams, [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure it's her sister that he'd kill]].
* ''Literature/{{Insomnia}}'': Atropos is one of the entities responsible for cutting the life threads of the mortals whose time has come. But unlike the other entities like him, Atropos absolutely despises humans for being such short-lived creatures, and takes great pleasure in ending their lives. So in addition to doing his job, Atropos goes after people whose fate isn’t decided and causes them to die horribly, which he has done enough times to fill a cave with trophies of his victims. When his boss, the Crimson King, wants him to kill a young boy before he grows up to oppose his plans, Atropos uses this opportunity to harm as many people as possible. He proceeds to corrupt a nice family man called Ed Deepneau into becoming a wife-beating extremist. Under Atropos' manipulation, Deepneau gets together with like-minded maniacs and assaults a woman care center, where they murder dozens of people, as a distraction for his real plan: to have Deepneau crash with a plane full of explosives onto a pro-abortion rights rally that the kid will be attending with his mother, killing them along with the other two thousand people present. Along the way, Atropos has several of the protagonist’s friends killed just to piss him off, and taunts him about it. Finally, when his plans are foiled, Atropos tries to kill Deepneau’s six-year old daughter (who the hero befriended) just to get back at him for humiliating him in front of his boss.
* ''Literature/{{IT}}'': [[AntagonistTitle It]], a.k.a. [[MonsterClown Pennywise the Dancing Clown]], is without question one of the most horrifying characters ever written. A [[EldritchAbomination primordial being]] [[TimeAbyss as old as time]], It awakens from its hibernation every three decades and proceeds to murder and devour the children of the town of [[TownWithADarkSecret Derry, Maine]], often using the avatar of a jovial clown named Pennywise to lure children into its clutches. It prides itself on using its shapeshifting and hallucinogenic powers to torment its victims, preying on their phobias and acquired fears and likening the cultivation of their terror to "salting the meat." From 1740 to 1743, It was responsible for the disappearance of three hundred Derry Township settlers. In 1957, It killed Bill's six-year-old brother, George, and devoured Patrick Hockstetter alive while in the form of his [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes greatest fear, leeches]]. It also drove [[TheBully Henry Bowers]] to madness, then killed Bowers' friends after they succeeded in luring the Losers' Club into the sewers. After waking up in 1984, It kills a man named Adrian Mellon before resuming its violent killing spree of children. It proceeds to manipulate Henry Bowers into trying to kill the Losers; drives Bill's wife, Audra, catatonic by exposing her to its deadlights; and manages to kill Eddie before its final defeat.
* ''Literature/NeedfulThings'': [[ManipulativeBastard Leland Gaunt]] is a [[HumanoidAbomination devilish figure]] appearing as a [[FauxAffablyEvil genial and well-spoken]] owner of a [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday novelty shop]] that just happens to have his customers' greatest desire in stock, which he's willing to sell for a small sum and a [[DealWithTheDevil little favor]]; as he puts it, "a prank". In actuality, it is a malevolent charm which makes his customers paranoid and obsessed, driving them into murderous insanity; the pranks are designed to fuel grudges, insecurities, and exploit the dirty secrets his victims all [[ForTheEvulz for his amusement]]. He also [[YourSoulIsMine takes the souls]] of those who die because of him and admits to himself he doesn't really need to anymore. Showing up in Castle Rock, Gaunt starts his business as usual, with a notable instance of his pranks causing two women to murder each other after one of the pranks ends with a dog being killed; as a result, a young boy responsible for these pranks decides to [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]]. Gaunt also starts to sell his customers guns to "defend their property" as paranoia gets the better of them, and begins to get two criminals to work for him to cause more chaos, with the ammo of said guns being poisoned. This culminates in the town going on a riot that nearly tears the town apart before Gaunt is defeated by Sheriff Alan Pangborn. After being beaten, Gaunt leaves Castle Rock and its implied that he will continue his work elsewhere.
* ''Literature/RoseMadder'': [[DomesticAbuser Norman Daniels]], Rose Daniels's husband, has been beating and sexually abusing her for fourteen years; his abuse has caused 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 [[ManBitesMan biting his victims to death]]. He is also a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain 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 favorite porn actresses.

** [[TheRenfield Richard Throckett Straker]] is an antique salesman as well as [[BigBad Kurt Barlow's]] human [[TheDragon servant]] who brings him into the small town of Jerusalem's Lot. [[DiscOneFinalBoss During the first half of the novel]], he [[WouldHurtAChild murders a young boy]], Ralphie Glick, as a sacrifice to {{Satan}}, and abducts his brother, Danny, giving him to Barlow to be turned, an act which results in Danny infecting many people over the course of the novel. Within this time frame, Straker [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals kills Win Purinton's dog]], Doc, and hangs him on a fence, then buys every rose in town, [[ItsAllAboutMe all to protect himself from his master]], [[DirtyCoward while everyone else in town is left vulnerable]]. Later, when Mark Petrie goes to investigate Straker's place of residence, the Marsten House, he finds a scrapbook [[HumanResources bound in human flesh]] that has a picture of a naked man--likely Straker himself--holding the corpse of a child, implying that Ralphie was [[SerialKiller far from the first child he killed]]. Shortly afterwards, Straker catches Mark and ties him up and leaves him to be turned by Barlow.
** The aforementioned BigBad, [[FauxAffablyEvil Kurt Barlow]], is an [[Really700YearsOld ancient]], insidious vampire. His ultimate goal is to turn Jerusalem's Lot into a nest for vampires by [[ManipulativeBastard playing on the townspeople's desires and insecurities]] and [[DealWithTheDevil offering them a chance to achieve what they want, which always ends in him turning them]]. After losing control of his thirst and [[BadBoss killing a wounded Straker]], [[NeverMyFault blaming Mark for the incident]], he turns Susan, driving Ben to [[StakingTheLovedOne seek her out and kill her]], murders Mark's parents in front of him, and, after a standoff of faith with Father Callahan—which the priest lost—he forces him to drink some of his blood, [[FateWorseThanDeath barring him from holy ground for the rest of his life]]. One of his final acts in a last-ditch effort to stop Ben from staking him is to hypnotize Mark to kill the him, all the while threatening to [[GroinAttack castrate Mark]] before turning him. And, even after his final demise, [[TheBadGuyWins he still succeeded in his goal]], sealing the fate of anyone who walks into the town of 'Salem's Lot.
* ''Literature/UnderTheDome'': At best, [[BigBad Selectman James P. "Big Jim" Rennie]] is a cold-blooded, amoral, greedy, psychopathic bastard. Soon after the start of the novel, 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. Not only do we learn that he killed his own wife by smothering her with a pillow (a woman already dying of cancer, no 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 threatened to reveal to his subjects what kind of a monster he is, purposefully causes a riot over supplies just so he can claim need for greater control, and 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.

* ''Literature/NeedfulThings'': Leland Gaunt is a very different kind of a monster villain, a [[FauxAffablyEvil genial and well-spoken]] owner of a little novelty shop that just happens to have your heart's greatest desire in stock, which 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 paranoid and obsessed over it and drive you into murderous insanity, and 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 [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realize that you're partially responsible for it]] and [[DrivenToSuicide 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.

Creator/StephenKing has written some pretty nasty villains in his day, but [[CompleteMonster these]] particularly stand out. With rare exception, the actual monsters of his works tend to [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters pale in comparison to the more human villains]].

[[AC:Books & Short Stories]]

[[AC:[[TheFilmOfTheBook Film Adaptations]]]]
* ''Film/TheDarkTower2017'': [[BigBad Walter o' Dim]], real name Walter Padick and known as [[DarkIsEvil The Man in Black]], is an EvilSorcerer who abducts multiple "special" children to use their psychic energy to try to annihilate the Dark Tower which protects existence from the hungry monstrosities that dwell outside reality. This is a process that [[WouldHurtAChild leaves the children]] "[[EmptyShell burnt out]]" by the end, where Walter discards them. Having a [[ArchEnemy dark enmity]] with the Gunslinger Roland Deschain, Walter destroys Roland's home, killing all his fellow Gunslingers, the last being Roland's own father who Walter [[YouKilledMyFather murders in front of him.]] When 11-year-old Jake Chambers escapes Walter's men, Walter punishes them by forcing them to kill each other and sends soldiers to destroy an entire village Roland and Jake have taken refuge at. Murdering the local seer to get their location, Walter ambushes Jake's stepfather and mother, murdering both--the latter by [[ManOnFire burning her alive]]--and [[KickTheDog draws a smiley face and taunting message from her ashes for Jake to find]]. When Jake is captured, Walter attempts to use him to [[OmnicidalManiac bring down the Dark Tower]] and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt start the apocalypse]] while facing Roland in a final battle.
* ''Film/TheRunningMan'': [[NonActionBigBad Damon Killian]], [[SmarmyHost host]] of ''[[BloodSport The Running Man]]'' and head of the network in the dystopian future, runs a [[BreadAndCircuses TV network where shows are aired]] that feature innocent people climbing ropes for dollars while vicious dogs lurk below; most of them fall. The star attraction, though, is ''[[DeadlyGame The Running Man]]'', where supposed criminals are released into a labyrinth to be hunted down by the vicious Stalkers and murdered. Blackmailing hero Ben Richards into playing the game, Damon then forces his friends to play despite his promises otherwise, and when a young woman digs into Richards's past, Killian manufactures a criminal history for her and throws her into the game as well. Even winning the game is no guarantee of safety, as the winners are disposed of while Killian lies about their survival. Smug, sociopathic and indifferent to human suffering, Killian defends himself by claiming that people just love television and as a TV star, he is giving them the violence they crave, no matter how many lives are ruined or ended.
* ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'' (based on ''[[Literature/DifferentSeasons Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption]]''):
** [[WardensAreEvil Warden]] Samuel [[NonActionBigBad Norton]] seems like a stern but [[FauxAffablyEvil affable]] prison bureaucrat before he reveals the true extent of his immorality and corruption. He sets up a scheme to underbid public construction projects with cheap prison labor and pockets the buy-off money from the desperate private contractors he blackmails, using Andy's financial knowledge to launder the illegal money. When a new inmate named Tommy has proof of Andy's innocence, Norton has him shot in the yard by [[TheDragon Captain Byron T. Hadley]] and has the murder passed off as an escape attempt. He throws Andy in solitary confinement for a month, then threatens to destroy everything Andy has built to improve Shawshank over the past 20 years in prison and make sure that he'll be handed over to the rapists again, before giving Andy another month in isolation just to think about it.
** Bogs Diamond is the leader of a prison gang called "The Sisters", who prey on weaker inmates to [[PrisonRape rape them again and again]] for as long as they like. Bogs sets his sights on Andy and together with his gang makes repeated attempts to rape and brutalize Andy over the course of several years, succeeding about half the time. When Andy tries to fight off the latest attempt, Bogs threatens to shiv Andy through the skull if he doesn't give him and his buddy oral sex. When Andy talks him out of it by playing on his ignorance, he beats Andy straight into the infirmary for a month instead.

-->-- '''Pennywise (played by Creator/TimCurry'''), ''Literature/{{IT}}'' (the 1990 [[MadeForTVMovie film]] [[TheFilmOfTheBook adaptation]])

** The aforementioned BigBad, [[FauxAffablyEvil Kurt Barlow]], is an [[Really700YearsOld ancient]], insidious vampire. His ultimate goal is to turn Jerusalem's Lot into a nest for vampires by [[ManipulativeBastard playing on the townspeople's desires and insecurities]] and [[DealWithTheDevil offering them a chance to achieve what they want, which always ends in him turning them]]. After losing control of his thirst and [[BadBoss killing a wounded Straker]], [[NeverMyFault blaming Mark for the incident]], he decides to KickTheDog multiple times. He turns Susan, forcing Ben to [[StakingTheLovedOne seek her out and kill her]], murders Mark's parents in front of him, and, after a standoff of faith with Father Callahan—which the priest lost—he forces him to drink some of his blood, [[FateWorseThanDeath barring him from holy ground for the rest of his life]]. One of his final acts in a last-ditch effort to stop Ben from staking him is to hypnotize Mark to kill the former, all the while threatening to [[GroinAttack castrate the latter]] before turning him. And, even after his final demise, [[TheBadGuyWins he still succeeded in his goal]], essentially dooming anyone who walks into the town of 'Salem's Lot.