History VillainProtagonist / Literature

* Creator/MichaelMoorcock created Colonel Pyat - a cocaine-addicted, self-aggrandising, violently anti-semitic Jewish engineer who worships Fascism and may or may not be a rapist. He's also the narrator of [[Literature/ThePyatQuartet his series of novels,]] [[UnreliableNarrator despite being an outrageous liar]].

* Alex from ''Literature/AClockworkOrange''. He spends the first part of the book as an obvious villain, but once he's given the Ludovico Treatment, he becomes a helpless victim at the mercy of others. Ultimately it turns out that [[spoiler:the government was the villain for trying to rob him of moral choice. Alex ultimately reforms ''himself'' at the end of the book]].

* Creator/MichaelMoorcock created Colonel Pyat - a cocaine-addicted, self-aggrandising, violently anti-semitic Jewish engineer who worships Fascism and may or may not be a rapist. He's also the narrator of Literature/ThePyatQuartet his series of novels,]] [[UnreliableNarrator despite being an outrageous liar]].

* Creator/MichaelMoorcock created Colonel Pyat - a cocaine-addicted, self-aggrandising, violently anti-semitic Jewish engineer who worships Fascism and may or may not be a rapist. He's also the narrator of his series of novels, [[UnreliableNarrator despite being an outrageous liar]].

* ''Literature/ThePyatQuartet'' is the life story of Colonel Pyat, who may just be the worst person to ever live. He might ''still'' be considered a mere AntiHero some of the time, since [[CrapsackWorld most of the people he encounters are pretty scummy themselves]] (and in many cases manage to screw him over rather than the other way around), but every so often he [[KickTheDog Kicks The Dog]] firmly enough to establish himself as an outright villain.

* Alex from ''Literature/AClockworkOrange''. He spends the first part of the book as an obvious villain, but once he's given the Ludivico Treatment, he becomes a helpless victim at the mercy of others. Ultimately it turns out that [[spoiler:the government was the villain for trying to rob him of moral choice. Alex ultimately reforms ''himself'' at the end of the book]].

* In, ''Literature/RabbitRun,'' Rabbit is a horrible person, but the reader wants to see what Rabbit will do next to make a mess of his life.

** Westlake also wrote a series of novels under his real name about John Dortmunder, a professional burglar. The books are much LighterAndSofter than the Parker series, and generally PlayedForLaughs. Several of these have also been turned into movies, including ''Film/TheHotRock''.
* Wyatt is the thief protagonist of a series of novels (starting with ''Kickback'') by Australian author Garry Disher. You will end up barracking for Wyatt as his schemes bring him into conflict with worse criminals who lack even Wyatt's basic sense of honour and ethics.

* Baron Harkonen from ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' during his POV segments. You ''so'' want him dead for his crimes and perversions, but while waiting for his comeuppance, you can't help but admire his brilliant political maneuvering and epic-level {{Magnificent Bastard}}ry.

* The unnamed protagonist of ''Kill The Boy Band'' and her friends Erin, Isabel, and Apple are a group of [[LoonyFan obsessed teenage fangirls]] who kidnap the least popular and attractive member of a boy band. [[Spoiler: The narrator is the most sympathetic of the group; she half-heartedly tries to free him, and after his death attempts to expose her friends as his kidnapper and his ex-girlfriend as his killer, but the police won't believe her improbable story.]]

* In the second book in the ''Literature/NightWatch'' series, ''Day Watch'', part of the story is narrated by Alysa, who is the series protagonist Anton's opposite number/EvilCounterpart in the forces of darkness (they start at the same level of power; while the BigGood is Anton's mentor, the BigBad was Alysa's lover), and she is one of the protagonists of the book.

* ''Literature/TheManInTheCornerRoom'' by Creator/AsiHart has Peter, a university StudentCouncilPresident who ends up feeding a large number of people to a SoulEating demon in exchange for a vending machine.

* ''The Man in the Corner Room'' by Creator/AsiHart has Peter, a university StudentCouncilPresident who ends up feeding a large number of people to a SoulEating demon in exchange for a vending machine.

* ''The Man in the Corner Room'' by Asi Hart has Peter, a university student council president who ends up feeding a large number of people to a soul eating demon in exchange for a vending machine.

* Lady Susan Vernon of Creator/JaneAusten's epistolary novel ''Literature/LadySusan''. Despite being the novel's central, most prominent figure, she is an unscrupulous, manipulative [[TheVamp vamp]] engaged in a sort of pre-affair with a married man while at the same time trying to snare the man her daughter is in love with as she struggles to force said daughter to marry a man against her will. Unlike Austen's ''Literature/{{Emma}}'', Lady Susan does not change at all over the curse of her story. Her daughter Frederica is the more sympathetic heroine.

* "Literature/NoughtsAndCrosses" second book Knife Edge is narrated by Sephy, Meggie and Jude. During this book he's a terrorist on the run from the police [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain]] who wants revenge on all Crosses]]. He eventually [[spoier:beats his Cross girlfriend to death after he finds himself having feelings for her]].