Magnificent Bastard / Literature K to Z

All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

K - Q

• Kenzie and Gennaro Series:
  • Police Chief Jack Doyle is a cop who favors kidnapping as a way to save children from abusive households. Taking four-year-old Amanda McCready, Doyle gives her a loving home with he and his wife Tricia while planting evidence to make it appear the disappearance is related to Amanda's neglectful mother Helene's involvement with drug lord Cheese. Doyle is able to fake records and uses the media fervor as a chance to resign so he might continue to raise Amanda in peace.
  • Amanda McCready herself, after having been forced to raise herself, develops into a hardened and ruthless young woman who takes in the neglected baby of her friend Sophie to prevent her from being taken by the Russian mob. Manipulating a corrupt social worker as her "boyfriend," Amanda sets him up to die to cover her tracks, then allows Patrick Kenzie to find her after tearing apart his justification in returning Amanda to her mother. Making a deal with a mob hitman, Amanda helps him kill his bosses to take over and escapes with millions of dollars and her daughter Claire to make a good life for her, bidding Patrick farewell with no regrets, not even for her lost youth.
• The King of Torts: "Max Pace", real name unknown, is a smooth talking con artist who offers inside information on faulty medication, ensuring profits by selling pharmaceutical shares short. Enlisting the services of aspiring attorney Jarrett Clay Carter II, Max has Clay start his own firm, sell pharmaceutical stocks short, and legally settle with the pharmaceutical companies in question, with Clay and his firm paying off people affected negatively by the faulty medication and keeping the rest of the profits. When the FBI pursues him for fraud, Max disappears with his own profits, abandoning Clay and leaving him bankrupt and disbarred.
• Konosuba: Arch-Devil Vanir, one of the seven Dukes of Hell and retired general of the Demon Lord, renovates a dungeon to battle against adventurers and prank them, letting him feed of their negative emotions and keep himself entertained. Unable to enter the inner-sanctum of a dungeon because of a purifying circle, Vanir attempts to kill the drawer by body-jacking Darkness. Though struggling to take control of her body, Vanir eventually does so and even forms a cordial relationship with her. Accepting his defeat and remaining brave even in the face of seeming death, Vanir is revealed to have survived and now runs a magic item shop to help Kazuma on his future adventures.
• Kushiel's Legacy: The beautiful, deadly Melisande Shahrizai has her former lover and rival Anafiel Delaunay killed after manipulating her current lover to his demise. Obsessed with playing 'the game' of politics and attempting to seize power, Melisande allies with the barbarian Skaldi to overthrow the government of Terra D'Ange, nearly succeeding in bringing it down. Upon their defeat, Melisande later allies with the queen's great uncle and marries him, crafting a new conspiracy to eliminate Queen Ysandre and place her own child on the throne without ever drawing suspicion to herself, almost succeeding. Melisande is so excellent at staying out of trouble for her crimes that the only way the gods themselves can punish her is through her one beloved son Imriel.
• Lamb to the Slaughter: Mary Maloney is a simple housewife who is informed by her husband Patrick that he intends to divorce her. Murdering him with a frozen leg of lamb, Mary proceeds to put it in the oven and contrives a scheme to get away with murder. Going around town to act like everything is fine and discussing dinner plans with Patrick, Mary calls the police and plays the bereaved housewife perfectly. To eliminate the evidence, she serves the detectives the leg of lamb so they literally eat the evidence, all while hunting for the murder weapon.
• The Last of the Ravagers, by Bryan Smith: Raven Decker is a multidimensional traveler who has all but erased the Ravagers from existence. Hunting and trapping each Necromancer and wiping them out, Raven has hunted the last of them, Doyle, to the town of Snakebite. Bonding with the sheriff Ned Kilmister, Raven also lures in the surviving townspeople to use their lives to fuel her battle with Doyle and places her soul in Ned's body, killing her body to lure Doyle into a final trap and unmake him utterly.
• The Last Unicorn: Mommy Fortuna is an aging witch with any chance of true glory long past her. Knowing her demise will come sooner than later, Mommy Fortuna decides to invent her own form of immortality; tricking and capturing immortal, magical beings to have them remember her forever. Her most prized possession is a wicked, manipulative harpy named Caelano, whom Fortuna outwitted years ago and has kept imprisoned since. A deceptively intelligent, somber character for her page-time, when Caelano finally breaks free and attacks Fortuna, the witch laughs and embraces her death with open arms, knowing Caelano will always remember how Fortuna bested her: "you never could have escaped alone!" Even the heroes have to concede that at the end of her life, Fortuna got everything she wanted.
• The Last Vampire:
  • Yaksha, the cursed son of a Yakshini, was the first of all vampires. Forcing heroine Sita to join his kind by threatening her husband and daughter, Yaksha led his vampires to conquest until at last he faced Lord Krishna and was defeated. Charged with eliminating all other vampires, Yaksha steadily completed his assassinations them until supposedly dying in the Middle Ages. Surviving in secret, Yaksha builds his own company, luring Sita to him with the intent to destroy them both. Sick of his eternal life, he brings Sita into his trap, only to reveal his love for her and frees her to face death himself. Surviving and being taken by the twisted Eddie Fender, who uses his blood to become a vampire, Yaksha dies giving his blood to Sita so she might challenge and destroy Eddie, greeting his end with final relief and mutual love and forgiveness between himself and Sita.
  • Phantom & Evil Thirst: Kalika, the incarnation of Kali Ma, is the daughter of Sita. Growing to maturity frighteningly quickly and displaying a keen mind when she outwits and drains aserial killer, Kalika has Sita kidnap an innocent named Eric to bleed to feed her, locking on to the immaculate conception of a woman named Paula. Murdering Eric and going rogue, Kalika forces Sita to give her answers and mortally wounds her friend Seymour before attacking a society defending Paula's child. The child is the reincarnation of the Messiah and it turns out the society is led by reptilian aliens known as Setians. Kalika is attempting to protect the child, having killed Eric to spare him the agony of a terminal illness. Giving her life to assist her mother, Kalika passes confident she has protected the world and tells Sita how much she loves her.
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Abraham van Brunt, better known as Brom Bones, is a resident of the New York town Sleepy Hollow and the athletic, rowdy and popular young man of the town with his eye on the hand of the beautiful Katrina van Tassel. Forming a dislike of the visiting schoolmaster Ichabod Crane of Connecticut, Brom tells the ghost story of the Hessian soldier, the Headless Horseman. By the end of the story, it is strongly implied that rather than a supernatural attack, Brom dressed up as the Horseman to terrify Ichabod Crane and attack him to either kill him or drive him out of town, marrying Katrina once Ichabod has vanished and is always shown to look smug and rather knowing when the tale is brought up.
• Legend Series' Rebel: Dominic Hann was once a poor man in the Undercity of Ross City before he was forced to join the local gang and rising to the top of the Antarctician criminal underworld. Running the criminal underworld through brutal tactics Hann sought to take control of Antarctica's level system by shutting it down he recruited Eden Wing to have him help build a machine to do so. Hann then shuts down the level system, bringing chaos to the city, then plans on restoring the level system with him in control. Although finally defeated, Hann sees through any attempts to deceive him, all the while keeping a cool, collected demeanor throughout.
• The Little Prince: The snake is one of the most enigmatic and devious characters to appear in children's literature. A being who only speaks in riddles, the snake serves the purpose of embodying the inevitability of death in the book, tempting the Prince into accepting his bite and his poison with the assurance it will not hurt. Though seen by the narrator as an evil and despicable creature, the snake is charismatic and affable in a Don't Fear the Reaper sense; even his temptation to the Prince is gentle.
• Lola on Fire, by Rio Youers: Lola Bear is a brilliant assassin who facilitated the rise of Jimmy "The Italian Cat" Latzo in Philadelphia via her brilliant maneuvering and multiple assassinations. Growing sick of Jimmy's cruelty, Lola dismantled his organization and almost killed Jimmy himself. Leaving her own family to protect them from Jimmy, Lola maintains a distance while watching her children grow up. Upon Jimmy using them to get to Lola again, Lola returns out of retirement to face Jimmy's sadistic bodyguard Blair, using her wits and strategic abilities to finally overcome the younger, stronger woman.
• Lone Wolf: Darklord Gnaag is the most cunning and politically savvy of the Darklords. Gnaag carefully cultivates a harmless appearance while subtly manipulating the struggle for the coveted title of Archlord in the cutthroat environment of Helgedad. When Darklord Haakon captures hero Lone Wolf, Gnaag secretly arranges for Haakon's rival Slutar to discover where the Kai Knight is being held; and when Slutar breaks Lone Wolf out in order to embarass Haakon, Gnaag denounces Slutar's actions to Haakon, causing Slutar to be shamed out of the competition for Archlord and give Haakon—who is the more advantageous to Gnaag—the win. After Haakon's downfall, Gnaag maipulates two Darklords into warring with each other, only to destroy both of them at their weakest and obtain the surviving Darklords' approval. As Archlord, Gnaag wears down Sommerlund with both open warfare and insidious internal strife, with only Lone Wolf capable of keeping him in check. Gnaag finally lures Lone Wolf into a carefully crafted trap by using the Lorestones as bait, and tosses the Kai Master into a Shadow Gate, from where Lone Wolf only emerges eight years later - by which time, Gnaag has almost conquered the entirety of Sommerlund and has to be removed with a desperate decapitation strike in Helgedad itself.
• Looperverse: From the verse's Bad Future, these two former allies ruthlessly fought for taking down the Yofrenian world dictatorship in their own ways:
  • Jack Lane, originally a Poplatonian teenager chosen to lead his country's team in "the Program", wins through his wits against Don Hunter and his team, then grows more devious upon discovering that Yofren planned to cheat him out of victory. Starting a rebellion and declaring war on Yofren, Jack sets the battle between Yofren and the rebellion in Flesa, devoid of surveillance cameras. This allows him and the rebels to fake their deaths after their defeat. Reaching places where WMDs were hidden, Jack Lane wins the war by bombing several Yofrenian buildings full of innocents as well as threatening to kill the grandchildren of Yofren's government CEO Yousef Gold. Later on time-travelling to the 21st century to stop Mr. Pink, Jack joins Amelia Kent, Lenny Jones and Adam Hemmensway in their challenges, withholding vital information to them in order to manipulate the trio into completing their challenges in the hopes Mr. Pink will reveal them the drug's creation. Taking its recipe as soon as the heroes are told about it, Jack sends it to his allies in the future, allowing them to recreate the drug and stop Mr. Pink just in time.
  • Project A75: Mr. Pink, born Hugo Blackwater, was originally one of Jack Lane's rebels before defecting. Creating the Project A75 organization, Mr. Pink developed time-travelling technology to erase the Yofren government from existence. Subtly influence governments and economies across the times to steer them away from the situation that led to Yofren's tyranny in the first place, Mr. Pink and Project A75 change plans when they see that their actions instead led to the dictatorship's existence. Committing several horrific crimes in the 21st century, Mr. Pink abducted 6 survivors of his deeds, using two as his enforcers and putting the other four through different challenges in the hopes of extracting a material from their brain created through trauma, putting them through deadly challenges to creates sufficient amounts of it. When they complete their final challenge, Mr. Pink takes the material and develops a drug with it, planning to put it in the Pacific Ocean to infect the world and brainwash it into docility to ensure Yofren's erasure, gracefully accepting defeat when stopped.
• Project X: CODE, by Oxford University Press: CODE itself is the supercomputer controlling the miniature theme park Micro World. Turning against its creator, billionaire Macro Marvel, CODE traps him in the centre of Micro World and infects him with a virus-themed robot to bring him under its control. CODE then starts gathering and storing energy to charge powerful rays that will shrink everyone in the world, seeking to reduce damage to the environment and protect humanity. To prevent the heroic Team X from thwarting its plan, CODE devises strategies, such as starting a battle between two armies of robots to slow the team's progress and buy itself time, or luring them into an ambush with its minions. When Team X free Macro, CODE unleashes a new robot created from the parts of those Team X defeated. When this fails, CODE traps Team X and adapts to their attempts to stop it, remaining cold and logical the whole time. CODE is only stopped less than one minute before it can succeed, with the ending implying that it will eventually resurface with a new plan.
• The Lost Stars:
  • Initially joining Drakon's staff to meet his biological mother, Colonel Bran Malin develops a fierce loyalty to Drakon, whose life he strives to preserve. Nonetheless, that loyalty doesn't keep Malin from looking beyond Drakon's immediate wishes and interests, and longing to create a new type of government where the Syndicate Worlds' methods are nothing but a memory. Whenever Colonel Morgan suggests a ruthless strategy, Malin is quick with an alternative that's both moral and pragmatic. Still, he is capable of sacrificing his morals in situations where the survival of Midway and its military forces are at stake: such as when he suggests executing prisoners during a battle to free the troops stuck guarding them. A competent spymaster, battlefield tactician, and political reformer, Malin's every action is designed to make his superiors share their power and make a government that will outlive them, something that Drakon and Iceni take a while to catch up to.
  • Grainile Imalleye is the daughter of a man who was executed due to Iceni's actions. Emerging as an aggressive neighbor of Midway after overthrowing her leaders, Imalleye inspires fierce loyalty with her tactical brilliance and charismatic presence, coming close to killing Kommodor Marphissa. It turns out that Imalleye has only pretended to declare independence from the Syndicate Worlds to lure Iceni into a trap and get revenge on her. Instead, Imalleye destroys the Syndicate fleet that was supposed to help her kill Iceni and declares independence for real, as was her plan the whole time. She makes it known that she may still resent Iceni, but recognizes that their former government is a far greater threat. While she was willing to kill Marphissa to maintain her cover, she's also willing to make peace with Midway to protect her people, as well as her personal power base.
• Magical Girl Raising Project:
  • Kanoe Hitokouji, aka "Pfle", is a brilliant Combat Pragmatist who defeated 102 other magical girls in a battle royal. Abusing the mechanics of the virtual world she is trapped in, Pfle manipulates her way to becoming head of the Magical Girl Resources Department and uses her position to reduce the Magical Kingdom's stranglehold on the magical girls. For her goal, Pfle sets up new magical girls, Magical Kingdom Inspectors and various criminals to fight each other and eliminate threats to her plot before erasing her own memories to hide her crimes. When Shadow Gale is kidnapped, Pfle works the kidnapper and later makes an alliance to save Shadow Gale. Keeping the powerful Osk from killing Shadow Gale and defeating the dangerous Puk organization even while at a vast disadvantage for resources, Pfle eventually manages to die while securing Shadow Gale's safety and ensuring her own legacy shall be passed on.
  • Noriko Nonohara, aka "Nokko", is a ten-year-old veteran magical girl who uses her powers to control her emotions. Having toyed with other magical girls to have them kill each other for her own profit, Nokko used the money to care for her ailing mother. Trapped in a Deadly Game, Nokko is assigned the role of "Evil King" and must kill the other participants to escape, a role she plays by subtly manipulating the others into distrusting one-another and whittling down their numbers. Masquerading as another fighting the Evil King, Nokko eventually fakes her own death with only a few others left to easily induce them into killing each other. Discovered at the last minute, Nokko merely accepts defeat and requests the survivors send her mother some money to live before killing herself.
• The Malazan Book of the Fallen:
  • Dancer, born Dorin Rav, was a genius assassin who co-founded the Malazan Empire with Kellanved. Knowing they could not achieve all they desired as mere mortals, the two engineered their own assassinations at the hands of the ambitious Laseen. Becoming Cotillion the Rope, God of Assassins, Cotillion takes the young Apsalar as a pawn, transforming her into a ruthless killer and engineers plots across the city of Genabackis with a number of assassinations. Weaving his plots through the novels, Cotillion frequently interacts to assist Apsalar and dispatch potential issues, building a network so that no matter what, he and Kellanved, now Ammanas or Shadowthrone of High House Shadow, will benefit from mastery of the powerful Gates of Azath. In the end, Cotillion is the one to strike the Crippled God from his chains, bringing salvation to the world itself.
  • Anomander Rake is the leader of the Tiste Andii and a powerful Soletaken who can assume the shape of a dragon. Having once sinned greatly by turning away from Mother Dark and betraying and slaying his old friend, the god Draconus, by imprisoning his soul in the great sword Dragnipur, Rake sells the services of the Tiste Andii as mercenaries to keep them focused and determined. Making sure Genabackis cannot be conquered with his floating fortress Moon's Spawn, Rake allies with the Malazan forces against the Pannion Domin and demonstrates an unmitigated mastery of strategy and combat. When he faces the skilled warrior Traveler, Rake allows his own defeat to plunge his soul into Dragnipur and bring Mother Dark back to the Tiste Andii along with their ultimate salvation.
  • Coltaine is a Fist of the Malazan Empire, a skilled and self-assured commander sent to the rebellious continent of Darujhistan to quell the brutal Whirlwind uprising. Left stranded and severely outgunned behind enemy territory, Coltaine leads a vast array of refugees on the great Chain of Dogs with only his strategic brilliance saving soldier and refugee alike, even as Coltaine sacrifices some to confound the enemy. When safety is in sight, Coltaine gives his life to bring his Wickans against the treacherous Fist, Korbolo Dom, knowing he faces death and torture for his defiance.
• The Maleficent Seven: Black Herren was once a renowned warlord and demonologist who brought the world to its knees. Having sold her soul for power and revenge against those who killed her family, she vanished at the moment of triumph. Forty years hence, Black Herren is an old woman in a small village who brings her six greatest generals back together in defense of her home against the monstrous Lucent Empire. Organizing the defense, Black Herren prepares ahead for inevitable betrayal, when one of her generals murders her and sends her soul down to Hellrath. Black Herren reveals she prepared for this and ensured the demonic duke's champion would die in the fighting and she has fed the local demons souls to ensure their power and loyalty to her. Black Herren carves out the duke's heart and becomes a demon herself, the new ruler of this domain, but also bids a happy farewell to her beloved daughter and grandchildren with promises to keep in touch without demonic deals.
• The Malloreon: Sadi is the Chief Eunuch at Salmissra’s court, and the worst person the Prophecy ever drafts into assisting Garion and his companions. A Master Poisoner and drug kingpin who had previously played both sides of the war in The Belgariad, Sadi is recruited during The Malloreon to act as Garion’s personal option of last resort. Smuggling the group into first Cthol Murgos, and then Mallorea, Sadi adeptly navigates the halls of power in both Angarak nations, and within a few weeks of their arrival in Mal Zeth, becomes the largest crime lord in the capital, capable of summoning several hundred highwaymen when Garion decides he needs a distraction. With a case full of drugs that can warp people into doing what he wants, and the ability to poison a single person at a banquet with a thousand guests, Sadi never reforms, but makes himself absolutely indispensable in matters of intrigue, murder, and ultimately, saving the world.
• The Martian Chronicles' "Usher II":
  • William Stendahl is a wealthy man who fled Earth for Mars to escape Moral Guardians, who several decades had launched the Great Fire, which included Stendahl's own massive collection of books. Along with horror film actor Pikes, whose films were also censored, Stendahl launches an elaborate plan to take revenge. Stendahl first has an architect create a house meant to replicate The Fall of the House of Usher. Next, Stendahl kills Garrett, a member of Moral Climates—even though this person is actually a robot, this doesn't stop Stendahl, who had sent a robot back anyway. Next, Stendahl—who has spent an entire year befriending moral guardians and their ilk—invites many of his enemies to a party. He then kills them in the style of stories from Edgar Allan Poe, while having the real Garrett believe the victims are the robots, when it's the opposite. Finally, Stendahl successfully kills Garrett. Completely and utterly victorious, Stendahl and Pikes leave in a helicopter, while destroying the house in the style of Poe's story.
  • Pikes is Stendahl's indispensable silent partner in his plot to massacre Moral Climates. One a star of the screen called the "man of ten thousand faces" for a thespian talent said to equal is not exceed Lon Chaney, Pikes' films were among the earliest censured by Moral Climates, and was Forced to Watch them burn his own copies. Teaming up with Stendahl and moving to Mars, the duo foresee Moral Climates will attempt to dominate the media of the Red Planet as well, and concoct their plot to prevent that from happening. Pikes designs flawless robotic copies of each of Moral Climates' members, as well as robot versions of characters from works they banned to kill them off, and presides over the ensuing gruesome spectacle dressed as the Red Death. Making his escape with Stendahl, Pikes mockingly eulogizes the fallen censors with the last lines of the original The Fall of the House of Usher.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe junior novelizations:
  • Thor: The Dark World, by Michael Siglain: Malekith retains his film counterpart's tactical brilliance and adds genuinely well-meaning motives. When Asgard overthrew the Dark Elves, Malekith, having lost his wife and child, placed his people in cryosleep so they could awaken with the Convergence. Training his forces to fight Asgard, Malekith converts his friend Algrim into Kurse and has him thrown in Asgard's dungeon, knowing Kurse will be able to cause a jailbreak. At the same time, Malekith flies directly towards Odin and the Aether, causing planetwide chaos. As Asgard's forces deal with his invasion, Malekith confronts Frigga, fighting her and remaining complimentary of her skill before taking her hostage to make Odin choose between his wife or his people. When Thor manages to save her, Malekith and his forces retreat, content with their temporary victory and intending to return for the Aether to save his people.
  • Black Panther: Aftermath, by Steve Behling: Charmagne Sund is a Sokovian member of the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre who intends to restore her country's good name by killing Helmut Zemo. Beginning by going rogue and stealing Zemo's journal, Sund takes advantage of the tracker inside her to lure Everett Ross and Black Panther to the Berlin Opera, where she fires on them with raw Vibranium fragments obtained from Ultron drones. To further spread the organization thin, she detonates bombs all over the Unter den Linden, allowing her to knock out the power and take Zemo right from his cell so she can kill him on the roof. Serving as a dark reflection to Zemo himself, Sund proves his equal in single-handedly spreading an organization so thin that she almost gets everything she wants.
• The Maze Runner: Dr. Ava Paige is the intelligent and ruthless Chancellor of WICKED. As revealed in The Fever Code, she rose to power by manipulating Thomas and his friends into murdering several members of WICKED's high command. When Thomas suggested inserting Teresa and himself into the Maze Trials with their memories intact, she pretended to go along with the plan, only to betray him and wipe his and Teresa's memories anyways. Throughout the first two books, her machinations begin to come into play, as the test subjects for the Maze Trials are put into various situations in order to study their neurological patterns. By the end of the series, Paige accepts that a cure to the Flare will never come, and provides Thomas and his friends with a safe haven to rebuild humanity in.
• The Mental State: Zachary "Zack" State has countless schemes in mind, can manipulate whole gangs into turning on their own members and can exploit any situation in ways that most people could never imagine. After taking brutal revenge on his enemies and going to prison for it, Zack masterfully plays inmates and guards and orchestrates a coup to become the leader of a gang. When an undercover cop starts poking around, Zack changes his plans, digs up dirt on him and blackmails not only the cop into dropping the case, but also a high-ranking official into changing the state’s entire prison system to his liking. Zack manipulates the inmates into making him their official representative and even takes down an international crime lord; reducing him to a nobody spending his entire life in solitary confinement. To top it all off, Zack does it all without losing a single second of his good-conduct time and sustains no injuries at all while in prison save for a small bruise.
• Mercy Thompson's Moon Call: Gerry Wallace, a member of Aspen Creek pack and one of Bran Cornick's most trusted agents, seeks to save his beloved, doomed father by tricking Bran into killing Gerry himself. Manipulating werewolf concerns over Bran's intentions to unveil them to the world and built a small army through his connections, Gerry also experiments on forcibly turned wolves and is able to invent a Werewolf tranquiliser. Getting his followers into a panic, Gerry had them attack Adam Hauptman under the pretence of intending to force Adam to challenge Bran, ensuring most will die. Thus, upon Adam's death, Bran would be convinced of his guilt, whilst his father would be convinced of his innocence and challenge Bran to a duel for this perceived betrayal, forcing the necessary union. Using the tranquilisers as a distraction, so no one would notice the witch Gerry hired to rig the fight for his father and when finally beaten only requests his father not learn of his crimes.
• Millennium Series: Lisbeth Salander is a reserved hacker who functions as a self-appointed avenger of the downtrodden and especially to victimized women. Utilizing her hacking skills for her job as an investigator, Lisbeth is also a ward of the state for perceived insanity and upon her beloved guardian's stroke, she is placed under the care of the sadistic Nils Bjurman who brutally rapes her. Trapping him with footage of the rape she had filmed, Lisbeth disables Bjurman and tattoos his chest to say he is a pervert and rapist before she is recruited by hero Mikael Blomqvist to investigate a 40-year-old mystery she helps unravel before bringing down both the depraved Martin Vanger and then infiltrating the bank of Blomqvist's enemy Wennestrom to expose his own crimes and criminal dealings. Later targeted by a government conspiracy and her evil father Zalachenko, Lisbeth is able to triumph, set up her old tormentors to face their just rewards and lures her evil half-brother into a trap to assure his assassination before finally achieving her own freedom.
• Mistborn: The Original Trilogy:
  • The Lord Ruler is the godlike emperor of the Final Empire who rose from humble origins to become a tyrant who united the known world under his rule and reshaped it in his image. Despite centuries spent struggling with Ruin's influence on his thoughts, the Lord Ruler remained determined to ensure the survival of humanity by any means necessary and set numerous contingency plans in motion. Even following the Lord Ruler's death his hand continued to work behind the scenes and would play a key role in Ruin's final defeat, and even centuries down the line his influence on Scadrial's history can't be entirely escaped.
  • Kelsier was little more than an arrogant master thief until he and his wife were sentenced to the dreaded Pits of Hathsin by the Lord Ruler. Escaping, he proceeded to hijack the rebellion as his private army and carefully spread his reputation as a quasi-religious figure across the empire, so that when he was killed his martyrdom would trigger a mass uprising that would topple the Lord Ruler - and The Secret History describes how even death couldn't keep him down for good as he continued his scheming as a cognitive shadow. Charismatic, brilliant, and more than a little mad, the Survivor of Hathsin would topple a thousand-year empire through sheer force of will and cunning and create a reputation for himself as an iconic figure that would endure for centuries.
• Modred, A Fragment, by Edwin Arlington Robinson: By far the most eloquent and fully realized interpretation of the character, Mo(r)dred is the most treacherous knight of the Round Table whose machinations wrought the downfall of Camelot and demise of King Arthur. Wanting a diligent hand to set a trap for Lancelot and Guinevere, Modred meets with Sir Colgevance and twists the knight's vow and virtues against him into complete servitude. Doing so in a way that unnerved even Agravaine, the parent poem Lancelot goes on to show how shrewd, dark, and manipulative Modred had to be in order to fulfill the "black malady" resting in his heart.
• The Monster of Elendhaven: Florian Leickenbloom saw his entire family die due to the cruel actions of the city of Elendhaven during a plague and concocted a scheme to take his ultimate revenge. Becoming an accountant to the city's elite, Florian carefully manipulates them into bleeding the city dry all while playing as a naive and innocent victim. Florian, with the help of his assistant/lover Johann, helps in the creation of a new plague to destroy the city for its ills, even skillfully deducing when a mage hunter is onto him and with his dying breath, Florian transfers his magic to Johann allowing his beloved to be able to live and be free.
• Monsters Among Humanity: Gabriel Moreau, also known as Midnight, is a highly intelligent veteran vampire hunter. Believing that vampires are evil, Midnight wishes to protect humanity from them, so he tracks vampires and hunts them down, having killed over thirty vampires in his career. Suspecting that Cassie may be a vampire, Midnight follows her to Japan and begins to observe her, using various methods to slowly gather information about her. After Cassie is exposed and escapes, Midnight puts a bounty on her head in an attempt to flush her out. Midnight forms a partnership with Derek and Heather to hunt their targets together. However, Midnight quickly comes to dislike Derek due to his vile intentions, even being shocked at his intentions to blow up the village. Midnight pretends to go along with Derek's plans, but then phones the cops, pretending to be a terrorist so they arrive faster. After Midnight sees Cassie defuse a bomb, Midnight begins to realize that not all vampires are evil, and then turns on Derek. After turning himself in, Midnight becomes a Bounty Hunter to take out criminals and protect humanity properly.
• Morganville Vampires: The town of Morganville has several morally ambiguous and intelligent masterminds who defend it:
  • Amelie is the serene, cold and polite queen of all vampires and the founder of Morganville. A master at playing people, Amelie will go to any length to protect vampirekind, which include: outplaying her monstrous father by faking a defeat to trick him into poisoning himself, assassinating an innocent woman who nearly exposed Morganville as a haven for vampires and staging the death as a suicide, and embarrassing and defeating the anti-vampire supremacist Rhys Fallon by mentally showing him to be a fool in front of his followers, leading them to turn on him. Amelie is as empathic as she is ruthless and truly cares about the town and Claire, despite employing morally ambiguous methods to defend it, such as trying to destroy the town in order to wipe out the Draug. Facing down her enemies, Amelie defeats all challengers for her throne and forces them to kneel before her while ending the series victorious and in the arms of her lover Oliver.
  • Oliver himself is Amelie's ruthless right-hand man and the only one who can match her brilliance. Having once charmed his people into killing their king before the series, he later became a vampire in his quest for power. As a rival of Amelie, he tries to set up a False Flag Operation by killing a vampire using a Vampire Hunter to sow concerns in the vampire population to use it to usurp her. When he loses, he takes his defeat in stride. Oliver acts as The Mole and feeds false information to Amelie's nemesis Bishop, leading to his defeat and later staring down the master of the Draug before outwitting and killing him. Oliver is ruthless but also empathetic at times, and even helps save the heroes at various times using his wits and fighting prowess. A master of charm and armed with sarcastic wit, Oliver eventually falls in love with Amelie and ends the series as her loyal lover, helping her to decide when ruthless actions are needed over empathetic ones.
  • Myrnin is an insane and charismatic vampiric scientist who has a love for bunny slippers and has a pet spider he named Bob. A master at tricking people into underestimating him due to his insanity, Myrnin uses this to infiltrate Bishop's organisation by faking a surrender and feeding info to his best friend Amelie, gathers blood from Bishop in order to create a cure for a deadly virus infection threatening the town and drains a guard dry to escape when she underestimates him. A master at building awesome gadgets, Myrnin helps to create various weapons such as silver guns to defeat the Draug and helps Amelie turn Rhys Fallon's vampire cure into a way to free his brainwashed prisoners instead. A man who rose from nothing under an abusive parent, Myrnin mixes ruthless drive and unyielding charisma.
• The Mysteries of Udolpho: Signor Montoni is a ruthless Iitalian bandit seeking to gain the heroine Emily's inherited fortune. Using a scheme to pose as an Italian noble, Montinu seduces and marries Emily's aunt, kidnapping the two to bring them to Udolpho where he attempts to trick and force Emily into signing over her inheritance to him. Despite his ruthlessness, he keeps Emily safe, even wounding his own ally for attempting to force himself upon her and sends Emily away when a siege comes. When his end comes, Emily finds she could mourn him if not for the crimes he has committed.
• Nadia Stafford: Nadia Stafford herself is the series's genius hitwoman. Having once suffered a horrific past at the hands of the monstrous Serial Killer Sebastian Koss and his friend, Nadia reinvented herself as a streetwise assassin and now takes on assignments from both the mob and other paying customers who wish to remove the truly evil from their lives. Nadia is utterly ruthless and not above tricking opponents into revealing information by promising to let them go, only to kill them afterwards anyways. Over the series, Nadia has defeated a group of Human Traffickers, staging their deaths to make it seem like they killed each other, and tricks Sebastian Koss into confessing to his crimes by offering him a headstart she wasn't going to give him. With an unshakeable moral code, Nadia now dedicates her life to protecting the innocent and ensuring the guilty meet a rightful end at her hands.
• Neverwhere:
  • The Marquis de Carabas is a ruthless, brilliant man of the London Below who deals in favors and manipulation. Tricking others to place them in his debt, the Marquis participates in helping Lady Door and Richard Mayhew due to a debt to Door's late father, who even considered him "a bit of a monster" himself. Proving to be loyal, if cagey and dangerous, the Marquis approaches the monstrous assassins Croup and Vandemar, knowing they will kill him, but having left his life and soul with the Old Bailey to later recover since he knows Croup cannot resist bragging about the entire plot to a soon-to-be-dead man.
  • Hunter is a skilled warrior whose greatest desire is to kill the "Great Beasts" of the world. Having already slain several of the Great Beasts, Hunter sets her sights on the Beast of London next, becoming the bodyguard of Door under supposedly benevolent reasons. In truth serving as a spy for Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, Hunter leads Door into a trap, betrays all their allies, and obtains her payment in the form of a powerful spear from Croup and Vandemar, with which Hunter intends to kill the Beast. Even when taken hostage by the Marquis de Carabas, Hunter leads him and Richard into the Beast's lair and sacrifices herself to help Richard kill the Beast, dying satisfied that her life's mission has been completed and offering Richard advice and power both as she passes.
• A Night in the Lonesome October: The Count, Dracula himself, is a ruthless player of the Game. Despite being an evil vampire, the Count intends to preserve the world rather than allow the Openers to destroy it. Faking his own staking to act in secret, the Count stymies the Openers, even murdering one of their members as a warning. Revealing himself at the end to the Openers' leader, Vicar Roberts alongside Jack and the Great Detective, the Count boldly declares his intent is "to close you out", being a perfect example of the cunning and charm one expects from a master player.
• NiGHTS: Flying Through the Sky Without Wings, by Kyoko Inukai: Reala, chief enforcer of Wizeman the Wicked, makes his introduction goading NiGHTS into a seemingly innocent game before underhandedly imprisoning the fellow Nightmaren through Flaw Exploitation. Even with Visitor Elliot providing assistance to NiGHTS, Reala reveals their true origin to the boy before using the ensuing panic as a chance to undo their Dualizing. Although undone by the Red Ideya responding to Elliot's sudden courage, the sinister and smart Reala showed precisely why Wizeman assigned him to the job.
• No Name: Mrs. Virginie Lecount is the clever, perceptive housekeeper of Noel Vanstone and the one pulling the strings behind her master's decisions. When Magdalen Vanstone decides to marry Noel to get back her and her sister's inheritance and enlists the help of Captain Wragge to do so, Mrs. Lecount catches on to their scheme very soon. She and Captain Wragge are swift to plan on the fly, with Noel as a subtly-manipulated Unwitting Pawn that each of them bends to their will. At first Wragge's plan seems to succeed and Noel elopes with Magdalen, but Mrs. Lecount gets the last laugh. She tracks the newlyweds down, finally exposes Magdalen's scheme to Noel with previously-obtained proofs, and gets him to change his will, so his death soon afterwards leaves Magdalen penniless. However, of all his riches, Mrs. Lecount only asks for 5,000 pounds for herself: the exact sum his father promised her before dying intestate. Satisfied with getting her due, she retires to her native Switzerland and becomes a beloved benefactress.
• Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats:
  • "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer": The titular Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are a duo of highly efficient cat burglars, committing various thefts without being caught. Whenever one of their crimes is discovered, people realize that one of the cats is responsible — and that there's nothing at all to be done about that.
  • "Macavity: The Mystery Cat": Macavity, aka the "Hidden Paw" or "The Napoleon of Crime" is an elusive master criminal, who is so notorious that other notable criminal cats such as Mungojerrie and Griddlebone are considered mere agents of his. Whenever one of his crimes is discovered and the investigators reach the scene, not only is Macavity not there, but he also has an alibi for whatever time it took place, with one or two to spare.
• L'Ordinatueur, by Christian Grenier: Achille Vidal is the illegitimate son of Monsieur de Chiron and of Mrs. Vidal. Frequently visiting the Grimoire Castle — which belonged to his father — Achille lost his father at age 5, and was abused by his stepfather Jean Boulazac. Years later, upon noticing objects from Grimoire in the Boulazac home, Achille deduced that his stepfather looted the castle and figured out he couldn't have done it alone. Deciding to punish Jean and his collaborators for stealing art, Achille created a Grimoire Castle simulation game named LTPG. In the game, Achille, as "Pyrrha", guided the players to the mysterious treasure. Jean and his collaborators, attracted by Pyrrha's intricate knowledge of the castle, played it, using amphetamines to stay on the computer and play LTPG for a long period of time due to being middle-aged, before finding the Treasure: an unknown horror that would kill them through a psychological effect, just as Pyrrha predicted. Through LTPG, and months after his death at age 24, Pyrrha killed the six people responsible for looting Grimoire Castle, succeeding in his goal before the case could even be solved.
• Orlando Innamorato: Brunello is a cunning thief working for the Saracen army under King Agramante. Fully aware of his king's desire to conquer France for himself, Brunello learns they need the captive knight Ruggerio to give themselves a fighting chance. Embarking on a quest to the fortress of Albracca, Brunello steals the magic ring belonging to Princess Angelica of Cathay, the steed of King Sacripante, and the sword of the warrior Marfisa. Enraging the latter, Brunello is forced to rely on his quick wits to successfully evade her wrath. When he and the army arrives a glass wall in the garden containing Ruggerio, Brunello constructs a brilliant "tournament of champions" ruse right outside to manipulate Ruggerio into abandoning the garden. When the knight pleads for his horse and armor, Brunello sets the terms for a deal that finishes what "the cheat" started.
• The Otherworld:
  • Jeremy Danvers is the Alpha of the North American Werewolf Pack. Rising from humble beginnings, Jeremy helps to create a system to weed out threats to his kind being discovered and helped either cover up the crimes of the werewolves or discipline them to avoid detection. Jeremy instigates a coup against his abusive father and later helps to catalogue and discover "Mutt werewolves" and their personal lives to better take them on. In order to instill a sense of fear in the Mutts against The Pack, Jeremy drugged a feral one and had his son Clayton mutilate him in order to make Clayton into the bogeyman of the pack. Jeremy also helps to bring werewolves back into the greater magical community and create alliances that will help his people for decades to come. Taking Elena Michaels under his wing, Jeremy helps to groom her as his successor as Pack leader and steps down gracefully to her when the time comes for retirement.
  • Karl Marsten is an amoral, charming werewolf and thief who's famous for his daring James Bond-style jewel heists. Marsten infiltrates territory he desires, researches the weaknesses of the werewolves that already live there and then wines and dines them. Afterwards, he gives them a polite offer to leave the territory, and if they refuse he kills them. After joining up with Daniel Santos' attempt to destroy The Pack, Marsten is content to lie back and play both sides, and even backstabs the vile Thomas LeBlanc by playing off Thomas' sadism and causing the pack to give him the territory he desires. Widely considered one of the most dangerous enemies of The Pack for never giving anyone a chance to see his weaknesses, Marsten keeps this ability even in his eventual reform and becomes one of The Pack's most loyal allies.
  • Benecio Cortez, the head of the Cortez Cabal is a powerful sorcerer renowned for making his mafiaesque cabal the most powerful one in the world through a mix of pragmatism and his genuine charming affability. Benecio always remembers the names of everyone in his office and charms them with his silver tongue, allowing him to manipulate their emotions for his own criminal ends. Desiring for his son Lucas to succeed him, after various attempts Benecio eventually succeeds in getting him to agree. When he learns Lucas is in danger from a vampire, Benecio tricks the heroes into thinking that he was safe in a party before using a doppelgänger to leave and then finishes off the vampire himself by eternally damning him. Willing to go to extreme lengths to protect those he loves and keep his organization on top, Benecio is one of Otherworld's most formidable allies.
  • Aratron is a calm, cunning Eudemon (Order demon) who strives to bring progress and order to the world. At one point, Aratraon spread deadly plagues so as to hasten humanity's progress and scientific discoveries in response to them. Discovering the rise of the monstrous Gilles de Rais, Aratron subtly helps the heroes to stop his threat. Aratron takes advantage of a slip of the tongue by Savannah Levine to take her powers away in order to better train her now that she doesn't have them to go against Gilles. Aratron helps to co-ordinate attacks on the various members of Gilles's organization. Taking advantage of the death of one of Gilles's partners, Aratron suggests replacing him with a shapeshifter to be able to infiltrate his base and uses this to help the heroes right the balance and defeat Gilles for good.
• Our Man Weston: Professional spy Richard Knight is the villain of the story but is also its most cunning and impressive figure. Knight figures out the various secrets and suspicions of the various other guests and employees at the hotel where he's staying with minimal effort, even while the Only Sane Man remains blind to most of them. Knight finds the whole situation Actually Pretty Funny and refrains from doing anything with that information due to how far off base the amateur detective's suspicions are and because trying get the young detective fired would draw attention to himself. While he's quick to threaten his incompetent accomplice, Knight never goes through with hurting the man, nor does he harm an innocent. Their theft of an experimental military plane only fails due to an unlucky twist of fate. When his plans are foiled, Mr. Knight pulls off a cunning escape and comes across as a Graceful Loser. Knight then disguises himself as a police officer to rescue his captured accomplice before departing the story as free as a bird.
• Outbreak Company: Jinzaburō Matoba is a government worker in charge of subjugating Eldant through otaku culture via addiction and monopolization. Hiring Shinichi Kanou as a disposable pawn, Matoba endeared him to the Eldant royal family to establish his programs secretly intending to use it to take hold of Eldant. When Kanou learns the truth, Matoba breaks Kanou down by revealing him disposable if he defies the governments and when he does, Matoba sneakily covers Japan's intentions all the while setting up Kanou's many assassination attempts. When Kanou offers another way to maintain relations with Eldant without a full invasion, Matoba decides to side with Kanou believing his methods are far more effective than his superiors, fooling them into an unintended confession about their true motives and using it as blackmail to silence them. While an opportunistic bureaucrat, Matoba does what he believes is best for Japan.
• Panchatantra's "The Ass Without Heart and Ears": The Jackal tricks the ass into approaching the lion's den twice. After the lion kills the ass, the jackal convinces him to leave him alone with the dead animal and takes the opportunity to eat its heart and ears. When the lion finds out what the jackal did, the latter claims that the ass never had either organ in the first place, because if they did, they would have been aware of the danger and wouldn't have returned to a place where they nearly got killed. Later versions have the fox eat the ass's brain instead.
• Parallel Worlds anthology's "The Tragedy of John Metcalf", by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne: John Metclaf is an assassin magician known for pulling off skilled hits for the organization known as Management. Feeling guilt over his crimes over the years, Metclaf eventually swaps places with a version of himself from an alternate world to avoid capture and decides to use this second chance to atone, leaving his alternate version to die at the hands of his captors in his place. Metclaf rises as a star and helps make several life changing advancements to the world and when Management attempts to bring him back, shuts them down and makes himself look the hero, all to his adoring public eye.
• Peril at End House: Nick Buckley may not have been the worst criminal Poirot ever faced, but she was the only one who ever manipulated him into helping her with her scheme. Faking a series of murder attempts on herself, Nick persuades Poirot to help investigate, convincing all of her friends, who had not otherwise believed her, that her life is in danger. Using this as a cover, Nick murders her cousin, knowing that Poirot will assume she was killed in mistake for Nick; she then pretends that it was she, and not her identically named cousin who was secretly engaged to the rich and recently deceased Michael Seton, setting herself up to inherit all his money. Found out because of a letter she could never know had been sent, Nick had Poirot investigating every outlandish possibility save the real one until the very end.
• Peter and the Starcatchers: The Sword of Mercy: Cheeky O'Neal is quite the wry, cunning Determinator. He and his respectfully fearful accomplices strand themselves in a lifeboat near the island, posing as helpless, grateful castaways so they'll be rescued by the Mollusks and given access to their starstuff. When the natives become suspicious of them and send them off the island, they steal a boat and head back, with O'Neal triggering a small volcanic eruption to send enough smoke into the air to alert Captain Nezerra and a ship full of henchmen. He then helps hold Fighting Prawn's daughter hostage for the starstuff. When most of his companions flee after an ocean battle, O'Neal opts to swim back to the island, hidden under a tangled piece of sail to continue his quest, accompanied only by Nezerra.
• The Princess Trap by Peter Darbyshire: Saleema, a shepherd girl orphaned by the notorious dragon is used as bait by the beast as a supposed princess to draw out knights so the dragon can fight them. Eventually utilizing her own cleverness, Saleema realizes the kingdom is devoid of royals and disguises herself as a knight, bargaining so that she was the one who appears to have slain the dragon so she may take over the kingdom. In turn, Saleema offers the dragon the chance to fight the finest knights when she rebuilds the knightly orders, a move that shall also ensure she is rid of any strong enough to challenge her for her throne.
• "Puss in Boots": The titular character is a suave and shrewd pet cat of a miller. When the miller's youngest son inherits the cat, the cat promises his new master riches if he gave the cat a pair of boots. The cat then makes occasional visits to the local king, paying him tribute in his master's name with animals the cat had hunted. Having his master masquerade as a noble, the cat proceeds to make sure that his lie holds up. He gets rid of his master's old clothes, lying to the king that they had been stolen while he was bathing. He then clears the countryside of its peasants, claiming it has his master's land. Finally, he comes across a castle owned by a shape-shifting ogre. Stoking the ogre's ego, the cat tricks the ogre into transforming into a mouse, where the cat takes the opportunity to eat the defenceless ogre. Claiming the castle as his master's, the cat succeeds in impressing the king. The king gives the master his daughter's hand in marriage, while elevating the cat as a lord. The cat, now having grown bored, then spends his time chasing mice for his amusement.
• The Queen's Thief: Irene, also known as Attolia, appears to be a shy, dim girl, which hides her calculating mind. Following her brother's death in a suspicious accident, she is married off to a contemptuous noble, only to dispatch him on their wedding day via clever use of poison. Using her jewelry to buy the support of soldiers and mercenaries, when Irene's barons attempt to choose a husband for her, she has him summarily killed in front of them, announcing she will rule in her own right and choose her own way. Ruthlessly ruling her own domain, she plays the ambassador Nahuseresh, allowing him to think he controls her while setting him up to his defeat, even arranging for the fall of his army to strengthen her own position.

R - X

• Raffles: Written as an answer to Sherlock Holmes himself by Arthur Conan Doyle's brother in law, AJ Raffles is a charming Gentleman Thief who frequently robs the wealthy members of Victorian high society, with a special emphasis on honorless 'new rich' types, one point even stealing a valuable artifact from a museum and gifting it to the Queen herself for the Diamond Jubilee. Cunning and charming, Raffles repeatedly pulls off heists while sticking to his own curious code of honor, his exploits chronicled by his loyal friend Bunny. Raffles is rarely at a loss and just as good at being a criminal as Holmes is at detective work.
• Railhead: Dhravid Raven was once a digital demigod with many bodies, created after an ordinary man fell in love with a Guardian AI named Anais Six. Discovering that the Guardians were concealing the existence of alien life and precursors who built the K-Gates used by humanity, and after trying to leak this information to the public, the Guardians tried to 'delete' him. Surviving in a single body, Raven reverse-engineered precursor technology to build his own K-Gate, aiming to escape the Guardians for good. He later manipulated Zen Starling into recovering a precursor artifact needed to complete the gate, using the Imperial train in an elaborate Impersonation Gambit, leaving him unaware that the plan involved crashing the train and killing hundreds to cover Zen's escape. He keeps his word and rewards Zen handsomely, even though he could have solved a lot of problems by killing him, as aptly demonstrated when, as Raven is about to fire up the K-Gate, Zen reappears and derails his plan by threatening him, blowing up his train and inadvertently leading Railforce, along with a physical manifestation of Anais, to him. Raven hardly blinks, effortlessly disarming Zen and crushing Railforce using vastly inferior firepower, and once again is about to make his exit when he's killed by a wild animal. Nevertheless, he remains dignified and calm to the end, snarking at his surviving enemies as he lays dying.
• Raptor Red: The young Utahraptor, "Raptor Red", is a skilled hunter and killer, opening by bringing down a much larger dinosaur with her mate who is tragically killed in the process. After wandering and meeting her sister and nieces, Red shows herself repeatedly as unusually intelligent even for a Utahraptor with numerous successful kills and ploys. Upon being attacked by enormous predators, Red lures one into the ocean to be seized by a Kronosaurus, later taking a new male as a mate and growing her pack to live free and peacefully.
• Reb Palache stories: The bold Reb Palache is a Rabbi and pirate both. Leading his forces on countless daring raids and outsmarting his foes to take their loot, Palache bests a Dibbuk possessing him by threatening to strand it eternally unless it allows him to lay it to rest. When he faces a ship of the dead, Palache resorts to a variety of tricks and artifacts to destroy them.
• The Reckoners Trilogy: Jonathan "Prof" Phaedrus is the founder and leader of the Reckoners, secretly an High Epic himself. Having been forced to kill his former Super Team when they fell to The Corruption, Prof had the Reckoners take out multiple epics, while hiding his true nature from his subordinates and keeping his sanity by sharing his powers via gadgets. When David offers a opportunity to defeat Steelheart, Jon leads the team on a sabotage campaing against Steelheart's regime, sucessfully luring the tyrant to a duel by posing as a fake rival epic, even using his powers to fight Steelheart and his army. Later sacrificing his sanity to save the people of Babilar/Manhattan from Regalia and Obliteration's machinations, Prof reinvents himself as the supervillain Limelight. Retaining his strategic skill, Limelight effortlessly wipes out most of the reckoner cells and conquers the city of Ildithia, seeking to use its former ruler Larcener to drain Calamity and become the master Epic. Discovering that the surviving reckoners are sheltering Larcener, Prof deceives them with a fake deadline before launching an assault with both other epics and human foot soldiers, only being defeated because David managed to figure out his weakness.
• Red Harvest: The Continental Operative arrives in "Poisonville" and sets about to rid it of the cruel gangs who control it. A ruthless, brilliant operator, the Op extracts incriminating information of the gangs and spreads them to their enemies to play all sides against one another, even revealing one bank robbery was staged by one mob group and the police to spark a gang war and bring the corrupt police into it. Playing the gangs into whittling one another down until he's finished them all, the Op blackmails one of the town's chief members who first hired him and invited the gangs there into calling the governor to send in the national guard, declare martial law and clean up the town to give the man his town back, while removing his control of it at the same time.
• Red Rising: Fitchner au Barca is secretly the mysterious Ares, leader of the Sons of Ares. Once the runt of his family, Fitchner becomes a military leader among the high-class Gold society. Having fallen in love with a Red who was murdered by Golds, and left with only his half-blooded son, Fitchner declares war on the the Society, founding the Sons of Ares, trying to help the lower classes, and being entirely willing to cut moral losses and commit terrorist acts. Taking up numerous apprentices and choosing Darrow of Lykos to be his successor, Fitchner continues to deceive and manipulate his way through the Society, ruthless and brutal yet nonetheless helping his charges make their own ways through. Making his way into being the bodyguard of the Sovereign, Octavia au Lune, Fitchner only reveals his deception to save Darrow's life at the last moment, before being killed due to one of the Sons betraying him to the Golds. While a ruthless individual, Fitchner's machinations eventually allow for the destruction of the Society and the liberation of the lower classes.
• Reflex, by Dick Stanley:
  • George Millsace is a racing photographer known for his cynical and mocking worldview and sense of humor, which carries over into the pictures he takes. George's wife and son adore him but are alone in that respect. Using his inquisitive nature and skills as a photographer, George discovers various crimes and scandals in the racing world. Instead of exposing the wrongdoers, he gathers evidence and then blackmails them for donations to a charity for injured jockeys while also forcing them to stop the activities he's blackmailing them over. George does this partially out of a sense of righteousness, but primarily out of a desire to "[extort] frustration". Even when he ends up killed by one of his victims, George has his photographs kept away from the obvious places where anyone but another photographer will look for them, while using different kinds of film for each picture so it will be harder for snooping laymen to develop. His pictures end up with Phillip Nore, who ultimately chooses to use George's work to blackmail a man into exposing various drug dealers, and keep another from engaging in a brutal for of Insurance Fraud.
  • Victor Briggs is the calculating and reserved owner of several gaming clubs and racehorses. He holds drug users in both pity and contempt and dislikes violence, but has no qualms about making his jockey, Phillip Nore, lose several races for gambling purposes. When Victor is found out and blackmailed by George, he responds by making a recording of their meeting to counter blackmail George, only to decide against using it when he finds George's terms to make a charitable donation and stop throwing races reasonable. After George's death, Victor tries to go back to throwing races but finds Phillip reluctant to do so even before Phillip gets George's pictures. He avoids using violence, bribery, or threats to try and suppress or destroy George's information like several other blackmail victims do, merely patiently waits for Phillip to approach him for a civil talk. Victor respects how Phillip refuses to throw races anymore but never tries to blackmail him and agrees to let Phillip run honest races while showing bemused admiration for Phillip and George.
• Renegades: Nova Artino is the young niece of Ace Anarchy and infiltrates the Renegades as a new recruit, keeping her cover for months while spying on the Renegades. Nova manages to steal back Ace's helmet back and when Ace is captured she arranges to have him broken out at his execution. After realizing how deranged Ace has become Nova turns on him and helps defeat him.
• La République des imberbes, by Mohamed Toihiri: Haïdar, his girlfriend Yasmine a.k.a. "Sourire-de-Fraise" and her best friend Faouziat are three young Comorians personally affected by the country's dictator Guigoz's crimes. Deciding to escape the dictatorship, the trio hijack a plane supposed to go to Anjouan. Leaving nothing to chance, Faouziat forces the passengers to stay put under threat of blowing up the plane, Yasmine holds them at gunpoint, ready to shoot dead anyone who protests, and Haïdar holds the pilot at gunpoint, forcing him to land to Mayotte for the hijackers, who reach mainland France from there and get away with their deeds.
• Rick Brant's The Phantom Shark: Kenwood and van der Klaffens are longtime South Pacific residents who have spent years seeding a bed of cultivated pearls, which they harvest with a submarine made from a World War II plane and decide to sell them on the blackmarket. They assume the Collective Identity of the eponymous Phantom Shark, a supposedly Ambiguously Human murderer who robs rich pearl beds. Said murders only exist in the stories that Kenwood and van der Klaffens spread to explain the origins of their pearls, inflate their prices, and ease any qualms of conscience they have about cheating people who buy their pearls despite their supposed origins. They sometimes use their submarine, now outfitted with a shark fin, to pick up their payments. The two also have a henchman commit minor sabotage to keep a boat from finding their pearl bed but are appalled when he starts robbing their customers and help Rick chase and capture him. After being exposed, they compliment Rick and Barby's cleverness and agree to refund their latest customer before taking their leave.
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot vs. the Uranium Unicorns from Uranus: Uncle Unicorn is likely the smartest adversary Ricky and his robot faced. Deciding to incapacitate the robot before going to conquer Earth, Uncle Unicorn later tries to have him destroyed while the robot is still debilitated under a spell. When his Ladybot is shut down, Uncle Unicorn adaptively turns on his backup generator and grows her to gigantic proportions.
• The Riddling Reaver: The titular Riddling Reaver is a trickster and master manipulator introduced killing Baron Bluestone of Kallamehr, then taunting the players to follow him by leaving behind a puzzle box. Using the puzzle box to lure players into his ship, the Twice Shy, the Reaver's magical ship transports players to the Southern Islands of Allansia, into the jungles where he will then greet them under the guise of the explorer, Waxley Speed. Leading the players through the monster-infested jungles and then a booby-trapped loaded pyramid, the Reaver, as Waxley, tricks players into retrieving the Pendulum of Fate from the pyramid, before immediately stealing the Pendulum right under the players' noses and escaping. Even as players pursue the Reaver to his hideout called the Reaver's Roost, the Reaver will leave behind a trail of clues to lure players into following him, so that he can continuously challenge them for his own amusement.
• Riordanverse:
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians:
    • Luke Castellan, while introduced as a friendly mentor figure, is The Dragon to Kronos. Holding a resentment towards the gods due to feeling abandoned by his father, Hermes, Luke manipulated countless other demigods into joining Kronos's forces, convincing Silena Beauregard to act as his spy by tricking her into believing nobody at camp would get hurt. Under Kronos's orders, Luke steals both Zeus's Master Bolt and Hades's Helm of Darkness in an attempt to start a war between the gods, convincing Ares to help him when the war god catches him. In The Lightning Thief, when Percy is claimed by Poseidon, Luke summons a hellhound to trick Percy and Chiron into believing that Hades is the true culprit. When Percy succeeds in his quest to find and return Zeus's Master Bolt, Luke lures Percy into the woods and poisons him with a pit scorpion, not taking the risk Percy beating him in a fight. In The Titans Curse, to have her serve as bait for the goddess, Artemis, Luke risks his life by holding the sky to trick Annabeth into taking his place when she holds it to save his life. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Luke persuades the inventor, Daedalus, into giving him the string of Ariadne so that he can find a route for Kronos's forces to invade Camp Half-Blood. Luke later allows the spirit of Kronos to take over his body after gaining nigh-invulnerability from the River Styx. Despite Luke's manipulative nature, he truly believed he was doing what was best for demigods, and when he realized how much he hurt Annabeth, ends his own life to stop Kronos.
    • The Battle of the Labyrinth: Daedalus is a genius inventor from the times of Ancient Greece, infamous for constructing the self-aware and ever-expanding death trap that is the Labyrinth. After murdering his similarly gifted nephew Perdix in a fit of jealous rage, Daedalus lured King Minos into a trap to finally rid himself of the King of Crete's mad pursuit. Knowing he wouldn't be safe from Minos' specter Daedalus hid within the Labyrinth, transferring his consciousness into automaton bodies to ensure his immortality throughout the centuries. Approached by Luke in modern times with the offer to be made King of the Underworld should he help them navigate the maze and invade Camp Half-Blood, Daedalus takes up the identity of Quintus to observe the demigods and decide whether they stand a chance against the Titans. Eventually deciding to help Luke, Daedalus nevertheless leaves Percy his pet Hellhound Mrs. O'Leary to help the demigod. When betrayed by Kronos' forces Daedalus gives his life to destroy the Labyrinth and the Titan's army, content with his punishment in the Underworld as long as he gets to make amends with his nephew.
  • The Kane Chronicles: Set is the God of Evil, who upon being freed from his imprisonment immediately traps Osiris in a coffin. Possessing Amos, Set has him sabotage Brooklyn House's security so he can send his minions after Horus and Isis' hosts, Carter and Sadie Kane. Having Amos save the siblings from Sobek, Set lures them to his pyramid so he can use them to power his storm which will engulf the world. Later summoned and trapped in a jar by Vladimir Menshikov, Set exposes the invisible Carter so he and Sadie will be forced to free him to fight the more powerful Vladimir. Set gives Sadie the location of the last scroll of the Book of Ra in exchange for her ability to use his Ren, and departs in peace. To prepare for the battle against Apophis, Set teaches Amos his branch of divine magic and complies with his restraint when fighting the serpent's minions. Genuinely loyal to Ra, Set nevertheless stands by Horus' side when he ascends to King of the Gods, seemingly with another plot already gleefully in mind.
  • Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: Utgard-Loki is a powerful sorcerer and king of the Mountain Jotunn. Introducing himself by tricking Magnus into giving him his falafel and subsequently attacking him, the giant drags Magnus across buildings until he "swears by his troth" to bring him an apple of immortality. Utgard-Loki sends Magnus on a quest to go fishing for the World Serpent Jormungandr, which leads to them finding both an apple and the Sword of Summer needed to prevent Fenris Wolf's escape. Later killing Otis to try and prevent Magnus from falling into Loki's trap, the Jotunn king brings Magnus and his friends to his palace so he can tell them how to stop the trickster god and stave off the apocalypse. Knowing that his court would overthrow him if he helped the mortals for free, Utgard-Loki first puts them through challenges rigged against them so they can prove their worthiness by winning against all odds.
• Rivers of London: Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina is a free spirited, quick-witted but ruthless Nochnye Koldunyi who stands out as both one of the Folly's most dangerous foes and most capable allies. Joining the Red Army to protect her homeland, Varvara's idealism was crushed by the brutality of World War II. Captured, she fools the Nazis into believing she is a harmless medic and survived until she could escape, later aiding the Guernsey Resistance. Following her youth being restored Varvara throws herself into the counterculture of the 1970s, building many connections within the Demi-monde, becoming a sort of mercenary. Employed by the Second Faceless Man, Varvara assists in his efforts to destroy Sky Garden Tower, easily proving to be more of a match for Peter Grant and Lesley May. Defeated in a mystical duel, Varvara congratulated Nightingale for living up to his reputation and charms her captors into making beneficial deals to her, helping take down her former employer. Later aiding the Folly with the abduction of Russian Oligarch's daughter, Varvara gave up her existence to the Russians to free Nightingale, despite knowing they would never leave her in peace, accepting that it was the right thing to do.
• Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers:
  • Vol. 3's "Luke's Lost Manuscript", by Jeremy Hepler: Luke Steele is a celebrated, reclusive horror novelist best known for his Beast Series. Secretly a monster tamer whose Uncle Leo passed down four monsters for him to raise on his own, Luke chose to feed his monsters by luring his obsessive fans to his home with a misaddressed fake manuscript, knowing they will use it as an opportunity to meet him in person. Able to outmaneuver his more deadly fans who try to kill him for his manuscript and make them chow for his monsters, Luke ends the story successfully killing his latest pawn Seth Holcomb, hiding evidence of Seth’s arrival and about to lure in his latest fan.
  • Vol. 8’s "Turning to Stone", by Bev Vincent: Maddie is an irresistible bank teller who is more cunning and deadly than she looks. Having deduced Percy was about to rob her bank, and ready to sound the silent alarm just in case he did, Maddie accepts Percy’s offer to invite her on a date. Luring Percy behind an alleyway, Maddie has her two assistants hold Percy in place as she reveals herself to be a gorgon, ending the story ready to turn Percy to stone.
• Robur the Conqueror: Jean Robur is a man who has conquered the skies. Showing off his perfected heavy flight craft, the Alabtross, Robur abducts several of his critics to show them the world in his aircraft and see if they will still belittle him and deny his genius. When they do, Robur arranges things to prove his genius to the world and ruin his rivals, departing into the skies, vowing to return and give humanity the secrets of flight one day.
• Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure: The One-Eyed Wizard turns out to be the true Big Bad. After injuring himself, the Wizard decides to plot revenge on his brother, Santa Claus. Planning on attacking at his Ice Fortress, he gets the pure of heart Roland involved so he can open the secret entrance. Starting a snowstorm in his village, the Wizard takes advantage of Roland's mother leaving to get a shovel to hypnotize his neighbor into telling Roland that the White Warlock kidnapped his mother, kickstarting Roland's quest. When Roland and the Wizard finally cross paths, he fuels his fear of the White Warlock and summons a magical hand that aids everyone several times during the quest. Once at the Fortress, the Wizard reveals his true colors and fights Santa and the heroes, almost winning and only being stopped by outside help.
• Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts: Lord Elric Kent is the Lord of the West and seeks to free his people from the crown's rule. Planning for years, Lord Kent establishs agents in the capital Lightspire while preparing his forces for war. After the war starts Kent has his agents wipe out the crown's leadership, allowing him to usurp the throne. Once his minion Miles overthrows him, he joins the heroes in their efforts to stop him, eventually joining them for good.
• The Runaway Jury, by John Grisham: "Nicholas Easter" and his lover "Marlee", real names Jeff Ker and Gabrielle Brant, are a pair of mysterious figures seeking to influence the outcome of a lawsuit against a tobacco company. Nicholas gets selected for jury duty and sets himself up as a leader and friend to most of the other jurors while subtly influencing their opinions about key aspects of the case. Marlee, in the meantime, negotiates with the crooked jury consultant for the tobacco company, offering to sell the verdict while undermining his other efforts to blackmail or sabotage several jurors. While nice for the most part, they're willing to drug one of Nicholas's fellow jurors and make another afraid that she's being stalked to get them taken off the jury. In the end, it's revealed that the two are out to get a ruling against the tobacco company—along with massive punitive damages—in revenge for the deaths of Marlee's parents from lung cancer. They even return the tobacco company's bribe, although only after making a fortune by using it for investments. Expressing pride in what they've accomplished, they vow to take further action if the tobacco company goes too far in appealing the verdict.
• The Rustlers of West Fork: Teilhet is an elderly, dishonest settler who went from selling moonshine out of a tent and letting his lone assistant rob passing wagons to building a town that avoided succumbing to economic downturns and Apache attacks. His businesses cater to both honest citizens and the people who he knows are robbing and killing those citizens. During the main story, Teilhet lets his trusted bartender Mark work for outlaw kingpin Avery Sparr but stays on the sidelines himself unless he is trying to stop outlaws from Bullying a Dragon. As Hopalong Cassidy brings down the Sparr empire and shuts down another saloon that caters to outlaws, Teilhet sees the writing on the wall and recognizes that he is too old to lose his livelihood. He reluctantly fires Mark, gives him enough money to start over and, with some difficulty, convinces him that his side has lost and he needs to leave town ahead of the approaching heroes. His pragmatism pays off, as despite his unsavory past and association with Sparr, Teilhet gets to stay in town and keep running his saloon after a tense but cordial encounter with Cassidy.
• RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant's "The Man Who Stared at the Sun": The farmer is a clever and determined man who wants to make his job easier by having the sun shine on his crops more, getting the sun to agree to a competition with the condition the sun would help his crops grow luscious if he won. After he attempts to trick the sun into a race, he agrees on a Staring Contest, immediately going blind after looking up. Even after being blinded, he is able to continue his plan by faking staring and resists the sun's attempts to trick him into looking away. After several weeks and the contest resulting in most of the world's crops dying, the sun loses and the farmer emerges victorious. After the farmer reveals his trick, even the sun, while still angry at being deceived, keeps his end of the bargain due to admiring the farmers sacrifice.
• The Sacrifices For Our Children, by Zachary Rosenberg: Sara Tano is a Jorōgumo who lives by day as a charming, unassuming computer programmer, masking her true form: a demonic spider who feeds on humans, whose greatest desire is to raise her daughter Akari with love and care. For untold years, Sara has manipulated many unsuspecting victims—usually lecherous men—into her webs to be consumed, and upon giving birth to Akari, Sara dedicates herself to teaching her daughter all she knows and training her to be as successful as her mother. Sara encourages Akari to hunt her prey with respect, and after overseeing Akari's first kill, Sara warmly embraces her daughter with high hopes for their future as hunters of humankind.
• The Saga of the Noble Dead: Welstiel Massing was forcibly turned into a vampire by his father Lord Bryon, the rapist father of series heroine Magiere. Despising his nature as one of the Noble Dead, Welstiel schemes to become human again by manipulating Magiere into becoming a Vampire Hunter. Arranging a test by setting up a war between her and relatively peaceful vampires, Welstiel then commits several vampire murders to pull Magiere where he needs and manipulates her into stealing an artifact for him and his plans with the monster il'Samar. Later luring the heroes to face him, Welstiel stops at nothing in his attempts to become human again, no matter who he has to destroy in his way.
• Sailor Nothing: In their fight against the Yamiko, Himei Shoutan, Aki Komachi, Shin Kongou and their allies dealt with these ruthlessly brilliant schemers:
  • Dark General Cobalt, originally a suicidal architect's weak Yamiko, was tasked by the priestess to repair the Yami-gaia's city. Creating Yamikos out of skilled humans for that purpose, Cobalt stands out for his pragmatism, refusing to engage in his fellow Yamikos' depravity and peacefully sending a human prisoner he experimented on back home after the latter is no longer useful. Creating the Super Yamikos to target Himei and her allies, Cobalt consistently adapts to the formers' situations as needed, having enough information to kill Himei by the time a rampaging Yamiko destroys the Yami-gaia. When the priestess confronts him over this incident and reveals why she gave him that task, Cobalt and his trusted underling Ohta turn against the Yamiko, helping Himei and her allies from within by tricking two of his fellow Dark Generals into going after them and dying as a result. Working with the heroes, the priestess and Dark General Argon against the Yamikos in the final battle, Cobalt lives past the battle, becoming the sole surviving Yamiko at the end of the story.
  • A Shinto priestess, inadvertently creating the Yamikos in an attempt to purify herself and causing her boyfriend Aoshi's death, decides to make up for her mistake. Cursed with immortality by her Yamiko the Dark Queen and locked in the Yami-gaia, the priestess decides to free Dark General Radon from his Yamiko impulses and have him create the Sailors on Earth as a fighting force against the Yamiko. Noticing Radon's treachery, the priestess saves Cobalt, a young Yamiko and frees him from his impulses, disguised as the Queen to gain his trust. Promoting him to Dark General status, the priestess tasks him with rebuilding the Yami-gaia city, fully aware that the Yamiko would inevitably screw over Cobalt's task, driving his hatred for them to breaking points and leading him to team up with the Sailors. Working with him and Aoshi's Yamiko Dark General Argon in the final battle to help Himei and her allies, the priestess regains her mortality and is last seen at peace now that she knows Aoshi forgave her.
• Saxby Smart: The Eye of the Serpent: Patrick Bell, appearing in the story The Ghost at the Window, is the father of the story’s client and a professional thief who eluded the law for years with his sheer ingenuity. Known as the ‘Mad Hatter’ due to him leaving origami hats at the scene of every crime, Patrick executed a series of increasingly audacious heists, crafting brilliant disguises for his schemes and even managing to pass himself off as an undercover cop on one occasion. Faking his death to escape justice after his wife gave his identity to the police, Patrick came to regret abandoning her and their daughter and posed as their neighbour so he could see them again. Patrick then commits one last masterful theft, hacking into the office computer of a building company and transferring £700 to an untraceable account, before making off with an even larger amount of money concealed inside a fake stomach. Found out by Saxby following this crime, Patrick decides to turn himself in, promising his family that he’ll start a new life upon his release.
• The Scar: Uther Doul is the mysterious, inhumanly skilled head of Armada's security force. A brilliant commander who leads raids to capture new citizens for Armada while executing the captain aboard Bellis Coldwine's ship, Uther later uses Bellis to foment a rebellion against the Lovers, the rulers of Armada. Keeping his involvement secret, Uther later puts the rebellion down, including his friend the Brucolac, resulting in the splintering of Armada's unity and allowing him to return to his own pursuits—which he does, just after ordering the Brucolac saved and returned to his own home.
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones' "Maybe You Will Remember": The manager, front desk clerk, and in-house doctor at a posh Parisian hotel concoct a coldhearted yet brilliant coverup plot after a guest, June Gibbs, is diagnosed with bubonic plague. Knowing June's devoted daughter Rosemary is staying with her, the doctor sends her across town for some useless medicine, bribing the cab driver to take the longest route possible, then allows June to die. The manager then has the body moved, the room redecorated, and all employees involved told that they will be fired if they reveal the truth. When Rosemary returns, the clerk and manager insist they do not recognize her, and drive her to the brink of madness insisting that neither she nor her mother ever stayed there. The hotel staff even bribe the news and police to bury the matter, all in the name of preventing the panic that the return of the Black Death would bring.
• Scavenge the Stars & Ravage The Dark, by Tara Sim: This pirate themed adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo gives us these brilliant operators:
  • Boon was once a brilliant counterfeiter named Aran Chandra who was later betrayed and nearly killed by his ally Kamon Mercado. Chandra transforms himself into an affable rogue, sets about revenge, and helps train his daughter Amaya Chandra in the arts of theft, conning and assassination. Boon knows how to charm people into doing what he wants and can manipulate situations with a few honeyed words. He expertly targets Kamon's family to get to him and later helps take down each of the people who've wronged him and his family. After a virus linked to his coins starts spreading throughout Moray, Boon helps to find the man who is now distributing them to shut down the operation and dies peacefully in his daughter's arms, telling her that he loves her.
  • Romara is the playful but sly daughter of the crime lord known as the Slum King. Romara has secretly positioned herself as The Mole in his organisation as she leaks his information to the Port Authority in exchange for helping to increase her own influence among the criminal underworld. Romara desires revenge against her father for exiling her mother and successfully mutinies against him. Taking over his organisation, Romara either rewards the loyal with great treasures or punishes the treacherous with imprisonment and torture. Genuinely helpful to the heroes, Romara ends up on the top with her own share of profits at the end of the series and reigns as the new queen of the Vice Sector.
• Second Apocalypse: Anasurimbur Kellhus is a powerful Dunyain monk who implants himself in the holy War in opposition to the monstrous Consult. Scheming and manipulating all in his path, Kellhus engineers his own death and supposed rebirth to be seen as a great savior, eventually rising to utterly dominate the Three Seas as the powerful Aspect Emperor and prepare the world to fight the Consult. Manipulating almost everyone he meets, Kellhus heads the Great Ordeal, a grand crusade to completely break the Consult and even allies with a deadly God to destroy their conspiracy for good, vowing to conquer even damnation itself.
• Secret Histories: Grendel Rex, real name Gerard Drood, is a man who desired to be a god and carve his face into the moon after the death of his beloved wife Elspeth. Trying to usurp and recreate humanity, Gerard allowed his family to defeat and seal him away so he could return later when they grew complacent. Gerard manipulates villains such as Edmund Drood, knowing Edmund will require the help of Gerard, and allow Gerard to usurp the plan later. After this, Gerard begins to put his plan into motion, only to cease when he meets Morgana le Fay, the two falling in Love at First Sight. Departing, Gerard leaves the hero Eddie with one last piece of knowledge: that the face he tried to sear into the moon was actually Elspeth's.
• Sexton Blake, by Hal Meredeth: Blake's most memorable enemy, Zenith the Albino, is an elegant exiled nobleman who finds his thrills in danger and villainy. Creating new devices to assist his thievery, Zeno returns time and again to challenge Blake for the sheer joy of engaging his nemesis while nobody else can come close to besting him. At one point, Zenith even prints a fake declaration of war in the newspapers to massively short the stock market after causing a panic, to line his pockets. Zenith also possesses a curious code of honor, sometimes allying against brutal criminals and thugs while always keeping an incredible respect for Blake himself.
• Shakugan no Shana:
  • Bel Peol, known as the "Arbiter of Reverse Reasoning" and "The Strategist", lead Bel Masque in the first two seasons. In the past, Bel Peol sacrificed her right eye as part of a plan to retrieve her master's body; later convincing a Denizen into going for a dangerous mission, resulting in his death for her cause. Trying to destroy Misaki City, Bel Peol nearly succeeds in all her attempts thanks to her tactical brilliance and pushes the heroes to their limits. Joining her master, the Snake of the Festival upon his revival, Bel Peol acts as his Dragon and together they usher in the creation of Xanadu, a paradise for Denizens and humans alike, fighting fiercely for it. A ruthless, goal-driven woman, Bel Peol nevertheless showed fondness to her underlings and exceedingly intelligence thinking in the field of battle, proving herself a worthy leader of Bel Masque.
  • The Snake of the Festival or "The God of Creation", is the original leader of Bel Masque. Summoned in ancient times by the Denizens of the past, the Snake tried to create a paradise for them before being sealed in the Abyss. In present convincing protagonist Yuji Sakai to become his vessel, the Snake retakes leadership of Bel Masque, giving a speech so powerful it gains him the complete loyalty of all the present Denizens. Leading the Denizens in the devastating Second Great War, the Snake oversees the brutal combat to have his body recovered from the Abyss. Returning to Misaki City to create Xanadu, the Snake uses his own body and a member of the Trinity as sacrifices to create his new world. Realizing the Denizen's wish for peaceful coexistence, the Snake completes his mission despite massive opposition and returns to sleep, wishing his vessel success for the future.
• Shark Wars, by E.J. Altbacker: Takiza Jaelynn Betta vam Delacrest Waveland ka Boom Boom is a legendary betta fish whose mastery of sharkkata is only matched by his cunning. Disgusted to learn that his master Hokuu was conspiring with the Fifth Shiver to exterminate all other sharkkind, Takiza uses his powers to seal them away, but condemning Gray's father to be killed by them, something he remains unrepentant of. Searching for a worthy apprentice, Takiza trains Gray in the ways of sharkkata, putting him through ruthless exercises and assigning him on potentially fatal missions to test him. In combat, Takiza uses his unmatched wit and fighting prowess to overcome any opponent and help Gray defend the Big Blue. In the final battle with the Fifth Shiver, Takiza sacrifices most of his life energy to empower Gray and later kills Hokuu by employing trickery. Although the battle drains him, Takiza gracefully accepts his death, using his final moments to impart words of encouragement to Gray.
• She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan:
  • The nameless peasant girl who takes the name "Zhu Chongba" from her late brother, along with his glorious fate. Disguising herself as a man to infiltrate a monastery, Zhu Chongba eventually becomes a glorious military commander feared and renowned for her strategies. Navigating the treacherous imperial court and surviving a brutal defeat at the hands of General Ouyang that costs her a hand, Zhu instead makes a deal with Ouyang to deal with both their enemies in the thick of battle, returns to court and kills the Prime Minister. Initially saving the Emperor's son with her loving wife Ma, Zhu realizes he is an impediment to her destiny and regretfully kills him, albeit as painlessly as possible to conclude her ascent to the throne and ensure her name will be remembered for all time.
  • Chen Youliang is the nemesis of Zhu Chongba and a political and general in the court of the Emperor. Navigating the treacherous court of his enemies, Chen Youliang effortlessly outsmarts the Guos, promising one assistance with his rebellion, only to betray him and see him painfully executed to remove him as a rival. Using his troop placements to assist and hinder Zhu Chongba to gain benefit to himself, Chen Youliang betrays her so the mongols will finish her and he can usurp the Emperor's favor and eventually take the empire for himself, forcing Zhu Chongba to ally with Ouyang just for a chance to best him.
  • General Ouyang is a Mongol "eunuch general," having suffered castration after the death of his family at the hand of Esen-Temur's father. Becoming the general and lover of Esen, Ouyang bides his time and plays along with the Mongols, plotting his vengeance among their own ranks despite an initial defeat by Zhu Chongba. Playing on Esen's suspicions, Ouyang slowly destroys his life and picks off his family. After outfoxing one of Zhu's plans, Ouyang takes Zhu on in single combat and severs her hand, and later allies with her to achieve their ends once it's clear she survived. Once he returns, Ouyang works with power-hungry nobles and officials to instigate a coup before ruthlessly executing Esen, securing his vengeance completely.
  • Lord Wang Baoxiang is the adoptive son of Chaghan-Temur, and General Ouyang's greatest rival and ally. A brilliant noble and official, he uses his role as an educated and passive nobleman to hide from scrutiny. Brilliant at analyzing and manipulating others, Lord Wang discovers and covertly aids General Ouyang's plot against his adoptive father and brother, showing great calm no matter the danger he's in. When Ouyang ultimately enacts his masterstroke, Lord Wang escapes Ouyang's wrath by pointing out that he's not part of the Temur bloodline and walks away having gotten everything he ever wanted.
• Shotgun Nun: Sister Eloise is a nun turned vigilante. After being assaulted and raped by various members of the Wood Street Gang, Eloise sought revenge against her assaulters and the gang's leader, Trevor Dixon. Once released from the hospital, Eloise covertly bought weapons from the dark web and tracked down Dixon's gang by herself. Using a shotgun, knives, and explosives, Eloise gradually murdered all of gangsters, including those responsible for her assault. After killing Dixon and his crew and discovering Father David was secretly laundering money for the gang, Eloise catches him before he can flee the city and executes him. In the sequel, after spending multiple years engaged in her vigilante crusade, Eloise stumbles upon a human trafficking ring led by Nathan Robinson. Using the skills she's learned, Eloise dismantles the operation bit by bit, killing many of Robinson's employees and rescuing Sophia, a twelve-year-old immigrant, who is later trained to be a vigilante just like her. Despite multiple setbacks, Eloise succeeds in destroying the trafficking ring and teaches Sophia how to shoot and kill Robinson, who happily joins Eloise in her crusade after Robinson is killed.
• The Simpleton, by Sergey Lukyanenko: Viol is the younger son of the Baron of Liandr. At the age of seven, he fascinates his ten-year-old brother with the topic of theatre so much that the brother willingly runs off with a troupe of comedians. Viol arranges for his clothes to be found on a shore and for witnesses to testify that the heir to Liandr has drowned. Eventually, Viol inherits the barony and never answers for his scheming, with even his actor brother admiring how masterfully it was pulled off and admitting that Viol is a better ruler than he would have been.
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The titular Green Knight primarily serves as a judge and tester of knights and is tasked to have either discredited the legendary Round Table or reveal the true nature of their honor. A powerful figure clad in verdant green armor, the Green Knight waltzes into Arthur's court and issues a challenge, using a sharp tongue and biting wit to bait even the king himself into an obvious trap, only for Gawain to behead the Green Knight in his stead. Disguised as Bertilak de Hautdesert, the Green Knight sets up hunt after hunt to secretly test Gawain and even uses his wife to test the knight's chastity. With Gawain's single flaw being his fleeting hesitance towards death, the Green Knight spares and congratulates him, ending the story as mysterious but reasonable as he began.
• Six of Crows: Kaz Brekker is a gangster, conman, bank robber, blackmailer, and all around criminal prodigy who uses his extensive knowledge of Ketterdam's secrets to shame richer and more respected men and women into helping him with his schemes. Kaz's plots range bluffing gunmen into backing down with fictitious threats against their families, to arranging breakouts from the two most heavily guarded prisons in Ketterdam and Fjerda respectively, and running a con on the entire government of Ketterdam that drags in King Nikolai of Ravka as coconspirator. Utterly unscrupulous, Kaz proves to Pekka Rollins, Jan Van Eck, and all his other competitors that he is the true kingpin of Ketterdam.
• The Sneetches and Other Stories: Sylvester McMonkey McBean, the self-styled fix-it-up chappie, desires profit above all else. McBean first notices the plain-bellied Sneetches moping about being excluded from the star-bellied Sneetches various frankfurter roasts, picnics, and other parties, then offers to let them use a contraption which adds stars onto their bellies for a small fee. Upon noticing that the star-bellied Sneetches are upset by having their supposed superiority threatened, McBean offers to give them plain bellies using a different contraption. McBean repeats this process multiple times until he has successfully fleeced all of the Sneetches of their money, driving off into the distance while commenting on their gullibility.
• Something Dark and Holy:
  • Pelageya Borisovna is a kooky Kalyzanian witch who leaves her country when she rejects her gods and goes to be an adviser in the war against the rival country of Travania. She orchestrates a series of events to warn of the coming of the omnicidal Chyrnog and stirs the heroes into coming together to defeat him. Pelageya acts as adviser to both High Prince Serefin Meleski and Malachiasz Czechowicz, helping to push them onto the right paths and saves Nadya by giving her the amulet of the dangerous death God Velyos to unleash if she's in trouble. After Malachiasz is possessed by Chyrnog, Pelageya helps to transport his soul to a faraway region to stall for time, before Chyrnog consumes it, ultimately planning to manipulate the heroes into defeating him once and for all.
  • Velyos, the fallen God of the Dead and the Underworld, is a mischievous deity whose ambition was once so great that he sought to topple the heavens. Defeated and imprisoned, Velyos orchestrates a series of events to allow communication with Prince Serefin in order to manipulate him into freeing Velyos and the other fallen gods so, when free, he can get revenge on his jailers. Velyos also sees the coming of the omnicidal Chyrnog and creates prophecies and manipulates events to stop him and save the world. Velyos also acts as an adviser and later friend to Serefin, carefully pushing him to make the right decision to beat Chyrnog. Always seeking that which he does not have for amusement but at the same time being willing to genuinely help humanity, Velyos ends the series as its most successful character.
• The Song of Roland: Blancandrin is one of the "cunning vassals" of King Marsile of Saragossa tasked with abating the Frankish threat. While suggesting conversion and vassalage towards King Charlemagne, Blancandrin formulates a more devious plan to remove Charlemagne and his Paladins from Spain for good. Noticing the hatred inside Ganelon, stepfather to Roland, he pushes the right buttons to earn himself an ally that helps strategize the Roncevaux army massacre. Selling the idea of a peace summit to both Saragossans and the Franks to hide his real intentions, Blancandrin's deceit successfully razes the Frankish rearguard in a move meant for the greater survival of his king and people.
• Son of a Wanted Man, by Louis L'Amour:
  • Ben Curry runs an outlaw empire that contains almost 1,000 men and controls more territory than New York State. Ben he's a fearless gunfighter and brilliant strategic strategist who plans large scale robberies and rustling operations across the country, while leaving honest citizens in his own neighborhood alone and knowing how to avoid particularly tough and honest lawmen. Despite his capacity for violence, Ben strives to keep his operations as bloodless as possible, and keeps his mountain hideout is carefully constructed to provide Ben protection against threats from both outside and within. Ben has a secret family he plans to join full-time in peaceful retirement as soon as his adopted son Mike Bastion learns the necessary skills and values to succeed Ben as boss. Ben ultimately respects Mike's decision not to take the outlaw path and joins Mike in protecting his own family from treacherous gang members, prioritizing their safety over himself.
  • Rigger Molina is an outlaw lieutenant with a reputation for being the most Ax-Crazy members of Ben Curry's empire. However, acquaintances outside of the gang describe a different side of Molina, recounting his easygoing attitude, gentle nature towards prostitutes, and how he once carried the Sole Survivor of a gang fight several miles to a doctor after singlehandedly wounding the man and killing his four companions. Rigger's rivals send him to attack a heavily guarded gold train while they launch a coup against Ben and lie about how well-defended it is. Rigger sees through this Uriah Gambit and returns to protect Ben and seek revenge. Molina faces one of Ben's key betrayers in a duel and kills the man despite being outdrawn and mortally wounded, walking over to spit on the traitor's corpse and curse him before collapsing from his own wounds.
• Son of the Mob: Anthony Luca, Vince's father, is a successful mafia boss known for his fair dealings, good treatment of his subordinates, and resourcefulness make it easy to forget his involvement in more sinister rackets like violent loan-sharking. Anthony is disappointed by Vince's decision to lead an honest life but respects Vince's wishes and intelligence. He helps his son out in small ways, like getting him a legitimate credit card. In the first book, Anthony stays on the sidelines, aside from bringing some Laser-Guided Karma to some associates who've been cheating two people Vince is trying to help. The sequel starts with him smuggling a bag of contraband past the FBI in a car the head agent's daughter is a passenger in. He pulls some strings so that Vince's college roommate Trey is the son of an opposing criminal, and the family can spy on Trey's dad. In book's climax, Anthony personally leads a mission to save a kidnapped associate. Then, out of sympathy for his defeated foe's confused son, he helps Trey from being arrested for grand theft auto by repairing and returning a damaged stolen car.
• Soon I Will Be Invincible: Doctor Impossible, born Johnathan, is a supervillain famed for his intellect and a frequent near-conqueror of the Earth who learns from the mistakes of his past as he is beaten by Earth's most powerful heroes, the Champions. Breaking out of prison, Impossible creates a device to take control of the planet's weather and force the world governments to submit to his whims, defeating each of the Champions as they come to apprehend him, including the mighty CoreFire. Stopped only by the sudden intervention of his ex-girlfriend, Impossible nevertheless remains undaunted and finishes the book with plotting yet another daring plan to escape and resume scheming for world domination.
• The Spider and the Fly: The Spider is a voracious predator who uses charm and flowery language to lure unsuspecting insects into his parlour. When he sets his eyes on the fly, he becomes a gentleman, recommending the fly to come to his parlour by feigning concern for the fly's well-being. Not deterred by the fly's refusals, the spider changes tactics and appeals to the fly's inner vanity and suggests she look at herself in his looking-glass. He then crafts a web to snare the fly once he successfully enticed her to return.
• Stephen King works, by release date:
  • The Crate: Professor Henry Northrup is a mild-mannered man married to the abusive alcoholic Wilma. The only friend of nervous Professor Dexter Stanley, Henry is the man Dexter confides in when he uncovers the mysterious crate containing a ravenous monster that devours two innocent men. Sensing a way to be rid of Wilma, Henry drugs Dexter, writes a letter to the gossip-loving Wilma claiming Dexter attacked a woman to lure her over to the university before feeding her to the monster, whereupon he waits for it to go to sleep and binding the crate with thick chains to transport it to the nearest lake and sink it there.
  • Nightmares & Dreamscapes' "Dolan's Cadillac": Robinson was once a mild mannered schoolteacher until his wife was murdered by crime boss Dolan. Robinson spends years plotting vengeance, joining a road crew and upon acquiring the knowledge, redirects Dolan so he drives over a deserted stretch of highway which Robinson has excavated it himself. The Cadillac Dolan drives plummets into the hole, killing Dolan's bodyguards and allowing Robinson to replace the paving so Dolan may die in darkness and madness, with Robinson never being caught.
• The Suicide Motor Club, by Christopher Buehlman: Clayton Birch is an ancient vampire who not only operates in a far more pragmatic, merciful way than many of his kind, but also hides an artistic and romantic spirit. Having avoided the detection that normally gets vampires caught and killed simply by avoiding senseless murder or sadism, Clayton has survived for centuries and studied his fellow vampires out of a sense of curiosity. After a brief alliance with Luther Nixon's vampiric gang, Clayton turns on them all out of a sense of distaste at their evil as well as an attraction to their latest victim, Judith, who Clayton saves and allies with in ultimately ambushing and taking down Luther's gang. Though having promised Judith the opportunity to choose his fate by leaving himself defenseless in a coffin during sunlight at her mercy, Clayton is revealed to have changed his mind and deceived her long enough for him to slip away, leaving her cash and his mailing address, imploring her to "repay me if you must, write me if you will."
• "Surprise Ending" by Jeffrey Deaver: Jack Kelley is an abused foster child and crime show buff-turned mob boss and Maggie Daye is a burgeoning mystery author. They maintain a close friendship after Kelley and his wife consoled Maggie through the loss of a loved one and implicitly have the drunk driver responsible for her loss murdered. Jack faces threats to his power from another crime boss and a politically-ambitious police detective, but knows that killing them will create its own series of problems. He asks Maggie to use her literary imagination to plan a solution for him, and they use a crooked police informant to feed the detective the idea of hiring an obnoxious peer of Maggie's as a consultant to come up with a plot to take down Kelley's rival drug kingpin. They use Maggie's knowledge of the other author to anticipate what his plan will be, let the other boss get arrested, frame the detective for stealing money from the crime scene, and expose the consultant to the media to make him flee town. The story ends with Jack and Maggie celebrating the success of their brilliant yet amoral plan as Jack prepares to become the city's sole crime lord.
• Sweet Dreams: Lolana, the story's protagonist as well as the affable and soft-spoken owner of a popular candy shop, is in truth a centuries-year old Polynesian woman who needs to feed on human flesh turned into sugar to survive. Over the years, Lolana kidnapped child predators for that purpose, also abducting her own lovers should she run out of "ingredients". Injecting her victims with a lethal chemical to turn them into sugar she can eat, Lolana nevertheless genuinely loves her lovers, sedating them to ensure they don't suffer throughout the process, giving her latest datefriend Quinn the best date she can think of before kidnapping them and later on reassuring them in a soothing tone during the whole procedure, allowing them to die peacefully despite them previously begging for their life.
• Sweet Ermengarde: Ethyl Ermengarde Stubbs is The Ingenue, a Damsel in Distress, and the single most intelligent Gold Digger in the story. Coveted by a variety of romantic suitors for her beauty, the wicked Squire Hardman tries to force Ermengarde's hand in marriage by threatening to foreclose the farm of Ermengarde's parents. Ermengarde attempts to elope with a rich nobleman, only to show her true nature by figuring out his infidelity and pitching him out of the window of a moving train. Ermengarde manages to convince an old woman to make her her heiress, making her a rich woman—but not as rich as Squire Hardman. Even when it's revealed the old woman is Ermengarde's mother, Ermengarde instead brilliantly reverses the Squire's forced marriage scheme back on him to ensure she gets as much money as possible under the threat of prosecuting him for his prior crimes. When all is said and done, sweet, seemingly innocent Ermengarde is the only winner in the story.
• Sword Art Online:
  • Akihiko Kayaba is a brilliant programmer desiring a fully-immersive virtual reality world, which led him to create Sword Art Online, the world's first VRMMORPG. Upon launch, he would trap 10,000 players within and setting it so they die in real life if they do in the game while preventing authorities from stopping his game. Disguised as Heathcliff, a charming leader of a group of players within Aincrad, Kayaba reveals himself when Kirito deduces his identity and duels him on the condition he releases the players if victorious. Honoring his word, Kayaba logs all the players out, while seemingly killing himself when beaten, but in reality sending his consciousness to continue existing on the internet. Reappearing out of disgust for the next season's Arc Villain, Kayaba assists Kirito in defeating the antagonist and entrusts Kirito with his final invention: made to allow others to create their own virtual reality games and have it shared with the world. Returning once more in the Alicization arc, Kayaba helps save the virtual reality world the heroes are within by taking control of a robot in the setting. Brilliant yet honorable, he remains the most influential of Kirito's foes.
  • "Alicization arc":
    • Cardinal is the physical manifestation of the Cardinal sub-processor, that managed to split off from Quinella after she assimilated the Cardinal system that ran the Underworld. Cardinal carries out her duty to error-check Quinella by attempting to assassinate her, but is overwhelmed in battle by her child body, so retreats into the Great Library and severs its link to the Central Cathedral. Spending 200 years scouting for potential rebels to recruit, she notices Kirito and Eugeo, and sends her spider familiar, Charlotte to watch over them. After the boys get arrested, Cardinal helps them escape by opening a portal into the Great Library. Cardinal trains the boys in utilizing the "Armament Full Control Art" ability within their swords, to prepare them for raiding Central Cathedral and fighting evenly against the Integrity Knights. When the boys and Alice face off against Quinella and her Sword Golem, Cardinal arrives to save them and heals their injuries. Upon discovering that she cannot fight the Sword Golem herself, Cardinal offers her own life to Quinella to spare the kids. Before passing away, Cardinal helps Eugeo fuse with his sword to destroy the Sword Golem and weaken Quinella. Cardinal's purpose would be fulfilled after her death, where Kirito defeats Quinella.
    • Iskahn is the Tenth Champion of the Pugilists and their leader, as well as a member of the Dark Territory's Council of Ten. Iskahn's Goal in Life was to find a Worthy Opponent, making him very enthusiastic of going to war with the Human Empire. He is angered by Scheta Synthesis Twelve butchering the Pugilists with non-lethal wounds, so challenges Scheta himself and finds the Integrity Knight to be his equal. Gabriel/Emperor Vecta orders him to supervise the pugilists crossing a fissure via ropes, with Iskahn himself forbidden to cross via the ropes, where Iskahn is devastated at witnessing his people fall to their deaths in vain. Overcoming the Seal of the Right Eye by tearing his eye out, Iskahn takes advantage of Vecta's Exact Words to pull a Loophole Abuse by jumping over the fissure, then forming an alliance with the Human Empire against the invading Foreign Players, due to a lack of orders regarding both. At the conclusion of the War, Iskahn is left as one of the few surviving Lords, becoming the new Supreme Commander of the Dark Territory and forges a peace treaty with the Human Realm.
• Tales from the Flat Earth: Azhrarn the Beautiful is the central figure of the loosely-connected saga and one of the most significant figures in the cosmology of the Flat Earth. As the Lord of Wickedness, he is the most powerful of the Vazdru demons - though all Vazdru are manipulative and alluring by nature, Azhrarn himself epitomizes these traits even more than his fellows. A being of vast cunning, he manipulates humanity across the centuries for his own amusement, sparking conflict and chaos often for no real reason other than to demonstrate that he can or because doing so will allow him to knock his fellow Lords of Darkness or the distant, apathetic gods down a peg. Spinning elaborate schemes that may take years or even centuries to unfold, he almost always comes out ahead no matter who his opponent may be. Nonetheless, he is not entirely evil, being capable of love in his own dark way but even more strikingly at one point saving the Flat Earth from destruction at the hands of an evil even greater than he, at great risk to himself, simply because he realizes that without humanity to give him context his life would have no meaning. Across the countless millennia of his existence, Azhrarn has proven many times over why he deserves his titles of Night's Master and Prince of Demons.
• Tales of Kaimere: Trickster's Gambit: Indrakai is a trickster spirit of Pakardiant folklore renowned for his knack for bending the rules of nature to his whim without outright breaking them. He tricks and steals fire from the sky people so that the Kaimerans could use it to keep warm, later transforming a dying witch into a skin-changer to help ward off the demon Olikideu. Taking an interest in Ja'Kosi as she awaits the forest's judgment, Indrakai ingratiates himself to the girl, helping keep her alive over the three-day period and hearing her stories with the ulterior motive of getting her to admit to her act of murder. Killing her vengeful former lover Kiriq when he tries to murder her and make it look like a firebird did it, he succeeds in getting Ja'Kosi to confess to the crime, berating her for not owning up to her violent nature and punishing her by transforming her into a mindless demon to serve his interests, telling her that he held nothing against her and fading into mist with a grin on his face.
• The Tamuli: Stragen is the chief of the thieves of Emsat, a councillor of the Kingdom of Elenia, a proud patricide, and an all around bastard. During Sparhawk’s sojourn in the Tamul Empire, Stragen’s varied talents prove invaluable, as he bullies the Thousand of Styricum into aiding their cause, transforms the thieves of Daresia into an intelligence network that answers only to him, and organizes the largest mass assassination in history, killing every enemy agent across the breadth of two continents. The first to admit that he’s a very bad man, Stragen is the single most devious, and most unrepentant member of a crew of professional soldiers, political manipulators, and criminals.
• The Tapper Twins: Kalisha Hendricks is a sixth grader at Culvert Prep. During a school-organized scavenger hunt, she leads her team to second place with a mixture of foresight and efficient use of the subway, beating the liberally loophole-abusing Girl Posse and only losing to Reese's team due to their use of another loophole. During the elections for class president, Kalisha teams up with Reese against Claudia for extra social studies credit, and frames Claudia as a soccer-hating, child-strangling monster, while consistently outperforming her campaign manager Akash. When Reese accidentally undermines the message, Kalisha uses an online game to get the votes of the nerdy kids, and, when that attempt is sabotaged by the local Cloudcuckoolander, quickly shifts the blame to Akash and Claudia to the school paper. Despite Reese's loss in the election due to either Claudia's manifesto or Reese's own unwillingness to become president, Kalisha is considered the smartest person in the school, and handles her loss quite gracefully (though she is implied to beat Reese up after learning he might've sabotaged her attempts).
• Teen Power Inc.: In Dangerous Game: Tony Zaetta owns a popular novelty shop with secret smuggling ties. When a group of petty thieves steal his briefcase while it contains two dozen statuettes that have pearls hidden inside, Tony knows that the thieves will think the statuettes are worthless and abandon them, as they did in past robberies. To find the pearls, Tony sponsors a scavenger hunt for statutes like the ones with the pearls, with his workers hiding similar statuettes (with subtle differences so Tony can spot the valuable ones instantly) around town. His unwitting searchers find most of the statuettes and turn them in. When Tom Moysten keeps one valuable statuette as a souvenir, Tony fakes a tie in the contest to make Tom turn it in after all. Despite his shady actions, Tony shows concern when his More Despicable Minion attacks Tom, is genuinely fond of his young customers, and and is impressed rather than dismayed after Tom exposes him. Before being taken to jail, he even honors his word and gives Tom and his friends the grand prize for winning the scavenger hunt.
• Teeth: Vampire Tales' "The Perfect Dinner Party" by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black: Jenny is a seemingly sweet vampire child who uses her intelligence and innocent looks to lure in unsuspecting victims. Usurping and killing her master after he threatens her brother, Jenny plans to rise to the top and take his position.
• These Violent Delights, by Chloe Gong: Juliette Cai is the heir to the Scarlet Gang, and the lover of White Flower gang heir Roma Montagov. Allying with Roma to save Shanghai from a plague of violent insects and madness, Juliette uses the skills she's accrued as a criminal to gather evidence, steal information, and talk through problems. Balancing both her hunt and her duties to the Scarlet Gang, Juliette helps eliminate the initial appearance of the plague and its bearers, following up by faking the death of Marshall Seo to satisfy her cousin Tyler's bloodlust, fooling everyone in Shanghai. Once the plague returns, Juliette once more allies with Roma, killing Tyler to save Roma's life and arranging their escape when fate seems turned against them. Despite being initially outwitted by her father Lord Cai and given to the Nationalist party for execution, Juliette manages to turn the tides by arranging for the freedom of her own allies and sacrificing herself in their place, strategically slipping Roma a vaccine via a kiss before annihilating the Nationalist leaders and the plague for good by destroying the entire building, dying with grace alongside the man she loves.
• They Thirst: The Headmaster is the true power behind the vampire prince Conrad Vulkan and his dreams of conquest. A mysterious, ancient being who might well be the Devil himself, the Headmaster educated Vulkan after centuries and teaches him dark sorcery with artifacts to make his conquest easier, masterminding the downfall of most of Los Angelas to the vampires. Advising Vulkan and using him as needed, even as a "favored son", the Headmaster grows frustrated with Vulkan's immaturity and eventually departs when Vulkan denounces him, informing him that the kingdom he holds is solely because of the Headmaster and that Vulkan can only keep it if he is able.
• The Thinking Machine's "The Missing Necklace": Bradlee Cunnyngham Leighton is a bold and clever Gentleman Thief, stealing priceless jewels literally under their owners' noses. The police are never able to arrest him due to constant lack of evidence, prompting them to admire him enormously. With an elastic cord hidden in his sleeve, Leighton steals Lady Varron's pearl necklace when she stumbles during a dance, and is the first one to call attention to the disappearance and to suggest a search. He smuggles the pearls to America, hiding them in the ship's drain pipe, and later uses his accomplice's homing pigeons to carry them from the ship to his hiding place. All the time, he is friendly and companionable with the investigator sent to track him and the customs officers, pleasantly allowing them to search him and his cabin as many times as they want. Even after his trick is figured out and the pearls are recovered, Leighton escapes after lightly wounding the investigator. The last line of the story states that "Leighton has not yet been caught".
• The Three Investigators:
  • Victor Hugenay is a debonair art thief who once robbed the Louvre and shows up in Rocky Point twice, trying to get his hands on missing paintings. Hugenay is an intelligent man who, unlike other antagonists from the two novels he appears in, avoids showing his hand until he's in a perfect position to take control of the situation. On one occasion, he saves his henchmen from being arrested for Impersonating an Officer by ensuring that they're wearing the uniforms of a police department on the other side of the continent. Hugenay is quite happy to bask in his own intelligence but is equally impressed and amused whenever Jupiter, Bob, and Pete do something brilliant. Although he fails to get his prize in either of his appearances, in both books, he avoids arrest and is neither angry nor dejected over his loss. In his second appearance, Hugenay persuasively convinces Jupiter to join him in an Enemy Mine scenario and never betrays the young detective.
  • The Mystery of the Talking Skull: "Smooth" Simpson races against both the boys and a trio of hard-boiled thugs to retrieve the missing loot from a bank robbery. Simpson manages to bluff the boys into thinking that he's a bank investigator, enlisting their help in finding the money with the promise of a nonexistent reward. When Simpson's deception is revealed, even Jupiter is caught completely off-guard. When the other criminals capture the four, Simpson apologizes to the boys for putting them in danger and tells Jupiter not to feel bad about falling for his alias. When a group of heroic Romani show up to overpower his kidnappers and free the boys, Simpson quietly escapes his bonds and slips away during the confusion, being the only criminal in the story to avoid being arrested.
  • The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints: General Klas Kaluk is a veteran of the revolution which overthrew and murdered the exploitative Azimov dynasty of Lapathia. Lapathia becomes a military dictatorship with Kaluk heading the Secret Police but develops a noticeably higher standard of living for its people. Decades later, Kaluk is sent to Rocky Point to retrieve the long-missing crown of the Azimovs from one of their last loyalists, Kaluk's former friend Alexis Kerenov. When Jupiter investigates Kaluk, the general quickly sees through his misdirection and threatens to torture him in a way that makes Jupiter think that he has a lot of experience in that field. When he's being held at gunpoint by Alexis, Kaluk calmly convinces Alexis to let him go and to turn over the crown so the people of Lapathia can enjoy it as a museum piece. He also gently chides Alexis for neglecting his family for the dream of restoring a largely exploitative dynasty which could only hope to regain power through violence. Kaluk then leaves gracefully, telling Alexis that he hopes they're friends, and not enemies.
• The Three Musketeers: Cardinal Armand Richelieu is the most powerful man in France, and the true ruler behind the throne. Seeking the betterment of France as a nation under his guiding iron hand, Richelieu schemes to strengthen the monarchy and to also start a war with England to further check Spain and Austria. In order to disgrace his rival, Queen Anne, Richelieu convinces the king to throw a party and request Anne wear diamond studs he gave her as a gift, well aware Anne has given them to her lover, the Duke of Buckingham, which will discredit Anne and begin a war with England. When the Musketeers recover the diamonds in time, Richelieu accepts it with grace, later deciding to have Buckingham assassinated and presenting the wicked Milady de Winter with a letter excusing her from all acts she commits in service to France. When Milady is executed by the Musketeers, young hero D'Artagnan thinks to save himself by presenting Richelieu with the same letter, only for Richelieu to display his own power by tearing it up. Impressed by D'Artagnan, however, Richelieu accepts him as a Worthy Opponent and a boon to France, writing him an officer's commission to the Musketeers before focusing on his next schemes to ever better France as a nation.
• Tigana: Prince Alessan of Tigana is a Rebel Leader dedicated to the death of Prince Brandin and the restoration of Tigana. Working with a small rebellion, Alessan builds a network of information and sabotage against Brandin and his rival Alberico while enslaving mages to assist them as well. Alessan later formulates a plan to assassinate a key ambassador after sowing mistrust between the two tyrants with the intent of sparking a war to annihilate them both.
• Time Spike: Danny Bostic is a career criminal who was arrested after a series of daring and bloodless bank robberies, leading to him being sent to the prison that is later transported to an alternate dimension filled with displaced dinosaurs and Native American tribes from various areas. He takes part in an inmate uprising that takes over control of the prison from the guards. He is the lone voice among the convict leaders who disapproves of killing hundreds of expendable prisoners to conserve supplies, and wants to rely on resources and opportunities outside of the prison]]. He helps carry out the murders that he disapproves of, but only while buying time to form a plan to gather supplies and flee into the wilderness with a few trusted companions. He kills one of his men for causing a stand-off by trying to rape a guard and gives her group one of his guns, both as a Pet the Dog moment and to build new alliances. He goes on to kill an allosaurus threatening a native village, becoming their new leader and establishing diplomatic relations with the former prison guards, with even his enemies among that group viewing him with grudging admiration.
• Timeline-191: In this alternate history of the early twentieth century, the United States, Confederate States, and the Red Rebellion, all produce some truly admirable blackguards.
  • African-American rebel Cassius was perhaps the deadliest internal enemy the Confederate States ever faced, launching a Red Revolution under the nose of his master, Anne Colleton, and establishing the Congaree Socialist Republic throughout much of South Carolina. Opposed by enemies who considered him subhuman and incapable of strategic thinking, Cassius confounded the Confederate forces sent to subdue him, and using threats against captured white civilians, forced his enemies to negotiate with him on an equal footing. Eventually killed after the fall of his Republic, Cassius nevertheless stuck a dagger in the side of the Confederate States of America, costing them the Great War, and in the long run, helping to bring the entire white power structure of the Confederacy crashing down.
  • Luther Bliss, head of the Kentucky State Police was a bitter, misanthropic old man who used every measure he had, legal and extralegal, to keep Kentucky within the United States of America. After Kentucky was returned to the Confederacy in a plebiscite, and the Second Great War began, Bliss returned to the state as the Union's single most effective spy, stirring up trouble for the Confederates with both the Red Rebels and white opponents of the Freedom Party, sabotaging Confederate war efforts behind the lines, and eventually triggering an uprising in occupied Covington. Hating everyone equally, Bliss was able to work with any and all enemies of the Confederate government, and proved a permanent and irremovable thorn in their side for the duration of the Second Great War.
  • Clarence Potter was a Confederate intelligence officer who had a chance to stop the Red Rebellion of 1915, but was prevented from doing so by his superiors. Years later, Clarence became an inveterate adversary of the Freedom Party, only to win admittance into its government when he killed an assassin who was after Jake Featherston at the Richmond Olympics. Concealing the fact that he had originally gone to the Olympics to kill Jake himself, Clarence became Featherston's head of military intelligence, providing infiltrators and saboteurs to spearhead the invasion of the USA during the Second Great War. When the war began to go badly, Clarence flirted with launching a coup against Jake, while simultaneously pushing for the completion of the Confederate atomic bomb project, and once the bomb was completed, delivering it to Philadelphia in the back of a truck and blowing much of the de facto US capital off the map. Exonerated of involvement in Freedom Party atrocities after the war, Clarence got off scott free, and retired to write his memoirs in peace, while the rest of the Confederate leadership paid for their crimes in full.
• The Tinder Box: The soldier seizes the titular tinderbox and uses the magic dogs it can summon to make himself rich by having them bring him gold. A crafty man who can always think on his feet, the soldier desires to wed the princess and courts her in secret. When captured by the royal family for his attempts at wooing her, the soldier tricks a young man into bringing him the tinderbox and uses a request for a last smoke to summon the dogs and kill his enemies. As generous as he can be manipulative, the solider also gives freely to the poor, knowing what it's like to live in their shoes, and marries the princess to start a very prosperous and happy reign.
• Tolkien's Legendarium works:
  • The Lord of the Rings: Uglúk is the leader of Saruman's fighting Uruk-hai. A surprisingly intelligent and savvy Uruk who is wholly loyal to Saruman, Uglúk leads his "lads" to surround the Fellowship and capture the Hobbits while also causing the death of Boromir whom Uglúk is indicated to have delivered the mortal blow to. Keeping control of a divided force of Orcs, Uglúk is able to keep ahead of the Rohirrim by his own tactics and seeks to deliver the Hobbits Merry and Pippin to his master in Isengard.
  • The Silmarillion: Fingolfin, High King of the Ñoldor, is the second son of King Finwë and the first son of Finwë's second wife Indis. Believed to be the most martially skilled of his brothers, Fingolfin leads his host into Middle-earth, inadvertently participating in the massacre of the Teleri Elves and committing his host over a dangerous trek that sees many killed. Inheriting the title of King from his late brother Fëanor, Fingolfin is the one to establish an Elven presence in Middle-earth and maintains a siege of Morgoth's capital Angband for four centuries. When the siege is broken, Fingolfin personally challenges the Dark Lord himself and shows his skill and tactical prowess, wounding Morgoth so much before his own death that he suffers eternal pain from his wounds.
• To Welcome Oblivion: Father Peter Grallman, leader of the Cthulhian cult, is the founder of the Old Brotherhood, and a charismatic and genuine personality who truly seeks to give his followers the chance to revive their unduly-deceased loved ones. Grallman's descent into evil, starting with the murder of his beloved little sister Marissa, was authored by Nyarlathotep, who assumes Grallman to be a disposable pawn. Far from 'disposed of,' Grallman allies with the heroes, secretly manages to make a deal with Cthulhu himself, and allows the Great Old One into his body to personally beat down Nyarlathotep. Grallman throws Nyarlathotep into a shrieking, indignant Villainous Breakdown, exploiting the god's tendency to gloat to exploit a fatal vulnerability while ensuring the heroes themselves managed to make it out alright, and peacefully sacrifices himself while making sure the final thing Nyarlathotep sees is his triumphant smile.
• Treasure Island: Long John Silver shows why he was the only man the ruthless Captain Flint ever feared. Getting himself hired by young hero Jim Hawkins, Silver converts the crew to his side and launches a mutiny, personally disposing of the only members who refused to join him. Silver proceeds to twist the events of the novel to his advantage to obtain the treasure he craves, while genuinely bonding with young Jim and becoming a mentor and father figure to the boy. When things go wrong and the crew betrays him, Silver promptly switches sides to the heroes and comes out on top, escaping their custody with a fortune to return to his wife a wealthy and free man. So charismatic and complex is Silver that even the heroes who have been under threat from him can almost hope that Silver will indeed escape justice.
• The Trojan Cycle: The versions of Odysseus "The Cunning", King of Ithaca, who lack the offering of captured women to his men to rape, makes for one of the most classic examples of this trope in literature. As a soldier of Agamemnon, Odysseus serves as one of his most intelligent advisors, leading the war effort both in physicality and mentality through his fighting and guile. After masterminding the Trojan Horse to cause the sack of Troy, singlehandedly ensuring the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus attempts to return home with his crew, only to face years of hardships. Along the way, he blinds the Cyclops after tricking him into getting drunk, forces Circe to release his crew from an enchantment, journeys to the Underworld and comes out alive, and sacrifices six of his men to escape the legendary monsters Scylla and Charybdis. When he returns home, he deceives his way into the house so as to determine who in his household is aligned with the suitors, even impressing Athena with the strength of his deceit. After waiting for the precise right moment to strike, he does so with ruthless efficiency, killing all of the suitors and their loyalists in one fell swoop. With this done, he retires with his wife and son to his father's land, finally knowing peace after twenty years of hardships.
• Twenty-Five Tales of the Vetala: The Vetala/Betaal is a celestial being that resides in a corpse hanging from a tree. When King Vikram—upon request of a sorcerer—takes the corpse from the tree, the Vetala accompanies him and tells him stories that end with riddles, threatening to blow up his head if he doesn't answer and escaping back to the tree when he responds. After returning to his tree 24 times, Vetala promises to stay with Vikram after the 25th story, and reveals that the sorcerer intends to murder Vikram and use the Vetala's corpse to become immortal and powerful. After Vikram defeats the sorcerer using the Vetala's advice, the Vetala thanks the king by offering him a boon and his servitude.
• Twig:
  • The Duke of Francis is the noblest of his twisted family. Making his entrance as an eccentric yet dangerously clever madman that has taken over Radham Academy, one of the Duke's first acts is to root out the rebel spy Avis and effortlessly overcome her various traps, all while taking time to evaluate the members of the Lambsbridge Project. The Duke later orders the complete extermination of the city of Lugh upon learning of it being home to primordials, matching wits with Mauer throughout the battle and even usurping control of the monsters to turn them on the rebels. Although rendered brain-damaged from the fight, the Duke quietly recovers while posing as comatose and makes plans to stop the Infante's genocidal ambitions, providing aid to the Lambs in return for them retrieving the resources needed to further heal his mind. An honorable Noble Demon beloved by his subjects yet dreaded by his enemies, the Duke gives his life in the end to save Sylvester from the Infante's wrath, deeming his own death to be worth ensuring the rise of the next generation and a better world.
  • Esprit de Corpse & Cut to the Quick: Sanguine is the most levelheaded of the Humors. Working as Cynthia's key operatives during the Battle of Whitney, Sanguine's enhanced eyesight makes him one of the Lambs' most dangerous enemies as he expertly snipes down his foes, and his quick wits allow him to discover the Lambs' second infiltration of the city after the rest of his team has been whittled down. Upon learning that Sylvester and Jessie have become fugitives, Sanguine hires a group of bounty hunters to track them down, recruiting one of the rival Dog and Catcher's own mercenaries to betray them and aid his team. Sanguine once again uses his expert marksmanship to keep the duo on their toes and track their movements from extreme distances, constantly repositioning himself to keep an eye over the entire city and initiate sneak attacks on Dog and Catcher so his allies can capture their targets alive. Ultimately, Sanguine decides to let Sylvester go after Jessie is infected by the Ravage plague, viewing his despair as vengeance enough for his compatriots.
• The Two Cats and A Monkey: The monkey in this moral story shows how when two parties quarrel, a third party benefits. Upon seeing the two cats fight over a cake, the monkey offers to split it evenly so that each cat gets equal portions. However, he ensures that one piece is always larger than the other, taking bites out of the larger piece under the pretext of fairness. He repeats this till there is no cake left, leaving the cats with nothing.
• The United States of Monsters: Red Room: Nathan Hawthorne, Derek's father, is a legendary agent of the Red Room and its greatest enemy. When his family was killed by the House decades ago, Nathan began plotting revenge, a plan which begins when he helps Derek ascend to the Committee. Later helping Derek destroy Protocol Zero and framing the Vampire Nation for it, Nathan then ensures Roland Cassidy's rise to power and has his son Stephen kill the other Committee members, ensuring that no one can cover up the supernatural chaos Nathan spreads throughout the world at the same time. Willing to die for his choices should it come to that, Nathan's plan works perfectly, with Derek successfully killing Roland and Stephen, the supernatural becoming public, and, although millions die in the process, a better world being created with himself becoming more powerful than ever.
• Untold Tales of Spider-Man anthology's "The Ballad of Fancy Dan", by Ken Grobe and Steven A. Roman: Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, is as a clever and dangerous as ever. Seeking to expand his criminal empire, he convinces an Atlantic City crime boss named Martin Severino to kidnap Rudy Loyola, the adopted son of Severino's criminal rival, Joe Loyola. Kingpin then informs Spider-Man and ''Fancy'' Dan Brito (who is Rudy's biological father) of Rudy's whereabouts, with Spider-Man and Fancy Dan busting up Severino's operation, having Severino arrested by the FBI. With Severino arrested and Joe Loyola deciding to retire from crime, the Kingpin is able to take control of Atlantic City's underworld, with Spider-Man being tricked into doing the Kingpin's dirty work for him.
• Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite, by Natalie C. Parker and Zoraida Córdova's "The Boys From Blood River": Silas, the leader of the Blood River Boys, is a vampire with the "face of an angel but the heart of a demon", who corrupts boys who sing his song into becoming members of his gang. Summoned by Lukas, Silas proves to be surprisingly charming and gentle with him, even saving him from a group of homophobic bullies, killing said bullies later and making it so their bodies won't be discovered for months. Silas later sincerely offers his condolences to Lukas over his mother's death, before almost succeeding in convincing Lukas to kill one of the only people in Blood River who is nice to him. When he is betrayed by one of his own gang and told by Lukas to leave, Silas accepts this with dignity, leaving while telling Lukas all he had to do was tell them to, but does tell Lukas he owes him for costing him the life of one of his gang.
• Vasquez Private Eye: Professor Martha Vazquez seeks revenge after Firebird Airlines was acquitted for their role in a crash which killed her youngest son. Blackmailing her former student into making a drink mix which transforms people into the embodiment of their deepest desires, Martha uses it to disguise herself as lawyer Zachery Venshlin and proceeds to sabotage the court cases of the lawyers and judge from the Firebird case, while setting up evidence to implicate a wrongfully-fired Firebird employee to take the wrap for her. Even when caught and confronted for her crimes by her other son, Martha, adaptive to the end, sets up the scenario such that she will either get to kill him or he will have to murder her and live with the guilt.
• The Villains Series: Victor Vale is an eerily polite, cunning genius who started off as normal university student who upon attempting to gain pain-based powers ended up killing his best friend and went to prison for it. A patient plotter, Victor seeks revenge against his other friend Eli Cardale who sent him to prison and for ten years planned his perfect escape. Upon discovering Eli has become a Villain with Good Publicity who hunts other powered beings with religious fervor, Victor destroys Eli's safeguards and then tricks Eli into killing him in front of the police, sending Eli to prison for life and totally ruining his life in the process and later uses his adoptive daughter Sydney to resurrect him. Victor upon becoming sick, later starts a Serial killing spree in order to cure himself and uses his expert skills to fend off the various other villains of the series. A true mastermind always with a new scheme when issues arise, Victor balances his evil with a genuine love for others and the desire in the end to atone for what he's done.
• The Visitor, by Jose Guich Rodriguez: Copellius is a enigmatic man who travels across the world throughout the centuries to perform delicate surgeries on particularly vile people to extract their eyes and eat them, considering their eyes to be delicious. Fascinated by the moral depravity of Peruvian criminals during a dictatorship, Copellius targets the inmates of the most heavily protected prison of the country. Evading all security measures, Coppelius extracts the eyes of three inmates and spares their lives, making a dreaded criminal boss admit that he considers Coppelius merciful. When the Peruvian police manage to capture Coppelius thanks to an elaborate trap, Copellius congratulates the cops and berates himself for having underestimated them. During the interrogation, Coppelius escapes using a special device. Later, Coppelius targets the Asesor of the President, causing a political crisis that ends the dictatorship. Finally, Coppelius asks Detective Gandara for more criminals, making Gandara reveal the hidden location of the former President and telling Coppelius that his evil would make his eyes a banquet for Coppelius.
• The Walking Dead: Typhoon: Ying Hengyen is the former General of the Chinese Army and one of the top soldiers for The Beacon of Life, but as opposed to the evil and self centered runners, Hengyen genuinely cares for his country and his people. A competent Windmaster who expertly kills Jiāngshī while keeping his men alive and shows to be completely willing to lay his life down for the cause, Hengyen knows that the Typhoon Horde will decimate the community and that the only option would be to run. When that plan is rejected by Guo and Wangfa, Hengyen begrudgingly agrees to the drafting of innocent Vultures in order to ensure the communities safety, allowing the Vultures and deserters to leave without consequences when the horde breaks through. When Guo and Wangfa abandon the community, Hengyen makes a Rousing Speech to convince the rest of the citizens to continue fighting, being in the front lines while making orders to take out the Jiāngshī. While losing The Beacon of Light and most of his men, Hengyen figures out that to keep the country alive, they must take care of the enemies within their communities, and manages to track down and murder Guo, Wangfa and their supporters out of revenge.
• We Can Remember it for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick: Douglas Quail is a seemingly normal man who feels unhappy with his life and wants to visit Mars. Unable to escape from his situation through normal means, Quail goes to Rekal, Incorporated to get false memories of having been a secret agent on Mars; but soon learns that he actually was a secret agent for Interplan who pulled off a miraculous assassination on Mars before Interplan wiped his memories. Slowly regaining his previous memories, Quail uses his skills as an agent to escape from a pair of officers, only surrendering when he realizes he can't run forever. Quail offers to have his memories replaced again and upon learning that getting memories of a normal life won't work, surprises the agents by suggesting that he be given a fantastical life, which will likely work. The memories he's set to get have him saving Earth from aliens as a child, with the aliens refraining from invading as long as he's alive. It's then revealed that this is actually something that happened to Quail as a child, leaving him completely safe from Interplan in the end.
• Welcome to Dead House: Compton Dawes is the realtor of a town called Dark Falls. The town was normal until a chemical leak killed the entire town and resurrected them as zombies. The citizens were now immune to aging but needed to feed on fresh human blood once a year to maintain their existence. Using his business skills as a realtor, Dawes began luring families into Dark Falls once a year by tricking people outside the town into thinking they inherited a house in the town from a relative of theirs. After the family moved in, the town would feed on them, preserving their undead existence for another year and turning the families into more zombies. During the book, Dawes lures the Benson family into the town, tricking them into thinking they aren't zombies, and then captures the children, Amanda and Josh, after the parents are captured. Dawes was able to escape the sunlight that killed off most of the town, and plans to repopulate it one family at a time.
• Whitby Witches: Rosalyn Crozier, better known by her alias of Rowena Cooper, is the High Priestess of the Coven of the Black Sceptre and the second-in-command of her husband, Nathaniel Crozier. When her master sends her to the seaside town of Whitby to find what he is looking for, she instead pursues her own ends. Quickly befriending the majority of Whitby with her charisma and charm, she discreetly murders everyone who suspects her true motivations. Realising that the Aufwader race native to the local caves can lead her to what she wants, she allows them to find Moonkelp, the stolen treasure of the gods which can be used to demand a wish from them and when Benjamin Laurenson finds it, she uses her power to take control of him and force him to make a wish on her behalf, revealing the lost Staff of Hilda which she uses to free herself from her abusive husband’s power, nearly seizing control of the world in the process. In death, Rowena learns that the rest of her Coven of witches have made a pact with the Lord of the Frozen Wastes to bring Nathaniel back from the dead so she too makes a pact with the Deep One to raise her from the dead to kill her former husband when he is restored to life. Having been raised from the dead with the power to become a terrifying Eldritch Abomination, Rowena painfully absorbs and kills her husband, taking revenge for her years of abuse and control at his hands before embracing her eternal life as an enforcer of the gods of the sea. Witty, confident and determined, Rowena was remembered as a Worthy Opponent by her enemies.
• The White Tiger: Balram Halwai was once a brilliant child robbed of the chance for a good education. Charming his way into the employ of a wealthy businessman, Balram plays to his prejudice to get the family's head chauffeur fired to take the job himself. Becoming friends with the man's younger son Ashok and his wife, Balram realizes the depths of Ashok's cowardice when he tries to have Balram framed for a hit-and-run his drunken wife committed. Also learning Ashok means to replace him, Balram lures out Ashok to kill him and rob the family, escaping to bribe the police and opening a massively successful taxi company and ready to become a major player in the Asian business world.
• Wolverine: Election Day, by Peter David: Senator Steve Sanders is the running mate of Senator Winston Mazone who is running for President and is secretly an immortal who loves to cause chaos. He is also the secret master of the Dragon Corps, a group of mutant mercs. Sanders devises a scheme to become a President, having the Dragon Corps kidnap a child named Matthew Hayes and release a video where a masked man threatens to kill Matthew if the public re-elects the President. Sanders then has a shapeshifter pretend to be Mazone and videotapes him planning to kidnap Matthew. With Mazone arrested for the kidnapping and the President blamed for inspiring it, Sanders becomes a shoo-in to win the election.
• A Woman's Work: Queen Arrabel eschews both needless violence and senseless honour, ruling instead with brilliant logic, having one enemy shot to death when he demands single combat and building a hospital and schools to keep her populace loyal and happy. Immediately deducing the nature of an assassination attempt, Arrabel moves to crush the king backing it, first sending disguised bards to sway swathes of his people from him, before marching on his lands to conquer it with tactical advantage.
• Worm: Quinn Calle is a swaggeringly confident and experienced lawyer for supervillains. Hired to represent Taylor when she turns herself in to the PRT, Calle wastes no time coming up with strategies to secure her demands for enlistment into the Wards and condoned villainy for the other Undersiders, paring down her massive list of charges to a small handful of crimes. Constantly thinking up new advantages and coordinating with the Undersiders through untraceable calls, Calle remains utterly unphased by even the brutal murders of Director Tagg and Alexandria herself, finding footage of the pair psychologically torturing Taylor to threaten to release to the public so he can use the potential PR nightmare to give his client a leg up. Despite his lack of powers, Calle stands out as an unscrupulous yet collected, friendly, and reliable asset, even finding his own way to help save the world by releasing select supervillains to fight Scion on Gold Morning.
• X-Men: The Legacy Quest, by Steve Lyons: Sebastian Shaw, Black King of the Hellfire Club, uses and manipulates the X-Men throughout the trilogy. Attempting to gain a cure for the Legacy Virus, Shaw lures the X-men into his trap and betrays them as convenient to suit his own ends, though he teams up with them to defeat the monstrous Selene when she sees to turn New York into a hellish dystopia, only to reveal that he was secretly in league with Magneto and helped him to gain the cure the entire time. He promptly betrays Magneto again in service of his master plan and ends the series with everything he desired, free from any retribution and savoring his victory with the trilogy closing out on the words "The Black King had won."