History Monster / LiteratureHToQ

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[[folder:H – K]]
* ''Literature/HaloBrokenCircle'': The [[AmbitionIsEvil power-hungry Prophet of Exquisite Devotion]], born [[SmugSnake I'ra Be'Ar]], regularly bullies lower ranking Prophets and [[FantasticRacism harbors extreme contempt]] for their allies the Sangheili. Not only does he happily go along with the Prophet of Truth's plans to exterminate the Sangheili, but he uses [[ColdBloodedTorture gravity torture]] to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath kill]] several captive Councilors. When Zo Resken refuses to participate in the executions, Exquisite Devotion orders his fellow Prophet to be tortured to death as well.
* "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole", by Thomas Burke: [[KillerCop Sergeant Ottermole]] is a policeman who decides to become a SerialKiller simply to test whether he could get away with it. Deciding to perform five attacks in total, Ottermole strangles an elderly couple; a young girl; a fellow police officer; and a mother and her daughter. When a nosy reporter discovers Ottermole is the killer, Ottermole [[DissonantSerenity calmly and serenely]] responds by [[HeKnowsTooMuch strangling him to death]], [[TheBadGuyWins leaving his crimes unpunished]].
* ''The Handyman'', by Creator/BentleyLittle: [[BigBad Frank Watkins]] is a jovial and creepy practitioner of Vietnamese black magic who uses his nightmarish abilities to torment the unfortunate innocents who hire him to repair their homes. Having learned to communicate with and manipulate the spirits of the dead from a Vietnamese teacher who he promptly murdered, Frank seeks to expand his ever-growing collection of trapped spirits, and carries this out by cursing the homes of those who desire his handyman services, leading to the ruination and deaths of all those who lived in the homes. Frank has ruined the lives of countless people, and despite at times recruiting partners or servants, he always kills or tortures them to death when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they outlive their usefulness]]. Keeping hundreds of souls trapped in eternal torment inside his house, where he has decorated entire rooms with the body parts of his victims and delves into rape, cannibalism, and all forms of torment, Frank ultimately schemes to raise the [[EldritchAbomination Dark Wife]] to its full power then [[PsychoSupporter bask]] in the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt apocalyptic chaos she brings upon the entire planet]].
* From the ''Franchise/HannibalLecter'' series, the mind of Thomas Harris has given us a pair of beasts who overshadow even notorious SerialKiller Hannibal Lecter.
** ''Literature/{{Hannibal}}'': Mason Verger is a warped pedophile that had the misfortune to conflict with Hannibal and ended up disfigured and crippled in a wheelchair for it. Seeking revenge, Verger kills and schemes so he can capture Hannibal and feed him to specially trained wild pigs. Now impotent, Verger obtains satisfaction by [[WouldHurtAChild torturing and abusing children]] and drinks martinis made from their tears. Verger also uses his own sister as a servant, having kept her in line with a serious of violent rapes earlier in life.
** ''Literature/HannibalRising'': Vladis Grutas is a vicious war criminal that escaped justice in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. A member of the collaborating Lithuanian militias, Grutas led the sack of a small town and personally executed Jewish prisoners. He executed one Rabbi by sawing his head off. During the winter, Grutas and his men took refuge in a small building with a young Hannibal and his baby sister Mischa inside. Grutas, to stave off hunger, decapitated Mischa with an axe and had her cooked and fed to the others. In the present, Grutas is a mob boss who uses murder and prostitution to further profits. When he and Hannibal fight to the end, Grutas takes pleasure in mocking Hannibal how he also fed him his own sister in the winter years ago.
* ''Literature/HardToBeAGod'': Don Reba is a thoroughly despicable SmugSnake of a [[EvilChancellor minister]], who personifies [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters everything wrong about humanity]]. He framed the former Prime Minister for treachery and tortured him to death, along with the whole cabinet; he declares everybody literate (and not noble) enemy of the state; he starts wars for petty revenge; he stages a Coup d'Etat, and when it succeeds, he kills his co-conspirators; finally, he tries to kidnap TheHero's {{Love Interest|s}}, which backfires horribly, leading to the DownerEnding.
* ''Literature/TheHateUGive'': [[FauxAffablyEvil King]] is the leader of the King Lords, the criminal gang responsible for the majority of drug distribution, murders, and other criminal activity occurring in the poverty-ridden neighborhood of Garden Heights. King would coerce gang member Maverick into serving three years in prison for his crimes by ordering his goons to shoot Maverick's daughter Starr, killing Starr's friend. He would also force his wife and daughters to prostitute themselves to his clients and gang members, where a scuffle between them results in a shootout at his party; Starr and Khalil would leave said party, leading to the latter getting killed by a cop. Only concerned with how much unwanted attention Khalil's death would bring to his territory, King tries to [[HeKnowsTooMuch keep Starr quiet about the incident]], by attempting to kill Starr and her family, setting a store on fire with Starr and her friends inside. Using fear to control people and murdering those that he can't, King represents the worst stereotypes of black people.
* ''The Haunted Forest Tour'', by James A. Moore & Jeff Strand: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Pestilence]], the outer-dimensional being responsible for the growth of the titular Haunted Forest to begin with, is a FauxAffablyEvil sadist of a demon who arranges the events of the plot in order to invade Earth's dimension and conquer it. Making a deal with the corrupt Bob Booth to provide sixty [[HumanSacrifice sacrifices]] to him to gain enough power to fully break into Earth, Pestilence forces the forest into the town of Cromay, decimating it and killing over 230 people, before having Booth organize the “Haunted Forest Tour” to draw in tourists for him and his kind to slaughter and empower themselves. Kidnapping the protagonist of the book, Christopher Brummit, Pestilence merrily tortures him whilst revealing his plot and later tempts Christopher's own mother into sacrificing herself to it as the final sacrifice, brutally [[OffWithHisHead tearing her head off]] in front of her own son before using the power gained to extend the Forest's reach and allow the demons within to eventually massacre all humanity. Pestilence admits to himself that his ideal vision is a [[{{Dystopia}} world]] where humanity is tortured and ravaged by the monsters of his realm at their leisure, where he can bask under the mangled remains of his victims in a sea of blood.
* ''Literature/TheHauntingOfAlaizabelCray'':
** [[BigBad Thatch]] is a powerful [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Wych]] who intends to possess Alaizabel. A ruthless monster who would [[PossessionBurnout consume her hosts]], Thatch is a [[PsychoSupporter devout worshiper]] of the [[EldritchAbomination Glau Meska, or Deep Ones]]. Unleashing the Wych-Kin upon London to slaughter countless people, Thatch directs the murders of the Fraternity and intends on summoning her masters to devour humanity utterly.
** [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr. Mammon Pyke]] is the founder and leader of the Fraternity. Having a lot of innocents slaughtered while disguising his murders as the work of known SerialKiller Stitch-Face, Pyke was the one who summoned Thatch into Alaizabel, intending on wiping Alaizabel out. Seeking to give humanity something to fear again, Pyke helps to bring the Wych-Kin down on humanity and intends on summoning the Glau Meska to do as much damage as they can.
* ''The Haunting of Ashburn House'', by Darcy Coates: In life, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Eleanor Ashburn]] was born the sociopathic [[EvilTwin twin sister]] to Edith who even at a young age would bully her sister. Trying to drown a child at [[EnfantTerrible age 6]], Eleanor's parents attempted to stop her but were eventually brutally mutilated and murdered along with her aunt and uncle by her at age 8. Eleanor was killed by her sister in self-defense. Born with the power to make her beliefs come true at a cost, Eleanor was able to steal the years of her victims and used it to return from the grave and torment and try to kill her sister. After her sister's passing of old age and her niece taking over the manor, Eleanor [[DrivenToMadness drives a woman to madness]] and uses her to free her from her grave, intending to [[EvilAunt kill her niece]].
* ''The Haunting of Blackwood House'', by Darcy Coates: In life, [[BigBad Victor Barlow]] was a spiritualist who created a house to be a conduit to the afterlife and forced a mentally ill man named Robert Kant to kill him in a bid for ultimate power. [[DemonicPossession Possessing Kant]], Victor forces him to [[WouldHurtAChild murder several children]] before Kant kills himself to get away from him. From then on, Victor begins to possess the inhabitants of his house over the next century and forces them to kill their families, [[AndIMustScream with them aware]] as he does this. When his descendant Mara arrives in the house, Victor possesses her fiancé and tries to kill her too simply [[ForTheEvulz for the hell of it]].
* ''The Haunting of Gillespie House'', by Darcy Coates: In life, [[{{Plaguemaster}} Jonathan Gillespie]] was an evil [[ReligionOfEvil cult leader in worship of The Others]] who fled his hometown after creating a disaster. Jonathan began to [[AbusiveParents ruthlessly abuse his children]], slowly killing them through his abuse, even forcing his daughter Genevieve to spend an entire night being starved and locked in a dark room where she was bitten by rats. Eventually Genevieve killed Jonathan to protect her and her family, but out of spite Jonathan's ghost unleashed a plague on his followers and [[OffingTheOffspring children]], leading most of them to gain a disease which mutilated their bodies, even his kids as [[WouldHurtAChild young as four]]. Eventually murdering his daughter Genevieve years later when she was too old to defend herself, Jonathan ruthlessly murders anyone who tries to help her move on, including a young girl of six.
* ''[[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hawks_of_Outremer Hawks of Outremer]]'', by Creator/RobertEHoward: Would-be sultan Nureddin El Ghor is a ruthless sheik out to create his own kingdom. Betraying Saladin, Nureddin kills numerous other lords to steal their forces and murders the good-hearted knight Geoffrey before massacring his entire castle Ali-El-Yar, with [[FlayingAlive flayed corpses]] hanging from it before burning the rest. Having one of the few survivors, a young knight named Michael, tortured, Nureddin is incensed when Michael's lover, a slave girl named Yulala, helps him escape, and plans to have her tortured and killed before staking Michael out in the desert to die under the sun. When hero Cormac [=FitzGeoffrey=] arrives, Nureddin happily attempts to subject him to the same.
* ''The Healing Wars'' series, by Janice Hardy: [[AristocratsAreEvil The Duke of Baseer]], real name Verraad, killed his [[{{Patricide}} father]] and [[CainAndAbel brothers]] and usurped control over Baseer. He used his newfound power to wage war on the surrounding nations, torching the city of Sorille to kill his nephew Jeatar and crippling Geveg, stripping the city of its pynvium to forge new weapons from. In the present, the Duke has "Takers" [[note]]people who can pull injuries out of the wounded and transfer them into their own body[[/note]] abducted and [[PlayingWithSyringes undergo torturous experiments]] in the hopes of them producing unique abilities, while others are converted into agony-stricken "Undying" to serve in his army, children not excluded. He also constructs a powerful pynvium device capable of wiping out entire masses of people, the device [[HumanResources powered by using Takers as batteries]], keeping them in immense physical and mental pain. When the populace in Geveg rebels, the Duke has his army attack the city, first trying to firebomb the city, before attempting to use the device to slaughter everyone in its path, ally and enemy alike.
* ''Literature/HeartShapedBox'': [[AbusiveParents Craddock McDermott]] was an occultist and hypnotist in life who [[SociopathicSoldier got a thrill out of tormenting prisoners in the Vietnam War]], in one instance forcing an officer to [[{{Fingore}} cut off his own fingers]]. Upon his return to the US, Craddock began to sexually abuse his stepdaughters, utilizing hypnosis to make them more willing should they refuse. When one of the girls, Anna, escaped and became the lover of former rockstar Judas "Jude" Coyne, she eventually returned after breaking up with Jude and refused to be Craddock's SexSlave any longer. Craddock convinced her sister Jessica to help murder Anna and make it look like a suicide while also convincing Jessica to [[VillainousIncest allow Craddock to molest Jessica's own daughter Reese]]. When dying, Craddock blamed Jude for taking away what belonged to him and had Jessica trick Jude into purchasing Craddock's ghost by way of a cursed suit. Craddock proceeds to kill Jude's assistant Danny and attempts to murder him and his girlfriend Georgia. At the end, he even possesses Jude's abusive father to torment him, revealing a monstrous sadism and sick cruelty beneath the surface of a seemingly polite, kindly old man.
* ''Literature/TheHellfireClub'', by Creator/PeterStraub: [[ADickInName Dick Dart]], real name Norman, is a [[HeManWomanHater misogynistic]] serial [[SerialKiller killer]] and [[SerialRapist rapist]] responsible for raping and [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]] four women he judged as meaningless. Kidnapping heroine Nora Chancel due to a belief she is as sick as he is, Dart regularly rapes and abuses her, attempting to have her torture others to death with him before attempting to recapture her and murder even more women.
* ''Hell Hollow'', by Ronald Kelly: [[MadDoctor Doctor Augustus Leech]] was a traveling medicine man who roamed the South in the early 1900s. Secretly a wicked devil worshipper, Leech used his miracle potions to [[DeadlyDoctor kill people]] wherever he went, wiping out entire communities and prolonging their agony to make it easier for his infernal master to claim their souls. Upon his revival into a new body ninety years later, Leech offers his elixir to the bored teenagers of the town of Harmony, plunging them into their darkest nightmares that will eventually kill them as Leech attempts to poison the town's water supply to subject every man, woman and child to a horrible death and eventual damnation.
* ''Literature/HellHouse'': [[ForTheEvulz Emeric Belasco]], The Roaring Giant, was [[TheNapoleon a short man who wished to be "bigger"]] by sawing off his legs and replacing them with lengthy prosthetics. Becoming an occultist, Belasco turned his house into a [[DenOfIniquity den of depravity and horror]], eventually murdering his guests during a particularly horrific evening to channel their energy and allow himself to become a powerful ghost. Haunting what is now known as Hell House, Belasco murders or drives those who set foot in his home insane, possessing others and using them to rape and murder their companions. Belasco rapes a spiritualist, also forcing her to experience acts she finds deplorable while forcing her to enjoy them, before murdering her and leaving her corpse in a profane position for her companions to find, before trying to murder them all as well.
* ''Hell's Bounty'', by Joe R. Lansdale: [[BigBad Zelzarda]] is a demonic scourge [[EvenEvilHasStandards reviled even by Satan]] for his intended design on the world. Betraying Satan for his own ends--those being to unleash the Old Gods on the world--Zelzarda takes physical form by tricking the thuggish Trumbo Quill into [[DealWithTheDevil accepting his offer]] to revive his dead wife at the cost of his soul--only to [[ILied decay Quill's wife in front of his eyes]] and possess the man. Massacring several people through the town of Falling Rock as a test drive, Zelzarda resurrects the town's dead as his personal army and has them either turn or devour nearly everyone else in Falling Rock, slaughtering both his own ghoul minions and escapees from the carnage with equal relish. Zelzarda's ultimate goal is to let the Old Ones reduce all reality to an eternal chaos he will preside over, comfortable with sentencing every existing soul to a torture worse than even those in Hell itself purely for the sake of power.
* ''Literature/HellsGate'': Acting Commander of Five Hundred Neshok, an Arcanan Intelligence officer who gleefully uses his position and the excuse of "ensuring the security of the expeditionary force" to justify brutally beating and torturing Sharonian prisoners and killing other prisoners in cold blood. In one case, he kills two Sharonian prisoners to single out a Voice among them (the latter of which he kills just because he lied to Neshok) and, though he knows that Voices cannot transmit through portals and verifies this with a lie-detecting spell, then shoots the Voice in question.
* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'':
** [[TheEvilPrince Prince Ancar]] is the sadistic, spoiled son of King Alessander of Haldorn, who [[{{Patricide}} murders his father]] to [[TheUsurper take over the throne]]. Murdering the Herald Kris and capturing the Queen's Own Talia, Ancar tortures her more for sport than information, [[FrameUp framing them]] for his father's death to find an excuse to start a war with Valdemar. Having his cousins killed to secure his claim to the throne, Ancar uses MindControl to force his troops to fight mercilessly and even drains his own lands of power to increase his own.
** [[MindRape Mornelithe Falconsbane]], aka [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Ma'ar]], steadily divested himself of any good intent he may have once had, starting the Cataclysm that devastated much of the world and had a ripple effect through time itself. Though defeated, he didn't actually die, as he had set up a GrandTheftMe so that he could [[FamilialBodySnatcher take over the body of any his descendants]] once they started showing signs of magical ability. Ma'ar continues this over centuries, "seeding" the world with children so as to never run out of descendants and practicing his magic upon them, intending to claim ultimate power no matter the cost. Through this end, Ma'ar would force Starblade, elder of the k'Shenya, to destroy his people's Heartstone, almost wiping them out and corrupting their valley.
** ''The White Gryphon'': Hadanelith is a minor villain who possesses the Gifts of [[TheEmpath Empathy]] and Mindhealing, but uses them [[GoodPowersBadPeople to serve his own sadistic desires rather than to aid people]]. When first discovered, he is found to have been using his gifts to [[MindRape warp the minds of women]] until they live only to serve him in slavery, [[SexSlave sexually]] and otherwise. He is exiled from the city of White Gryphon under the relatively loose laws and customs of their society. Rather than die in the wilderness, he makes his way south to the Haighlei kingdoms and is recruited by the EvilChancellor to assassinate high ranking members of their society in order to frame the delegation from White Gryphon. In doing so, he is permitted to indulge his sadistic fantasies and accordingly tortures his victims before killing them.
** ''The Collegium Chronicles'': Master Cole Pieters puts children as young as four and five to work in a mine. He forces them to sleep in a basement, feeds them so little that they supplemented their diet by stealing the pig slop whenever they could, and is known to [[WouldHurtAChild beat the children to a bloody pulp with a mallet in front of the rest of the child workers]] should he deem it "necessary" for control of them.
** ''Closer to Home'': [[BitchInSheepsClothing Brand]] is the charming, psychopathic heir of House Raeylen. He begins by seducing young [[TheIngenue Violetta]] of House Chendlar with false promises of love, but when the King arranges for him to marry Violetta's older sister and promises them an estate, he comes up with a new plot: His men try to kill every member of both Houses Chendlar and Raeylen [[WeddingSmashers at his wedding feast]] except for himself and Violetta, so that when he marries her, he'll hold three estates instead of one. Brand succeeds in [[{{Patricide}} killing his father]], and when apprehended, he calls Violetta "a pair of legs and an empty head", and admits that he planned to manipulate Violetta during their marriage so that he could use his new wealth to purchase the services of a HighClassCallGirl.
* ''Literature/HerculePoirot'':
** ''Literature/TheABCMurders'': Franklin Clarke, aka "ABC", wishes to inherit his brother's wealth, but is aware that he would be the obvious suspect. ABC hits upon the fact that his brother has an alliterative name and lives in a town that begins with the same letter. [[SerialKillingsSpecificTarget With that in mind]], ABC proceeds to kill Anna Ascher in Andover, Betty Barnard in Bexhill, and Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston, creating the illusion that a SerialKiller is on the loose, in an effort to hide his murder-for-profit. ABC also picks out a patsy in epileptic Alexander Bonaparte Cust, and preys on his insecurities, convincing Cust that he has been committing the murders during his blackouts. Committing one last murder in Doncaster, ABC slips the knife into Cust's pocket, and then calls the police, intending that Cust either hang, or end up in a mental ward, while he walks away with the money.
** ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': Mr. X--Stephen Norton--is a different sort of monster from most murder mystery villains. Deliberately modeling himself on [[Theatre/{{Othello}} Iago]], Mr. X is a social predator who toys with people's fears, nudging them towards committing murder, while technically never breaking the law himself. Over the course of the novel, Mr. X convinces three different people, including Hercule Poirot's [[TheWatson Watson]], Captain Hastings, to commit murder, with Poirot only barely averting each at the last moment. When confronted by Poirot, Mr. X gloats that he will continue on this way forever, and that there is nothing the law can do to touch him, prompting Poirot to [[VigilanteMan commit his only ever vigilante execution]].
* ''Toys/HeroFactory Secret Mission #1: The Doom Box'', by Greg Farshtey: [[HeroKiller Core Hunter]] was originally an hero with an good friendship with Preston Stormer until he decided to [[FaceHeelTurn leave Hero Factory]] under the belief it had nothing for him and that [[ItsAllAboutMe no one cared for his future]]. Starting off as a small-time criminal, he would eventually become obsessed with Hero Cores, and began to hunt down heroes to rip out their cores, [[SerialKiller killing them]] in the process, which he would gladly show off to the other heroes. Core Hunter would eventually decide to seek out the Doom Box in the hopes of threatening to use it to become the [[AGodAmI ruler of the galaxy]], during which he leaves Jimi Stringer to die after he had [[UngratefulBastard helped him fend off an space creature]]. Eventually escaping capture during the breakout, he would briefly stay in Makuhero City to kill any heroes he could find and take their cores, before eventually deciding to retrieve the Doom Box fragments he stole, during of which he kills Geb when he attempts to help the heroes. After the Doom Box was reformed and Arctur teleports him to the place the box was forged so it can be activated, Core Hunter attempts to kill Stormer, but ends up killing Arctur instead, but he doesn't care and proceeds to activate the Doom Box to absorb its power, uncaring if the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt universe is destroyed in the process]]. An ruthless, power hungry criminal with an thirst for power, Core Hunter serves as one of Hero Factory's most dangerous foes.
* ''Hero of Darkness'' [[note]]Previously titled ''The Last Bucelarii''[[/note]] series, by Andy Peloquin: [[AntiHero The Hunter of Voramis]] has faced many terrible people, creatures, and demons. These are the worst of the lot:
** ''Darkblade Assassin'' [[note]]Previously titled ''Blade of the Destroyer''[[/note]] : [[BigBad The Demon of Voramis]] is one of the many [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Abiarazi demons]] serving [[GreaterScopeVillain Sage and Warmaster]], and the most {{sadist}}ic. Eons ago, he fought alongside [[WarGod Kharna]], where he slaughtered countless humans before going into hiding after Kharna's banishment. Using his shapeshifting abilities, he transforms himself into various figures, such as the corrupt [[DirtyCop Lord Jahel]], and The First. As The First, he leads The Bloody Hand, a cult which murders, tortures, and engages in human sex trafficking, ruling Voramis from underground. As Jahel, he commands the Heresiarchs and the Dark Heresy, a group who tortures and spies on innocents, allowing The Bloody Hand to not face any punishment. Seeing the Hunter as the key to bringing back Kharna, he disguises himself as Lord Cyrannius to trick him into killing Brother Securus, who was keeping Kharna at bay. After kidnapping and torturing Hunter, he has him arrested by the Heresiarchs, where he allows him to escape, but not before ordering his men to kill every innocent person Hunter loves. He later kidnaps Farida, a child whom Hunter cherishes, and [[WouldHurtAChild tortures her to death]] in order to lure an angry Hunter to him. Capturing Hunter, he offers him to join him in his human slaughtering spree, but when he refuses, he attempts to use his soul to summon Kharna. Once Hunter escapes, The Demon uses fellow Abiarazi [[TheBrute Thane]] to kill him, not caring when he's killed by Hunter. When Celcia attempts to protect The Demon from Hunter, he describes her as a pawn in his game before [[UngratefulBastard trying to kill her]]. Willing to use the death of his kind to further his goals, The Demon remains Hunter’s most personal enemy.
** ''Darkblade Outcast'' [[note]]Previously titled ''Lament of the Fallen''[[/note]] : [[BigBad Lord Toramin]], aka The Demon of Malandria, is the leader of the Order of Midas, and an Abiarazi servant to Sage and Warmaster, [[BigBadDuumvirate alongside Garanis]]. [[FromNobodyToNightmare Once a servant to the lowest ranking Abiarazi commander]], Toramin, under the task of freeing Kharna, chooses to establish a base in Malandria. Gathering a group of merchants desiring to make their city better, Toramin promises them money and power in exchange for their services, forming the Order of Midas and spreading fear across Malandria. He later leads a purge where he kills all the Cleric Illusionists in town who aren't noble to him, [[YourSoulIsMine stealing their souls]] while claiming that their religious orders were a threat to his power. Putting the city's homeless population in a single alleyway, he has Garanis search for the perfect sacrifice victim from the alley, claiming to be "[[KillThePoor cleansing the town of filth]]". Other kidnapped victims are placed in a maze with a flamethrower robot that will kill them, with the prize at the end being poisonous traps and the sacrifice room; Toramin does all this because he feels frightened souls will bring Kharna back faster. Kidnapping Bardin, he has him ready to be sacrificed until Hunter interferes, where Toramin threatens Bardin's life unless Hunter joins him. Once Hunter agrees, Toramin kills one of his men while promising the others that he'll kill them all, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness seeing them as useless.]] When Hunter goes against his plans, he kills Bardin in retaliation, and tries to absorb Hunter's soul to free Kharna.
** ''Darkblade Protector'' [[note]]Previously titled ''Gateway to the Past''[[/note]] shows that sometimes HumansAreTheRealMonsters:
*** [[WouldHurtAChild Il Seytani]]--which is Turkish for [[BilingualBonus "The Diabolical"]]--is the infamous [[KingOfThieves bandit king]] of the Sah’raa Advent. Commanding a camp of operations, Seytani has his thieves [[RapePillageAndBurn plunder traveling caravans]], where they kill the adults, steal weapons for money, and kidnap the children to be whipped and [[MadeASlave sold into slavery]]. After Hunter's caravan is targeted by the thieves, he searches for Hailen after he and the caravan's children are taken away. Once Hunter arrives, Seytani forces him to become his assassin, threatening to kill Hailen if he doesn't comply. Seytani tasks Hunter to kill al-Malek, the king of Al Hani, in four days. Without the king, Seytani can roam the desert unchecked without any law enforcement to stop him. Not trusting Hunter to complete his task, he sends [[TheDragon Younis]] to spy on him, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness planning on having him kill Hunter when he's finished.]] When Hunter returns to save Hailen, Seytani sends his fighters to kill Hunter, [[DirtyCoward ducking out of the battle]] so that he can hold Hailen hostage in exchange for Hunter's life, all while bragging about how he had already sold the caravan children to slavery. With his final breath, Seytani poisons Hunter with his iron dagger, knowing that Hunter will have to kill Hailen in order to cure himself. Cruelly malicious, Il Seytani proved to be one of the worst humans Hunter encountered.
*** [[PsychoSupporter Captain Al-Zahar]], while initially appearing to be a strict henchman to the Abiarazi [[BigBad Queen Asalah]], is later revealed to be far worse. Enraged that King al-Malek brought peace to Al Hani, Al-Zahar participates in Asalah's attempt to assassinate al-Malek and have her usurp the throne, where she plans to start a war between the remaining kingdoms to bring about Kharna. Al-Zahar [[BloodKnight hopes to participate in the war]], where he'll lead his armies into battle and kill till his heart's content. To hide the fact that he's working with a demon, Al-Zahar kills his own royal guards without a twinge of guilt, smashes the back of Saima's head before jamming a knife down the back of her skull once Asalah has no need for her, and tries to kill Hunter once he refuses to cooperate with Asalah. A [[SociopathicSoldier vicious soldier]] wearing [[VillainWithGoodPublicity a mask of heroism]], Al-Zahar was willing to plunge his land into chaos and destruction just to have fun killing people.
* ''Literature/{{Hideaway}}'': [[SerialKiller Jeremy Nyebern]], aka [[Literature/ArsGoetia Vassago]], is a youth who murdered his mother and sister before taking a possible trip to hell. Believing himself to be a demonic prince, he turns to murdering men and women alike, preserving their corpses in an amusement park he uses as a hideout. When [[TheHero Hatch Harrison]], is psychically connected to Vassago, Vassago learns of Hatch's wife and daughter and attempts to murder them as well, planning on [[WouldHurtAChild dismembering and torturing Hatch's young daughter]] for [[ForTheEvulz fun]].
* ''High Moor'' trilogy, by Graeme Reynolds:
** ''High Moor'' (Book 1): [[TheBully Malcolm Harrison]] is a lazy, hedonistic bully who becomes far worse as the opportunities arise. A town bully as [[TeensAreMonsters a young teenager]], Malcolm particularly terrorized local kid John and his friends, nearly subjecting the group to genital mutilation before trying to burn young Marie alive for humiliating him. In adulthood, [[DomesticAbuse Malcolm]] abuses and neglects his wife and kids, and, when given the power of the werewolf, immediately uses his abilities to [[PaterFamilicide slaughter and eat his entire family]]. Going on a killing spree that claims several more lives, Malcolm intends to murder an adult John, then take the man's friend Marie as a SexSlave, all out of a petty grudge at them both for crossing him in childhood.
** ''Blood Moon'':
*** [[TheStarscream Kryzstof]] is a brutal Armenian werewolf who chafes under the leadership of the moderate Michael. Seeking to actively kick off a war with humanity, Kryzstof sends his followers to massacre an entire town, with men, [[WouldHitAGirl women]], and [[WouldHurtAChild children]] alike feasted upon by the wolves. Kryzstof prepares to commit the Moonborn to a conflict where savage Moonstruck are unleashed in every major city to drown the humans in paranoia and blood, before he personally executes Michael to take control of the Moonborn.
*** [[InsaneAdmiral Colonel Brian Richards]] is a [[FantasticRacism prejudiced]] military commander out to annihilate every last trace of werewolves across High Moor just to secure himself a promotion. Richards sanctions and endorses the insane Dr. Channing's horrific experiments on captured werewolves, and throw hundreds of civilians into the [[PoWCamp Lindholme prison camp]] alongside werewolves, uncaring that the werewolf infection spreads and innocents are constantly abused and on the verge of being massacred. His ultimate plan being to firebomb Lindholme and the surrounding area to kill thousands of men, women, and children under the false narrative of them all being werewolves, Richards then tries to personally sweep through and gun down anyone left standing.
*** [[MadScientist Doctor Channing]] is the scientist in charge of experiments at Lindholme's camp. Taking countless werewolves to torture, vivisect, and [[AndIMustScream keep alive in horrific agony]], Channing learns the functions of werewolves and wishes to make his own. Using his volunteers to become pained, lobotomized wolves to serve him, Channing intends to spread the process further [[ForScience for the sake of his own twisted science]].
* ''Hindsight'', by Ronald Kelly: [[MeaningfulName Bully]] Hanson is a violent man who initiates the murder of three teenagers for satisfaction and the little money the boys have. Upon being convicted thanks to the psychic connection of Cindy Ann, the little sister of one of his victims, Bully eventually escapes prison by [[CopKiller murdering two deputies]] before returning to murder Cindy Ann and the rest of her family, [[WouldHurtAChild children included]]. After death, Cindy Ann's psychic powers reveal to her an even more horrible truth in visions she witnesses firsthand from the victims: Bully was a depraved SerialKiller who would abduct, rape, torture and murder dozens upon dozens of innocent teenagers, the youngest being twelve years old, before murdering his own partner when he tired of him.
* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': [[DemiurgeArchetype Metatron]] was once a human named Enoch that turned into an angel by [[GodIsEvil The Authority]] to act as his regent. Despite his fanatical demeanor, [[HeteronormativeCrusader having attempted to kill his own brother Baruch for being gay]], he is revealed to be extremely power-hungry, as he [[TheStarscream turns on The Authority]] and traps him in a crystal. Under his stewardship the already fanatical institution of the church was prompted to commit several atrocities across the multiverse, ranging from mass MindRape of children to the genocide of both human groups and non-human species. Metatron became increasingly convinced that Lyra was the new Eve, so he planned on inquisitions across the Multiverse. Killing Baruch for once and for all, he marched his troops against Lord Asriel's rebel forces in a flat-out apocalyptic battle.
* ''Literature/HisFairAssassin'': Count Alain D'Albret, we find out in ''Dark Triumph'', murdered every single one of his wives, and also planned to brutally rape Anne and then force the marriage once he captured her at Nantes, and [[WouldHurtAChild murdered his own newborn granddaughter]] within minutes of her birth, right in front of his own daughter, while she begged and screamed for someone to stop him. When his wife Alise did try to interfere, he struck her down so viciously that she ended up dying from the blow to the head. Then he [[NeckSnap snapped the child's neck]], dropped the baby on the floor like trash, left both corpses lying there, and calmly walked out of the room. He taunts Sybella about making her his next wife once he finds out that she's not truly his daughter. Wen Julian interferes, Alain tells Julian that Julian would be forgiven for everything if he produced heirs with Death's blood in their veins — in other words, if he raped Sybella repeatedly into pregnancy.
* ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheRunestaff'': The brutal and ambitious [[FauxAffablyEvil Baron Meliadus of Kroiden]] serves as the commander of the armies of [[TheEmpire Granbretan]] and one of the chief agents of its [[RapePillageAndBurn conquests]]. [[TheDreaded Feared across Europe for his cruelty]], Meliadus brutally strips conquered lands of their resources and commits unspeakable atrocities on their people. Swearing vengeance upon hero Dorian Hawkmoon when his attempt to turn him into a tool of his prior vendetta against Count Brass--an enmity begun by Meliadus's attempt to rape Brass's daughter Yissolda--by means of the brain-eating Black Jewel fails, Meliadus comes to increasingly devote his resources towards personal revenge, earning the displeasure of his master King-Emperor Huon--which in turn drives Meliadus to [[TheStarscream overthrow Huon and seize power for himself]] in a betrayal shocking even to Granbretan, though he himself is killed by Hawkmoon shortly after. Ambitious, self-absorbed and cruel to a fault, in an empire of evil Baron Meliadus stands out above the rest.
* ''Literature/{{Hitman}}: Enemy Within'': [[FauxAffablyEvil Ali bin Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Fulani]], [[VillainWithGoodPublicity known to the public as a benevolent philanthropist]], actually [[WouldHurtAChild runs a child prostitution ring]] fronted by his orphanages, which he himself frequents. In the orphanages, scantily clad children are forced to perform a perverse "talent show" for the customers before they are taken upstairs to be raped, a sight that even disgusts the stoic Agent 47. Al-Fulani also runs a drug ring inherited from his father and had top members of the Tumaco Cartel killed when negotiations soured. A board member of [[MurderInc Puissance Treize]], Al-Fulani is introduced torturing Professor Paul Rollet for information about 47 and having his bodyguard Marla execute Rollet despite promising to spare him. Al-Fulani forces Marla to have a threesome with him and a child before they flee to Chad, where he makes a stop to buy more child {{sex slave}}s, separating a brother and sister in the process.
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Most of Honor Harrington's enemies have been fairly complex adversaries with understandable or even altruistic goals. This is not the case for all of her foes, however:
** ''The Honor of the Queen'': [[InsaneAdmiral Captain of the Faithful Williams]] is the commander of [[TheFundamentalist Masada]]'s Blackbird base. When Williams receives war prisoners from '''HMS Madrigal'', he orders all of the female prisoners [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil brutally raped]] by him and his men, leading to the deaths of all but two. Once the forces of Manticore and Grayson try to capture Blackbird, Williams orders all of the prisoners killed and his men to fight to the death, despite knowing they won't accomplish anything against better equipped Manticore marines, and when they try to avoid pointless deaths, Williams [[BadBoss shoots everyone within reach]]. [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Williams]]'s cruelty inspires revulsion and hatred from his enemies, allies, and subordinates alike.
** ''Honor Among Enemies'': [[SpacePirates Andre Warnecke]] is the former dictator of the Chalice Cluster. Taking control of the Cluster during a revolution, Warnecke promised reform, but [[TheCaligula delivered oppression so severe]] that three million people died. After being run out of the system, he turned to [[RuthlessModernPirates piracy]], robbing and stealing from merchant ships in order to finance a return to Chalice. Coming upon the pacifistic world of Sidemore, Warnecke took power, executed all senior officials, and placed [[NukeEm nuclear warheads]] in all major cities in order to ensure the population's loyalty. When Honor and the HMAMC Wayfarer arrived on Sidemore to bring him to justice, Warnecke detonated one of his nukes to show that he wasn't bluffing, then offered to exchange the lives of Sidemore's urban population for his own personal safety.
* "Hope Chest" by Creator/GarthNix: TheMaster is the demonic leader of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Servants of the State]], a Nazi-like hate group that slowly amasses more and more members due to the Master's mind controlling abilities. Having his growing army perpetrate brutal assaults, rapes, and murders against minorities and vagrants across the country in his name, the Master seeks to spread his influence worldwide until his hateful rhetoric is forced upon every person alive, with his motive being [[ForTheEvulz nothing more than a love for causing pain and controlling others]]. When confronted by Alice May, the Master forces the girl to fight her own brainwashed sister to torment her, and spends his final moments mocking Alice May that he forced her sister to have sex with him, gleefully offering Alice May a place at his side to share the experience.
* "[[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601761h.html The Horror From The Mound]]", by Creator/RobertEHoward: [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Don Santiago de Valdez]], one of the first modern American vampires, is a cunning, sadistic monster who has fed on human blood since the [[UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain time of the Moors]]. Driven out from his natural habitat three centuries in the past, Don Santiago assumed the part of a nobleman stranded on a ship that had been mysteriously scourged of all its passengers and crew. Joining the crew of one Captain de Estrada, Don Santiago ravenously fed off the Captain's men on their expeditions, even murdering a priest who used his last breath to condemn Don Santiago to be buried under the Indian mound of the story's title. Rising again from the grave to murder the Mexican neighbor of the protagonist, the first and only time Don Santiago fully appears in the flesh reveals him as what he is: a fiend in barely-human form.
* ''Literature/{{Horrorstor}}'': [[WardensAreEvil Warden Josiah Worth]] lord of the [[HellholePrison Cuyahoga Panopticon]] in life and in death, believed wholeheartedly and terrifyingly that labor sets the souls of men free. Worth was responsible for a series of animal tortures against the 318 inmates of the Panopticon--aka the "Beehive"--that disgusted even contemporary officials, favoring particularly tortuously grueling work patterns like penal treadmills and crank machines. When one man was unable to turn the crank any longer due to the rotting state the cranks had left his hands in, Worth "treated" him by [[{{Fingore}} cutting off his thumbs]] and returning him to work. Worth murdered all of his prisoners when his prison was closed, and returns in undeath to haunt the [[SoulSuckingRetailJob IKEA ripoff]] of the setting--[[UnholyGround built atop the remains of the Panopticon]]--dragging the innocent employees who investigate into the unending nightmare he plans on subjecting the souls of his prisoners to.
* ''House of Skin'', by Jonathan Janz: [[TheVamp Annabel Carver]] is a mysterious young woman found by the Carver brothers, David and Myles. Marrying the former while conducting an affair with the latter, Annabel comes to dominate their life while swaying David into murdering children [[ForTheEvulz for her amusement]]. Eventually revealed as a [[AncientEvil centuries-old being]] who seduces men and [[DrivenToMadness drives them to madness]] and ruin, Annabel spitefully murders a woman for an affair with Myles after he kills David and marries her. Swaying the last Carver, Paul, into murder as well, Annabel [[TheBadGuyWins ends the novel]] murdering him and his lover Julia before moving on to a brand-new victim whom she intends to drive into murder and destruction as well.
* ''Literature/HouseOfTheScorpion'': "[[EvilOldFolks El Patrón]]", born Matteo Alacrán, is a drug lord ruling over the country of Opium. Reducing anyone caught crossing the border illegally--as well as his own staff--into mindless "[[FateWorseThanDeath eejits]]" to serve in his operations, El Patrón's [[BadBoss harsh work environments]] lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Harvesting organs from his own clones to [[ImmortalityImmorality extend his life]], El Patrón allows them to be raised believing they are his beloved children before cruelly killing them. [[ItsAllAboutMe Believing everything to be his]], El Patrón even makes plans to wipe out all life in Opium with his passing to die with him.
* ''Literature/TheHouseWithAClockInItsWalls'': [[WickedWitch Selenna Izard]] is a cruel old witch who helped construct the [[ArtifactOfDoom titular clock]] with her late, despised husband Isaac. The clock itself is a powerful artifact with the power to end the world when stopped at a certain time. When freed from her tomb, Selenna pursues the young hero Lewis Barnavelt, murders one of her own men to create a HandOfGlory and attempts to murder Lewis's protectors to get to him for the clock. Selenna then tries to threaten Lewis into giving up the clock by threatening to torture his uncle and the good witch Florence, intending on using the clock to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end the world]] out of sheer spite.
* ''Literature/TheHowling'': [[SerialRapist Max Quist]] is a handyman who resents any woman he perceives as "above" him. This rage manifests in a [[HeManWomanHater misogynistic fervor]] that results in him raping them, the fate that befalls the novel's heroine Karyn. Quist brutally rapes and beats her so badly that Karyn [[ForcedMiscarriage suffers a miscarriage]], causing his shadow to linger over the novel as [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters a greater monster than even the werewolves]].
* ''Literature/HowToTrainYourDragon'' series:
** [[ItsAllAboutMe Alvin the Treacherous]], Hiccup's ArchEnemy, is a man defined by his greed and lust for power. In his first appearance, Alvin [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] the Hairy Hooligan tribe to help him find Grimbeard the Ghastly's treasure, betraying them by going to place them in slavery and letting his tribe eat Hiccup and his father Stoick. Upon escaping Grimbeard's treasure cavern, Alvin schemes with a small party of Romans to kidnap the Hooligan and Bog-Burgular heirs to [[WarForFunAndProfit incite a war between them]] to form a dragon army to claim the treasure from the caves for himself. Alvin later manipulates Humongous Hotshot to kill Hiccup and steal the Fire Stone for him so he can use it to command the Exterminators on Lava Lout Island and let him conquer the Barbaric Archipelago. On Berserk Island, Alvin sacrifices Hiccup and his friends to the Beast of the Berserk forests. Becoming the leader of the Vikings when the dragons trigger a war, Alvin enslaves countless humans—killing them en masse for whatever reason—to find the Dragon Jewel so he can become the King of the Wilderwest. When Hiccup becomes the King of the Wilderwest and tries to end the war between humans and dragons, Alvin breaks the truce by stealing the Dragon Jewel from him and attempts to use its power to [[FinalSolution wipe out every dragon]].
** [[WickedWitch Excellinor the Witch]] is Alvin's equally horrid [[EvilMatriarch mother]] whose silver tongue conceals a heart of ice. Excellinor is first introduced having a sadistic game with Hiccup--whoever guesses the other's identity gets to kill them. When the Viking tribes have a sword-fighting competition to become the King of the Wilderwest, Excellinor would sabotage the others, even kidnapping Hiccup's father, just so Alvin would have an easy victory. When Hiccup confronts her in her hut, Excellinor slashes at him with poisoned nails, then exposes him and his father to condemn them into slavery. With Alvin as the ruler of the humans' side in the war against dragons, Excellinor happily has countless humans [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil enslaved]] in Prison Darkheart, [[ILied falsely promising]] them their freedom if they find the Dragon Jewel. Excellinor [[ManipulativeBitch manipulates]] Hiccup's cousin Snotlout to bring him to her, then proceeds to have Hiccup tortured, and when that proves useless, she has his friend Camikazi dumped into the waters to drown. When peace is almost achieved between humans and dragons, Excellinor, along with Alvin, steals the Dragon Jewel and has him try to unleash its plague to [[FinalSolution wipe out all dragons]]. Even when peace has been achieved, Excellinor tries one last mad attempt on Hiccup's life, forcing the dragon Furious to make a HeroicSacrifice.
** First book & ''How to Steal a Dragon's Sword'': [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Green Death]], aka [[LargeAndInCharge Merciless]], is a colossal sea dragon who, over a thousand years ago, led the dragon race to [[KillAllHumans eradicate humankind]] before being exiled by Hiccup's ancestor. Throughout his exile, Merciless would sink countless ships by devouring them, and their inhabitants, before drifting into a slumber. After being washed ashore on Berk, Merciless [[MonstrousCannibalism devours another sea dragon]] that had also washed ashore with him because it "was full of itself". Merciless then announces to Hiccup that he intends to devour everyone on the island. After killing the Purple Death and being mortally wounded, Merciless [[SwallowedWhole swallows Hiccup alive]]. When he sneezes Hiccup out, Merciless decides to attempt to incinerate him and the others alive, relishing in their terror.
* The ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'':
** Conda Challis, during his appearance as the notional villain of ''Orphan Star'', displays a truly legendary capacity for depravity. Among other things, he attempts to recruit Flinx to create memory-plays in the Janus Jewels, and the "scenes" he wants to see turn the stomach of even a hardened StreetUrchin like Flinx. He loves torture as well, but the best example is what he plans to do with his "adopted daughter", Mahnahmi -- raise her to maturity and then use her as a sex slave. It turns out that he was being telepathically manipulated by her much of the time, simply to keep him functional as a human being rather than descending into a vile pit of vice, which triggers his VillainousBreakdown when he discovers the fact.
** Lord Dominic Estes Rose, a major villain in ''Bloodhype'', is a drug dealer who trades in substances other dealers won't even touch, like the titular bloodhype. Like Challis, he enjoys torture, and responds to news of the escape of a set of captives by crushing some songbirds in a cage. He then attempts to blackmail the [=AAnn=] on Repler by threatening to release his stash of bloodhype in their compound, horribly killing all of them, and manages to provoke the [=AAnn=] commander into declaring him the most disgusting being he's ever seen. His hubris reaches its pinnacle when he attempts to sell humanity out to [[OmnicidalManiac the Vom]] in exchange for his survival, and promptly dies.
* ''[[Literature/InheritanceTrilogy The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms]]'': Scimina Arameri is the most wicked of the Arameri bloodline of the ruling city of Sky. Seeking to take over as heir from her aged uncle Dekarta, Scimina is also a cruel {{sadist}} who uses the captive god Nahadoth as a SexSlave while also abusing and mistreating him. Despising her cousin Yeine for being part of the Darr people, Scimina attempts to use her kingdoms to [[FinalSolution commit utter genocide]] on Darr, deciding to settle for [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil enslaving]] them if she cannot have this. Torturing Nahadoth and his son Sieh to prove a point to Yeine, Scimina later [[SiblingMurder murders her own twin Relad]] when it appears he may become heir over her.
* ''Literature/TheHungryMoon'': The "moon thing" is an AncientEvil that lay dormant in the cave near Moonwell until awakened by Gideon Mann. Taking his body and plunging Moonwell into darkness, the creature murders multiple villagers for sport, attempts to [[ChildEater devour a child]], and provokes religious violence and madness, even murdering its own followers and feeding them to the rest. The moon thing intends to gain access to a nearby nuclear base, intending to [[NukeEm launch them all]] and [[KillAllHumans annihilate the human race]] for [[ForTheEvulz its own enjoyment]].
* ''Hunted'', by Darcy Coates: [[KillerCop Superintendent Decker]] is a gruff, seemingly well-meaning police chief who is in truth a depraved SerialKiller. Decker views killing as a game and has set out to be able to kill as many people as possible before he's captured. Decker, [[ScoobyDooHoax in a monster suit]], terrorizes hikers and intentionally drives them into unsafe areas well in a fearful state in order for the elements and nature to kill them so nothing can be traced back to him. Having claimed the lives of over 60 victims, Decker makes sure that no one catches on by pitting his officers against each other, and when the disappearances are discovered, Decker has a mentally ill man [[FrameUp framed]] for the crimes, leading to said man [[DrivenToSuicide taking his own life]]. When confronted by his crimes by one of his officers, Decker is giddy to confess to his love for killing before revealing how he intends to ruin her life if she turns him in.
* ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'':
** [[BigBad High King Jakoven Tallven]] is a vicious tyrant who locks his brother Kellen in a hellish asylum, only not killing him because of a prophecy's warning. Jakoven proceeds to expand the Five Kingdoms, killing all in his path, while taking young boys as hostages and {{sex slave}}s for his own pleasure. Having the hero Ward tortured, Jakoven also sends Ward's LoveInterest Tisala to be tortured and raped by his men, before intending on bleeding Ward to use a superweapon, which he and his right-hand-man Jade Eyes test on an innocent village, intending on wiping out all before him until he stands supreme.
** ''Dragon Blood'': [[TheDragon Jade Eyes]] is a [[EvilSorcerer wicked mage]] and Jakoven's partner in evil. Capturing Ward, Jade Eyes has him locked in the asylum and has him drugged, viciously tortured and sexually assaulted. Jakoven and Jade Eyes later kidnap a young cousin of Ward's and have him drugged with clear intent to molest him, as well as bled to empower their superweapon. After his master's defeat, Jade Eyes reveals he intends to revive the dragons used to create said superweapon to build an empire for himself, despite them intending to destroy the Five Kingdoms upon revival, callous to the carnage created as long as he rules.
* ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'': [[DigitalAbomination AM]], the evil MasterComputer, has [[AIIsACrapshoot already killed]] all but 5 members of humanity by the time the story opens. AM keeps the survivors mutated and twisted so he may torture them helplessly as he desires. AM forces them to wander, changing the environment so they can never get used to it and subjects them to hideously twisted torments. When one of them finally rescues the others by killing them, AM transforms him into a [[FateWorseThanDeath sapient blob]], not [[AndIMustScream even leaving him a mouth to scream with]].
* ''Literature/IHuntKillers'':
** Ugly J, aka Janice Dent, is revealed to be TheManBehindTheMan by the end of the trilogy. She reveals to [[AntiHero Jasper "Jazz" Dent]] that she was the one who taught Billy Dent everything he knew as a killer. During the second book, she, with the help of Billy, tricked Connie, Jasper's girlfriend, to partake in a scavenger hunt that led her to their clutches so that they could torture her into convincing Jasper to give in to his heritage. In captivity, she pulled a WoundedGazelleGambit by pretending to be one of Billy's victims in order to get her on her side and subtly tried convincing her that escape was pointless. After Jasper's grandmother was sent to the hospital because of the events of the second book, she disguised herself as a nurse so that she could kill her through a forced drug overdose, [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas something Billy objected to]]. She tells Jasper that she had planned on killing him when he was just a newborn and would use the insanity plea if she ever got caught, but she only grudgingly backed down because Billy convinced her that creating a legacy was better. What really makes Jasper snap was when she reveals that she regularly raped him as a child and had him practicing stabbing on her, which was often a source of PTSD flashbacks for Jasper. She even thought about having him kill Billy so that she could intentionally give him an OedipusComplex. During TheReveal, she would repeatedly claim that she loves him, but that proves to be a lie when she attempts to kill Jasper because he refused to live up to her legacy. She stands as one of the worst mothers in literature, and even worse than the trilogy's BigBad, Billy.
** The Hat-Dog Killer, or more specifically, Duncan Hershey, the Hat Killer, was part of a duo of {{Serial Killer}}s that committed a series of murders in New York City, with one carving a hat on his victim's corpse, and another carving a dog, as part of a game set up by [[BigBad Billy Dent]]. During the killing spree, [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil he started raping his female victims]], [[EvenEvilHasStandards which disgusted Oliver Belsamo]], the Dog Killer, when he was forced to start raping as part of the Game's rules. When [[TheHero Jasper Dent]] (Billy's son) and Agent Morales had him cornered, Jasper got shot in the leg while Morales got knocked out. Jasper warns Hershey that killing an FBI agent will cause trouble for his killing spree, but he ignores his warning and kills the unconscious Morales in front of him. He then kills Belsamo so he can be the sole winner of Billy's game. Finally, he locks a wounded Jasper in a storage unit so he could bleed to death. We're at first made to believe he was a LoonyFan like the Impressionist (the killer from the first book), but he believes that [[EvilerThanThou he is a better killer than Billy]]. While the Impressionist and Belsamo were pretty bad, they had a set of rules that they obeyed unless it's an emergency like in the former's case. Hershey, on the other hand, doesn't care about that. All he cares about is his reward and showing up Billy. In the third book, he planned on killing his wife and his child, and would have done it if Billy didn't show up to kill him for breaking the rules.
* ''Literature/IBoy'': [[TheHeavy Cutz]] works for [[BigBad Howard Ellman]], [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections using his position as Ellman's right-hand man]] to commit crimes and oppress the people in Tom Harvey's neighborhood. Cutz would have his men [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil gang-rape]] Lucy Walker when her brother refused to join Cutz's gang while also having Lucy's rape recorded. When Lucy's friend, Tom, uses his powers to get revenge for her, Cutz steals all the electronic devices in Tom's neighborhood, attacking anyone who gets in his way and subjecting Tom to a brutal beatdown that nearly kills him. When Cutz learns that one of his men sold him out, Cutz kills him before [[DeadGuyOnDisplay hanging his corpse in front of Tom's building for everyone to see]]. Cutz then has his men hold Lucy hostage for Ellman, before attempting to kill her and Tom once they served their purpose.
* ''[=iDrakula=]'', by Bekka Black: [[{{Dracula}} The Count]] is an evil vampire and the [[EvilOverlord ruler]] of a small nation in Romania. [[DrivenToMadness Driving Renfield insane]], the Count feeds on his replacement Johnathan Harker and eventually leaves him trapped in his castle to turn. While trapped Johnathan discovers a room full of corpses, [[WouldHurtAChild including small children]]. Arriving in New York, the Count begins feeding on people and turns Lucy Westenra into a vampire. When Mina Murray and Abe Van Helsing destroy two of his coffins, the Count kills Renfield for trying to help them and bites Mina to turn into a vampire. Killing a security guard and simply watching Lucy get destroyed, the Count tries to manipulate Mina into joining his side.
* ''Literature/{{Illium}}'' & ''Olympos'': The advanced human who has taken the identity of [[AGodAmI Zeus]] overthrew his parents by banishing them to a hellish dimension of infinite pain. Taking over Mars with the other "Gods", Zeus keeps them in line via brutality and threats, deciding to recreate the Trojan War on an alternate world, subjecting countless innocents to death and destruction [[ForTheEvulz for fun]]. When he feels the game is insufficiently entertaining, Zeus simply drops a powerful bomb on the city of Troy to kill thousands. When Hera attempts to stop Zeus, he simply murders her himself and decides to simply [[OmnicidalManiac exterminate all humanity]] and start over with creations of his own before moving on to other dimensions and timelines until he is the only god and all that exists submits to him or dies, even banishing his own son Achilles to the same dimension as his parents when he defies his mad father.
* ''Literature/ImmortalsAfterDark'' series:
** ''Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night'': [[HopeCrusher Häxa, Queen of False Faces]] was one of the three primary witch goddesses and the one representing evil. Eventually cast out by her sisters, Häxa in order to regain her status relishes causing despair in the world, [[JackassGenie twisting the wishes of unsuspecting people]] in order to drive them to misery; in one notable case, Häxa responded to a boy innocently asking to be the strongest of his siblings, by murdering said siblings and causing him lifelong guilt. In order to increase her power and for fun, Häxa turns thousands of people into {{living statue}}s in her personal realm where they're [[AndIMustScream kept in eternal misery]]; these included the parents of Mariketa the Awaited, in order to cause her pain. When one of her victims, Bowen [=MacRieve=] finds love again, Häxa manipulates him in the guise of his deceased lover--who was killed by Häxa-- to drive him apart from his new love in order to relish his pain. In her ultimate scheme, Häxa plans to steal Mariketa's powers in order drive the entirety of mankind into torture and despair, enacting HellOnEarth, simply to satisfy her sadistic whims.
** ''Pleasure of a Dark Prince'': [[AxCrazy Crom Cruach the Broken Bloody One]] is the [[GodOfEvil god of human sacrifice and cannibalism]] and [[SatanicArchetype this world's version of Satan himself]]. Cruach seduced a teenage Valkyrie named Lucia the Huntress into being his bride before revealing his true form and having her raped and tortured, forcing her to consume flesh from some of his victims and nearly driving her to suicide. Lucia later [[SealedEvilInACan sealed Cruach away]], only for him to escape every 500 years to try and torment her. Cruach revels in spurring on his followers into sacrificing innocents to him--including children--and in the present intends to use his special ability to [[HatePlague infect people]] with a need to kill their loved ones to infect the entire world. Cruach intends to start [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the apocalypse]] and watch as the entire of humanity descends into cannibalism and HumanSacrifice of their loved ones in his name. When Lucia and her new boyfriend Gareth [=MacRieve=] go to face him, Cruach tries to force Gareth into killing Lucia, and when he refuses, torments him with visions of him having actually killed her before making his intention to gang-rape and murder Lucia known. Cruach is ultimately a monstrous god whose only reason for tormenting innocents is [[ForTheEvulz because he finds it fun]].
* "[[Literature/IncidentOnAndOffAMountainRoad Incident On and Off a Mountain Road]]", by Joe R. Lansdale: "[[SerialKiller Moon Face]]" lives in a remote cabin in the woods, and periodically kidnaps people from the nearby road to brutally torture and murder in his TortureCellar. Moon Face then cuts his victims' eyes out and drills "eyes" through the back of their heads, in a grotesque parody of what they were before he killed them. Heroine Ellen sees dozens of victims, including several [[WouldHurtAChild children]].
* ''Literature/InCryptid'': The Price-Healy family and their allies have faced several evil villains in their quest to protect cryptids and humanity alike. Though the worst often prove that HumansAreTheRealMonsters:
** ''Literature/GhostRoads'': [[ImmortalityImmorality Bobby Cross]] was a movie star known as "Diamond Bobby" who wished to be young and beautiful forever. Through his [[DealWithTheDevil deal]] with the [[AtTheCrossroads crossroads]], Bobby drives eternally to outrun mortality, but takes advantage of the deal to empower himself by arranging crashes and accidents, or simply murdering people himself to create ghosts, including heroine [[{{Psychopomp}} Rose Marshall]]. Bobby then [[YourSoulIsMine takes their souls]] to use as fuel for his car, using them up into nothing. Seducing Rose's great grand-niece Bethany, Bobby murders her when she fails against Rose and even convinces a follower to kill herself for him, solely for amusement and spite. A sadistic sociopath, Bobby uses and abuses all around him, dispatching them when they stop being of use, all so he will never have to face his own mortality.
** ''Discount Armageddon'': "[[PsychoSupporter Evil Santa]]" is an unnamed {{cult}} leader who worships the last male dragon, which lives under UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. Believing that he will be rewarded with riches and power in return for his worship, "Evil Santa" kidnaps dozens of single Cryptid women and has them ritualistically murdered through VirginSacrifice. To create his minions to help with this, "Evil Santa" uses the mutative qualities of dragon blood to [[TransformationHorror transform]] several hapless tourists into the mindless lizard-like "Servitors", a process which thoroughly breaks their minds. Kidnapping heroine Verity Price and her friends, "Evil Santa" intends to sacrifice them as well to gain the glory and riches he desires.
** ''Chaos Choreography'': [[PsychopathicManchild Anders Clarke]] and [[EvilSorcerer Clint Goldfein]] are a contestant and judge respectively in the reality dancing show ''Dance or Die'' who, secretly, are the [[BigBadDuumvirate masterminds]] of a [[ReligionOfEvil murderous snake cult]]. The two act as {{serial killer}}s, butchering every pair of contestants who lose on the show until eight people have been killed. In the climax, the duo reveal their master plan to use the sacrifice to unleash a monstrous snake demon to kill ''Dance or Die'''s massive audience and all the other contestants and judges as they watch gleefully, Anders in particularly sneering that his father will die in petty retribution for being ignored by him and Clint gloating he simply wants to become a king among men through the power of the serpent he's summoned.
** ''That Ain't Witchcraft'': [[EldritchAbomination The Crossroads]] are an [[GeniusLoci Anima Mundi]], the spirit of a place. An eldritch parasite, the Crossroads offer people their heart's desire for the roads, [[JackassGenie but always with a catch]], perverting the wishes and destroying the casters or using them as weapons to strike fear and evil into the world. The one responsible for Bobby Cross's murders, the Crossroads also trap [[YourSoulIsMine the souls of its victims]], constantly twisting the gains of others for its own end. Finally, the Crossroads even attempt to [[LifeDrinker drain the life and magic from Earth]], heedless of the death toll this will bring through the world.
** ''Imaginary Numbers'': [[AbusiveParents Ingrid]] is Sarah Zellaby's [[EvilMatriarch biological mother]]. Seeking a new world for the cuckoos, an invasive predator species, to infest, Ingrid orchestrates the entire plot to turn Sarah into an ApocalypseMaiden and tear a hole between dimensions. Uncaring that this would destroy Earth and [[MySkullRunnethOver fry Sarah's mind]], Ingrid plans to use her as a [[BreedingSlave sex doll to breed new super-powerful Johrlac queens]]. Ingrid also reveals that she had Sarah for the sole purpose of creating a Johrlac queen, and was behind the murder of her foster parents that led to Angela adopting her. She also ordered the murders of the family who lived in the house that the hive randomly chose as a base of operations.
* ''Intensity'', by Creator/DeanKoontz: Edgler Foreman Winston Vess is a "[[SerialKiller homicide adventurer]]" who kills for the "intensity" he gets during murder. Vess, who started [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior killing animals at a young age]], takes time to deconstruct the notion he has a FreudianExcuse as, [[EnfantTerrible at the age of 9]], he murdered his parents who had never mistreated him; murdered his grandmother for the insurance money; and his adopted family as well for the same reason. Vess is introduced breaking into the home of Laura Templeton, the friend of of heroine Chyna Shepherd. He proceeds to murders Laura's family, before raping and murdering Laura. Chyna follows him to a gas station where he murders the clerks after bragging he has a young girl hostage in his basement. He subdues Chyna when he becomes aware of her and chains her in his basement with the young girl Ariel, offering to spare Chyna if she tortures Ariel with him. Vess, who killed over 20 people and likes to say that "[[AGodAmI God fears me]]", thinks of other human beings only in terms of how much he can hurt them.
* ''Literature/{{Interworld}}'':
** [[BigBad Lord Dogknife]] is a wicked goblin and [[SpacePirate pirate]] who tries to capture Walkers for his ship. [[AndIMustScream Melting them down while alive]], he then [[YourSoulIsMine uses their souls]] to power the ship, holding them alive and in agony forever to power his domain. Trying to add [[TheChosenOne Joey Harker]] to his power source, Dogknife escapes and later returns to help the tech and magic side bring about [=FrostNight=] to exterminate existence and rebuild it as he wants.
** [[TheDragon Lady Indigo]] is a high-ranking HEX official and Lord Dogknife's loyal supporter. Assisting Lord Dogknife with his schemes, Lady Indigo travels across different dimensions capturing Walkers and draining their life forms to fuel Lord Dogknife's spaceships. Lady Indigo targets Joey Harker and repeatedly tries to kidnap him and his allies, eventually succeeding and imprisoning him and several other Walkers. After Lady Indigo is wounded by Joseph and left for dead, she resurfaces two years later, entrapping Joseph and several of his teammates. She gradually drains the life out of many of Joseph's allies just to torture him, gloating about how she intends to kill all of his friends before turning Joseph into a brainwashed slave. She also mortally wounds Josephine just so she can use her body as a tracking device to gather up more victims. Once reunited with Lord Dogknife, she's more than happy to help him [[OmnicidalManiac destroy]] and [[InTheirOwnImage rewrite]] the Multiverse using the [=FrostNight=] weapon.
* ''In the Company of Ogres'', by A. Lee Martinez: [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Lord Rucka]] is a nineteen-inch demon lord whose cruelty ten times outweighs his stature. A nightmare even among his kind who [[AxCrazy loves nothing more than killing and devouring]], Rucka [[BadBoss regularly murders and maims his minions for any reason that pops up in his head]], uses his walking fortress to crush villages [[ForTheEvulz for fun]] and schemes to further empower himself using the power of the long-dormant Mad Void. Realizing the immortal protagonist Never Dead Ned is the seal for the Mad Void itself, Rucka attempts to [[EyeScream tear out Ned's eye]] and take the Mad Void's power, willingly to allow the universe itself to die in order to fuel his ascendancy to omnipotence.
* ''Literature/IntoTheHeartlessWood'': [[VillainWithGoodPublicity King Elynion]] is the [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] ruler of Tarian. Centuries prior, he seduced a forest nymph named Enaid before carving out and [[SoulEating devouring her soul]] to gain immortality and power, resulting in Enaid's transformation into the monstrous Gwydden. The two remain locked in war for centuries, Elynion [[LackOfEmpathy less concerned with the hundreds of lives lost]] and more with maintaining his own power, even invading a neighboring kingdom at one point in his reign merely to ease his boredom. In the present, Elynion seeks to devour the soul of Owen's toddler sister Awela, perfecting his device by conducting torturous experiments on their father that ultimately kill him, before opting to use the device on Owen when Awela is taken to safety. With the Gwydden's vengeance at hand, Elynion leads his forces to torch the wood and kill her once and for all, planning to expand and [[TakeOverTheWorld conquer the rest of the world]] once she's been vanquished.
* ''Literature/InvasionAmerica'' series, by Vaughn Heppner: Jian Hong, Agricultural Minister of Greater China, stages an attack on an American oil rig to gain favor with the Chairman and discredit his rival. After [[ManipulativeBastard convincing the Chairman to invade Alaska]], leading to the deaths of thousands, Jian [[KlingonPromotion assassinates him to take power]]. Using his network to install a puppet government in Mexico, leading to the nation being stripped of food, he goes on to launch an invasion of America, triggering a [[WorldWarIII third World War]]. Objective-minded, Jian sacrifices over two million of his own soldiers to destroy an American tank plant. To keep America isolated, Jian increases tensions between them and Germany by staging a [[NukeEm nuclear terrorist attack]]. Shipping missiles to Mexico, Jian has them launched at America, killing one million people. Upon being invaded by a joint force of American and Russian soldiers, Jian forcibly drafts civilians as frontline troops. When the Australians revolt against his tyranny, Jian punishes their uprising with a genocide, killing seven million of them. Even as his own country is torn apart by the war with America, Jian stubbornly refuses to surrender his power, murdering almost his entire government for failing to find him a solution for the war he brought on.
* ''Irene'', by Pierre Lemaitre [[note]][[CompletelyDifferentTitle originally titled]] ''Travail Soigné'' (''Neat Work'') in French[[/note]]: The "Novelist"--Philippe Buisson de Chevesne--[[ThemeSerialKiller copies murders from various crime novels]] such as ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'' and ''Literature/TheBlackDahlia''. The aftermath of these long and drawn out murders, which also include a rape or two, are graphically described. There are six victims, all female, plus at least two or three people killed as collateral damage, before the killer attempts his masterpiece: using his own novel, he kidnaps Irene, the 8-months-pregnant wife of Parisian detective Commandant Camille Verhoeven, who has to rush to save her. Sadly, by the time he gets there, Irene has been killed and the newborn has been [[TraumaticCSection ripped out in an impromptu C-section and has been crucified]]. In the end, the killer writes to Camille that, in his words, all he wanted was [[FameThroughInfamy fame for a new novel he's writing]].
* ''Island'', by Creator/RichardLaymon: [[BigBad Wesley Duncan Beaverton III]] seduces and marries the daughter of a wealthy family to get close to his wife Thelma's sisters and mother. Obsessed with keeping women as slaves, Wesley lures the family out on a boating trip and murders his father-in-law. It is revealed Wesley found another family on the island and murdered the father and mother, keeping the teenage daughters Alice and Erin as his {{sex slave}}s who he regularly rapes and tortures. Sending Thelma to try to murder his brother-in-law Rupert, Wesley captures and abuses the other women in the group and kills Thelma's sister Kimberly when she tries to stop him from murdering Rupert. As ever in Laymon's novels, Wesley demonstrates that [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the scariest monster of all is a human being]] with a penchant for sadism and domination.
* "[[http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/108/the-isle-of-the-torturers The Isle of the Torturers]]", by Creator/ClarkAshtonSmith: [[TortureTechnician King Ildrac]] is the wicked ruler of Uccastrog, a nation commonly known as the "Isle of the Torturers" for the inhumane practices inflicted on its prisoners. Ildrac defines "prisoners" as whoever washes ashore onto Uccastrog, capturing castaways and purposefully marooning ships so as to inflict all manners of endless torture upon them, keeping them alive for years on end. When the story's protagonist, King Fulbra, washes ashore, Ildrac mocks him for expecting royal clemency and has all of his slaves tortured and [[FlayingAlive flayed]] to spite him. Fulbra is subjected to one torture after the other, forced to languish in a cell in between sessions, within which is a pit Fulbra can see the flayed remains of all of Ildrac's victims. Ildrac even resurrects the souls of all these victims to make them torture Fulbra more. Ildrac finally designs for Fulbra to face a poison that will [[MindRape put his mind through a thousand unspeakable hells in an instant]], and even reveals the single woman who was kind to Fulbra in his captivity was merely his pawn, having her administer the poison just to crush Fulbra even more. Ildrac is undone, ultimately, when Fulbra outwits him precisely by playing on Ildrac's inability to not KickTheDog whenever an opportunity presents itself.
* ''Literature/JackRyan'' series:
** ''Literature/WithoutRemorse'': [[TheChessmaster Henry Tucker]] is the leader of a drug ring that smuggles high-grade heroin into the Baltimore area inside the bodies of American soldiers killed in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. He distributes the drugs via a stable of prostitutes that he controls using drugs, rape, and torture. When one of his girls escapes and befriends the hero, ex-[[UsefulNotes/NavySeals Navy SEAL]] John Kelly, Tucker has her kidnapped, then rapes her, tortures her, and mutilates her corpse, [[ForcedToWatch forcing the other girls to watch]], before dumping it in a public fountain. As Kelly tracks him down while murdering his people, he grows increasingly desperate, going so far as to [[BadBoss kill his own associates out of paranoia]], then attempts to kill his remaining girls when they prove to be a security risk.
** ''Literature/PatriotGames'': Sean Miller is the leader of an [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles Irish terrorist group]]. The book begins with Miller leading an attack on the British Royal family. After being stopped, Miller goes after TheHero and CIA analyst Jack Ryan and his whole family, causing the car with Ryan's daughter Sally and pregnant wife Cathy to crash. With other various acts of terrorism to his name, one incident from Miller sticks out. When in prison, a guard saves him from PrisonRape from other inmates. During his escape, Miller has the guard at his mercy and chooses to shoot him in a way to paralyze him for life, viewing it worse than killing the man and declaring [[UngratefulBastard gratitude is a "disease of dogs,"]] quoting UsefulNotes/JosefStalin.
* ''Literature/JadeGreen'': [[BigBad Charles]], [[TheHero Judith's]] creepy forty-year-old cousin, is revealed to be a DirtyOldMan early on, but is far worse. After Jade Green rejected his advances towards her, he chopped off her hand when she tried to defend herself, resulting in her bleeding to death. After Judith likewise rejects his advantages in favor of the miller's son Zeke, he decides to murder her as well, though not before [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping]] her. He also set the cellar of those who offered him shelter [[UngratefulBastard on fire]] to collect the money in Uncle Geoffrey's will after he planned to give a percentage of his money to Judith once he passed away.
* "The Janitor", by Creator/BentleyLittle: [[ChildHater Mr. Chiles]], the [[AntagonistTitle titular janitor]], strikes a chord with young Steven as a disturbingly familiar man whom most of the kids are terrified of. Chiles is in truth a child-hating {{sadist}} who enjoys [[WouldHurtAChild torturing children]], pulling out teeth or maiming limbs at his leisure. Those he deems "troublemakers" fare even worse, with him butchering numerous children and keeping [[CreepySouvenir trophies]] from them at his leisure.
* ''Literature/JenniferGovernment'': John Nike is a stand-out CorruptCorporateExecutive even by the standards of the corporatist {{Dystopia}} in the novel. As the Vice-President of Marketing for [[MegaCorp Nike]], he arranges to increase their latest product's revenue by increasing its notoriety by killing every person who buys it, [[WouldHurtAChild including children]]. When agent Jennifer Government catches on to his scheme through the inevitable chain of subcontractors that expose his plot, he orders Jennifer's 8-year old daughter Kate—revealed to be his own child from a previous relation he had with Jennifer--kidnapped and [[OffingTheOffspring threatens to kill her]] if Jennifer tries to arrest him. He ultimately tries to hire a paramilitarized NRA to kill the President so he can give his own unscrupulous MegaCorp complete power to control and process humanity as he sees fit. John Nike's {{greed}} has no limits and he is willing to see [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans his entire society reduced to an unending nightmare]] out of selfishness and cruelty.
* ''Literature/JinxHigh'': [[AlphaBitch Fay Harper]] is a centuries-old sorceress out to [[ItsAllAboutMe empower herself and live as a cruel hedonist]]. Making pacts with demons, Fay regularly sacrifices innocents to them, feeding them to her "allies" in great numbers for power or fun. Achieving a method of {{immortality|Immorality}}, Fay marries wealthy, handsome men and disposes of all her relations, including her husbands in "[[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident accidents]]" once she has a daughter. When this is achieved, Fay [[FamilialBodySnatcher swaps bodies with her daughters]] and often murders them, with her current daughter trapped in her old body of Rowena, imprisoned in a mental hospital where Fay regularly returns to poison her. Killing people for fun and power, Fay plots to cause a violent orgy with her powers at a school dance, and when caught by Diana, Fay calls forth enough power to try to wipe Tulsa off the map in the ensuing fight.
* ''Literature/JoeGolemAndTheDrowningCity'': [[BigBad Dr. Cocteau]] appears to be a [[FauxAffablyEvil kindly old grandfather]]. In truth, he is a depraved MadScientist who [[PlayingWithSyringes conducted torturous experiments]] to create mindless, semi-human slaves. Cocteau intends on using the half-human, half-elder god Felix Orlov to summon Felix's father to Earth so Cocteau can [[AGodAmI ascend to godhood]]. Knowing full well that all of the universe and perhaps even the afterlife will be destroyed, Cocteau simply does not care and activates the eldritch artifact, the Pentanjalum, which destroys huge swaths of New York, killing countless innocents before trying to murder everyone in his way, his brief stint at affability giving way to horrific greed and cruelty.
* ''Joe Hunter'' series, by Matt Hilton: The SerialKiller known as Tubal [[NameOfCain Cain]] is dubbed "the Harvestman" for his habit of killing people and [[CreepySouvenir taking bones as trophies]]. Murdering an old man and his wife, Tubal Cain is robbed by hero Joe Hilton's brother John by chance, and later recoups himself by murdering an innocent couple. Upon learning John is expecting a deal with a great deal of money involved, Cain holds off while killing other innocents before trying to murder John. Surviving his fight with Joe, Cain seeks revenge by kidnapping John's ex-wife Jenny and her children, intending to murder them, and even carves off her finger, intending to slowly kill her to achieve his retribution.
* ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'': The [[AIIsACrapshoot evil bio-computer Korrok]] is a sadist with the personality of a [[PsychopathicManchild wicked teenager]]. Korrok runs his world as a [[EvilOverlord brutal dictatorship]], with people tortured endlessly for fun as Korrok routinely devours the populations of worlds and holds them in torment, having people fed to him just [[ForTheEvulz for the enjoyment of the sacrifice]]. Korrok attempts to take over other universes and exterminate or enslave the populations, utilizing [[PuppeteerParasite parasites infecting people]] to painfully spread them across his target worlds.
* ''[[Literature/TheCurseOfTheBlueFigurine Johnny Dixon: Wrath of the Grinning Ghost]]'': The [[AntagonistTitle titular Grinning Ghost]], [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlat-Hotep]], is a cunning, {{eldritch|Abomination}} spirit walking among humanity who sunk {{Atlantis}} to bask in the fear and agony of a million dying souls and cut through swathes of human lives as the demon pirate Damon Boudron before being seemingly killed. Bringing himself back to life through the horrible sacrifice of twelve people, Nyarlat-Hotep kidnaps the soul of Johnny's father and tortures him into insanity, luring Johnny himself to do even worse to him in front of his father's eyes unless he submits. Nyarlat-Hotep attempts to regain physical form and [[KillAllHumans eradicate the entire human race]], as prelude to ruling the realm of spirits as a tyrant forevermore.
* ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'': [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Liu Hong]] is a bandit who lusted after Lady Yin and [[MurderTheHypotenuse killed her husband Guangrui]] and one of his servants to court her. [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe Forcing her to marry him at knifepoint]], Lui Hong goes on to enjoy a life of privilege by purloining a job meant for Guangrui and nearly [[WouldHurtAChild drowns Lady Yin's child]] for being Guangrui's son. Even after his eventual death, Lui Hong's horrific acts lead Lady Yin to [[DrivenToSuicide end her own life]].
* ''Literature/KafkaOnTheShore'': Nakata encounters [[HumanoidAbomination Johnnie Walker]], who may be his absentee father. A man who knows the magic of [[CatsAreMagic sapient cats]], Walker agonizingly murders them, cutting them open to [[YourSoulIsMine extract their souls]] which he stitches together to make a [[MagicMusic magic flute]]. Intending on using this flute to kill humans to make an even bigger flute, Johnnie Walker doesn't intend to stop until he has perhaps [[OmnicidalManiac wiped out all that lives]], using his planned death to hitch a ride in Nakata's body so he can reach the magic "Entrance Stone" to perhaps threaten all the world.
* ''Literature/{{Kane}}'' series:
** The Demonlord, Sathonys, known by Tloluvin, Lato and {{Satan}}, is the greatest evil of the setting. Ruler of Hell, Sathonys hunts for wayward souls to drag into the depths of [[AndIMustScream eternal torment]] under the Demonlord's Moon, going astride the land with his {{hellhound}} Serberys to reap evil in all its forms. In a particularly monstrous move, Sathonys promised Ionor, a victim of one of Kane's rapes, revenge--but only if Ionor sacrificed her bastard daughter Klesst to him, delighting in how Ionor tormented herself and drowned in her hate for seven straight years for the will to [[OffingTheOffspring kill her daughter]]. In his final chronological appearance, Sathonys intends to open up the gates of Hell and [[HellOnEarth bathe the world in hellfire]], ending the series ready to kickstart a cosmic war.
** ''Dark Crusade'': Orted Ak-Ceddi, a murderer, rapist and bandit, becomes [[DarkMessiah the prophet of the dark god Sataki]] and forms a [[ReligionOfEvil brutal group of religious fanatics]] that conduct HumanSacrifice, torture and mass murder. Orted leads them in a grand war where they set upon towns and cities, [[RapePillageAndBurn killing and raping all they find within]]. Plotting to bring Sataki to the world by grand amounts of death that might wipe out all existence, Orted later realizes his army cannot defeat a coming crusade of light and [[DirtyCoward abandons his followers]] to be slaughtered as he escapes with his treasure.
** "Reflections for the Winter of my Soul": The seemingly inconspicuous albino minstrel [[ManipulativeBastard Evingolis]] uses his gentle, charismatic exterior to belie a [[SerialKiller predatory nature]]. Evingolis travels from area to area, blending in seamlessly with large groups of people who slowly find themselves cut away from civilization. When bodies begin to drop, Evingolis is there in the background, pitting friends against each other in their fear before he reveals the terrible truth: [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Evingolis]] is the alpha of a monstrous werewolf pack. Evingolis [[{{Sadist}} delights in murdering vast swathes of people at a time]], [[EvilGloating gloating]] about how much he revels in manipulating the terror of his victims before slaughtering them all and moving on to repeat it all over again.
** "Cold Light": [[PsychoForHire Mollyl]] is the one member of Gaethaa the Avenger's band that lacks either a KnightTemplar conviction or a loved one. A sadistic SerialRapist and TortureTechnician combination, Mollyl with a long history of murdering people in the name of Gaethaa's deranged justice, sometimes dozens at a time. Mollyl demonstrates his cruelty dragging off a blind woman named Rehhaile off to have her gang-raped, all to give himself and his men something to amuse himself with. Mollyl later publicly tortures the innocent mayor of the town Gaethaa in order to extort the location of Gaethaa's target, Kane, and gleefully proposes torturing Rehhaile the second he realizes Kane may have an attachment to her.
** "Lynotris Reprise": [[EvilOverlord King Masale of Westvin]] attempted to conquer Lynotris in his dream of empire. Wiping out all villages and towns in the vicinity, Masale subjected the city to a [[TheSiege years-long siege]] where countless people died, with Masale even using [[DeadlyGas poison gas]] on the city. Throwing his own men in as CannonFodder, Masale later boasted he left not a living soul, taking only the ruler's daughter Princess Reallis as a [[SexSlave tortured concubine]]. Later returning to claim Reallis's supposedly lost treasure from his and Reallis's daughter Sesi, Masale attempts to have Sesi tortured to gain the gold, intending to kill her after.
** "Misericorde": Sitilvon Vareishei is the worst of her wicked clan and brothers. Having helped to [[{{Patricide}} murder her father]], Sitilvon helps to run the Vareishei lands as a place of horror where any "trespassers" are tortured and murdered, or sacrificed. A [[MasterPoisoner poisoner]] in her spare time, Sitilvon subjects countless to [[PlayingWithSyringes horrific poisons]] for fun, including forty [[WouldHurtAChild children]] in one batch, simply [[ForScience to study their agony]].
* ''Literature/TheKaneChronicles'': [[EvilSorcerer Setne]], son of Pharaoh Ramses the Great, was a murderer and blasphemer who escaped oblivion to return to Earth and sow chaos, being [[HistoricalRapSheet responsible for massive amounts of destruction]], including UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution and UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. While initially assisting the Kane siblings against Apophis, Setne betrays them to instead try to seize control of the great serpent, intending on feeding it many souls in the afterlife, his father included, before unleashing Apophis to destroy most of the world whereupon he will proceed to rule the rest. Upon failing in this, Setne later returns to attempt to [[GodEating devour the gods]] of every pantheon to make himself the supreme one god who will dominate the world entire.
* ''Literature/KateDaniels'': [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Neig the Undying]], also known as Neamadh and Nemed, is an ancient dragon who ruled the British Isles in the distant past when magic was last power. In ''Magic Triumphs'', he makes his return, horrifically murdering the inhabitants of several towns to feed on their bones and increase his power, along with anyone who might possibly get in his way as he seeks to re-establish his rule. He uses his venom to corrupt human victims into psychotic [[{{Mooks}} yeddimmur]], and even those of his minions who remain human still tend to be ensorcelled to burn themselves alive once they've delivered his messages as a show of power. A being who enslaves and tortures gods [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]], Neig desires nothing less than complete domination of the world--and in the end, he'd likely [[OmnicidalManiac end up destroying it]] out of malice and boredom. Even Roland fears to face him, firmly cementing his stature as the most monstrously terrifying and apocalyptic villain across the entire series.
* Literature/KenzieAndGennaroSeries:
** ''A Drink Before the War'': [[BigBad Marion Socia]] was a two-bit pimp just years ago before he took over Dorchester's drug trade. Using drugs to brainwash [[ChildSoldiers kids into being his soldiers]], Socia showed no remorse in [[OffingTheOffspring putting a hit out on his own son Roland]] when the boy broke from Socia to form his own gang. Socia has his own wife murdered when she steals valuable photos from him: namely photos that show Socia pimping out Roland (then preteen, if not prepubescent) to a local politician. When the gang war goes badly, Socia attempts to get the photos so that he can blackmail Roland. When the heroes Angie and Patrick are against Socia, the police have them listen to a video of Socia [[ColdBloodedTorture viciously torturing]] a boy who got brave enough to wear a wire by cutting him and [[EyeScream taking out his eye]]. Despite coming from the poorest, most brutal part of Dorchester, Socia has no excuse for his actions. At his heart, he is nothing but a monster feeding on the misery of others.''
** ''Darkness, Take My Hand'': [[BigBad Gerry Glynn]] is an egomaniacal SerialKiller with a [[AGodAmI god complex]], who discovered how much he loved killing after murdering his wife for pointlessly blaming her for their son's death by brain aneurysm. Realizing how much he enjoyed the experience, Glynn cast off all love and human morality he may have once possessed while believing that killing was more fun if he targeted the undeserving. Glynn tortured, crucified, blinded and mutilated his victims over the years while training other killers in his work, forming a twisted parody of the Holy Trinity with Glynn as the "father" who sent his disciples to kill innocents, as well as to target Patrick and Angie when they were on the case. When exposed, Glynn attempted to force Patrick to confront him publicly by holding a young mother and a [[WouldHurtAChild newborn baby]] at gunpoint with a bomb strapped to himself, fully willing to kill them if things did not go his way.
* ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom'': [[ItsAllAboutMe Superior Saturday]], in a world with many sympathetic villains, is an out-and-out monster. Her method of disciplining her immortal subordinates is to turn them inside out and turn their blood into glass, essentially making them an organ jar for [[FateWorseThanDeath all eternity]] unless someone saves them. [[TheManBehindTheMan Being behind most schemes since the beginning of the series]], she releases a mind control virus; attempts to nuke a town; throws the Piper into Nothing to be dissolved, and blames his brother. DrivenByEnvy at feeling that she should have been favored during the creation of the Universe, Superior Saturday commits multiple unbelievably heinous acts to be the woman in charge.
* ''[[Literature/{{Drenai}} The King Beyond The Gate]]'': [[TheCaligula Emperor Ceska]], the mad ruler of the Drenai people in this second book of the ''Drenai'' series, is a ruthless tyrant. Using a {{cult}} of chaos priests, Ceska mutates humans by [[BodyHorror fusing them with animals]] to create [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent The Joinings]], and enslaves them mentally to serve as an army. Ceska taxes and brutalizes the populace, answering any hint of defiance by massacring people, including entire villages. When a rebellion arises, Ceska attempts to have everyone in the vicinity, man, [[WouldHitAGirl woman]] or [[WouldHurtAChild child]], killed so that the lands will run with, in his words, "oceans of blood". A [[AdiposeRex bloated]], insane, cowardly tyrant, Ceska is remembered as the greatest shame of the once proud Drenai history.
* ''[[https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/i2l/kls.html King Leopold's Soliloquy]]'', by Creator/MarkTwain: [[EvilColonialist King Leopold]] presents himself as a vicious hypocrite and sanctimonious tyrant who subjects the [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Free State of the Congo]] to horrific depravity. Having countless people killed and entire regions depopulated, Leopold demands high taxes and production rates from his supposed subjects, [[AnArmAndALeg cutting off limbs]] or even [[CripplingCastration castrating]] others who cannot meet them. Having people tortured and murdered in huge numbers, Leopold notes one of his mistakes was to have sixty innocents crucified and remarks fewer people would care if he'd them skinned. Uncaring of anything but [[{{Greed}} lining his pockets]], Leopold shows his only sympathy is to himself, indifferent to the half-million corpses he has left in his rush for money.
* ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines'':
** [[TheCaligula King Twala One-Eye]] is the [[BigBad ruler]] of the Kakuana people. A brutal tyrant, Twala rose to power by [[SiblingMurder murdering his brother]] and sentencing his sister-in-law and her baby to the desert to die. Twala accuses others of treason to have them killed, using Gagool's witch hunts as pretext to execute them, with one hundred victims executed as a demonstration. Twala also has HumanSacrifice practiced, gleefully murdering as he will, and has killed so many that the blood is said to flow like rivers in spring.
** [[WickedWitch Gagool]] helped Twala's brutal takeover and keeps him in power by having countless innocents executing, claiming them as "witches" or treasonous to see them murdered on trumped up charges to maintain her own power base. Gagool also practices HumanSacrifice on young maidens, and when Twala falls, she seeks to kill the adventuring party by trapping them in the mines, even trying to murder the brave young woman Foulata when she tries to save them.
* "[[https://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com/?p=1303 Kingdom of Graves]]", by David Charlton: The wicked [[{{Necromancer}} Xalbulba]] makes an ostensible deal with a local lord to destroy his enemies with [[ThePlague a plague]], unleashing the Red Death across their lands to subject thousands to a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrible death]]. [[ILied Going back on his word]], Xalbulba spreads the plague to his benefactor's own lands, killing soldier and civilian alike so he may [[NightOfTheLivingMooks raise the dead as a carnivorous army of undead zombies]], plotting to unleash them upon his rivals and consume all in their path.
* ''Kingdom Rattus'': King Marrow I assumed control of Vinjia by faking his wife's death and torturing her into becoming a mindless SexSlave who rapes her own sister for his amusement. He proceeds to kidnap the mother of his child and threaten her with "Cleopatra's Fate" as well as actively conspires to kill his own son despite the fact that he can't hold the throne without an heir. He thinks nothing of committing genocide, he manipulates the other tribes to his own ends, sends his most hardened assassins on a suicide mission to get back at an old mistress, introduces crack cocaine to his own tribe and abandons his subjects in a time of crisis to pursue a relatively minor act of revenge. It might feel surreal when you learn that the author based him on George Bailey from ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife''.
* ''Kingdom Tales'' trilogy, by David & Karen Mains: [[SatanicArchetype The Enchanter]] is a [[PlayingWithFire fire wizard]] obsessed with [[AGodAmI his own greatness]]. Inciting a revolt in the Enchanted City, he drives out [[MessianicArchetype the King]] and takes power for himself, ruling as a heinous dictator, causing the city to sink into a state of decay and pollution. Jealous of the sun’s light, [[EvilIsPetty he forces people to be active during the night only]]. He often takes beautiful young girls as his brides, who give birth to his demonic children, his mere gaze leaving some children malformed and outcasts, [[MindRape while driving others insane]], burning their very souls, his current bride being rendered catatonic. The Enchanter declares all orphans to belong to him, having them rounded up and sent to the [[ChildHater Orphan Keeper]], who puts them to work in hazardous, life threatening conditions, many of them dying. Anyone who opposes the Enchanter is sentenced to death at the Burning Place in a mock trial, with the Enchanter watching every single one. The Enchanter indulges in petty cruelty by giving insulting names to those he hurts. When the Taxi Cab Company begins undermining his regime under the leadership of the King, he begins a merciless campaign to destroy them, launching an attack on their headquarters which results in the King being captured and Big Operator executed. The Enchanter then [[ManOnFire burns the King himself]] after a mock trial, dancing and laughing in triumph. Even after the King returns and liberates Enchanted City, the Enchanter tries to subvert the King’s efforts to revitalize the Enchanted city, leading the populace astray and giving children nightmares.
* ''Literature/KingdomsOfThornAndBone'': [[TheEvilPrince Robert Dare]] is the [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious]] younger brother of King William Dare of Crotheny and one of the key players in the series's BigBadEnsemble. [[ItsAllAboutMe Extremely self-centered]], Robert murdered his twin sister Lesbeth--the only person he felt any affection for--in a fit of jealousy because she [[DisproportionateRetribution got engaged without telling him]], and later took part in a conspiracy to murder his brother and nieces to clear his way to the throne. Killed himself by the dying William, Robert was brought back to an undead state by a curse and picked up where he left off, usurping his sister-in-law Muriele and attempting to rape her, and having a composer brutally tortured for writing an opera that criticized him. When that same composer tried to kill Robert using [[MusicalAssassin cursed music]] that Robert's undead nature left him immune to, he stole the composition so he could use it as a weapon himself. When Robert's youngest niece Anne arrived at the head of an army to reclaim her throne, he tried to kill her under a flag of truce and then fled north to Crotheny's traditional rival, Hansa, where he [[ManipulativeBastard manipulated the aging king]] into declaring a holy war against Anne, with full intention of [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betraying Hansa too]]. When Muriele came north to negotiate peace, Robert killed her using his stolen music.
* ''Literature/KingRat'': Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin is reimagined as a terrifying HumanoidAbomination and a psychopathic [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissist]] who forced a holocaust onto the sapient rats of Hamelin, drowning millions and deposing King Rat of his position. Utterly enraged that Saul, the hybrid son of King Rat, is able to resist his songs through which he controls his victims, the Piper hunts him down relentlessly while casually slaughtering countless people in horrifying, brutal ways, including tying Saul's friend into the path of an oncoming train and brutally murdering a homeless woman Saul befriends simply to hurt him. Enslaving Saul's other friend to use the music of Drum & Bass to control all he can, the Piper is revealed at the end to have spirited away the hundreds of children of Hamelin into his domain into [[AndIMustScream eternal torment]], merely to [[DisproportionateRetribution get back at the rulers of Hamelin for refusing to pay him]]. A demented, strutting sadist aptly described as the "spirit of narcissism", the Piper is a creature of horrifying dominance and rage under his transparent human veneer.
* Kingsbridge series, by Ken Follett:
** ''Literature/ThePillarsOfTheEarth'': William Hamleigh begins as an arrogant, boorish young aristocrat with some sketchy ideas about a woman's consent whose nastiness is shown when he threatens Tom Builder's life in an argument over wages Tom is fairly owed. After his fiancée Aliena breaks their engagement, William takes advantage of her father being deposed as Earl of Shiring to rape her, murdering her faithful steward and forcing her younger brother to watch before allowing his groom to rape her as well. William later discovers he is now impotent unless he commits violence, as seen when he beats and rapes a prostitute. William soon becomes Earl and becomes a scourge to the people: brutalizing and raping when he isn't given his "proper due." He fixates on Aliena, doing everything he can to ruin her life further and attacks the town of Kingsbridge, burning and killing, causing the death of Tom Builder personally. When he finally gets married, William finds himself impotent on the wedding night, and beats his wife bloody when she gives him a reassuring smile over it.
** ''A Column of Fire'': [[AmbitionIsEvil Pierre Aumande]] is a ruthless social climber who comes to power by assisting the French Catholic church in rooting out and killing Protestants. Using his fiancée Sylvie, a Protestant herself, Pierre has hundreds or thousands of innocents captured, killed and burned alive, before finally going after Sylvie years later and attempting to murder her, succeeding in killing her friend Isabelle. When forced to marry a woman named Odette by the Cardinal, Pierre [[DomesticAbuse mistreats her horribly]], even attempting to give her illegitimate child to an orphanage [[KickTheDog just to hurt her]], and later murders her when he has the chance. When his power grows, Pierre has a marchioness named Louise's husband killed and takes her as a mistress, where he rapes and abuses her endlessly in revenge for [[DisproportionateRetribution her once rebuking him 25 years ago]], even forcing her to serve his guests in the nude to humiliate her. Pierre conspires to assist in an invasion of England and even plots against the French king, stopping at nothing to climb ever higher while leaving his conscience far behind.
* ''Literature/TheKiteRunner'': [[DepravedBisexual Assef]] begins life as a brass knuckle-brandishing sociopath and a racist [[TheBully bully]] with a virulent [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain hatred of the Hazaras]]. Possessed of an admiration for UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler himself and considering him a visionary, Assef is already known as an [[EarAche ear-eating]] savage around his area and shows his true colors by raping Hassan alongside his friends after the boy humiliates him. Assef [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp graduates from bully to a member of the Taliban]] who introduces himself stoning a blindfolded man to death and [[WouldHurtAChild taking orphans to be sold into sexual slavery]], among them the now-deceased Hassan's son Sohrab as his personal SexSlave. Assef is no less adamant about his mission to massacre the Hazaras, and proudly accepts the term "ethnic cleansing" as one he likes. Assef views himself as taking out "garbage" around Afghanistan, but when everything is clear, Assef is little more than a domineering, depraved, remorseless bully from youth to adulthood.
* ''Literature/KovacAndLiska'' series: [[TheSpook Frank "Fitz" Fitzgerald]]--real name unknown--is a [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse seemingly unremarkable]] truck driver who is actually the [[ThemeSerialKiller prolific murderer and rapist known as "Doc Holiday" who targets women and girls on holidays]], driven by [[FameThroughInfamy aspirations of notoriety]]. Introduced in "[[Literature/TheFirstVictimKovacAndLiska3Point5 The 1st Victim]]" reporting his most recent victim in Minneapolis to Detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska whilst posing as a concerned citizen, Fitz abducts women and girls throughout Central United States, subjecting them to [[ColdBloodedTorture prolonged torture]] and sexual abuse before killing them and disposing of their bodies, having successfully killed eight women. In ''[[Literature/TheNinthGirlKovacAndLiska4 The 9th Girl]]'', when a haphazard attempt at framing him wounds his pride, Fitz targets the reporter Dana Nolan, intending to make her his "masterpiece". Fitz's actions are shown in ''[[Literature/ColdColdHeartKovacAndLiska5 Cold, Cold Heart]]'' to have left Dana traumatized even after his death.
* ''Literature/{{Krabat}}'': TheMaster of the Mill is a Satanic fiend who works the boys for the purpose of inducing them into BlackMagic and [[HumanSacrifice sacrificing one a year]] to [[ImmortalityImmorality prolong his life]] and [[DealWithTheDevil dark pact with the mysterious Goodman]]. One boy a year is killed as a result, and any attempts to break free in a game of a boy with one's beloved results in the Master tricking them to kill the boy and the girl he loves.
* ''Literature/{{Kraken}}'': [[HumanoidAbomination Goss]] is a loudmouthed PsychoForHire who has plagued the Earth for centuries, using his living puppet Subby to house his heart and grant himself immortality. Goss has committed countless brutal murders over the ages, reveling in the pain and misery he causes and using truly unique methods of [[TortureTechnician torture]] and [[CruelAndUnusualDeath killing]] such as folding a man into a work of origami and using nothing but his finger to crack another's teeth and impale his throat. Working for the Tattoo in the present, Goss terrorizes and threatens anyone he comes into contact with, goes on a mass torture and killing spree to track down a target, and kills Wati with sadistic joy. Goss is so utterly depraved that he makes the world itself a more violent, terrible place, and when he finally meets his end, the souls of millions of people feel an unexplained joy all at once across time and space.
* ''Literature/{{Kringle}}'': [[PsychopathicManchild Morgo]] is the rapacious [[MonsterLord King of the Goblins]] who seeks to summon the ancient beast Grunding in order to TakeOverTheWorld. Regularly pillaging the human settlements of their belongings, Morgo murders Kringle's father when he attempts to protect two elves from him. Haunted by a prophecy that a child will rid the world of goblins, Morgo has hundreds of children abducted and made into [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slaves]], [[EmotionEater feeding off of their fear]]. Building a massive War Dragon for Grunding to possess, trapping the captured children within it, Morgo leads his forces in an attempted slaughter of the elves at Elvenwald, only foiled by Kringle's intervention. Even when defeated, he vows to return every Long Night to haunt the world's children until he has finally claimed the Earth.
* ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'': The Mahrkagir practices sexual torture, mutilation and degradation of all kinds and is just overall a master at tormenting people psychologically as well as physically, with a priesthood to back him up as well. The Mahrkagir violently oppresses the population of his home nation and is a cruel sadist on every level. Imriel as a child was his captive, and recounts a time when the Mahrkagir bargained with him to spare a girl Imriel was fond of, if Imriel would swallow his piss. Imriel tried and failed, so the Mahrkagir raped the woman and slit her throat at the end. When Phedre, the heroine, infiltrates his harem to help bring him down, the Mahrkagir brutalizes her nightly and uses a spiked iron rod on her for sex, relishing every moment of pain. Only her unique gifts as an ''Anguisette'' (a being who derives intense pleasure from pain) allows her survival.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:L - M]]
* ''[[Literature/LAConfidential L.A. Quartet]]'': [[DirtyCop Captain Dudley Liam Smith]] is a [[FauxAffablyEvil seemingly jovial]], friendly police captain who hides a truly dark and monstrous corrupt nature under his smile. Having been personally responsible for the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_Lagoon_murder Sleepy Lagoon murder]] out of [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racism]], Dudley is also heavily involved in crime, clandestinely manipulating and dealing with multiple crime families as he runs a personal squad where he has many people murdered for profit or to cover loose ends even if he has to allow brutal killers to remain at large and committing their crimes. Not even other cops are safe, with Dudley murdering his old lackey Buzz Meeks as a loose end. When the cop Daniel Upshaw stumbles upon evidence of Dudley's murders, Dudley delights in [[MindRape torturing him psychologically]] by threatening to reveal Upshaw's homosexuality until Upshaw breaks and [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]]. In one brutal gang execution, Dudley would commit his most infamous crime and personally [[WouldHurtAChild strangle the Herrick family's two-day-old baby to death]]. With an enormous body count and a complete lack of conscience, mixed with insatiable {{greed}} and cruelty, Dudley proves time and time again to be the worst monster on the the crime-infested streets of Los Angeles.
* ''Literature/LabyrinthLost'': [[WickedWitch Xara]] is a bruja who is known as the Devourer, the Mother of Wretched Beasts, Destroyer of Los Lagos, and Enemy to all the Gods. After being banished to Los Lagos for crimes against humanity, she ingratiates herself and charms the population before making her move, firebombing the land and killing thousands as a result. Having [[DimensionLord taken over the dimension of Los Lagos]], Xara inflicts bloody purges on the population and has the survivors hunted down by her shadow monsters and chained up, tortured and brainwashed into her willing servants. For centuries, Xara's policy of [[LifeDrinker draining the lifeforce]] of the souls within the tree of life leaves them husks in order to [[VainSorceress keep herself young and beautiful]], which has started to kill Los Lagos. To rejuvenate herself, Xara preys on vulnerable individuals from other realms and charms them into bringing her brujas and brujos whose hearts she eats to absorb their powers. Manipulating the troubled Nova, she tries to convince him to send Alejandra "Alex" Mortiz to her realm only for the spell to instead send Alex's extended family instead with Xara planning to drain them dry to feed herself and permanently scarring Alex's older sister during the struggle. Xara forces Alex to give up her powers by threatening to use a potion to melt the organs of Alex's LoveInterest Rishi if she doesn't. Ultimately, Xara intends to use Alex's powers to free herself from this realm and [[MultiversalConqueror spread her endless hunger and evil to Earth]], caring for only [[ItsAllAboutMe her own selfish desires]] above all else.
* ''The Lake'', by Creator/RichardLaymon: [[SerialKiller Candyman]] is obsessed with photographing dark-haired women and later [[WouldHitAGirl murdering them gruesomely]], keeping the photos, of which he has enough to fill an entire scrapbook. His true identity is Mace Harrison, birth name Jess Payne, and the EvilUncle of the novel's heroine Deana. Seducing her mother Leigh, who had Deana after a brief fling with Mace's brother Charlie, Mace grows abusive and cruel to her before revealing his true identity. Capturing Deana, he assaults her and plans to violate and kill her later along with her mother, as well as his own long-lost sister Tania. At the end, Mace tries to kill all of them, devoted to ridding the world of "whores," defined by his [[HeManWomanHater misogynistic sadism]].
* ''[[Literature/ChaosSeeds The Land: Predators]]'': [[FauxAffablyEvil Heman]] is a seemingly-friendly man with a history in the "information-gathering business". [[ColdBloodedTorture Torturing]] main character Richter after using his mind powers to gain his trust, Heman reveals in the past he ordered the deaths of countless people and angrily murdered his own superior for denying his request to have a victim be put to death via [[CruelAndUnusualDeath crucifixion]]. Later gaining power over an army of monsters, Heman takes many prisoners; [[SexualExtortion forcing women to sleep with him for their lives]]; repeatedly killed one until her life force was completely drained; and threatens to kill all the men and women in Richter's village and sell the [[WouldHurtAChild children]] into slavery.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime: The Illustrated Story'': In this {{novelization}} by Jim Razzi, [[BigBad Sharptooth]] is [[AdaptationalVillainy given the personality]] of a SerialKiller in a Tyrannosaurus Rex's skin. Preying on the herds that try to make it to the Great Valley, Sharptooth is known for killing [[{{Sadist}} more for pleasure]] than for food and [[YouKilledMyFather kills the young Longneck Littlefoot's mother]] when she tries to save her son from him. After Littlefoot accidentally [[EyeScream damages Sharptooth's eye]] and the young Threehorn Cera headbutts him when he is unconscious, Sharptooth's [[{{Narcissist}} ego is so bruised]] that he ends up [[SuperPersistentPredator relentlessly stalking them and their friends]] despite their lack of value as food to him just to [[WouldHurtAChild murder the children]] out of spite. When he realizes he has found the entry to the Great Valley, Sharptooth plans on going on a killing spree to satisfy his bloodlust as soon as he has finished with the children.
* ''Literature/TheLastAmericanVampire'':
** [[{{Sadist}} Thomas Crowley]] was a vampire and a [[MadDoctor doctor]] who accompanied the English colonists to [[UsefulNotes/TheLostColonyOfRoanoke Roanoke]]. Crowley would poison several colonists before draining them dry over a series of days. When discovered as a vampire, Crowley butchered every man, woman and child in Roanoke save young Henry Sturges, whom he turned into a vampire [[ForTheEvulz out of whimsy]] and a little girl named Virginia who Crowley planned to raise and take as a lover when she was of age. Surviving until the 1800s, Crowley continues killing victims at random, before becoming UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper and massacring innocent women, publicly leaving them out for Henry as a "challenge".
** [[BigBad Virginia Dare]] herself, the first English child born in the Roanoke colony, grows to adulthood and becomes Henry's wife, before convincing him to turn her. Becoming a [[FantasticRacism vampire supremacist]] known as A. Grander VIII—who doesn't even care about Roanoke but just wants power--Virginia kills peace envoys of the vampire order by [[CruelAndUnusualDeath using special masks that makes the sun burn through magnifying lens placed over their eyes]], and personally assassinates Adam Plantagenet, the Order's leader who believes in human and vampire coexistence. Masterminding a series of attacks from anarchists to create new wars—including, [[HistoricalRapSheet among other acts]], the UsefulNotes/RussianRevolution--Virginia attempts to engineer enough chaos and bloodshed for vampires to take over and dominate the world while overthrowing America, even lending her aid to UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion.
* ''Literature/LastDays'', by Adam Nevill:
** [[TheHeavy Sister Katherine]] is a devotee of the monstrous "[[EldritchAbomination Blood Friends]]", nightmares from beyond the human world. [[DarkMessiah Forming a cult]] and subjecting them to sexual depravity and HumanSacrifice, Katherine would have children bred to find a host body. [[AbusiveParents Having them agonizingly warped into monsters]] save the child she switched bodies with, Katherine had her old body killed and had her new one adopted by a couple she murdered. Growing to become an actor with further depravity, murder and rape, Katherine attempts to give more victims to the Blood Friends in her goal of {{immortality|Immorality}}.
** [[PsychoSupporter Manuel Gomez]] was an ex-convict who became "[[TheDragon Brother Belial]]" in the Temple of the Last Days, serving as Katherine's most dangerous follower. A brute and bully who enjoyed abusing any problematic members of the Temple by [[ATasteOfTheLash whipping them bloody]] or even [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil repeatedly raping them]], Belial executes anyone who tries to escape the Temple while ensuring the rest are all subjected to Katherine's vile reign. Party to Katherine's true intention to summon the Blood Friends to Earth, Belial convinces several of his "brothers" to assist him in massacring their followers, after which Belial betrays and kills his own allies and [[WouldHurtAChild destroys the souls of several children]] so as to pave the way for Katherine and the Blood Friends to inhabit the kids' bodies.
** [[GreaterScopeVillain Konrad Lorche]] was the original "Blood Friend", a [[TheHedonist hedonistic]] cult leader in Europe who [[FromNobodyToNightmare started out]] as a ConMan seeking fortune, before embracing his own ego and becoming a monster. Overtaking an entire city with his cult, Lorche executed several officials--including a Bishop who was fed to a pig, Lorche then dressing the pig in the Bishop's garb to mock religion--and enforced first total chastity for the entire populace, before changing his mind and dictating rape to run wild, Lorche personally taking even children to be his concubines. Beheading countless citizens just for fun and starving out the entire populace while he ate in excess, Lorche would also kidnap children to be kept as sacrificial animals and murder any who tried to leave his cult. After being executed for his crimes, Lorche merged his essence with the "angels" he had used to ascend to power, transforming them and himself into the nightmarish Blood Friends who spark Katherine and cult leaders like her to follow in [[VillainousLegacy Lorche's footsteps of depravity and evil]].
* ''Literature/TheLastDaysOfNewParis'': Dr. UsefulNotes/JosefMengele is, as ever, a sadistic MadScientist who specializes on experiments on human lives. When [[ArtInitiatesLife sapient surrealist artworks]] start appearing all over Paris to fight the Nazis, Mengele turns to [[PlayingWithSyringes experimenting on them in sadistic and horrifying ways]], breaking them apart and slaughtering them in gruesome tests that involve peppering them with bullets and dissecting them while they're alive. Mengele even allies with the treacherous priest [[LesCollaborateurs Robert Alesch]] to sacrifice the lives of countless manifs to Hell, all in preparation for the creation of a living Hitler-manif that will rewrite the world to suit the Nazis' advantage.
* ''Literature/TheLastDomino'', by Adam Meyer: [[ToxicFriendInfluence Daniel Pulver]] is a manipulative psychopath who befriends troubled kids in order to push them to their psychological limits. Having been involved in the suspicious death of his last best friend--either by causing his suicide or murdering him outright--Daniel involves himself in Travis Ellroy's life, ruining all of Travis's relationships and getting him in trouble with his peers and the law. Daniel [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals tortures his neighbor's dog to death]], framing Travis's main bully in order to make Travis fear for his life, all while training him to use a gun and pushing him to be more aggressive. The end result of this causes Travis to [[SelfMadeOrphan kill his parents]] and [[AxesAtSchool shoot up his school]], killing five more people. Escaping prosecution for his role in the shooting, Daniel phones Travis in prison to brag about his plans to become a SerialKiller.
* ''Literature/LastLegionary'' series: The Deathwing operatives that [[TheHero Keill Randor]] faces in his quest for vengeance are a bad lot, but even then the following stand out:
** ''Galactic Warlord'': [[BaldOfEvil Lord Thr'un of Irruq-hoa]] is an [[AristocratsAreEvil aristocrat]] from one of the altered worlds, and the man tasked with [[FinalSolution annihilating]] the Legions of Moros. A FauxAffablyEvil, [[WalkingShirtlessScene buff]], [[EvilIsBigger giant of a man]], Lord Thr'un seeded Moros's atmosphere with radiation capsules, resulting in the death of every man, woman, child, and animal on the planet and rendering the world uninhabitable. He then began masquerading as a surviving Legionary in the hopes of luring any genuine survivors into a trap. When Keill was captured by Thr'un's men, Thr'un—on his own accord--had him [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured via jangler]], a weapon that attacks the nerves; when Keill refused to talk, Thr’un ordered him jangled to death, the idea being that his convulsions would become so bad that he would snap his own spine. Little more than a [[TheBrute thug]] beneath his [[WickedCultured polished veneer]], Thr'un was perhaps the most ruthless agent in [[BigBad the Warlord's]] employ.
** ''Deathwing Over Veynaa'': Quern was a [[PsychicPowers psychic]] Deathwing agent, and one of their [[EvilGenius top scientists]] to boot. Infiltrating a revolution in the Veynaa system, Quern turned a peaceful movement into a violent one, and, deploying the same [[WeaponsOfMassDestruction radiation weapon]] used on Moros, killed two hundred Veynaan colonists to make political points for a cause [[StrawHypocrite he did not believe in]]. Confronted by Keill, Quern revealed he was the inventor of the weapon, and the only Deathwing member who knew how to use it, before trying to fire it into Veynaa's atmosphere while Keill watched. Little more than a brooding ego, Quern was prepared to murder millions to prove his own brilliance.
** ''Day of the Starwind'' and ''Planet of the Warlord'': Altern, alias The One, is field leader of the Deathwing, and [[TheDragon right-hand man]] to the Warlord itself. A [[EvilCripple crippled]] [[DepravedDwarf dwarf]] in a [[BlingOfWar golden]] [[MiniMecha exoskeleton]], Altern gave the order for the genocide on Moros, and handed Quern his instructions for the slaughter on Veynaa. Determined to produce an army of slaves for his master, The One first encountered Keill on Rilyn, where Altern was cloning famous Legionaries for use as SlaveMooks and sending them to a neighbouring world to commit murders; he also tried to mind-wipe Keill and use him to train said Legionaries. Bested by Keill, The One fled Rilyn, leaving the clones to die in a hurricane. Capturing Keill when the Last Legionary infiltrated the Warlord’s homeworld, Altern had him brainwashed and slaved to the Arachnis computer, using him to train Deathwing agents, with the intent of slowly killing him afterwards. Responsible for almost all the atrocities committed in the Warlord’s name, The One proved himself Keill Randor’s [[ArchEnemy worst enemy]].
* ''Literature/TheLastLightOfTheSun'': [[TortureTechnician Ivarr Ragnarson]] is the grandson of the great Erling raider Sigur Volganson and the last of his line. Deformed in body and [[AxCrazy mind]], Ivarr is a {{sadist}}ic psychopath whose dearest goal in life is to find a way to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath blood-eagle]]--cracking open the ribs and extracting the lungs--a victim while keeping them alive the entire time. During a raid on Brynn ap Hwyll's farmhouse, Ivarr allows his brother and his henchmen to die fighting, then while hiding tries to kill Brynn. During his escape he shoots one of his own men with a poisoned arrow, and takes the time to blood-eagle two peasants. He later hires an army of mercenaries, tells them that there is plunder to be had in Anglcyn lands, and essentially sacrifices sixty of them so that he can steer the survivors towards Brynn's house again and finish what he started. Escaping, Ivarr captures another peasant boy and slices off his nose and ears before torturing him to death. Making his way back to his ships, Ivarr is slain by the surviving mercenaries as he plots to assassinate their leader and another member of the crew.
* ''Literature/TheLastMove'', by Mary Burton: Raymond Drexler Jr. is a despicable SerialKiller with a vicious method of torture and murder. Drexler kidnaps young women and teenagers, seals them in coffins, then keeps them there at all times except to feed them just enough food to keep them alive and to [[SerialRapist brutally rape them]]. If any of the women do not fit in their coffins initially, Drexler breaks their bones to force them in. After weeks of this torment, Drexler finally kills the women when he gets bored of them by [[BuriedAlive burying them alive]]. When his graveyard is discovered by Agent Kate Hayden, Drexler goes on the run, stabbing a man to death for his car, and plans to take revenge on Kate by targeting her and her mother. Teaming up with fellow killer William Bauldry, Drexler kidnaps a young teenage girl, uses her as a hostage to lure Kate to them, then attempts to bury both the girl and Kate alive after raping them.
* ''Last to Die'', by Arlene Hunt: [[EgomaniacHunter Caleb Switch]] is a sadistic hunter and SerialKiller obsessed with HuntingTheMostDangerousGame. A sociopath since [[EnfantTerrible childhood]], Caleb [[KickTheSonOfABitch murdered his abusive father]] on a hunting trip in the woods. In adulthood, Caleb spent his time in the forests, hunting and killing woodland animals for sport. When he made advances upon a hitchhiking woman, causing her to attempt to flee, Caleb panicked and killed her to prevent her from calling the authorities. Finding he enjoyed the thrill of hunting human beings, Caleb soon switched from hunting animals to humans. Kidnapping an unsuspecting victim, Caleb would set them loose into the woods and hunt them down, killing them with his crossbow. Stealing the identity of one of his victims, Caleb moves into the man's apartment, where he continues his killing spree. After learning of Jessie Conway's heroic foiling of a high school shooting, Caleb is quick to select her as a potential target. Forced to flee his residence after murdering a street hustler, Caleb arrives at Jessie's town and, upon finding her location, abducts her, but not before [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals killing her pet dog]]. He then releases Jessie into the woods and spends the rest of the novel attempting to hunt her down and kill her, relishing his attempts to murder her.
* ''Literature/TheLastVampire'': [[DarkActionGirl Sita/Alisa Perne]], the title character, has faced numerous evildoers during her five-thousand-year life; these villains are the absolute worst:
** ''Black Blood'': [[BigBad Eddie Fender]] is a [[FromNobodyToNightmare former morgue worker]] who steals the body of the wounded first vampire Yaksha to become a vampire himself. Keeping Yaksha [[AndIMustScream alive in horrible agony]], Eddie begins turning others into monsters before going on a savage killing spree of countless people that is likened to a new black plague sweeping through LA. Eddie is not merely satisfied with drinking blood, but instead [[ImAHumanitarian eats the flesh]] of his many victims, gleefully tearing them apart when he finds them, even snapping the neck of [[{{Matricide}} his own mother]] when she becomes a liability to him. A complete sadist, Eddie relishes the fear and pain of those he kills and intends on sweeping over the world to annihilate all humanity, with a chosen few becoming a part of his new vampire empire.
** ''Creatures Of Forever'': [[BigBad Landulf of Capa]] is a [[SorcerousOverlord practitioner of the Satanic arts]] who rules [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Crusades]]-era southern Italy with an iron fist and wishes to shift the balance of power towards evil. Once a member of the Vatican, Landulf was cast out for invoking Satan's spirit and, angered at being stripped of his position, terrorized all of southern Europe, invading with evil creatures and spreading chaos. Ripping the eyes out of his victims' skulls and pulling the bones out of his slaves to eat while they are still alive, Landulf also regularly kidnaps young women to crucify, enjoying every moment of their pain and suffering. Opening the gates of Europe to the opposing Arab army, Landulf delights at the idea of watching the western world go ablaze with war as millions are killed. Planning to time travel to corrupt the titular last vampire, Landulf's scheme would result in the decimation of the entire section of the galaxy holding Earth.
** ''Thirst'' sub-series:
*** [[AGodAmI Tarana]]/[[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], "[[LightIsNotGood The Light Bearer]]", believes himself greater than God and, after being cast out for his failed rebellion, seeks to doom humanity to prove his superiority. [[TheCorrupter Corrupting]] the peaceful Telar race into worshipping him, Tarana has them regularly commit [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice]] in his name and commit various atrocities throughout human history, including UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Capturing Sita with Heinrich Himmler during the Holocaust, Tarana painfully tortured her for information via burning, allowing her supernatural healing ability to constantly close the wound and draw out the pain. Growing bored of the Telar, Tarana finds replacement servants through IIC, a company that used the "Array", psychics who could [[GrandTheftMe take control of a person]] and force them commit horrific acts provided a sacrifice was provided. Using their horrible powers and the company, Tarana is able to secretly conquer much of the world and releases a computer program to turn people into mindless zombies under his command. Turning his former servants in the Telar and IIC against each other, Tarana simply sits back to enjoy the bloodshed and is enraged at Sita defeating both groups. As his ultimate plan to send humanity to ruin, Tarana makes plans to discover time machines so he can go back to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and make the Nazis win, uncaring for the utter dystopia he would leave humanity under as long as he gets to feel he won over the God he despises.
*** ''Thirst No. 5: The Sacred Veil'': Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, known as "The Beast", one of the most powerful men in [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany the Third Reich]], is [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters far more monstrous]] than almost any vampire. A consummate sadist who [[SelfMadeOrphan murdered his own parents]], Himmler helps carry out UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust while starving, beating, torturing and murdering millions of innocents in the [[POWCamp camps]], while personally administering Auschwitz as he has multitudes of innocent Jews sent to the gas chambers. Himmler wishes to bring about the reign of Tarana, torturing Sita to help make it possible, and when she refuses to break, he tortures other prisoners. Himmler seeks to craft a world where the Nazis win to exterminate all beneath them, driven by nothing but his cold and cruel sense of superiority.
* ''Literature/LauraCaxton'' series: [[BigBad Justinia Malvern]] was a sociopath as a human who arranged her own uncle's death—after accusing him of molesting her--when [[DisproportionateRetribution he wouldn't give her candy]]. Upon becoming a vampire, Justinia became a sadistic murderer, killing humans for sport while torturing her maker to death and killing his predecessors as well. When her body failed her, Justinia used her powers to [[BlackWidow seduce wealthy men]], sway them into doing her bidding and having sons to continue the line, before murdering them. When the remainder of the vampires were destroyed, Justinia was held for twenty years by the state of Pennsylvania. Forming a mutual enmity with state trooper Laura Caxton, Justinia tricks her mentor and Justinia's former arch-nemesis Jameson Arkeley into letting Justinia turn him to fight other vampires, but [[TheCorrupter corrupts]] Arkeley into a monster. Later taking over a woman's prison, Justinia massacres the population or turns others into vampires before escaping, pursued by Laura. Jusitnia proceeds to try to kill everyone Laura ever loves, massacring humans by the dozens to regain her old strength. Even the prospect of her own species' extinction doesn't trouble Justinia, as she views herself as the most powerful, ruthless and devious vampire to have ever lived.
* ''Literature/LegendsOfTheRedSun'': Chancellor Urtica is the EvilChancellor of the empire in Villjamur and a leader of a ReligionOfEvil where he engages in human sacrifice. To obtain control of the empire, Urtica engineers a mass slaughter of refugees at Villjamur's gate and blames it on the young Empress, ordering her arrest and execution. Ascending to control of Villjamur, Urtica engages in a way to keep the people satisfied and well fed: by collaborating with an insane killer to have people murdered and made into meat for the unknowing populace.
* ''Literature/LegionOfTheDamned'', by Sven Hassel: [[PsychoForHire Oskar Dirlewanger]], trained by the worst butchers of the [[StateSec SS]], proves himself as [[InsaneAdmiral one of the worst in all the Nazi ranks]], leading the Dirlewanger Brigade on a series of horrific war crimes that include the [[RapePillageAndBurn eradication of entire villages and the torture and rape of countless civilians]]. When an [[UsefulNotes/MoscowCentre NKVD]] officer is caught, Dirlewanger rapes her himself, has his men do the same and tortures her until she begs for death, with his final actions being the attempted massacre of Warsaw and the complete extermination of all those who live there.
* "Life with Father", by Creator/BentleyLittle: The [[AntagonistTitle titular]] [[ArchnemesisDad Father]] is a repulsive recluse obsessed with recycling everything he can to become a "self-sufficient" entity never needing to leave his home. To this end, Father [[AbusiveParents forces his two daughters]] into absolutely dreadful conditions, with no toilets, clean water, or normal, healthy food provided to them. Father regularly [[VillainousIncest rapes and impregnates his eldest teen daughter]], keeping the resulting [[ChildByRape infants]] as "pets" that he keeps locked in a pen. In his prime moment of depravity, Father [[ImAHumanitarian cooks up]] and [[EatsBabies eats one of the babies]], forcing his daughters to do the same, and proclaims that henceforth, he will rape his daughters until they have children, which they shall then eat as sustenance. When his eldest daughter screams at him for his evil, Father brutally beats her bloody, then prepares to begin raping his youngest daughter before being murdered.
* ''The Light at the End'', by John Skipp & Craig Spector:
** Rudy Pasko is a two-bit punk. When turned into a vampire, Rudy [[SpreeKiller goes on a killing spree]], publicly leaving victims all over [[BigApplesauce New York City]], even [[CouldntFindAPen painting pictures from their blood]]. When annoyed by two teens talking in a theater, Rudy murders them and leaves the corpses to be discovered before also tormenting the people who knew him in life and killing several of those out to hunt him. When they invade his apartment, it is revealed Rudy has been turning several of his victims into thralls and has even [[WouldHurtAChild murdered several children]].
** The "[[AncientEvil ancient creature]]" is a centuries-old [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] who has reaped death across Earth for years, all [[ForTheEvulz for its own amusement]]. The creature was behind UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler's worst atrocities, goading the man on to kill and impale thousands. In the present, the creature massacres the occupants of a subway train in brutal ways--noting that it repeats similar massacres every 20 years--and turns delinquent Rudy Pasko into its vampire seedling. Later killing occupants of a shipping vessel, the creature subjects Rudy to horrid and literal MindRape just to remind him his place beneath the creature in evil.
* ''[[Literature/EightySeventhPrecinct Lightning]]'': [[SerialRapist Arthur Haines]] is a man who deeply resents his wife for [[GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion not using any contraceptives]]. With two children he considers "mistakes", and a third on the way, Haines begins targeting pro-life women, ambushing and raping them in hopes of getting them pregnant so that they will be forced to undergo abortions. Haines stalks them, learning their routines and then visits them again and again, raping them multiple times so they are never able to feel safe, with at least nine to ten different victims, his last being the police officer Eileen who he mistakes for a victim he was already targeting. With zero remorse, Haines stands as one of the single most vile criminals ever encountered by the 87th.
* ''The Lights of Prague'', by Nicole Jarvis: [[VisionaryVillain Hans Mayer]] sold out his humanity to become a monstrous immortal [[OurVampiresAreDifferent pijavica]]. Mayer desires to spread the influence of the pijavice into the light to overwhelm humanity and spread mass death and chaos. To this end, Mayer tortures and murders countless innocent Wisps to death to use them as a cure for the pijavice's weakness to light. A [[BadBoss horrible boss]], Mayer recruits new blood into his organization by having them murder his own minions to prove their worth. Even indulging in bloody killing parties with teenagers as his victims, Mayer truly represents the dark monsters that the lamplighters protect Prague from.
* ''Little Boy Lost'', by J.D. Stafford: [[BigBad Judge Daniel Bryce]] is a New Orleans judge who uses his position to mask his true identity as a SerialKiller. Deciding long ago that the streets needing to be cleaned up, Bryce uses arrest records to find teenage black boys with petty crimes on their rap sheets, targeting them before they grow up to become "thugs" who cost taxpayers millions every year. Bryce pretends to arrest the boys, only to quickly and coldly [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner execute them]] and dump their bodies in his grave sites, which, when uncovered by police, reveal over a dozen boys all killed by Bryce. When Justin Glass and his partner Nikolas investigate the killings, Bryce decides they have [[HeKnowsTooMuch learned too much]] and tries to kill them both, boasting the entire time that he's the only one smart enough to realize that those boys he killed deserved to die, and is called out for the truthfully egotistical KnightTemplar he is, choosing who to kill based on nothing more than his own self-righteousness.
* ''The Living and the Dead'''s "Redemption Center" & "Angel at My Shoulder", by Todd Travis: [[KnightTemplar Jimmy]] is a despicable old man who self-righteously tries to secure his own salvation by [[SerialKiller murdering]] dozens of [[WouldHurtAChild children]] and "sending them to God" for judgement. Choosing his victims based on the religions of their families, Jimmy uses a network of agents to gather 13 children at a time who he kills with a butcher knife in God's name, claiming to be out to "save" the kids when, [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist in reality]], Jimmy [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares about]] securing himself a position in Heaven.
* ''Literature/LivingDeadGirl'': Ray, the pedophile villain of the novel, kidnapped the heroine Alice when she was ten, and five years hence has raped her daily and starved her. Ray had another "Alice" before this one, but when she outgrew her child body, he murdered her. Ray keeps control of Alice by threatening to murder her parents should she try to escape, and makes Alice try to find him a new girl to continue the cycle.
* ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'': [[WouldHurtAChild Clare Quilty]] is an eccentric and wealthy man who serves as the dark shadow of the [[VillainProtagonist already depraved Humbert Humbert]]. While Humbert is a pedophile who seduces Dolores "Lolita" Haze, Quilty centers on Dolores and stalks her from place to place, seducing her into a twisted affair for his own purposes. Wealthy and bored, Quilty forces children to participate in child pornography films and has Dolores thrown out when she refuses to participate. In Creator/StanleyKubrick's 1962 film, Quilty even offers to let Humbert witness a live execution to save his own life, one of his favorite pastimes.
* ''Literature/LonesomeDove'' series:
** ''Literature/ComancheMoon'' prequel novel: Ahumado is a Mexican [[{{Bandito}} bandit]] and slave trader [[TheDreaded known far and wide]] as the "Black Vaquero" ("Black Cowboy") for his infamous cruelty. [[TortureTechnician Ahumado]] has a special inclination for torturing his victims to death, from leaving them in cages to be slowly eaten away by wild animals, to having them [[FlayingAlive skinned alive]] by his personal flayer Goyeta, earning Ahumado a trophy wall lavished with fifty individual skins. Ahumado also likes making trees "grow" through people, having them [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaled]] on the top of trees shaved into stakes in such a way the victim will slowly slide down the trunk and stay alive for days. Ahumado has made entire "forests" of people rotting alive in agony through this method. When he meets Texan captain Inish Scull, Ahumado resolves to cut off Scull's eyelids and force him to stare into the searing heat until he goes insane. Ahumado makes no discrimination in his targets, from the young to the old to his own allies to entire villages full of people, and even after being fatally bitten by a brown recluse Ahumado still makes the time to personally flay Goyeta over a years-old petty grudge.
** Original novel: Blue Duck is a half-breed Native American who prowls the wilderness outside the towns. [[TheDreaded Feared by all who know him]], Blue Duck is a [[HumanTraffickers slaver]] who kidnaps those he can and sells them for a tidy sum, especially women. Blue Duck kidnaps [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Lori]] and allows his companions to rape her on a daily basis, splitting her between his Native and cowboy followers. When one of his men is shot in the gut, Blue Duck refuses to let any other put the henchman out of his misery and allows his Native followers to castrate and scalp him, with barely concealed amusement. Blue Duck murders several other people, including a luckless [[WouldHurtAChild child]] who crosses his path, and after his initial escape, he is found in a jail later sentenced to hang. Unwilling to die without at least [[TakingYouWithMe taking someone with him]], Blue Duck seizes a guard and throws the two of them out of the window.
** ''The Streets of Laredo'' sequel novel: Mox Mox the [[ManOnFire Manburner]] is a former associate of Blue Duck's who despises everyone in the world for reminding him of himself and what he cannot be or have. Having once desired to burn Lori alive, Mox Mox contented himself with torturing an [[WouldHurtAChild lighting a little boy on fire]] instead when Blue Duck refused. Traveling with a band of murderers, Mox Mox kidnaps numerous innocents and burns them, never sparing any for any reason while being hunted. When finally tracked down, Mox Mox has kidnapped two children and is torturing one with a [[WhipItGood quirt]], intending on soon burning them alive as well.
* ''Literature/TheLongWeekend'', by Savita Kalhan: [[WouldHurtAChild Thomas Craigly]] is a vile pedophile and SerialKiller who has already killed three young boys before the novel. Thomas stalks and kidnaps the 11-year-old protagonists, Sam and Lloyd , and repeatedly tries to murder Sam. Thomas later rapes Lloyd and gleefully begins to hunt both Sam and Lloyd when they escape, intending to kill them both.
* ''Literature/LordPeterWimsey'''s "Unnatural Death": Mary Whittaker cold-bloodedly kills her doting great-aunt; sacks, hunts down and kills her innocent maidservant; seduces and kills a trusting village girl; tries to drug and kill both Lord Peter and an unsuspecting solicitor; bludgeons and tries to kill Miss Climpson (who was collecting for charity at the time); and tries to have her distant cousin, a devoted clergyman, hanged for her crimes. Her only motive was [[InheritanceMurder securing an inheritance]] that she would almost certainly have received anyway.
* ''The Lost'', by Natasha Preston:
** [[SoftSpokenSadist Caleb]], despite putting on a front as a charming man, is in truth a psychopathic sadist who commits heinous and torturous crimes [[ForTheEvulz to alleviate his boredom]]. Kidnapping Piper and Hazel, Caleb subjects them and several others to various forms of torture whenever he feels like it, including mentally tormenting them in their supposed safe room by [[ForcedToWatch forcing them to watch him in the act]] and eventually forcing them to kill each other as punishment. After experimenting with [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame human hunting]], Caleb punishes Piper for succeeding by waterboarding her for several hours, simultaneously forcing Lucie to watch as punishment for her escape attempt. Later, he allows his partner Evan to enter the rooms, not holding back on the torture and even ordering Owen to beat him to a pulp just to torment Piper some more. Upon her escape, Caleb kills Theo and Lucie, then reacts to Evan killing Owen and Matt by gleefully insulting both of them; he then escapes with Evan, intending to [[TheBadGuyWins continue his reign of terror elsewhere]].
** [[AxCrazy Evan]] is the most vicious member of the kidnappers despite [[BitchInSheepsClothing his attempts to pretend otherwise]]. Willingly entering the games so as to gain a better understanding of the torture he's inflicting on others, Evan quickly forms a bond with Piper, his obsession, by preying on her kind nature and feeding her a sob story. Evan goes so far as to submit himself to Caleb's beat down just to continue gaining her sympathies. When Piper makes the plan to burn the complex down, Evan becomes convinced that she's just as insane and destructive as he is and desires to [[{{Yandere}} keep her at all costs]], even killing his partners Owen and Matt when they try to convince him otherwise. Leading Caleb through [[CopKiller murdering the police officers transporting him]], Evan then returns to Piper's house and kidnaps her, threatening to kill her parents in order to make her comply and help him [[StrawNihilist burn down the world]].
* "Literature/LostHearts", by Creator/MRJames ([[http://www.curculio.org/mrj/GSA2.html link]]): Mr. Abney is a seemingly [[BitchInSheepsClothing avuncular]] and [[FauxAffablyEvil kindly]] caretaker who takes in his orphaned 11-year-old cousin Stephen. Stephen soon notices the ghosts of a little Gypsy girl and a young Italian boy prowling the grounds, and it is revealed Abney himself is an occultist who wishes to achieve great power. To this end, Abney takes in children and once they hit a certain age, he cuts out and consumes their hearts which also condemns them to fate as lonely specters. Stephen is his next intended victim, and Abney uses his own journals to gloat over how ridiculous the concept that human justice can apply to him is, seeing nothing wrong with [[WouldHurtAChild sacrificing children]] for [[PoweredByAForsakenChild his own benefit]].
* ''Literature/TheLumatereChronicles'':
** ''Finnikin of the Rock'': The [[EvilOverlord Imposter King]] is the traitorous cousin to the king of Lumatere who, after being snubbed, helps invade it out of spite. The Imposter King has the wife and daughters of the true King raped and murdered [[ForcedToWatch in front of him]] before killing him. After seizing control using the forces of Charyn, the Imposter King begins a campaign of utter terror in Lumatere, leading to religious persecution and [[BurnTheWitch witch burnings]], forcing the girls and women into {{sex slave}}ry, and rampant murder by his soldiers. Not content with this, the Imposter King is also [[EvilIsPetty petty]], and hence subjects his rival Trevanion to an awful fate to pin the blame for the royal family's murders on him, having Trevanion's wife tortured to near-death in front of him to force a false confession from him.
** ''Froi of the Exiles'' & ''Quintana of Charyn'':
*** [[EvilChancellor Bestiano of Nebia]] is the adviser to the mad king of Charyn and uses his position to oppress his people through torture and murder. After an [[SterilityPlague infertility plague]] hits Charyn, Bestiano subjects the Princess Quintana to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil repeated rapes]] for both his lust and to beget a child; [[RapeLeadsToInsanity this results in her becoming insane]]. Bestiano ultimately plans to subject the entire young female generation of Charyn to sex slavery in order to produce an heir to better control the kingdom. After Quintana escapes, Bestiano murders all the people at the compound she was being housed in, and later, when his men question him, [[BadBoss he has them killed off as well]]. Bestiano releases the brutal street lord Donashe on Lumatere to hunt Quintana, leading to near-war, with his ultimate plan being to unleash his army upon Lumatere in a quest that will wipe out the region.
*** [[AxCrazy Donashe]] is Bestiano's worst street lord, a [[HeManWomanHater brutal misogynist]] out to secure Charyn's power for his own benefit. Assisting Bestiani in all of his evil deeds and [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introducing himself]] by killing his way through the occupants of a castle, Donashe later assumes command of the valley separating Charyn and Lumatere, using his position to heinously massacre a band of travellers in a sadistic attempt to draw out their designated protector. Hunting for Quintana and the women hiding with her so as to forcibly turn the lot of them into sex slaves and [[BreedingSlave baby-producers]] for Charyn, Donashe tries to kill any who stand in his way, risking full-blown war with his bloodthirst, and uses his final moments of life to taunt one of his victims over her potential fate.
* ''Lyrec'', by Gregory Frost: [[BigBad Miradomon]], the monstrous [[ArchEnemy archnemesis]] of Lyrec and Borregad, destroyed his and Lyrec's entire race in his pursuit to strengthen himself through the death energy of others. Miradomon moved on from cooking entire worlds alive by overcharging their suns to designing more meticulous ways to [[TheCorrupter turn them against each other]] and destroy themselves, instead. In the HighFantasy world Miradomon and Lyrec find themselves leaping to, Miradomon gets up his usual habits: subverting religious authority to initiate a massacre against the magical Kobach population; murdering the country's king and possessing the young prince in order to author further bloodshed; and at one point musing he'll set up the homeless and destitute of a city he's about to have razed as human barriers to soak up the slaughter first. Miradomon tries to throw the entire planet into a series of violent wars, [[BadBoss killing his servants one after another]] when they fail him or balk at his horrific demands, at one point [[FlayingAlive flaying a corrupt pawn]] and leaving his skin to flap in the wind upon his castle. Miradomon even reveals he's captured Lyrec's lost love Alystroya purely to hurt him, and makes his final ultimatum to Lyrec: when he [[OmnicidalManiac annihilates all existence]] and [[InTheirOwnImage creates a new universe of chaos]] atop of it, Lyrec will be split into a billion agonizing, eternal deaths across it.
* ''The Macht'' trilogy, by Creator/PaulKearney: [[SociopathicSoldier Sertorius]] works for Karnos, the antagonist of the second book, ''Corvus''. While Karnos is an honorable man, he opts to kidnap the family of [[TheHero Rictus]] as leverage before Rictus and his master Corvus can conquer Karnos's territory. Sertorius unnecessarily butchers everyone in the household besides the family and leads the [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil gang rape and murder]] of an attractive slave. On the march back to Karnos's city, Sertorius leads the rape of Rictus's wife Aise, which later leads to her suicide when she believes Rictus is dead. Once he believes the city is lost, Sertorius attacks Karnos's home to kill his more moral comrades, rape Karnos's wife and Rictus's daughters. When Rictus arrives to stop him, Sertorius attempts to mock his dead wife in the last moments of life before Rictus forces his sword through Sertorius's mouth.
* ''[[Literature/TheMagicians The Magician King]]'': [[Literature/ReynardTheFox Raynard The Fox]] is a hulking mass of muscle, red fur and sharp teeth, summoned by a sect of magicians who believe they are calling upon a benevolent goddess. When summoned, Raynard promptly proceeds to take the "sacrifices" he sees as his. Setting upon the magicians, Raynard kills many of them horribly and painful, mortally wounding one and sneering over the young man's dying attempt to offer himself to let the final two live. When one promises her life in exchange for the other's, Raynard [[ExactWords chooses to interpret it in a dark way]]: he promptly brutally rapes her in front of her friend and tears her humanity out when finished.
* ''Literature/MagicKingdomOfLandover'':
** [[EvilSorcerer Meeks]], former [[CourtMage Court Wizard]] and [[CainAndAbel half-brother]] of current Court Wizard Questor Thews, is responsible, directly or indirectly, for every terrible thing that has happened in Landover since the death of the old king. Having persuaded Prince Michel Ard Rhi to abandon the throne, Meeks auctioned off the crown to the highest bidder, disposing of those who backed out and tried to reclaim their money, while Landover, bereft of the kingship disintegrated into anarchy, the country falling apart and the magic that sustained the land dying. When hero Ben Holiday managed to get the kingdom back in working order, Meeks returned to Landover, with the intent of deposing Ben, undoing the repairs that had been made, and reclaiming his [[TomeOfEldritchLore books of magic]]--books whose power depended on the continued enslavement of the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild souls of the unicorns]] trapped within. Willing to consort with demons, slaughter innocent nymphs, and otherwise do everything in his power to ruin Landover, Meeks violated his oaths to the crown and country in every way possible.
** [[WickedWitch Nightshade]] stands as Ben Holiday's [[ArchEnemy most personal and vicious enemy]]. Part human, part fairy, and all vindictive bitch, Nightshade [[EstablishingCharacterMoment marked her first appearance]] by damning Ben's friends to Hell in ''Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold'', an experience which nearly killed them all. She made two more attempts on his life in ''The Black Unicorn'' and ''Wizard At Large'', and after an enchantment forced her to care about him in Tangle Box, responded by trying to murder his wife and kidnap his newborn daughter. It's in ''Witches' Brew'', however, where Nightshade truly comes into her own. She tries to kill Questor Thews, Abernathy, and the Gnome, Poggwydd, and succeeds in kidnapping Ben's daughter Mistaya. Convincing Mistaya that they are friends, she forces the girl to create a series of monsters which she sets loose on Ben, intending that he should either be killed, or driven mad by his constant transformations into ThePaladin. When this plan too fails, Nightshade gives Mistaya a poisoned brooch and sends her to hug her father, intending that Ben should die at his daughter's hands. Concerned only with [[ItsAllAboutMe her own pride]], Nightshade was willing to cross any line if it meant making Ben suffer.
* ''The Magnificent 12'' series, by Creator/MichaelGrant: [[BigBad The Pale Queen]] is a [[EldritchAbomination primeval horror]] who terrorized and oppressed humanity since they evolved, and personally killed off the species of humans incapable of walking upright in order to spur the evolution of a species better suited to serving and worshiping her. The Pale Queen ruled as a tyrannical god, devouring thousands of {{human sacrifice}}s throughout her reign. The Pale Queen eventually launched an assault on ancient Europe with her monstrous, man-eating armies, enslaving, killing, and expelling thousands of people before she was [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned for three thousand years]] by the first Magnificent 12. She proves no less evil in the present day, and sends agents to kill the new Magnificent 12 before they can reunite. Among them is her daughter Ereskigal, who lives in fear of being eaten for failure. Once free, the Pale Queen launches an assault on San Francisco, sending waves of monsters to attack combatants and civilians alike before personally killing numerous people and harming millions more with a BrownNote attack. When she is confronted by the complete Magnificent 12, she [[DirtyCoward immediately flees]] and begins laying waste to San Francisco, causing terrible destruction before she is finally stopped.
* ''The Mailman'', by Creator/BentleyLittle: [[BigBad The Mailman]], "John Smith", is a mysterious entity hell-bent on tearing the small town of Willis apart [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]]. Taking over as Willis's mailman after the former committed suicide, the Mailman begins withholding citizens' bills to get their power shut off, sending them hateful messages pretending to be their neighbors, and [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals decapitating their pet dogs]], possibly [[WouldHurtAChild an infant]] as well. The Mailman ultimately uses his psychic abilities plus the malicious correspondence to [[DrivenToMadness drive several people completely insane]], leading them [[DrivenToSuicide to kill themselves]], or go on vicious murder sprees. In the end, the Mailman torments and traumatizes the entire town, taking sick glee in the pain and agony he causes while murdering any who stand in his way.
* ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' ([[Literature/DeadhouseGates Seven]] [[Literature/HouseOfChains Cities]] [[Literature/TheBonehunters arc]]):
** [[SociopathicSoldier Korbolo Dom]], who also appears in ''Literature/ReturnOfTheCrimsonGuard'', was a [[BloodKnight bloodthristy]] former Fist who betrays the Malazan Empire, slaughtering half his legion who refuse to join the Whirlwind uprising. Slaughtering civilians wherever he goes with 1,300 [[WouldHurtAChild children]] seen crucified, Korbolo Dom sets upon the 'Chain of Dogs' refugee procession to slaughter countless civilians, crucifying his former rival Coltaine in agony and later subjecting countless thousands of captives to crucifixion. Later attempting to have the Whirlwind and Malazan armies wipe one another out, Korbolo Dom rejoins the empire, blaming the Wickan tribes and trying to subject them to horrific pogroms with nothing to stand between him and his [[AmbitionIsEvil horrific ambitions]].
** [[{{Sadist}} Bidithal]] is [[EvilOldFolks an elderly member]] of the rebellious army the Whirlwind and its most powerful [[EvilSorcerer High Mage]] who gets away with his atrocities due to his power and high position. He has a disturbing taste for [[PaedoHunt little girls]] that he rapes and performs female circumcision on. In his darkest act, Bidithal captures the adopted daughter of the Whirlwind's leader, Felisin the Younger, and rapes her. He tells her he will "drink all the pleasure from your precious body, leaving naught but bitterness, naught but dead places within."
* ''Literature/TheManWithTheIronHeart'': UsefulNotes/ReinhardHeydrich survives his assassination attempt in Czechoslovakia, returns to Germany and assumes control of a growing insurgency. In addition to his past crimes under the Nazi regime, in helping to craft UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust and multiple war crimes, Heydrich turns to masterminding a series of bombings that kill Soviet general Ivan Konev and UsefulNotes/GeorgeSPatton. Initiating more terrorist attacks that kill numerous soldiers with collateral damage, Heydrich later manages to export bombings to western countries, even having famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower attacked. Later uncovering a source of radium, Heydrich switches to using dirty bombs to do more damage and intends to craft nukes to be launched at Moscow and Washington, D.C. to wipe them off the map.
* ''Mapping the Bones'', by Creator/JaneYolen: [[HerrDoktor Dr. von Schneir]] is a Nazi doctor and a former acolyte of the vile [[MadDoctor Dr. Joseph Mengele]] who wishes to follow in his master's footsteps of [[PlayingWithSyringes scientific depravity]]. Schneir is sent to the Sobanek [[PoWCamp concentration camp]] in order to research viruses and infects and kills several [[WouldHurtAChild kids]] with typhus in order to test his theories. Fascinated by twins like his former boss, Schneir kidnaps the protagonists Chaim and Gittel along with their friend and has them starved, experimented on and near-fatally bled. Eventually, in order to complete his ghastly research, Schneir plans to butcher the trio without anesthesia while they're conscious, even gleefully holding up their friend's heart which he personally removed.
* ''Literature/{{Maresi}}'': [[AbusiveParents Sarjan]] is Jai's [[ArchnemesisDad father]] and a domineering, abusive man who [[BuriedAlive buried his elder daughter and Jai's sister alive]] for simply talking to a boy from another tribe. Jai's mother, fearing for her other daughter's life, sends her to the Red Abbey for safety, with Sarjan swearing to bring her back so he can [[ForcedToWatch force her mother to watch]] her die at his hands in front of her. Invading the Red Abbey, Sarjan leads the RapePillageAndBurn of it, including having some of the Abbey leaders left to be gang raped by his hired pirates and torturing the Abbey leader for information on where to find Jai, simply being a man whose cruelty knows no limits.
* ''The Masked Truth'', by Kelley Armstrong: [[KillerCop Detective Wheeler]], a [[DirtyCop corrupt cop]] who [[PsychoForHire gleefully runs a hit squad]], [[EstablishingCharacterMoment begins the novel]] by murdering a young couple. In order to kill Riley Vasquez, a witness, Wheeler plans to murder her entire teenage mental health support group, and guns down teenagers in his rampage. Murdering one of his allies to cut off loose ends while she’s begging for mercy, Wheeler stalks and rampages throughout the facility in search of Riley. Wheeler evens let one of his associates flee before waiting for him, to [[HopeSpot think he's getting away]], before shooting him point blank and laughing about it, being an inhuman monster in love with violence.
* ''Literature/MasksOfAygrima'': [[TheEmperor The Autarch]] is the despotic [[BigBad ruler of Aygrima]] and the creator of the masks. He is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced]] destroying a village for harboring his enemy, the Lady of Pain and Fire. As Autarch, he makes most crimes punishable by execution, to the point where the masks allow his soldiers to know if people have traitorous thoughts, with treason having the criminal's entire family killed. Shortly before the series, he altered the masks to change people's personalities to be more submissive to his rule. Citizens who fail their maskings are sentenced to work in a slave mine in the mountains. His desire for immortality makes him sap magic from his subjects, personally showing up at the maskings of several gifted for this purpose, causing their maskings to fail. He has a group of young gifted follow him around so he can sap their magic, leaving them sickly and weak. When the Unmasked Army attacks the capital city he uses his masks to force all of the younger citizens to fight them, causing many to die. At the end of the series, it's revealed that his ultimate plan is to [[ImmortalityImmorality continuously possess people's bodies to live forever]], leaving the original person's mind [[AndIMustScream fully aware but unable to do anything]].
* ''Masques'', by Creator/PatriciaBriggs: [[SorcerousOverlord Geoffrey ae'Magi]], MasterOfIllusion, is the [[FauxAffablyEvil charismatic, seemingly charming and kind]] ruler of Reth. Rising to power via murder and assassination, Geoffrey subsumes the minds of countless citizens into adoring him while frequently sacrificing countless people to fuel his magic power via their deaths. Experimenting on more to create twisted, beast-like monsters, one of his victims was [[AbusiveParents his own son]] Cain who barely escaped. Geoffrey plans to spread his dominion further, while also being a rapist who keeps women as his [[SexSlave abused concubines]] until he tires of them, with intent to conquer all he can and sacrifice countless innocents just to empower himself.
* ''Literature/MassEffectAscension'': Unscrupulous Qurian [[OpportunisticBastard Golo'mek "Golo" vas Usela]] was [[TheExile exiled]] from the migrant fleet for trying to sell the Collectors two dozen young Quarians. Living on Omega and desiring revenge, Golo will happily betray or kill whoever he has to, seeking revenge against the Quarian Migrant Fleet for its actions. Jumping at the chance to get the Fleet's codes to Cerberus, Golo brutalizes a captive Quarian, attempts to sell biotics to the Collectors and then tries to deliver the Migrant Fleet to Cerberus to be spied on or destroyed at their leisure, even killing other members of a Quarian vessel and savagely beating Kahlee Sanders before even [[KnightTemplar Cerberus]] Operative Paul Grayson has enough of Golo's evil and treachery.
* ''Literature/MastersOfRome'': Quintus Servilius Caepio starts by stealing a fortune in gold that legally belonged to Rome, having several hundred Roman troops murdered by bandits to conceal the identity of the thief. Then he causes the worst military disaster in Roman history because, coming from an immensely aristocratic background, he considers himself above working with the lowborn consul appointed to fight a massive barbarian invasion. Caepio survives the battle by stealing a boat and abandoning his army to their deaths.
* ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'': [[TheDreaded Agatha Trunchbull]] is the [[EvilPrincipal headmistress]] of Crunchem Hall Primary School who rules the school with an iron fist. Shying away from illegal caning, the Trunchbull opts for more torturous methods easily dismissed by parents as wild stories. A ChildHater extraordinaire, the Trunchbull subjects the children to near-fatal punishments, her favorite being "the Chokey"--a refurnished cupboard laced with broken glass and nails. Out of greed, the Trunchbull murdered her brother-in-law for his inheritance, and [[EvilAunt violently abused her niece]], Jennifer Honey, breaking her arm in a spur of rage. Unrepentant, the Trunchbull threatens to break Miss Honey's arm again when she stands up to her. A psychotic disciplinarian who prides herself with never having a childhood, the Trunchbull set the standard for {{sadist teacher}}s everywhere.
* "A Matter of Blood", by Jeffery Deaver, from ''The Big Book of Jack the Ripper'': [[FromNobodyToNightmare Jacques LaFleur]] is a [[LowerClassLout lowlife]] French criminal who was hired to murder Mary Anne Nichols in order to use her blood to save the life of the hemophiliac Princess Alix. Jacques though goes off-script from his more well-intentioned employers and, [[FameThroughInfamy feeling the fame his murders have generated]], becomes UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper. Murdering women in [[CruelAndUnusualDeath increasingly brutal and macabre ways]], Jacques revels in the infamy his crimes receive, before trying to murder the family of Inspector Wentworth in order to fully cement his status in history.
* "[[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Max_Hensig Max Hensig]]", by Creator/AlgernonBlackwood: [[AntagonistTitle Max Hensig]] is a cruel and sadistic SerialKiller. A doctor from Germany, Hensig murders his wife and enjoys the publicity that follows, gloating that he will be found not guilty to the reporter Williams, who is highly disturbed by Hensig. After his acquittal, Hensig proceeds to stalk and terrorize Williams, where it is revealed Hensig is a killer with a multitude of bodies behind him, thanks to being such a genius bacteriologist that his murders are passed off as normal illness. Hensig enjoys murder for its own sake, eventually cornering Williams to infect him with Black Typhus in retribution for trying to convict him.
* ''[[Literature/TheGreatBrain Me and My Little Brain]]'': Cal Roberts is the murderous head of a gang of cattle rustlers infamous for never leaving a witness at the scene of his crimes. After a killing spree that ended in his arrest due to accidentally leaving a man alive, he vowed to break out of prison and [[RageAgainstTheLegalSystem murder the judge, prosecutor, and foreman of the jury]] who oversaw his trial. After he and his men break out of prison and kill two guards in the process, Cal and his posse descend upon Adenville so he can make good on his threats. After his attempt to murder the judge through hanging fails and his attempt on the district attorney's life ends in a shootout that kills his posse, he hides in the barn belonging to protagonist J.D. Fitzgerald's father and takes his adopted four-year-old son Frankie hostage. Since J.D. and Frankie's father was the jury's foreman and his final target, he opts to make him suffer as opposed to killing him by planning to ride around town while holding Frankie at gunpoint so he can prove that he got one over on the men who bought him to justice. And despite promising leave Frankie unharmed, he truthfully planned on [[WouldHurtAChild murdering the boy]] and ditching his corpse on his way to the Mexican border.
* ''Literature/MeddlingKids'': [[BigBad Damian/Daniel/Dunia Deboën]], architect of the Deboën house and immortal cultist, has tried no less than thrice to awaken the Lovecraftian entity [[EldritchAbomination Thtaggoa]]. A {{necromancer}} who tortured the souls of the dead to obtain dark knowledge, Deboën filled up a "personal library" of bodies he'd stolen for his own personal use. The first attempt at his ritual awoke the monstrous wheezers beneath Blyton Falls, putting the entire population at risk for decades; failing the first ritual, Deboën deliberately constructed a ScoobyDooHoax in his second attempt to use the five young members of the Blyton Summer Detective Club as sacrificial pawns, traumatizing the children forever. When finally confronted again by the grown-up Detective Club years later and asked why he wants to end the world, all Deboēn is proffer is "[[ForTheEvulz fuck it, I just want to see what happens!]]"
* ''Literature/{{Meg}}'': Michael Maren was nasty in ''The Trench,'' but his actions in ''Primal Waters'' are downright horrifying. He makes a fake competition all to lure the hero Jonas in so he can use his pet Megalodon Scarface to take his revenge for Jonas getting famous from the Megalodons, fully knowing that hundreds of people will likely be killed in the process. He has absolutely no remorse about this, nor does he give a darn when that shark eats his Dragon. He fully plans to involve Jonas's innocent family as well and has zero remorse in causing the deaths of hundreds in return for revenge, money and fame.
* ''Megalodon in Paradise'', by Hunter Shea: [[MadScientist Dr. Mueller]] is a former [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] war criminal and the creator of the {{Megalodon}}. Forming a way to keep his creation under control, so that it needs to ingest a certain chemical, Mueller provides it by injecting prisoners with it, causing unspeakable agony before they are [[FedToTheBeast fed to the shark]], a process he continues for years until running out of former Nazis. With a storm approaching and dying of radiation poisoning, [[TakingYouWithMe Mueller]] opts to inject himself to bait his creation into breaking out to devour him, knowing it will annihilate their facility and be unleashed upon the unsuspecting world.
* ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'': Pryrates is an EvilSorcerer whose only established motivation is the thirst for knowledge -- all knowledge, no matter how dark or forbidden. He first shows up as a junior member of the League of the Scroll, a group devoted to preserving ancient knowledge against the possible return of the [[BigBad Storm King]]. When Cadrach, a fellow member, unearths ''[[TomeOfEldritchLore du Svardenvyrd]]'', a forbidden book containing a prophecy of the Storm King's return, Pryrates tortures and {{Mind Rape}}s him for its secrets. He then ensnares King Elias in a web of deception, posing as a trusted adviser who can help him [[{{Necromantic}} communicate with the spirit of his dead wife]], but instead leading him into [[DealWithTheDevil selling his soul to the Storm King]] for the promise of immortality. He provokes Elias to war with any who threaten this goal, including his own brother, whom he captures and attempts to sacrifice. To further his plot, and out of personal pride, he personally murders the Lector of the church of Usires Aedon (equivalent to the Pope). His quest for power is not stopped until he finds out that [[EvilIsNotAToy betraying the Storm King]] is not a good idea. And if this weren't enough, his EstablishingCharacterMoment is crushing a puppy to death beneath his boot while the hero is watching, just because he can.
* ''Literature/MercyThompson'': Mercedes "Mercy" Thompson lives in a dark, UnmasquedWorld of the supernatural. That said, of the various monsters and evils that inhabit it, these are the worst:
** ''Blood Bound'': [[EvilSorcerer Cory Littleton]] is a psychopathic vampire and practitioner of the dark arts. Even before becoming a vampire, Littleton was already a murderer and discovered a way to symbiotically bond to a demon, allowing him to wreak the death and mayhem he desires. Littleton is a fan of [[MindRape violating the minds of his victims]] by making them experience his murders and will also torture people to death [[ForTheEvulz just for giggles]]. After being unleashed, Littelton [[SpreeKiller spreads]] a HatePlague across the Tri-Cities which causes people to fight each other and increases anger levels, resulting in the deaths of dozens of innocents. Littleton fully intends to continue his killing spree for eternity to satisfy his love of inflicting pain.
** ''Frost Burned'': The wicked [[{{Necromancer}} William Frost]], the most deadly vampire that Mercy has faced, is a master vampire out to usurp control from other Seethes. With his MO being to foster rebellions, kill humans and take over by killing the Masters, Frost is also a powerful necromancer who keeps his victims' souls [[AndIMustScream bound in horrific pain and torment]]. When he requires a boost, Frost simply [[SoulEating devours their unwilling souls]] to empower himself. Intending on forming a vampire army, Frost intends to purge humanity and reign over what remains himself.
** ''Fire Touched'': [[TheVamp The Widow Queen]] otherwise known as Neuth the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Black Queen]], is one of the Gray Lords. A powerful [[TheFairFolk fae]] who glories in enslaving men to her via seduction, the Widow Queen lures them and all around them to ruin to feed her power. and also for food. [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulating]] the broken Aiden into bringing her an artifact to enhance her power, the Widow Queen intends on taking over the fae and [[KillAllHumans wiping out humanity]], while also making humanity fall on itself and wipe each other out while she benefits.
** ''Alpha and Omega'' offshoot series:
*** ''Fair Game'': [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Travis Heuter]] and his nephew, [[KillerCop CNTRP agent Les Heuter]] are a pair of far-right {{serial killer}}s targeting fae and werewolves, but will in truth target anyone they consider "trash". The two abduct women, [[SerialRapist rape]] and torture them, before hunting them for sport, and have been doing so for a long, long time, their victims even including children. During the course of the novel, they abduct Lizzie Beuclaire, daughter of the Gray Lord Alistair, and rape and maim her, intending on murdering her like their other victims, even kidnapping heroine Anna with intent on doing the same to her. Depraved and without any loyalty to one another, Les promptly murders his uncle to [[WoundedGazelleGambit claim he was a victim in the affair]], spending his entire trial for murder completely amused and unremorseful.
*** ''Dead Heat'': [[LivingDollCollector The Doll Collector]] is an ancient and evil [[TheFairFolk fae]] who preys on [[WouldHurtAChild children]], and is feared even by other fae. The Doll Collector's MO is to kidnap young girls and dress them up as dolls, keeping them in statis while [[LifeDrinker draining them of life]]. After AYearAndADay when their life is worn out, the Doll Collector kills them and adds their rotting corpses to her collection; she has done this for centuries. After being de-powered by the Gray Lords, she goes into hiding, only to restart her killing spree after being unleashed in Salt Lake City. Targeting the local Alpha's five-year-old great-great-granddaughter Mackie, the Doll Collector mind-controls Mackie's mother into trying to kill both her and her children but is stopped. After her collection is found, the Doll Collector, in desperation, murders Mackie's mother and kidnaps her to rebuild it, and in the final battle kills Mackie's father, proving herself a monster even to her final breath.
* ''Mess Hall'': In this short story by Creator/RichardLaymon, [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname the Reaper]], a {{sadist}}ic and [[WouldHitAGirl misogynistic]] SerialKiller stalking the Portland area, [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduces himself]] to the heroine Jean by [[BoomHeadshot blasting her boyfriend's head off with a shotgun]]. A violent, manipulative psychopath, the Reaper abducts young women, taking them to his private "mess hall" in his wilderness before [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing them to death]] at his leisure, and intends to make Jean his latest victim. Before this, he tends to play cruel mind games with them to let it set in how hopeless their situation is. The Reaper's handiwork is witnessed further in the undead bodies of his previous victims who come calling for payback, with all of them having been tortured and violently mutilated.
* ''Messenger'', by Edward Lee: Aldezhor the [[AntagonistTitle Messenger]] is a FallenAngel tasked with spreading the Devil's message of "atrocity [and] abomination" on Earth. Corrupting and possessing those who come into contact with his [[ArtifactOfDoom cursed bell striker]], Aldezhor uses them to commit horrifying acts of rape, torture, and murder before having them kill themselves. Aldezhor prefers to use [[GoingPostal postal workers]] as hosts out of a sadistic sense of irony, and after breaking a post office manager with sickening images of his daughter in Hell, he uses the man to spread his influence to others. Through various hosts, Aldezhor massacres scores of people in a series of savage mass murders, [[CallingCard leaving his symbol written in blood]] at each crime scene. Lusting after the heroine Jane, Aldezhor desires to rape her once on Earth and forever in Hell, hoping to use her lover's body to rape and kill her in front of her children before murdering them as well.
* ''Literature/MexicanGothic'': Howard Doyle, the owner of High Place, is a former [[CorruptCorporateExecutive magnate]] who worked many of the local Mexican populace as slaves unto death. Finding a fungus that grew there, Howard sacrificed [[TilMurderDoUsPart his wife]] Agnes to be the breeding point of the fungus, murdering the priest, [[WouldHurtAChild infants]] in HumanSacrifice and burning workers alive. Surviving by transferring his mind to male descendants and erasing them, while using women as abused [[BreedingSlave breeding stock]], Howard intends to force heroine Noemi to be part of his family to bear more children to live on eternally.
* ''Literature/MichaelVey'' series: [[BigBad Dr. C(harles). James Hatch]] is an egotistical, [[WouldHurtAChild child-abusing]] man who ruthlessly exploits the power of electric children called Glows, holding many of their families--and often just murdering them--in order to use them in his terrorist exploits, among them taking down populated jet liners and invading countries. Anyone he has no use for, be they his own minions or his own associates, are sent to the Rat Bowl to be horribly devoured alive. A complete {{sadist}}, Hatch hacks off the tongue of the prime minster of a country he's just taken over; offers one of the protagonists as a SexSlave in exchange for betraying the resistance; and later has the resistance itself located and almost totally massacred, save one survivor that Hatch spares purely to use as leverage against Michael's father [[BigGood Carl Vey]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|Image}}: The Time Traveler trilogy'', by Steve Lyons (based on the Creator/ImageComics run):
** Book 1: Ordaal is a manipulative [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slave driver]] and [[OrganTheft organ harvester]] who arrives on Earth seemingly in peace, pulling the population of Angel's Gift into partnership while truthfully butchering its inhabitants one by one and harvesting their organs to be sold on the Microspace BlackMarket. Ordaal runs a "circus" of various aliens he has enslaved as entertainment for the citizens of the town, all while torturing and even executing some of them if they step out of line. Allying with the [[CorruptPolitician mayor]] of Angel's Gift, Ordaal abuses and threatens the man into allowing Ordaal's evil to be perpetrated, personally killing a large number of the man's security staff for the pettiest of reasons before trying to flee Earth with an entire group of humans as hostages for him to butcher later, and kills his way through a street of innocents blocking his path to escape before being stopped.
** Book 2: Maruunus Ki [[EvilOverlord assumes command of Micropolis]] in Baron Karza's absence, and proves to be a near-equally depraved ruler. Enslaving the citizens of Micropolis through brute force and addicting them to his virtual reality tech called "the System", Ki subjects the billions of innocents to starvation and hard labor, torturing and killing any who try to stand up to his rule. When the heroic Acroyear tries to take down Ki, Ki uses his minion Persephone to manipulate Acroyear into falling in love with her, only to later reveal the truth and viciously mock the hero over it. Ki ultimately betrays his entire planet to be afflicted by an alien plague, setting himself up in a secure bunker and slaughtering anyone who knows its location so he can outlive the plague while bragging that the millions who die are replaceable peasants.
* ''Midnight'', by Creator/DeanKoontz: Thomas Shaddack is a brilliant computer scientist who is [[TheUnfettered experimenting for ways to remove human restraint and morality]]. Having [[SelfMadeOrphan murdered his family]] to "free" himself at a young age, Shaddack's experiments result in people being turned into feral, bestial monsters that murder anyone who gets too close to Shaddack's experiments. Shaddack's ultimate plan is to use this process on all of humanity to indulge every twisted desire he's ever had, and even leaves a DeadMansSwitch to kill all his victims should Shaddack's own heart ever stop.
* ''Literature/TheMidnightLibrary'':
** ''Voices''' "An Apple A Day": [[EvilOldFolks Old Bill Cole]] is the CrankyNeighbor of Tim Barrett's grandmother and turns out to be hiding a truly horrific secret. After Tim gets too close to his prized apple orchard, Cole furiously reprimands him and his grandmother, going so far as to taunt them over Tim's missing grandfather. When Tim vandalizes his orchard in revenge, he eats one of the apples, only to discover he is [[MutagenicFood slowly mutating]] into [[{{Transflormation}} an apple tree]]. When Tim goes to Cole's desperate for answers, he discovers far too late that the old man's orchard is made up of dozens of poor souls who ingested his apples, among them [[WouldHurtAChild many other children]], as well as his grandfather. Cole than watches with a cruel smile as the boy transforms into the newest addition to his orchard.
** ''The Whisperer'''s "Gabriel": [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Gabriel]] is a handsome, brooding student who Samantha initially suspects of being a vampire. [[ActuallyNotAVampire In truth]], he is an ancient, [[SoulEating soul-eating]] demon who claims to be feared even by vampires, and uses his [[BitchInSheepsClothing friendly persona]] to lure the girl into his clutches. As Gabriel feeds on Samantha, she glimpses the millions of souls Gabriel has consumed over the years, [[AndIMustScream all trapped in the demon's body and writhing in eternal agony]].
** ''Dream Demon'''s "Carnival Dance": [[Myth/MayanMythology Ah Puch]], the wicked [[EverybodyHatesHades God of Death]], demanded HumanSacrifice and tried to slaughter the Mayan civilization before he was banished by the other Gods. Centuries later, Ah Puch [[DemonicPossession possesses]] a young man through an antique mask he ordered for a parade and enslaves his friend, forcing the boy to become a puppet for his own amusement and [[KickTheDog kill several of the birds he loves]]. Ah Puch soon reveals himself at the parade as he gleefully draws "the Breath of Life" from the hundreds of people attending before moving onto ravage the world again.
* ''Literature/MidnightMass2004'':
** Father Alberto Palmeri, the EvilCounterpart to [[BadassPreacher Father Joe]], is a former PedophilePriest turned vampire. Before the events of the book, he molested numerous children--with increasing frequency towards the end of his human life-- at St. Anthony's Church, and managed to get away with it because an altar boy had fingered Joe as the molester. When the plague of vampirism that had been ravaging the world hit New Jersey, his first course of action was to [[DirtyCoward hide in the nuns' convent]]. After being found by a group of [[TheRenfield cowboys]] and turned by a [[MonsterProgenitor Prime]] vampire named Gregor, he took up the role of SinisterMinister in a desecrated St. Anthony's, performing gruesome rituals that involve the [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice of humans]] to his undead congregation. During the assault on the purified St. Anthony's, he attempts to turn Joe, dangling his friend, the rabbi, Zev, over the church balcony and just above a wooden stake, [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure threatening to drop him if he refuses]].
** [[BigBad Franco]] is the VampireMonarch of New York. He oversees the [[PeopleFarms blood ranches]], where human women as young as fifteen are rounded up by cowboys who earned enough "brownie points" for "stud time", which involves the rape and impregnation of the women in order to replenish the vampires' depleted blood source for future generations. After his meeting with Joe, he feeds him to a mindless feral vampire named Jason Devlin who he keeps as a pet in the hopes of Joe being left with even less sapience than Devlin. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain This plan backfires]] when Joe's wounds are cauterized by the sun when Lacey and Carole go out to the beach to bury him, but he's left fighting to retain his humanity for the remainder of the novel.
** James Barrett is a [[EliteMook high-ranking cowboy]] and TheRenfield to Franco. Where most other cowboys are horny, ignorant {{corrupt hick}}s who [[ImmortalityImmorality want to become vampires]] at worst and desperate {{punch clock villain}}s trying to protect their families at best, Barrett is a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalistic]] CorruptCorporateExecutive who treats Franco's empire like a business. When he first sees Joe naked, he examines the flesh on his body with the hopes of getting to cook and eat it. At the climax of the book, when it looks like Joe is about to throw Franco out into the sun, Barrett comes out holding Sister Carole at knifepoint, bargaining to let her live if Joe lets go of Franco.
* ''Literature/MillenniumSeries'':
** ''The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'':
*** [[FauxAffablyEvil Martin Vanger]] is a polite, charming CEO who uses his position in society to cover up the fact that he is a SerialKiller and rapist of women, kidnapping them and spending days raping and torturing them before ending their lives. Martin has been committing his atrocities for decades, and his victim count handily reaches into the hundreds. Even worse is the reveal that Martin was raised to be a killer by his equally repulsive father, Gottfried, and though potentially tragic, it is made explicitly clear that Martin just enjoys raping and killing, made all the more obvious by turning [[VillainousIncest his own sister]] into his personal sex and torture slave after his father is out of the picture. Martin tries to subject Mikael Blomkvist to the same torments of his previous victims in the end, and simply excuses his crimes by proclaiming it is his hobby and he is living a "complete life".
*** [[SerialKiller Gottfried Vanger]] is a fanatical [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Nazi]] with an obsession for mimicking and mocking the Bible. Gottfried murdered more than 6 women in horrific ways [[ThemeSerialKiller resembling punishments from the Book of Leviticus]], always subjecting them to brutal rape and torture beforehand. Be it by bashing their skulls in or raping them to death with farming tools, Gottfried perpetrated his acts with zeal, and took his own personal sadism to such a level that he [[AbusiveParents sexually abused his own son and daughter]], helping the former--Martin--realize his love for killing while turning the latter--Harriet--into his toy to be tortured until he finally tired of this and attempted to [[OffingTheOffspring murder her]].
** ''The Girl Who Played with Fire'' & ''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest'': Alexander "Zala" Zalachenko is a Russian agent who took refuge in Sweden. Because of his high importance to the government, Zalachenko was allowed to do anything he wanted. His favorite activity was [[DomesticAbuse abusing his wife]]. He would often torture or beat her in front of their daughter. The last time, he beat her so bad he left her with severe brain damage, which resulted in his daughter, who we find out is Lisbeth, burning Zala alive in retribution. Surviving with hideous wounds, Zala became the leader of a powerful {{human traffick|ers}}ing ring where girls were forced into prostitution. Having many, many women sold into {{sex slave}}ry or killed when their value diminished, Zala also had multiple murders committed by his [[TheDragon nightmarishly powerful son]], and when he found out his daughter's location, he spared no expense to murder anyone in his path to torture her to death himself.
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'': [[AbusiveParents Monsieur Thénardier]] is a greedy innkeeper who accepts guardianship of little Cosette from her mother, Fantine, while [[WouldHurtAChild beating the poor girl]] and [[FosteringForProfit using her to extort money from Fantine]], resulting in Fantine prostituting herself and eventually falling sick and dying. After losing his inn, Thénardier prostitutes his own daughters and even has one, Azelma, mutilate her hand to make her a more effective and sympathetic beggar. Not above murder, Thénardier happily tries to kill both Jean Valjean and Javert at different points, even threatening to torture the former with a hot poker. Even when driven from France by Marius Pontmercy, Thénardier simply sets up shop in America as a slave trader to further profit from human misery. Be he a con artist, [[RobbingTheDead grave robber]], or attempted murderer, there is no low Thénardier will not sink to for [[{{Greed}} the sake of profit]].
* ''Missing'', by Kelley Armstrong: [[BigBad Kendrick]] and his partner [[TheDragon Roscoe]] are a pair of born-bad {{serial killer}}s who have innocent girls [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunted]] and mauled by their feral dogs, before Kendrick and Roscoe finish killing them. Discovering his children who had been taken in by his sister, Kendrick, with help from Roscoe, tries to [[TheCorrupter corrupt them]] into killers like themselves, with Kendrick personally executing the girlfriend of one of his sons, Lennon, when he refuses to be like him. Viewing his children and family as weak, Kendrick tries to force Lennon into killing his brother's girlfriend Winter Crane, and when he refuses, tries to murder him in front of his sister with Roscoe gunning Kendrick's sister down as well. Viewing brutality and killing as his calling, Kendrick even encourages Winter to kill him in order to fully experience the immense joy he and Roscoe feel from inflicting death, hoping to corrupt her.
* ''[[Literature/TheMissing2010 The Missing]]'', by Jane Casey: [[DomesticAbuse Derek Keane]] was a heinous SerialRapist who had been assaulting women for years before apparently settling down with a family. In truth just using his family his family and a position as a local youth leader as cover, Derek moved onto [[WouldHurtAChild abusing and molesting countless children]], including his own son Daniel. When one of his victims, Daniel's best friend Charlie, fought back hard enough during an attempt to abuse him, Derek killed the boy, blamed Daniel, and forced Daniel to help him hide the body. Derek would later [[TilMurderDoUsPart murder]] his abused wife when she tried to stand up to him, and though eventually killed by Daniel, Derek's evil stained the town for decades, his burial spot for Charlie revealed by police to likely contain even more victims who Derek had [[SerialKiller taken to killing as further depravity]].
* "Literature/MisterIceCold", by Creator/GahanWilson: [[AntagonistTitle The title character]] is a serial-killing ChildEater under the guise of a [[BadHumorTruck jovial ice-cream man]], having [[WouldHurtAChild claimed dozens of young victims]] and stored their frozen bodies in the back of his truck. When the main character discovers Ice-Cold's stash, he calmly taunts the terrified child before sending them on their way, later tracking them down to turn them into another frozen snack.
* "[[Creator/DavidMitchellAuthor Mitchellverse]]":
** ''Literature/TheThousandAutumnsOfJacobDeZoet'': [[SinisterMinister Lord Abbot Enomoto]] has his monks impregnate the nuns at Mount Shiranui Shrine and then has them and Abbess Izu take their babies away and [[WouldHurtAChild murder them]], keeping up the illusion they're alive via letters. If that wasn't enough, he deceives the nuns into thinking that they will be released from the shrine after 20 years of service. Instead, his master monks give them a drug that kills them on the way down the mountain and they end up buried in numbered graves, all to eliminate loose ends so that Enomoto can use the [[HumanResources blood of the babies]] in a tonic to [[ImmortalityImmorality perpetuate his life and youth]].
** ''Literature/TheBoneClocks'': [[DragonInChief Immaculée Constantin]] was the second member of the Anchorites, a group that [[SoulEater drank people's souls]], particularly [[WouldHurtAChild children]] and the mentally disabled, to fuel their [[ImmortalityImmorality immortality]]. After being rejected by a 7-year-old Holly Sykes, Constantin bore a grudge. Corrupting Hugo Lamb, Holly's one-time lover, Constantin directs him to perform unsavory crimes, such as torturing Crispin Hershey for information on Esther Little, Constantin laughing in the distance. Right before the final battle, Constantin mocks Holly on her age, makes a crude joke about her relationship with Hugo, threatens to murder her family so Holly will "howl with regret" and pulls other petty jabs. When she reveals to Sadaqat that they lied about letting him join the Anchorites-with [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain casual racism]] to boot-she gleefully murders him. Complicit in the deaths of hundreds to fuel her lust for immortality and with a sadistic streak she takes pride in, Constantin was the face and the worst of the Anchorites.
** ''Literature/SladeHouse'': Jonah Grayer resides in the titular Slade House [[CreepyTwins with his twin sister Norah]]. Having murdered Léon Cantillon in the past for trying to publish an autobiography of him and his sister that [[HeKnowsTooMuch revealed their true nature]], Jonah murders an Engifted person every nine years alongside his sister and [[YourSoulIsMine uses their soul]] to [[ImmortalityImmorality perpetuate their immortality]], with Jonah and his sister frequently [[MindRape playing mind games]] with the victim beforehand. Over the course of the novel, Jonah murders several people, including a young teen, alongside his sister.
* ''Literature/{{Mithgar}}'':
** ''Literature/TheIronTower'': [[BigBad Modru]] is [[GodOfEvil Gyphon]]'s [[TheDragon right-hand man]] and, as Gyphon is mostly inactive, is Gyphon's most active agent in Mithgar, nearly bringing the world to ruin during the War of the Ban. Five thousand years later, Modru instigated the Winter War as part of a plot to free Gyphon, sending [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Vulgs]] to raid the Boskydells, and a horde of his ''Spaunen'' to raze Challerain Keep. Controlling his armies by projecting his will through [[MouthOfSauron brain-damaged mind slaves]] and [[BadBoss executing any minions who defy him]], Modru spread warfare to every corner of Mithgar, from the Boskydells--where his Ghuls torch dozens of towns and butcher numerous families, including those of protagonists Tuck and Merrilee--to the far south, and makes it clear to the captive Princess Laurelain that in the event of his victory, he will exterminate the Warrows, enslave the Elves and Dwarves, and burn her father and all his subjects in a single great funeral pyre. When Elven Lord Vanidor tries to rescue Laurelain, Modru has him racked to death, [[ForcedToWatch forcing Laurelain to watch]]. When Tuck attempts to free her, Modru beats him near to death with an iron bar. In the end, Modru attempts to sacrifice Laurelain to ensure Gyphon's return, gloating that while he could have used anyone's blood to feed his master, [[ForTheEvulz it amused him]] to use that of "a royal damosel".
** ''The Eye of the Hunter'': [[BigBad Baron Bela Stoke]] is a sickening fusion of [[AristocratsAreEvil evil aristocrat]], {{necromancer}}, MadScientist, and TortureTechnician. His standard MO is to move into a region whose people are unfamiliar with him and begin abducting the locals so he can perform horrific, Mengele-esque experiments on them until they die--with the addition of potions that both increase painful sensations and keep victims alive longer than naturally possible--and then uses their corpses in his necromantic rites. He keeps this up for centuries, leaving a swath of gruesome murders behind him while racking up a body count at least in the hundreds, possibly into the thousands. At the end of the novel, he reanimates the corpses of his victims into a legion of undead warriors he intends to use to conquer the world, apparently just for fun, and indicates that he'd murder his own father--and mentor--Ydral if he felt it necessary.
** ''Silver Wolf, Black Falcon'':
*** [[BigBad Ydral]] is [[TheDragon the chief servant]] of the evil Gyphon after Modru's death. With a legacy of evil going back millennia, Ydral is a vicious half-fiend who murdered the best friend of hero Aravan, and fathered the evil Baron Bela Stoke via the rape of Bela's mother. Ydral taught Bela all about torture and murder before abandoning him, later resurfacing to mentor Kutsen Yong of the Golden Horde and driving him to horrific atrocities while conducting blood sacrifices on titanic levels, all while torturing his victims to death. Ydral later abandons Kutsen Yong after killing countless innocents to dedicate temples to Gyphon, trying to summon Gyphon with blood sacrifices to devastate the world, all so Ydral can rule over what's left.
*** [[RapePillageAndBurn Kutsen Yong]] leads the Golden Horde on a campaign of violent slaughter, massacring entire lands and cities and establishing brutal rules that result in countless innocents of all ages executed. Seeking to become the mortal regent of Gyphon, Kutsne Yong has countless innocents sacrificed and delivered to Ydral while taking possession of the dragonstone to force dragons to raze entire cities. When he learns of Mithgar and its high king, Kutsen Yong's [[ItsAllAboutMe ego]] demands he ride to destroy Mithgar in a titanic war, Kutsen Yong willing to stop at nothing to dominate the world and bring for Gyphon to make him the supreme king of all he dreams.
* ''Literature/ModernFaerieTales'': Of all the wicked [[TheFairFolk fae]] to inhabit this universe, these are the worst:
** The original trilogy's ''Valiant'': [[MadArtist Mabry(n)]], a spy of the Unseelie Court (Night Fae Court), uses her position to [[FrameUp frame loyal members of her own court]] and watch them be executed [[ForTheEvulz to amuse herself]], then uses her magical harp to replay monologues of their deaths to enjoy time and again. While sent to spy on the Seelie Court (Bright Fae Court), Mabry tricks Ravus into killing his friend after the latter catches on to her status as a spy, leading to Ravus's banishment from the Seelie Court along with Mabry. Gaining a petty obsession with getting back at Ravus for the banishment despite being the one who actually caused it, she [[SerialKiller kills]] dozens of innocent faeries with poison and frames Ravus for it. Mabry then critically wounds him. Plotting to aid in starting a civil war, when Mabry is confronted by [[TheHeroine Valerie Russell]], she boasts of planning to kill her best friend and using his bones to craft a new accursed harp.
** ''Literature/TheDarkestPartOfTheForest'': [[EvilOverlord The Alderking]] is the [[ArchnemesisDad father]] of Severin, and an evil fae who murdered Severin's mother and [[AbusiveParents horrifically abused]] Severin himself, alongside his "sister" Sorrel whom the Alderking kidnapped from the Court of the East upon his exile. The Alderking had Severin murder Sorrel's own human husband, which drove Sorrel into such a wrath she was twisted into a monster called Sorrow, which the Alderking then enslaved using a ring forged from the bones of his former "daughter's" murdered husband. Now [[AmbitionIsEvil aspiring]] to conquer the Court again, the Alderking appoints the human child Hazel Evans as his soldier for seven years of her life, using her to try and lock away Severin in a glass casket for eternity and attempting to massacre Hazel's home village of Fairfold in revenge for her defiance, reveling in the litany of cruelties he and his servants will visit on every human and fae in Fairfold alike.
** ''Literature/TheFolkOfTheAir'': [[TheEvilPrince Prince Balekin Greenbriar]] desires the throne of Elfhame from his father, King Eldred. A psychopath from a young age, Balekin [[BigBrotherBully beat and abused his younger brother Cardan]] for his entire life, even trying to force him to kill someone, and when his father favors his other sibling Dain as his heir, launches a coup against him, personally murdering his family with only Cardan surviving. Imprisoned for his crimes, Balekin allies with the undersea and helps them lay siege to the land and its populace, kidnaps heroine Jude Duarte and has her [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] for weeks in order to break her into his pet assassin and only allows her return if Cardan forces his subjects to not fight back as he unleashes the undersea to slaughter many civilians, with Balekin targeting the court of King Roiben in particular due to a petty grudge, nearly having Roiben's consort [[ManOnFire burned alive]] out of spite. Balekin even tries to kill Cardan by poisoning him with a deadly drug and then [[FrameUp frame Jude for the crime]], willing to do anything to get the throne for himself.
* ''Literature/{{Mogworld}}'': [[SmallNameBigEgo Simon Townshend]] is the incompetent new developer at Loincloth Entertainment. Initially dismissed by his peers as an incompetent boob, Simon discovers that the [=NPCs=] of ''[[{{MMORPG}} Mogworld]]'' have attained sapience, after using the Deleters to destroy Lord Dreadgrave's fortress and almost everyone inside. Simon allows [[FateWorseThanDeath the Syndrome]] to continue despite knowing they're sapient; empowers [[TheDragon Barry]], a priest with severe anger issues, to be his Herald; and allows him to subjugate and torture those under his command, aiming to take over Mogworld where, as Lord Si-Mon, he implements mandatory worship of himself. Simon uses his [[TheCracker hacking]] abilities to take away fellow developer Dub's access to the building, trying to ruin his life out of spite, and then tries to use Barry to steal money from Loincloth's payroll after torturing one of the protagonists by deleting her limbs one by one.
* ''Literature/TheMonarchiesOfGod'': [[BigBad Aruan]], an [[EvilSorcerer ancient sorcerer]] and [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]] who made a kingdom of the mysterious western continent, desires to subjugate all of the kingdoms of the world into his slaves or to obliterate them if he cannot control them. Fomenting a holy war amongst he Ramusian kingdoms by causing a schism in the church, Aruan also uses his werewolf agents to murder many people while corrupting others into his agents. In the final book, Aruan steps from the shadows, having entire cities slaughtered by his lycanthropes if they resist him in his quest to reign as the supreme being.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'':
** Dale J. Biederbeck III, aka [[FatBastard Dale "the Whale"]], is an overweight, wealthy sociopath who serves as Adrian Monk's [[ArchEnemy most personal, recurring foe]]. So rich that he sacrifices millions in exchange for ruining the lives of others just for spite and fun, Dale's [[Recap/MonkS1E3MrMonkMeetsDaleTheWhale first appearance]] sees him orchestrate the murder of a judge who crossed him in the past via beating her to death with a baseball bat. Though put in prison for this crime, Dale [[Recap/MonkS2E16MrMonkGoesToJail later]] kills one of his own partners and frames Monk for it, then [[Recap/MonkS6E15MrMonkIsOnTheRun schemes]] to bomb a parade and kill the Governor of California so as to facilitate his release, uncaring of the innocents who will die in the bombing. Dale returns one final time in the novel ''Literature/MrMonkGetsEven'', where Dale uses an [[MonsterFangirl acolyte fangirl]] to cause a horrific traffic accident that kills four people and leaves dozens in critical condition before having her kill herself in his name, all as part of an elaborate attempt to escape custody. Dale never passes on a chance to psychologically torture and sadistically mock anyone vulnerable he can, and [[CardCarryingVillain happily embraces]] being called an "odious, gluttonous, putrid freak of nature."
** ''Literature/MrMonkAndTheTwoAssistants'': [[MadArtist Ian Ludlow]] is a {{narcissist}}ic crime novelist who gets "inspiration" for his books by befriending his fans, murdering them, then participating in the ensuing investigations so as to [[FrameUp frame]] "the least likely suspect" for the crimes. Ludlow has killed at least five people over the years, always pinning the murders on total innocents and getting them locked away, and continues his spree in the present as he kills another fan by bashing her skull in. After murdering another man by ripping him apart while drowning him, Ludlow tries to frame Monk's closest friends and assistants, Sharona and Natalie, as the killers just to torment Monk and make a more interesting "twist" for the book he plans to write.
** ''Literature/MrMonkOnTheRoad'': [[SiblingsInCrime The Zarkin sisters]], Bessie, Gertie, and Mabel, are a trio of life-loving, quirky [[EvilOldFolks old women]] who have been traveling along the United States. In reality, the Zarkin sisters [[ThrillSeeker have as much zeal for death as life]], having murdered people across the country for years while Bessie [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether uses her son as a proxy]] to regularly commit hit-and-runs states away. The Zarkin sisters have the highest body count of any killer Adrian has ever put away, with dozens of [[CreepySouvenir knickknacks]] seen in their trailer, each a trophy from an individual victim.
** ''Literature/MrMonkOnTheCouch'': Rico Ramirez is [[AxCrazy a savage animal of a thug]] responsible for a series of violent assaults years ago to get away with a couch full of diamonds. Released on bail from his initial imprisonment, Ramirez rampages in an effort to track the diamonds down, unnecessarily and brutally murdering two people who had bought the couch. Ramirez then tracks down his old girlfriend and tortures her to death, working at her with a knife and cigarettes before finally asphyxiating her. Ramirez is finally interrupted in the process of a furious attempted fourth murder.
* ''Literature/TheMonk'':
** [[VillainProtagonist Ambrosio, the titular character]], is a [[SinisterMinister proud monk]] led to sin who plunges headlong into cruelty, sadism and depravity. Ambrosio delves into BlackMagic and the worship of the devil after his seduction by Matilda, arranging for murder and kidnapping the object of his lust, murdering her mother in the process. Ambrosio remorselessly rapes Antonia, later murdering her as well to conceal his crime. Devoid of true remorse, Ambrosio later sells his own soul to Satan to escape justice for his crimes, his only attempts at redemption self-serving falsehoods, leaving him irrevocably damned and irredeemable.
** {{Satan}}, the Fiend himself, is the author of all the misery of the novel. Sending the temptress Matilda to tempt Ambrosio while leading others to pain and ruination, Satan oversees the ruination of Ambrosio and helps to [[TheCorrupter lure him into sin, depravity and dark magic]]. Making himself party to the rape of the innocent Antonia, Satan sways Ambrosio and manipulates him into murdering Antonia's mother before having him rape and eventually murder Antonia as well. Later [[DealWithTheDevil tricking Ambrosio into signing over his soul]], the Fiend gleefully reveals that Elvira and Antonia were Ambrosio's [[{{Matricide}} mother]] and [[SurpriseIncest sister]], and sentences him to an agonizing death before claiming his damned soul.
* ''Monsters of Verity'': This duology by Victoria Schwab, set in the [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] city of Verity, is plagued by these figurative and literal monsters facing off against [[ReluctantMonster August Flynn]] and [[MafiaPrincess Kate Harker]]:
** [[BigBad Sloan]] is a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Malachi]] who stands out as a [[AxCrazy total psychopath]] even by the standards of his own bloodthirsty race. Acting as Callum Harker's right-hand man, Sloan [[YouKilledMyFather murders Kate Harker's mother]] and years later tries to force Kate's LoveInterest August Flynn into killing her in order to spark a bloody war to put him on top. After Callum Harker's demise, Sloan, as the new leader of North City, launches bloody attacks on South City and becomes obsessed with besting Kate, kidnapping innocent women who resemble her and then torturing them to death for fun. Sloan and his right-hand woman Alice create the Fangs, humans who he's drugged and tortured into loyal servants and unleashes them unto the population. Having no loyalty to even his own kind, Sloan ruthlessly murders them for no reason, and plans to eventually off Alice herself when she outlives her use. Discovering the monstrous Chaos-Eater, Sloan intends to unleash it into the most populated part of the south of the city so that it may destroy his resistance and kill hundreds, just to bask in the glow of his love for his own sadism.
** ''This Savage Song'': [[EvilOverlord Callum Harker]] is Kate Harker's [[ArchnemesisDad father]] and a former mob boss who took over North City of Verity and proves himself to be worse than most other monsters. Enslaving the bloodthirsty Malachi and Corsai, Harker unleashes them on the city in order to take over, killing hundreds of innocents in his bid for conquest. After a peace deal allows Harker control of North City, he creates an [[CrapsackWorld environment of lawlessness and crime]] there, which causes his wife to flee with their daughter Kate. Callum then coldly sends Sloan to retrieve Kate, shrugging off his wife's death, which occurs as a result of Sloan. When the years of peace threaten his position as top dog, Harker puts out a hit on his [[OffingTheOffspring once beloved daughter Kate]] and tries to force her LoveInterest August Flynn into killing Kate, allowing him a pretense to restart the war which would result in the deaths of hundreds, willing to throw every redeeming quality out of his away if it puts him on top.
* ''Literature/MorganvilleVampires'': The [[TownWithADarkSecret town of Morganville]] and its vampire citizens represent BlackAndGrayMorality, with the following representing the blackest:
** [[TheDreaded Mr. Bishop]] is [[TheOlderImmortal the oldest vampire in existence]] and easily the evilest. Once a brutal warlord overthrown by his daughter Amelie before the series began, Bishop, out of revenge, created a virus which [[LossOfIdentity destroyed the minds of vampires]] and unleashed it in hopes of wiping out his species to rebuild [[InTheirOwnImage in his image]]. Coming into the town of Morganville, Bishop torches huge, populated areas and attacks even refugee centers. Bishop also tries to [[OffingTheOffspring murder his daughter]] multiple times, even killing her lover in front of her to savor her pain. Returning after his initial defeat, Bishop creates an illegal fighting ring where vampires and humans enhanced by vampire blood fight to the death, intending to create an army to wipe out the town for defying him.
** ''Last Breath'' & ''Black Dawn'': [[HiveQueen Magnus]] is the [[MonsterProgenitor Master Draug]] and introduces himself as "the end" before he [[NeckSnap snaps heroine Claire's neck]]. Arriving in Morganville with his Draug, Magnus captures townspeople, human and vampire, to [[VampiricDraining drain to death]] as he has done countless times before. Plotting to destroy Morganville and exterminate the vampires, Magnus attempts to turn Amelie into his queen to spawn more Draug, plotting to feast upon [[KillAllHumans all seven billion humans on the planet]].
** ''Fall of Night'' & ''Daylighters'': [[FantasticRacism Rhys Fallon]] once achieved his [[VampireVannabe dream of becoming a vampire]], hated it, and became human again. Despising his newfound weakness, Fallon sought to [[VanHelsingHateCrimes punish all vampires]], infecting them with a sickness to send them on killing sprees so he may bend Morganville to his own [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative ends]]. Having vampires captured, experimented on, and tortured, he uses drugs to break the minds of humans and is gleeful to introduce a drug to force vampires back to humanity, regardless of the 75 percent fatality rate in the process--[[FinalSolution an act of genocide]].
* ''Literature/TheMostDangerousGame'': [[TheSocialDarwinist General Zaroff]] is an EgomaniacHunter hiding behind a [[WickedCultured veneer of civilization]]. Bored, he has taken up residence on a hidden island, in which he maroons sailors so that he can [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunt them for his amusement]]. While Zaroff prides himself on being a sportsman and gentleman and prefers a challenge, he has no qualms about "hunting" the weak, nor does he really play fair in the slightest. Anyone he captures who isn't interested in "playing" is turned over to his servant, a former [[TortureTechnician knouter]] for the Tsar, until they are willing, and while he initially starts on an even footing with his prey, he ultimately uses a pack of vicious hounds against more elusive prey. Cementing the unwinnable nature of the game for his victims, Zaroff is non-committal as to whether he would actually let any survivors go unless they were willing to keep quiet about his crimes.
* ''Literature/{{Mouseheart}}'': [[CatsAreMean Felina]] is the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queen]] of the feral cats who terrorize the subway tunnels of Brooklyn, forcing Emperor Titus of Atlantia to regularly supply her with rodents to butcher [[ForTheEvulz for fun]] in exchange for her leaving his kingdom alone; when Titus's wife Conselyea discovered the truth and attempted to reason with the feral queen, Felina murdered her. When the truth behind the peace accord is revealed and Titus is dethroned, Felina declares open season on every rodent in the tunnels, devastating Atlantia and abducting Prince Zucker to use as a hostage and personal plaything. When the rodents, led by Hopper, counterattack and drive off the ferals, Felina attempts to crush Zucker to death out of spite before devouring Titus when he intervenes. It's later revealed that before moving into the tunnels, Felina caused the death of Ace's mother by tricking her into taking her place on death row at the animal shelter, keeping her collar as a souvenir.
* ''Literature/MurderIsEasy'': [[WomanScorned Honoria Waynflete]] terrorizes the village of Wychwood under Asche with a string of murder in order to [[FrameUp frame]] her ex-fiancé Lord Whitfield, who broke the engagement after seeing her [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals kill her own pet bird]]. Honoria kills seven people in elaborate and often [[CruelAndUnusualDeath painful]] ways, like swapping Amy Gibbs's cough syrup with hat dye or causing septicemia in Dr. Humbleby with a plaster contaminated with cat pus. To complete her plan, Honoria lures Bridget Conway, Whitfield's new fiancée, into the woods and attacks her with a knife covered in Whitfield's fingerprints.
* ''[[Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes Mutineers' Moon]]'': [[BigBad Anu]] was once the Chief Engineer of the space station Dahak. He led a mutiny against the captain, and made sure the ensuing fight caused as much bloodshed as possible. Later trapped on Earth thanks to Dahak's automated defenses, Anu put thousands of his army into stasis, then used their bodies as vessels for him and his most loyal followers when their bodies wore out. Anu then began [[HistoricalRapSheet instigating many of history's biggest wars and atrocities]], with people like UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler himself having acted on Anu's orders. After [[TheHero Colin]] and an army of rebels start thwarting Anu's plans, Anu begins ordering the destruction of random cities on the off chance any rebel bases are located in them. When the rebels lead an assault on Anu's HQ, Anu activates automated weaponry, targeting friend and foe alike, and, when beaten, tries to detonate all of his bases' reactors around the globe, which would result in countless amounts of death and destruction across the world. Psychopathic, narcissistic, and bloodthirsty, Anu stood out as the most wicked villain in the series.
* ''Literature/MythosAcademy'': The [[ReligionOfEvil Reapers of Chaos]] are a vile group but none so much as their leaders:
** The Norse God [[BigBad Loki]], the GodOfChaos, was imprisoned for murdering fellow god Baldur, before manipulating his wife into freeing him, then forming the "Reapers of Chaos" in an attempt to slaughter the other gods and prey on humanity, killing hundreds of thousands of innocents as a result. Defeated and imprisoned again by the goddess Nike, Loki guides the Reapers over the centuries to commit murders and sacrifices to loosen his chains. When freed again, Loki tries to regain his full power by trying to murder hundreds of Academy students to absorb their strength and allow him to [[GrandTheftMe take over Logan Quinn's body]], which would destroy the latter's soul in the process. Fighting [[TheChosenOne Gwendolyn "Gwen" Frost]] with the body of her LoveInterest, Loki torments them by [[AndIMustScream keeping Logan aware but unable to do anything]] as he attacks her. Driven off, Loki later tries to force Gwen into giving him an artifact to start the apocalypse, before flying into a rage when she foils him, assaulting the Academy with his forces. In his final battle with Gwen, Loki attempts to take control of her body, boasting all the while of how he will use her as a vessel to murder everyone she cares about.
** [[WickedStepmother Agrona Quinn]] leads the Reapers of Chaos in their slew of {{human sacrifice}}s to revive Loki and bring about [[{{Gotterdammerung}} his age of chaos]]. In her quest, Agrona secretly ordered the family of Logan Quinn and the Spartan leader murdered, and called for the assassination of Gwen's mother. When Loki is freed, Agrona seeks to help him kill hundreds at the Academy to let him take over Logan's body and has Gwen [[FrameUp framed]] as Loki's champion in an attempt to discredit and have her executed. Using poison, Agrona tries to kill several students, as well as Gwen's mentor, Nikademes, allowing Agrona access to a mystical artifact to revive Loki. Agrona eventually threatens and kidnaps Gwen's elderly grandmother in order to gain a way to revive her master and eventually helps Loki lay a murderous siege to the academy by leading his forces.
* ''Literature/MyWorkIsNotYetDone'': [[SerialRapist Harry]], one member of a ring of {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s called the Seven, has the most disgusting proclivities out of all his associates. Harry has a fondness for {{rape|Is A Special Kind Of Evil}}, both of property and of people. Harry has amassed victims of all ages, from children to adults to seniors in nursing homes, and meets his grisly death shortly after cornering another potential victim and saying with perfect earnestness "I would like to rape and rob you."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N - Q]]
* ''Nadia Stafford'' series, by Kelley Armstrong: [[HitmanWithAHeart Nadia Stafford]] is a ProfessionalKiller with an unshakeable moral code, which isn't reflected in her opponents:
** ''Exit Strategy'': [[SerialKiller The Helter Skelter Killer]], aka [[ProfessionalKiller Wilkes]], is a hitman who, in order to cover up his final hit, decides to create a massive murder spree to put the police off the scent. Fascinated by the crimes of UsefulNotes/CharlesManson, Wilkes leaves parts of the book ''Helter Skelter'' or letters claiming to be Manson's son at his murders, which include garroting a nice old woman; strangling a single mother to death; and using an ice pick to murder an old man. An AttentionWhore who gets high off the infamy his crimes received, Wilkes tries to [[FameThroughInfamy top himself]] by trying to murder the lover of an elderly wheelchair bound woman in front of her before killing her too and, driven by his need to beat his rival Jack, tries to callously kill Jack's apprentice Nadia out of spite.
** ''Wild Justice'': [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Sebastian Koss]], a beloved crown prosecutor known for advocating victims' rights in sexual abuse cases, is actually a pedophilic SerialKiller and SerialRapist himself. Koss uses his job as a guise to procure [[WouldHurtAChild young victims]] for himself and cover up his heinous deeds. In his youth, Koss had his friend Drew Aldrich rape a teenage Nadia Stafford while Koss himself raped and killed her cousin Amy. In the present, Koss murders his friend Drew to tie up loose ends, guns down his second-in-command when he begins to have doubts and slits the throat of an eighty-year-old man in order to avoid detection. A sociopath fully aware of what a monster he is and [[CardCarryingVillain proudly admitting to being without morals]], Koss is Nadia's most evil and hated enemy.
* ''Literature/TheNakedAndTheDead'': Staff Sergeant [[SociopathicSoldier Sam Croft]] is the Commander of a Recon Platoon, which he rules with an iron fist, during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Croft comes across as a simple martinet jerk before the audience is first introduced to his [[KickTheDog sadistic side]]. In one scene, he gives a Japanese prisoner some cigarettes and chocolate and thus the illusion of being spared. Right after he kills the guy despite having just learnt the soldier has a wife and kid back home. From there on it's made increasingly clear that Croft is a cold-blooded killing machine with [[InHarmsWay love of combat and]] [[BloodKnight killing.]] His first kill was not even in the war, but when he was serving in the Texas National Guard, during which he killed a man in a riot just to see what it was like. When newly ensigned Lt. Hearn is assigned to the platoon, Croft resents being placed at second-in-command. Later, after he crushes an injured bird to death to spite a soldier, Hearn forces him to apologize. Croft experiences this as humiliating. He [[DisproportionateRetribution retaliates]] by misleading Hearn into thinking the path ahead is clear, thus getting Hearn killed by a machine gun. Later, Croft quells a mutiny in his usual manner: He threatens to shoot those responsible.
* ''Literature/{{Nation}}'': [[{{AxCrazy}} First Mate Cox]] is described as a man who lives to hurt others. Frequently shooting things just to kill something, Cox murders an old man in a canoe just because he can, later attempting a mutiny to wipe out any crew not loyal to him. Later taking over a cannibal tribe by killing its king, Cox attempts to massacre the other people on Nation before facing young [[TheDeterminator Mau]] in a DuelToTheDeath, trying to feed him to the nearby sharks.
* ''The Navigator Kings'', by Garry Kilworth: The elderly ''Kahuna'' Ragnu is originally the priest of the king Tutapu, assisting Tutapu in betraying his good-hearted brother Tangiia to rise to power. Upon Tutapu's defeat, Ragnu is consumed with the need for revenge for his humiliation. [[HumanSacrifice Sacrificing countless innocents]] and enslaving their souls, Ragnu uses dark magic to haunt his enemies, attempting to have them damned by the gods, or have an entire expedition swallowed by storms. Murdering his own men at times just to keep them on their toes, Ragnu eventually simply leads his forces on an assault to wipe out all of Tangiia's people, just to feed his desire for revenge.
* ''[[Literature/SecondWorld Nazi Hunter: Atlantis]]'', by Jeremy Robinson: [[SociopathicSoldier Oskar Dirlewanger and his second-in-command Dieter]] are the leaders of the infamous [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores Dirlewanger Brigade]] and all the atrocities they committed throughout UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Brought back into the modern day as part of the [=SecondWorld=] project, a posthumous Nazi conspiracy, Dirlewanger seeks to use [[StupidJetpackHitler Atlantean tech]] to bring about a worldwide genocide to mold the world into the ideal Aryan state. Dirlewanger doesn't even intend on sparing any other Germans he perceives to be flawed. Dieter merrily aids in this plan while acting as a self-serving BadBoss to his own men, constantly throwing them into the path of {{booby trap}}s and murdering one solely because he survived a trap that killed his partner.
* ''The Neighbor'', by Lisa Gardner: Judge Maxwell Black, a [[VillainWithGoodPublicity respected judge]], is attempting to recover his granddaughter from his son-in-law Jason, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Black's daughter Sandy. It is revealed that Black has killed two men who may have been Sandra's lovers, but worse, Black had murdered his own wife when she had abused Sandra; this was solely because Black had grown tired of his wife, and Sandra was old enough to "replace" her, so Black didn't want her to damage Sandra and ruin her for Black's appetites. After years of raping his daughter—who had an abortion at 16--Black murdered the other men to [[FrameUp frame Jason]], and later attempts to kill Jason as well, when it is revealed Sandra is alive and had planned to trap her father with Jason. It is revealed Black intends to take his four-year-old granddaughter to serve as a new replacement for Sandra, the knowledge of which leads Sandra to shoot her father dead on the spot.
* "[[http://www.gregegan.net/HORROR/NEIGHBOUR/Neighbour.html Neighbourhood Watch]]", by Greg Egan: The [[VillainProtagonist demonic narrator]] is bound by contract to only prey on lawbreakers after 11 PM in the [[TownWithADarkSecret small, nameless town]]. Frequently going out and murdering those it finds, from a man robbing a register, a woman spraying graffiti and three teens breaking into a car, the monster plans to let the contract simply lapse without renewal. Once it does, the demon murders its handler Mrs. Bold and goes after a [[WouldHurtAChild young boy named David]] that it despises, plotting to go on a savage killing rampage after.
* ''Literature/NemesisSaga'': General Lance Gordon, the BigBad of the first three novels, is the man to discover the husk of the kaiju later named the Nemesis. He initiates testing on it while having those he thinks he can't trust killed. When he implants himself with pieces of the Nemesis, Gordon's body changes to [[TranshumanTreachery reflect his bestial nature]]. Mentally controlling newborn {{kaiju}}, Gordon sends them to attack human areas, with one notable attack being on the Sydney Opera House, while the Kaiju wreak havoc and devastation to devour all the humans they can. Gordon then sends them to attack Washington, D.C. and Fort Bragg, intending to annihilate the US's military and government and eventually have the Kaiju destroy human civilization so he may rebuild the world in his twisted image.
* ''Literature/{{Neuropath}}'': [[EvilFormerFriend Neil Cassidy]], an obsessive, charismatic neuroscientist playing God with the minds of others, willingly [[EmotionSuppression destroyed his own personhood]] to better demonstrate the fundamentals of the Argument, a complex, nihilistic philosophy ruling everything as a mental construct. After graduating from college by the side of his best friends Thomas Bible, Neil was covertly enrolled in the UsefulNotes/{{NSA}}, where he performed immoral mental experiments on prisoners before going rogue to utilize that knowledge on civilians. Neil demonstrates a sick obsession for Thomas and conducts a horrific mind game with him at the center to realign his thinking back to the Argument. Along the way, Neil uses his power over people's brains to have a porn star cut herself to death with broken glass after rewiring her brain to masochistic tendencies; has a business magnate cannibalize a young girl and forces him to enjoy the experience; steals billionaire Theodoros Gyges's ability to recognize faces and drives him insane, resulting in Gyges becoming a SerialKiller; and torments a televangelist with alternating sensations of divine relief and hellish damnation. This culminates in Neil murdering Thomas's--and possibly his own--four-year-old son Frankie and subjecting both Thomas and his ex-wife Nora to horrific mental and emotional torture that ultimately leaves Thomas broken as a person, all to demonstrate his twisted obsession with both Thomas and his long-abandoned philosophies. Suave, cool-headed, and utterly remorseless, Neil Cassidy took MindRape to an art form and left a trail of destroyed lives in his wake.
* ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'':
** [[TheHeavy Messires Croup and Vandemar]], the Old Firm, are the resident [[PsychoForHire monsters for hire]] of the story and easily two of the most twisted and dreaded creatures of the fantastical London Below. [[WickedCultured Croup]] is an erudite sadist who waxes on the incomparable beauty of a piece of fine China before gleefully destroying it, while [[TheBrute Vandemar]] is a grim, savage, man-eating beast; but both are equally sadistic and cruel. Croup [[CardCarryingVillain cheerfully admits]] he and his partner have no redeeming qualities and no moral standards whatsoever, which they prove time and time again by slaughtering entire monasteries; savagely murdering their own minions; torturing the Marquis de Carabas to death; and taking the lives of Door's entire family.
** [[BigBad Islington]], Croup and Vandermar's mysterious employer, is an [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] drunk on its own glory and vanity. A vain and unbelievably {{narcissist}}ic entity beneath its serene façade who has "traveled so far beyond right and wrong [that it] couldn't see them with a telescope on a nice clear night", Islington was tasked with watching over {{Atlantis}}. Islington instead destroyed the entire civilization as a testament to its unbelievable ego, shrieking that they got what they deserved when it's exposed. Pretending to be the heroes' enlightened ally in the present day, [[ManipulativeBastard Islington]] is the one who commissioned Croup and Vandemar to murder Door's family and manipulated Door to him so she could open the gates of Heaven, allowing Islington to conquer its kin and exact revenge out of nothing more than spite for its exile.
* ''Literature/{{Newsflesh}}'': In this series set after the Kellis-Amberlee [[ZombieApocalypse zombie virus devastates the world]], these individuals show that [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters it is not just the zombies you need to fear]]:
** ''Feed'': [[CorruptPolitician Governor David Tate]] is a slimy, [[TheFundamentalist hyper-religious]] politician who helps fund the corrupt CDC in their endeavors to rule the world, and kill people who develop natural immunities to Kellis-Amberlee in order to do this. Releasing weaponized Kellis-Amberlee in order to kill off or zombify any opponents to secure his nomination as Republican presidential candidate, Tate callously kills dozens and endangers hundreds of people. After the kindly Ryman wins the nomination and Tate becomes his running mate as vice president, Tate callously tries to [[WouldHurtAChild murder Ryman's young children]] to shore up support for the campaign, intending to eventually off Ryman himself in an "accident" and become president. Later murdering some of his men after they go against him, Tate assassinates heroine Georgia Mason when she comes close to the truth. Tate, upon being discovered, unleashes live Kellis-Amberlee in his party camp, killing dozens of innocents and unleashing a wave of zombies that put hundreds in danger, even taking Ryman's wife hostage as a way out.
** ''Deadline'': [[MadScientist Dr. Joseph Wynne]] is one of the head scientists of the CDC and helps them kill those who have developed reservoir immunities to Kellis-Amberlee, as well as helping them develop more deadly strains of the zombie virus in order to keep the world under their grip. Wynne kills off any scientists who discover the existence of these more dangerous strains and set them up as "[[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident accidents]]" or "[[NeverSuicide suicides]]" to cover up the truth. When Shaun Mason and rest of his investigative team close onto the truth, Wynne unleashes an outbreak of Kellis-Amberlee in their home building which allows him to firebomb their building and the entire of downtown Oakland, California which kills thousands of innocents. Wynne's final act before being mortally wounded is to inject a vial of the live zombie virus which kills one of the heroes, [[EvilGloating gloating beforehand]] about all the money and power that he will receive due to his misdeeds.
* ''Literature/TheNightAngelTrilogy'':
** [[PsychoForHire Hu Gibbet]] is widely considered the second best assassin in the land, but informing him he's second best will result in your own drawn out execution. Unlike the cold, business-like Durzo Bint, Gibbet is a sadistic monster who derives pleasure from his work, and while the former makes every effort to avoid collateral damage, Gibbet goes out of his way to butcher everyone in the vicinity on his jobs. He slaughters Logan's entire family and household and gruesomely strings up the corpses for everyone's viewing pleasure. His apprentice, Vi, fairs no better under him and has been the subject of verbal, physical and sexual abuse for her entire tenure as his student
** Roth, once known as Rat, is another. The son and BastardUnderstudy of God King Garoth Ursuul, Rat was a sexual sadist who had raped children of both genders since he was young. In the present, Roth betrays his home kingdom to his father's soldiers, leading to many deaths, and is fond of killing peasants so [[IAmAHumanitarian he can eat them.]]
** [[TheCaligula God King Garoth Ursuul]] presides over a legacy of rape, torture, murder and slavery. Garoth attempts to rape or force the submission of any woman he comes across and makes those hes tired of into furniture. Under his reign, widespread war crimes are common, and people are killed or raped at the drop of a hat, all of this ForTheEvulz.
* ''Night Chill'', by Jeff Gunhus: [[SerialKiller Nate Huckley]] is a [[AxCrazy gleefully homicidal]] lunatic who [[BigBadDuumvirate schemes along with Dr. Mansfield]] to harness immortality from [[EldritchAbomination the Source]]. To this end, Huckley began leading his group to kidnap, torture, and brutally murder teenage and [[WouldHurtAChild younger]] girls, then feed them to the Source to gain its potent serum that grants temporary regenerative abilities. Spending the past 200 years commiting these murders, Huckley amasses a body count measuring in the hundreds, and is happily continuing his spree in the present while using his powerful psychic abilities to [[EmotionEater feed off of his victims' terror]]. After failing to kidnap 6 year old Sarah Tremont, Huckley is plunged into a coma from which he reaches out with his psychic powers, using them to torment then murder various patients throughout the hospital he is residing in, before awakening from his sleep and kidnapping Sarah and her mother, Lauren. Ordering Lauren to be raped by his subordinate, Huckley tries to butcher Sarah, then uses his last minute alive to gun her down when she seems to be assisting the Source in resisting Huckley's orders. A {{sadist}} who [[ImmortalityImmorality sought immortality]] solely to allow himself to keep killing and [[AGodAmI become a god]], Nate Huckley stands out as a wicked beast who makes the other members of his group, even [[WellIntentionedExtremist Dr. Mansfield]], seem tame in comparison.
* ''Literature/TheNightGardener'': [[{{Mundanger}} Mister Stubbs and Mister Fig]] are two of the cruelest {{loan shark}}s in England. The pair take great enjoyment in psychologically tormenting their debtors, such as the [[ImpoverishedPatrician one wealthy but now poor]] Windsor family, by threatening their loved ones, raising their interest rates to levels that they know cannot be realistically paid back, and demanding their payment at times when their victims aren't expecting or prepared for them. They are fully prepared to follow through with their murderous threats as well, as seen at the climax when they attempt to [[FamilyExtermination slaughter the entire Windsor family]]--including [[WouldHurtAChild the children]], and would have succeeded had a desperate ploy by the heroine Molly not tricked them into arousing the wrath of the titular vengeful ghost.
* ''Literature/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'': [[SinisterMinister Vicar Roberts]] is seemingly a well-meaning churchman but is in truth the leader of the Openers seeking [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the end of the world]]. The murderer of the Monk Rastov of the Closers, the Vicar is a practitioner of HumanSacrifice as well. Imprisoning his own stepdaughter Lynette for a VirginSacrifice, Roberts plots to open the gates to the [[EldritchAbomination Great Old Ones]] and condemn all humanity to suffering, death and destruction.
* ''Literature/NightLife'': [[FauxAffablyEvil Victor Barna]] is the owner of a real estate agency in Los Angeles that he uses to cover his dark second life as a vampire and a [[HumanTraffickers sex trafficker]]. Forcing a porn director into selling his assets by feeding on his girlfriend [[ForcedToWatch in front of him]], he used these assets to provide cover for himself and his fellow vampires, permitting them to rape, feed, and murder for blood as they please. He owns a hotel, where many of his captives are held prisoner to be starved and tortured, with some forced to star in underground porn films. When he catches wind of the heroes' investigation, he orders Casey Owen, Karen Moffett, and Burgess' wife, Denise, abducted and forced to star in his films to erode their willpower before allowing Casey to be killed and Denise released to her husband, utterly traumatized.
* ''The Nightmare Girl'' by Jonathan Janz: [[ImmortalityImmorality Patrick Grayman]] is a {{cult}} leader terrorizing the town of Shadeland in search of immortality. Claiming to have lived for centuries, Grayman has used his cult to [[FamilyExtermination murder entire families]] to serve as "heathen" sacrifices before using indoctrinated members to burn themselves alive to complete life-prolonging rituals. Now targeting Joe Crawford, Grayman has the ashes of the man's dead son thrown in his face, stalks his family, and viciously kills those around him. Endorsing his members to torture and [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalize]] their victims as well as abuse their children, Grayman tries to burn Joe and the [[WouldHurtAChild infant]] Stevie alive, promising to follow it up by killing Joe's wife and daughter.
* ''Night of the Prowler'', by Jon Athan: [[SerialKiller Eugene "The Prowler" Hodges]] is a murderous man addicted to killing and sadism. After killing his [[TilMurderDoUsPart wife]] and [[OffingTheOffspring children]] one day, the Prowler spent the next few weeks committing various gruesome murders across California. Several years after he's apprehended, the Prowler escapes from custody and goes back to targeting various civilians, torturing and killing over half a dozen people during his [[SpreeKiller rampage]]. Setting his sights on [[ActionSurvivor Zoe Doyle]], the Prowler repeatedly harasses Zoe over the phone before assaulting her while she's at work and kidnapping her. While Zoe is held captive, the Prowler tortures Zoe by stabbing and slashing her several times, hoping to see if she'll be able to withstand getting injured over 63 times before dying.
* ''Night of the Werewolf'', by Guy N. Smith: [[BigBad Angus Broon]] is a [[SavageWolves savage werewolf]] who relishes his power over his village. Slaughtering livestock and people alike, Angus kidnaps a woman named Ingrid to become his werewolf bride, though he later uses her as a HumanShield when things are tough. Angus happily murders all in his path when he finds out werewolf hunters are coming for him. The beastly Angus goes on a killing spree in the village to satiate his village and kill his pursuers.
* ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'': [[DepravedBisexual Quinn Dexter]] is a Satanic cult leader who considers himself [[AGodAmI something of a God]] and likes nothing more than to [[{{Sadist}} inflict as much pain]] and [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans spread as much suffering as possible]]. Through his sect he regularly performs [[HumanSacrifice human sacrifices]] to feed off the psychic energies derived from the victims' agonies of being tortured, raped and murdered. After he is possessed by an escaped soul from the Beyond, his will proves so strong that he regains control of his body and sets out to turn as many planets as possible into unlivable [[HellOnEarth Hellworlds]]. He [[ColonyDrop drops a meteorite]] on the Nyvan colony to wipe out all life on it, makes it it his mission to [[VirtueIsWeakness destroy every shred of human decency]], and will devour the souls of all those he considers [[TheSocialDarwinist too weak to share the new Hell with him]].
* ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen'': [[{{Ubermensch}} Anton Chigurh]] is a [[PsychoForHire hired assassin]] defined by his [[TheFatalist fatalistic]] personal code. Compared to [[TheBlackDeath the Bubonic Plague]] by his former associate Carson Wells, Chigurh is an [[DissonantSerenity emotionless]] killer with no regard for human life, occasionally deciding his victims' fates with a [[DiceRollDeath coin toss]]. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Introduced]] by [[CopKiller strangling a police officer]] to death with handcuffs, Chigurh proceeds to murder an innocent man to steal his car, repeating this crime later in the film. Employed to recover $2 million lost in a drug deal gone bad, Chigurh murders two of his employer's men and relentlessly hunts for Llewelyn Moss to retrieve the money. Along the way, Chigurh murders several Mexican criminals who are also pursuing Moss, shooting one of them as he surrenders, and later kills a hotel clerk and a random motorist who get caught in a gunfight between Chigurh and Moss. Chigurh later kills Wells and the man who hired them both, intending to keep the money for himself, and promises to kill Moss's wife Carla Jean unless Moss surrenders the money, making it clear that he intends to kill Moss regardless; Wells had previously commented that even if Moss gave up the money, Chigurh would kill him anyway for "inconveniencing him". After Moss is killed, Chigurh murders Carla Jean, attempting to justify this senselessly cruel act by claiming to be keeping his promise. A chilling psychopath devoid of humanity, Chigurh is presented as an unstoppable force of evil, a monster [[LackOfEmpathy without empathy]] or remorse.
* ''Literature/NoOneGetsOutAlive'', by Adam Nevill: Fergal is the cousin of Knacker [=McGuire=], landlord of the Edgehill property. Having taken the house from the murderous Bennet, Fergal pressed Knacker into the worship of the house's "God", [[EldritchAbomination Black Maggie]]. Fergal lures in women who are down on their luck, pressing them into [[SexSlave prostitution]] and then [[HumanSacrifice feeding them to Black Maggie]], though he is not above killing them personally should he be frustrated. After being thwarted by heroine Stephanie, Fergal attempts to gain revenge by having her slaughtered by Black Maggie even as the latter consumes him.
* ''Literature/NOS4A2'': [[PsychopathicManchild Bing Partridge]], the Gasmask Man, started off [[SelfMadeOrphan murdering his own parents]] at a young age. As an adult, Bing would work for Charlie Manx to help him abduct children and their mothers so he can earn a place in Christmasland for himself. Bing would then take the mothers to his basement so he could repeatedly [[SerialRapist rape them]] before eventually killing them. Helping Manx escape prison after his supposed death, he assisted him in abducting Victoria "Vic" [=McQueen=]'s son Wayne as revenge, [[WouldHurtAChild threatening to tear out his tongue]] when the boy annoys him and later trying to rape Vic when she comes looking for him.
* ''Literature/OctoberDaye'':
** ''An Artificial Night'': [[PsychopathicManchild Blind Michael]], the [[BigBad leader]] of TheWildHunt, has his followers kidnap [[WouldHurtAChild children]] and painfully transform them into his thralls. Reducing fae children to riders and humans into steeds for his army, Blind Michael's abuse of said children is so severe that many break under the pressure and die as a result, with him than using the magic from their bones to fortify the powers within his land. Blind Michael kidnaps the nieces and nephews of October "Toby" Daye to force them to participate in his latest Hunt, trapping the consciousness of one niece and intending to make Toby his bride. When his plan is foiled, Blind Michael goes into a rage and takes it out on [[DomesticAbuse his current wife]], Acacia, who he also regularly abuses, scarring her with his knife and stating his intent to keep his current thralls under his draconian enslavement for eternity.
** ''Late Eclipses'': The assassin [[MasterPoisoner Oleander de Merelands]] is wanted for [[HistoricalRapSheet countless deaths over multiple kingdoms]], including the murder of former good-hearted king Gilead. Seeking revenge on Amandine for a previous slight, Oleander nearly kills her infant daughter. Years later she conspires with her pawn, Rayeslene, to have Toby take the fall for her misdeeds, gleeful that she would be executed for it. Oleander has a friend of Toby killed to frame her for it and later poisons the entire court of cats, killing many, including infants, while hoping Toby would take the fall for her crimes. Boasting her killings will [[FameThroughInfamy make her famous]] even after her death, Oleander makes one final attempt on Toby's life before being stopped.
* ''Ogre's Lament: The Story of Don Luis'', by Stuart G. Yates: [[BigBad Manfred Kepel]] is a former soldier driven by his {{greed}}. After helping fellow soldiers massacre monks in a monastery, Manfred and the others looted the monastery of its riches. Not content with his share, Manfred went looking for the rest of the riches, and eventually discovered the location in Riodelgado. Posing as baker Señor Garcia, Manfred blackmailed the village's mayor into helping him find the treasure or else he'd [[WouldHurtAChild murder all the children]] in the village. In order to satisfy his bloodlust and to prevent others from finding the treasure, Manfred occasionally kidnapped and murdered villagers, including children, and had the mayor lay all of the blame on a monster that doesn't exist. He later [[YouKilledMyFather killed Luis Sanchez's father]] to steal his treasure, along with other individuals who nearly exposed Manfred's secret to Luis. After most of the soldiers who knew about the treasure are killed, Manfred threatens to kidnap Luis's mother and sister and recover the information from them, before attempting to kill Luis and the mayor when Luis discovers his true identity.
* ''On Devil's Wings'', by M.J. Meade: [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Lamashtu]] was once a deity who forced women to miscarry [[ForTheEvulz for fun]] and had [[WouldHurtAChild children]] sacrificed in her name until she was bound by fellow goddess Nyx. Awakening as UsefulNotes/ElizabethBathory centuries later, Lamashtu fell in love with murder once again and after her killing spree, took to London as UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper to enjoy one anew, targeting prostitutes to avoid attention. Making a pact with another evil goddess against Nyx, Lamashtu makes every effort to torment and kills those around the reborn Nyx, her long life leading her to a body count in the thousands.
* ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'': In this classic pirate novel, [[FatBastard Leo Friend]] stands out as the most depraved pirate around, surpassing even the BigBad, UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}}, in brutality and evil. [[EnfantTerrible As a child]], Friend poisoned a magic user to learn his secrets before killing him—[[ILied despite promising to provide the antidote]]--then used his new powers to [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals torture animals]] and poison candy that he left near school grounds. In the culmination of heinous childhood acts, Friend tried to [[OedipusComplex rape his own mother in a sick attempt to show his gratitude for her recognizing his greatness]], ending with said mother's death. Becoming a pirate later in life, Friend perpetrated numerous atrocities, from luring a crew of innocents into a raid where he personally killed many of their number, to [[BadBoss sending one of his own crews to die]] as a distraction before gunning down a man who tries to save them. Friend later betrays his partners, kidnaps one's daughter, Beth, then tries to rape her while casting an illusion to make her resemble his mother, and he fully plans on [[MindRape tormenting]] Beth into becoming his broken slave. Having garnered immense power by his final duel, Friend raises a crew of undead pirates to assist him in his planned conquest of all he sees after massacring an entire ship of pirates. Showing his truly despicable colors more and more as the story went on, what Friend lacked in manners, charm, and sympathy, he replaced with [[AGodAmI a sickening god complex]] with which he proclaimed all of his crimes to be simply his divine right to commit.
* ''Literature/{{Once}}'': [[WickedWitch Nell Quick]] is a twisted witch who holds Sir Russell Bleeth in a state between life and death. Thom Kindred, Sir Bleeth's son, stands in the way of Nell inheriting the Bleeth Estate through her lover Hugo. A sexual sadist, Nell attempts to have Thom [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] to steal his seed, and takes Thom's physical therapist Katy, drugging her to enjoy sex with Nell before outright raping her. Attempting to murder the others in her way, Nell is willing to throw the balance between worlds out of balance with [[ItsAllAboutMe her only care]] being what she can gain from abusing and violating others.
* ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'': [[BigBad Ratched]], the "[[BattleaxeNurse Big Nurse]]", is the cruel head of the [[BedlamHouse state hospital]] the story takes place in, using her connections to her superiors to allow herself free rein over the hospital. Ratched subjects her dozens of patients to horrific conditions and abuse, employing brutal lackeys and methods to keep patients in line and under her thumb, uncaring of the countless patients who commit suicide or self-mutilation due to her rule. Believing that her patients have to be perfectly-functioning before allowing them to leave, Ratched often resorts to electroshock treatments and even lobotomies to destroy her patients' minds. When her rule is challenged over and over again by Randle [=McMurphy=], Ratched increases her abuse of the patients to the point that one of [=McMurphy's=] friends [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]]. Though Ratched's control over the patients is broken, she spitefully has [=McMurphy=] lobotomized in a last-ditch effort to terrorize the patients into falling back in line.
* ''Literature/TheOneWhoEatsMonsters'': [[MadScientist Mr. Saxby]] is the worst of the nightmarish [[EmotionEater Asuras]], with his evil exceeding even his cabal leader, Ghorm. A [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse seemingly mild-mannered, average little man]] in his human guise, Saxby assists in sowing chaos and evil, having people killed and arranging other atrocities and even terrorist activities. A particular fan of experimenting on human beings, Saxby takes others and subjects them to ghastly procedures to slake his curiosity, even [[BodyHorror stitching numerous human beings together into a horrific, agonized creature]] to go after the heroine Ryn with only vague promises he may spare it of its suffering. Having homeless people and drifters abducted to kill or to serve as food for dogs, Saxby later tries to target Ryn's lover Naomi before trying to kill Ryn herself.
* ''Only Kids are Afraid of the Dark'', by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin: [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Prince/Lord Saagael]], the Soul-Destroyer, was once a demonic being who ruled over the mortal realm with an iron fist, starting pointless wars and forcing men to give their daughters to be [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed]] in his name. Breaking free from his containment, Saagael's first action upon returning is to turn a man into a still-living but mindless and soulless EmptyShell. Choosing to spare Dr. Weird [[CruelMercy solely]] so he could watch the devastation of the mortal realm, Saagael gives him visions of his many atrocities before preparing to [[YourSoulIsMine consume the soul]] of a young girl.
* ''Literature/{{Orcs}}'': [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Jennesta]], the [[BigBad main villain]] of the series, is a half-human, half-Nyadd sorceress who rules the religion of the Manifold Path with an iron fist in her drive to recover the ancient artifacts her father Sephraim had created. Under Jennesta's reign, war crimes including mass slaughter are common, and [[DepravedBisexual Jennesta herself]], a SerialRapist of men and women alike, has a fondness for [[GroinAttack using unicorn horns to violate women]]. She also eats the hearts to replenish her magic power. Jennesta [[BadBoss executes subordinates for increasingly petty reasons]] and murders her own sister Adpar, ruler of the Nyadds, which throws the Nyadds into civil war. When she encounters her parents and surviving sibling, she simply looks forward to murdering them as well, and even "rewards" one of her own spies who had wished his youth restored to him by forcibly aging him into a skeleton. While professing devotion to the polytheistic Manifold Path, Jennesta's only real loyalty was to her own power, cruelty and lust.
* ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'': Johnny [[MeaningfulName Wulgaru]], alias [[IHaveManyNames Johnny Dark]], alias John [[PunnyName More Dread]], alias (John) [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Dread]], is a rapist, SerialKiller, PsychoForHire MisanthropeSupreme who was raised by his drug-addled prostitute mother for the precise purpose of being a weapon against the society she wanted revenge on. The BigBad, CorruptCorporateExecutive Felix Jongleur, views him as an attack dog: vicious, but useful when directed appropriately. However, he severely underestimates Dread's cunning and ambition, and when he sees the opportunity, Dread uses his {{Technopath}} psychic power to wrest control of the Otherland operating system away from his boss. He then launches an orgy of virtual destruction, indulging his sadistic tendencies by, among other things, torturing, raping, and killing the people of Dodge City. When the thrill of [[AGodAmI godlike power]] subsides, he then plans to use the resources of Jongleur's empire to wreak havoc in the real world. Meanwhile, the police team investigating Dread's trail of real world murders interviews a psychologist who describes him as one of the purest examples of a sociopathic personality that he'd ever seen -- [[LackOfEmpathy no empathy]], no remorse, only a fierce intelligence and the skill to manipulate others.
* ''Out are the Lights'', by Creator/RichardLaymon: Otto [[MeaningfulName Schreck]] [[note]]Max Schreck played Count Orlok in ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''.[[/note]], a {{sadist}}ic film "star," participates in a conspiracy to create a group of real {{snuff film}}s. In various roles, Schreck hunts down his terrified "co-stars" and dispatches them in a variety of ways: biting into one woman's neck as a vampire, [[AnAxeToGrind utilizing an axe as an axe-murderer]], [[AnArmAndALeg amputating limbs]] as a mad scientist and torturing them as an Inquisitor. Unlike the others, Schreck is in it entirely for the carnage and when one of the others asks to watch him at work and is sickened by it, Schreck forces her to watch him torture and kill a helpless victim under threat of death. When the heroine of the novel is captured at the end, Schreck's ideas for the film involve [[FlayingAlive skinning her alive]], barely able to contain himself at the thought of further bloodshed.
* ''The Outcast Chronicles'', by Rowena Corey Danielss: [[AristocratsAreEvil Baron Eskarnor]] is a greedy, [[WarForFunAndProfit warmongering man]] who seeks to usurp the throne of the brutal King Charald. Cornering Queen Jaraile, Eskarnor [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rapes her]], mocking her after the fact, and later abducts her after murdering multiple people about her. Seeking to murder the king and Jaraile's young son, Eskarnor [[WouldHurtAChild slits a 4-year-old's throat]] when his attempt to blackmail the prince's protectors fails. Willing to start a civil war, Eskarnor kills those who cross his path and [[SexSlave regularly rapes Jaraile]], even using his final moments to taunt her when she is at last able to pronounce judgement upon him.
* ''Literature/OuterDark'': The [[ForTheEvulz mysterious trio of terrifying and elusive strangers]] scourge the Appalachian countryside, [[SerialKiller killing people at will]]. Slaughtering their way from one end of the community to the next, the three fixate on Culla, [[FrameUp framing him for murder]] and killing those who come into contact with him, even tricking Culla into partaking in cannibalism. After killing many people, the trio torture and murder a tinker who rescued the baby of Culla and his sister Rinthy before torturing the [[WouldHurtAChild baby]], murdering and possibly [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalizing]] it as well.
* ''The Outlaw Literature/VarjakPaw'': [[BigBad Sally Bones]] is a [[CatsAreMean violent gang leader]] in the city. Not content with ruling only a portion of the city, Bones and her cats start taking over other districts, including neutral grounds. She also unfairly enforces laws that restrict the other cats' hunting capabilities; those who disobey her laws are taken prisoner, or have their [[AttackTheTail tail]] and [[EarAche ears cut off]]. After [[TheHero Varjak]] and his friends cause trouble for Bones's gang, she sends her cats to come looking for him, and they end up taking Jess hostage when no one gives up Varjak. When Varjak and his gang, later known as the Free Cats, rescue Jess and incapacitate more of Bones' gang, she ambushes the Free Cats, kicks [[MookLieutenant Razor]] out of her gang [[YouHaveFailedMe for failing her too many times]], and orders her cats to cut off all of the Free Cats' ears and tails, which sparks a huge fight. Some of the Free Cats are killed during the skirmish, and Bones's gang kidnaps Holly and holds her hostage. Once Varjak and the Free Cats finally confront Bones, she offers Varjak the opportunity to join her gang in exchange for Holly's life, or else [[JoinOrDie all of his friends will die]]. Sally Bones is [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating such a loathsome cat in the city]] that many of her own, [[BadBoss frequently abused]] minions fear her, and some cats outright [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal turn against her]].
* ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'': [[AristocratsAreEvil Carl-Jan Rosenschiöld]] is a {{sadist}} who derives pleasure from harming women. Having already gone through two wives, the first of which he murdered and the second he [[DrivenToSuicide drove to suicide]], Rosenschiöld sets his sights on marrying Beatrice, a girl who is over forty years younger than him, solely because he wants a virgin to be his wife. On their wedding night, [[DomesticAbuse he rapes and nearly kills Beatrice]] after he discovers that she lost her virginity prior to their marriage, even though Beatrice had never made a promise to stay a virgin until they got married. He expresses no remorse for his crimes whatsoever, as he spends his remaining days in a brothel, overindulging in aphrodisiac drugs and sexually abusing their women.
* ''Paper Valentine'', by Brenna Yovanoff: [[SerialKiller The Valentine Killer]], real name [[TeensAreMonsters Connor Price]] is a [[FameThroughInfamy glory-seeking murderer]] who bullies his classmate Nick Andelmam into becoming a killer. In the quest to discover what it's like to kill and gain attention from it, the killer and his classmate lure in 13-year-old girls before tying them up and beating them to death. The killer then leaves a CallingCard in a paper valentine on their bodies in order to show the world he did it. When his classmate is arrested and his own downfall nears, the Valentine Killer kidnaps heroine Hannah Wagnor by threatening her sister's life, intending to at least kill her before he goes down for good.
* ''Literature/ParadiseClub'', by Tim Meyer:
** [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Marco Pressley]] is a wealthy man in charge of a [[ApocalypseCult deadly cult]] that seeks to summon the mysterious, [[EldritchAbomination eldritch beings]] from another dimension. Seeking to utilize a nightmarish and bloody ritual, Marco sends in {{serial killer}}s to massacre everyone in the area with one previous outing having killed a hundred campers. Having many more butchered at a tropical resort under an ostensible "[[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame game]]", Marco attempts to bond captives as hosts for monsters, using their families as leverage against them, and when his plans fall apart, attempts to kill a young boy for sheer spite so he might be the one winner.
** [[TheDragon Tim Feely]] is the brutal head of security for the Paradise Club, overseeing the bloodbath known as "the Skirmish" with {{sadist}}ic relish. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Introduced]] by viciously stabbing a prisoner to death, Feely continues his usual routine of orchestrating the Skirmish and getting dozens of innocents slaughtered while he [[BadBoss threatens and abuses his own staff]]. When his many failures catch up on him and he is betrayed by his employers, Feely attempts to kill his boss and leave everyone else to die, outright swearing off any potential remorse he may have for his many victims.
* ''Literature/ParadiseSky'', by Joe R. Lansdale: [[AxCrazy Samuel Ruggert]] is a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist psychopath]] who leads the slaughter of hero Nat Love's family simply because Nat might have looked at his wife's rear. Becoming a violent bandit in the post-[[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]] West, Ruggert terrorizes the black, Native and Mexican populations with rape, murder and torment in his quest to hunt down Nat to "avenge" the slight against a wife he didn't even care about to begin with. When he finds Nat, Ruggert has two of his female companions gang-raped with one murdered before he has Nat tortured, escaping to become a murderous bandit before Nat finally tracks him down.
* ''The Pearl Saga'', by Eric Van Lustbader: Shima Neddhu from "The Ring Of Five Dragons" is a truly cruel and hateful bastard. Taken in as an acolyte of Mother, he turns the seven other male acolytes and his lover against her to steal the Pearl, convincing the others that Mother is using their faith to rule over them all. He has the poor woman bound and gagged and leads his cohorts down into a hiding place that holds the Pearl, despite Mother warning them that they will die if they do so. When a monster promptly kills two of the cohorts, Neddhu then orders the others to keep moving, and when they refuse he decides to send [[AbusiveParents his mentally and physically handicapped, very young daughter]] into the cavern holding the Pearl. When she comes back with the Pearl and tells him he is not worthy, he [[OffingTheOffspring kills the girl]], kills his lover [[EvenEvilHasStandards for trying to protect the girl]], and throws Mother at the monster currently chasing him. Using the Pearl, he learns that a powerful alien race, The V'ornn, is coming to Kundala, and so plans with his surviving conspirators to trick the V'ornn and use them for their own purposes. [[TakeOverTheWorld The V'ornn end up enslaving the planet and all but destroying the Kundalan culture]]. He pins the blame for his murders [[FantasticRacism on the Rappa, a more animal-like race, simply because he looks down on them as beasts]], leading to centuries of persecution and demonization by the Kundalans onto the poor creatures. Unlike a large portion of the villains, Neddhu's a human being motivated less by racism and more by [[AmbitionIsEvil attaining personal power]], [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist despite claiming otherwise]]. His actions were so terrible that male Kundalans can no longer have a high level of power in most Kundalan societies.
* ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'': The shapeshifter, [[BigBad Saint Dane]], manipulates [[TheChessmaster catastrophes across parallel universes]], called "territories", ensuring they result in the worst possible outcome. [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulating]] the oppressed people of a territory, Saint Dane causes a catastrophic war to destroy their planet; on another planet, creates a poison to kill the plants in the hopes of creating mass famine; on Earth, gives nukes to the Nazis to help them win UsefulNotes/WorldWarII; on a jungle planet, tries to use his poison again in the hopes the natives will hunt each other to extinction; on a desert planet, inflames tensions, trying to lead to one tribe being wiped out; and on yet another planet, crushes a rebellion against tyranny, ensuring the people would continue to suffer in the dystopia. Using the Cult of Ravinia to conquer various worlds, Saint Dane has those he deems too weak killed or banished, while trying to [[AGodAmI become a God]].
* ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'': Even in the [[CrapsackWorld hellish setting]] of New Crobuzon, this duo manages to stand out:
** [[HumanoidAbomination Mr. Motley]] is a [[TheDon powerful crime lord]] in New Crobuzon whose [[MeaningfulName name befits his grotesque, multi-faced appearance]]. Mr. Motley regularly presides over assassinations, murders, and torture, with a knack for awful retribution to those who slight him-—noted to send letters to those whose loved ones he holds ransom, having almost always killed them before he can be paid back. Obsessed with his [[ItsAllAboutMe own image]], Motley commissions the Khepri artist Lin to create a statue in his exact likeness, and when he finds out Lin's lover Isaac is responsible for the escape of Motley's slake-moths, Motley kidnaps Lin and tortures her for weeks, possibly even [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping her]], and sending Lin's severed head-legs in an enclosed envelope to Isaac. Not even Motley's cheerful farce masks the fact Motley is one of the most vicious characters even in New Crobuzon.
** [[MayorPain Mayor Bentham Rudgutter]] is the corrupt head of New Crobuzon, who inflicts horrific punishments on those he deems criminals, having them "[[TransformationHorror Remade]]" into twisted forms, while also having them tortured or murdered in huge numbers. Secretly the [[SerialKiller Eyespy Killer]], Rudgutter murders people for their [[EyeScream eyes to replace his own pair]], and during the Slake Moth outbreak, shows no compunction in having many people rounded up and killed, continuing these activities well after, even for rebel leader Jack Half-A-Prayer, with no amount of bloodshed too high to keep [[ItsAllAboutMe his hold on power]].
* ''The Perfect Place to Die'', by Bryce Moore: [[SerialKiller H.H. Holmes]] himself is the proprietor of the [[HellHotel Castle Hotel]], which he has turned into a brutal DeathTrap. Luring in innocents, mostly women, Holmes murders and tortures them in his walls, selling their valuables and even their corpses for profit. Having murdered the heroine Zuretta's sister Ruby, Holmes also tries to [[FrameUp frame]] his business partner and murders the man himself, before opting to torture Zuretta to death.
* ''Period 8'', by Chris Crutcher: [[BitchInSheepsClothing Arney Stack]] is a [[TeensAreMonsters charismatic teen psychopath]] eager to begin his journey into organized crime. Approaching a local pimping ring with a large investment, Arney becomes the ring's recruiter, specializing is getting underage girls from his high school addicted to drugs and then [[HumanTrafficking selling them]] to the pimps. A dangerous chameleon who can go from giving pep talks to his classmates one minute to [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals running over animals crossing the road]] the next, Arney ultimately has a murderous breakdown when one of his victims threatens to blow the whistle, embarking on a rampage to eliminate any and all witnesses to his crimes in the novel's climax.
* ''Peter & Max'': A ''ComicBook/{{Fables}} novel'': [[Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin Max Piper]] is consumed by his desire for power and his [[ItsAllAboutMe unbelievable narcissism]]. When the Homelands are invaded by the Adversary's forces, Max murders other survivors for supplies. Hungering for revenge against [[CainAndAbel his brother Peter]] for inheriting the family flute Frost, Max goes out of his way to torment him, in one case crippling Peter's wife Bo Peep to hurt Peter. Max travels across the land while spreading chaos and destruction, even casting a spell to sterilize the entire Fable race. In his most famous act, Max [[WouldHurtAChild steals the children of towns]] that refuse to pay him for his services and uses them to [[HumanSacrifice pay off bargains]] to dark powers he has made, adding "the little brats didn't die happy."
* ''Literature/PeterBenchleysCreature'': [[MadScientist Dr. Ernst Kruger]] was a rival of [[MadDoctor Dr. Josef Mengele]] who sought to create a race of [[SharkMan human-shark hybrids]] for [[ThoseWackyNazis the Nazis]]. Experimenting on concentration camp victims with ghastly surgery, psychological torture, and further methods, Kruger killed countless innocents in pursuit of his obsession. Taking a doctor from the camps, Jacob Franks, Kruger forced him to participate after painfully mutilating and experimenting on him as well before they discovered a suitable [[StateSec SS]] officer who was turned into a living shark hybrid via unspeakably painful procedures. Kruger intended to unleash a full armada upon the allies that would tear apart anything in their path, viewing his own genius as the future.
* ''Literature/ThePhoenixFiles'': [[BigBad Noah Shackleton]] is a charismatic CorruptCorporateExecutive who created the town of Phoenix so he could [[OmnicidalManiac wipe out the rest of the world]] with the SyntheticPlague "Tabitha", which [[CruelAndUnusualDeath boils the skin clean off of its victims]]. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment In his first appearance]], he uses it to kill Reeve and threatens to [[WouldHurtAChild paralyze Luke, Jordan and Peter from the waist down]] if they interfere with him again, while also attaching cameras to them so he can track them 24/7. Shackleton had no reason for doing any of this; it was purely ForTheEvulz, and for that flimsy reason he would attempt to kill millions if not billions of innocents.
* ''Literature/ThePiloFamilyCircus'': The Matter Manipulatoris, a flesh sculpting "artist" that lives in the Circus funhouse, not meant to be a likeable or funny villain. He "[[TortureTechnician disciplines]]" poor old Winston by [[ColdBloodedTorture merging a hot coal with the flesh of his stomach]] and is responsible for the creation of the Freaks including the one, who's ''[[BodyHorror constantly melting]].'' It's implied that some people ended up even worse off than that - recycled into living wallpaper and organic furniture for his studio.
* ''Pine Deep Trilogy'', by Jonathan Maberry: [[SavageWolves Ubel Griswold]] is an [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent ancient werewolf]] who was killed by a blues player called The Bone Man after being outed as a [[SerialKiller serial killing]], [[ChildEater child-eating]] werewolf in the town of Pine Deep. His soul surviving, trapped in his grave, Griswold [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] several followers into helping to bring about his return, creating a horde of vampires by slaughtering all in their path and killing many innocents for food and to join the ranks of the undead. Griswold has one of his chief servants detonate bombs in sensitive places in Pine Deep, killing many innocents. When briefly allowed access to a body in the past, Griswold raped a woman to have her give birth to a {{dhampyr}} he could later manipulate, trying to have the boy murdered to empower Griswold. Massacring his own vampire followers to use their flesh and blood to gain a new body, Griswold rises again, proclaiming the beginning of the Red Wave, a tide of undead monsters to sweep across the world and begin the subjugation and extermination of all that lives to feed his hunger for power and death.
* "Pipers", by Christopher Golden, from ''Four Summoner's Tales'': [[TheDon Carlos Aguilar]] is the ruthless head of [[TheCartel the Matamoros Cartel]] who has been selling drugs to children and has anyone who he feels slighted by him killed off. When Texan landowners end up filming his operation, Aguilar retaliates by staging a massacre, [[WouldHurtAChild killing several of their children]]. A ruthless sociopath, Aguilar had the innocent daughter of Enoch Shroud tortured, raped, and killed before having her cut to pieces as a way to pay back her boyfriend. Upon finding the protagonists, Aguilar reveals he intends to use their {{necromancy}} to [[NightOfTheLivingMooks build an undead army]] for himself and plans to rape the teenage daughter of the main hero.
* ''The Pluto Pact'', by Guy N. Smith: [[BigBad Balzur]] is an EvilSorcerer who practices HumanSacrifice, tormenting countless innocents and sacrificing [[WouldHurtAChild children]] in horrible pain to the dark god Pluto. Vowing to return, and doing so years later in the guise of a pharmaceutical executive named Dyne, Balzur continues his gruesome activities before attempting to set off a nuclear apocalypse, intent on making all humanity his sacrifice to his master Pluto.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/PoetAndersonTheDreamWalker Poet Anderson]]...Of Nightmares'' & ''...In Darkness'', by [[Music/AngelsAndAirwaves Tom DeLong]] & Suzanne Young: The evil [[EldritchAbomination Nightmare Monster REM]] is a being that [[EmotionEater feeds on the fear and negativity]] of people in the waking world to grow ever more powerful. Seeking the soul of a Poet to allow him to cross realities, REM targets Jonas relentlessly, murdering his loved ones and taunting him every step of the way even when offering "alliances" that'd require Jonas to give up his body and free-will to allow his world to become a nightmarescape. The most powerful entity in the dream world, REM and his Night Stalkers slaughter Dream Walkers by the dozens and also wreak havoc in the human world, unstoppable so long as the dream world itself exists and humans have things to fear.
* ''Literature/ThePoppyWar'': [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr. Eymichi Shiro]] is a [[MadDoctor doctor]] working for [[TheEmpire the Federation of Mugen]], and is [[ForScience driven entirely by his lust for scientific advancement]]. A MadScientist who murdered countless Speerlies to understand their power, Shiro also experiments on the Nikara people, carving and vivisecting them apart while they are still alive to understand the root of their shamanistic abilities. For Speerlies, Shiro takes advantage of an opium dependence, torturing them with withdrawal symptoms, to better control them. Shiro has also refined a plague, plotting to deploy it on Nikara populations to end the war quickly.
* ''Population Zero'', by Wrath James White: [[BigBad Todd Hammerstein]] is a despicable {{misanthrope|Supreme}} who hates each and every human on Earth, and seeks to cull the population by means of sterilization. Blackmailing a variety of women into getting abortions in exchange for their needed welfare, Todd graduates in his evil by performing a [[GroinAttack forced vasectomy]] on a man who has fathered a variety of children, then decapitating him. Later vivisecting a woman and [[TraumaticCSection ripping her fetus out of her]], Todd continues his insane quest by bludgeoning his pregnant ex-girlfriend with a hammer to make her miscarry, and marches into a house for homeless pregnant women, where he proceeds to murder the owner, beat many of the women, and mutilate them all by crudely and sadistically inducing miscarriages. Despite various crises of conscience and even a shred of guilt, Todd shrugs it all off and continues his descent into depravity until his "humanity is destroyed", solidified as he [[WaterSourceTampering poisons the water supply]] for millions of women with an experimental chemical that induces miscarriages and sterilizes all those who consume it.
* ''Portraits of the Dead'', by John Nicholl: Mark Goddard, a university professor, is in truth a sadistic SerialKiller and torturer who [[{{Sadist}} derives pleasure from the pain and suffering of others]]. Goddard first developed his fascination with death at [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior age twelve]] when he came upon a cat caught in a poacher's snare and, taking joy from the animal's suffering, [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals crushed its head with a rock]], an act he declared the best moment of his young life. From that day forward, Goddard spent his [[TeensAreMonsters childhood and adolescence]] experimenting on animals, devising increasingly brutal methods of torture and execution, before finally committing his first human murder at age 19 when he poisoned his girlfriend to death. Goddard then made a habit of killing once a year on average afterwards, before developing a [[TortureCellar chamber]] in his house for which to capture and entrap his victims, so he could extend their suffering as long as he wanted without fear of interference. Abducting his latest victim, his student Emma Jones, Goddard subjects her to physical and psychological torture for weeks on end, seeking to mold her into his "soulmate", or kill her if she fails to meet his standards. When detective Clive Rankin proves a liability, Goddard kills him and attempts to [[NeverSuicide make it look like a suicide]]. A psychopath who admits to having [[LackOfEmpathy no empathy for others]], Goddard only lives to pleasure himself at the expense of others.
* [[Literature/ThePowderMageTrilogy Powder Mage Universe]]:
** ''Powder Mage Trilogy'': [[AristocratsAreEvil Duke Nikslaus]] is an arrogant Privileged, a mage, who despises Powder Mages and serves the king of Kez. In the past, when the Powder Mage Tamas's wife, also a Powder Mage, was assisting their fellow Powder Mages escape Kez, Nikslaus murdered her and [[DecapitationPresentation presented her head]] to Tamas. Insulting Tamas later when he launches his coup against the corrupt nobility, Nikslaus manipulates him into striking out at Nikslaus so Kez can declare war on Tamas's own nation of Adro and brutally annex it. In the second book, Nikslaus proceeds to attack a neutral nation with his men disguised as Adro soldiers to win them to Kez's side. Nikslaus's army occupies a town with men, women and [[WouldHurtAChild children]] brutally executed and Nikslaus planning to immolate the entire city while having his army slaughter any survivors. While trying to paint himself as a soldier JustFollowingOrders, Nikslaus takes perverse delight in his work, viewing it as a fitting way to exercise his own supposed brilliance, even [[EvilIsPetty being petty enough]] to hire a young noble to seduce Tamas's son's fiancee to publicly humiliate the family.
** ''Gods of Blood of Powder'' sequel trilogy's first book ''Sins of Empire'': [[BloodKnight Fidel Jes]], grandmaster of Landfall, makes it a point to kill several men a day before his morning coffee in duels he provokes. Dedicated to stamping out any hint of resistance from the Palo people, Jes regularly conducts [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]] and executions and has killed so many in his duels that the stones themselves are stained from all the blood Jes has spilled. A [[SociopathicSoldier war criminal]] as well, Jes had a war hero named "Mad" Ben Styke imprisoned for refusing Jes's orders to [[WouldHurtAChild kill a group of children]] in war. When Styke manages to confront Jes again, Jes defeats him and orders Ben healed just so Jes can enjoy torturing him again and again. When he is ordered to locate an artifact called the Godstone, Jes takes Landfall's army, but lies to them, claiming reinforcements are coming to defend Landfall from an incoming invasion when Jes knows the city will be helpless and brutally sacked.
* ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive'':
** ''Nightrise'':
*** [[BadBoss Susan Mortlake]] is one of the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Chief Executives]] of Nightrise, and is Colton Banes and Kyle Hovey's direct superior. When they and report back to Susan Mortlake that Jamie escaped them, she concludes that one of them has to die and has Colton strangle Kyle. She then takes Scott Tyler to a HellholePrison where she and Colton torture him into helping them assassinate a Senator, [[LovesTheSoundOfScreaming analyzing his cries of pain like a symphony]]. She has him [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind control]] the senator's bodyguard into killing him, so that the death will not be linked back to Nightrise.
*** [[PsychoForHire Colton Banes]] is an assassin for [[{{Megacorp}} Nightrise]] hired to track down Jamie and Scott, two of "[[TheChosenOne The Five]]". When Jamie escapes Colton kills "Uncle Don", the stage manager they were staying, and his wife to pin the rap on Jamie. When he and his partner Kyle Hovey report back to Susan Mortlake, she has Colton strangle Kyle. Colton does this immediately and without remorse, stating the he always hated Kyle. When Jamie tries to scan him to find Scott's location, he sees, in addition to Colton's other crimes, memories of a girl locked in a battered trailer with puncture wounds. When Jamie tries to [[GetIntoJailFree go to prison under an alias]], he is caught and one the guards reports him to Colton. Colton tells the guard to turn off the air conditioning in the cell, [[EvenEvilHasStandards which the guard does reluctantly]]. During the raid on the prison Colton shoots Jamie in the back.
** ''Oblivion'': The new [[CorruptCorporateExecutive chairman]] of Nightrise is introduced by holding a press conference with ten thousand members of Nightrise, and says that they will be taken away to have their limbs cut off and replaced with weapons for the battle with the five. When one member refuses, the chairman has him shot dead before sending guards in to beat everyone up and take them away by force. The chairman orders his [[TheDragon second-in-command]], Jonas Mortlake (Susan’s son), to make Scott do a FaceHeelTurn so that without him, the five will never be united, telling Jonas that if he [[YouHaveFailedMe fails]], he will [[BadBoss suffer the same fate]] as the other members of Nightrise. When Matt and Richard are captured, the chairman has Matt crucified and [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] by having his [[FlayedAlive skin flayed]] and his bones broken. The chairman tries to kill Richard in front of Matt, stating that Matt will be {{forced to watch}} his best friend die, and will than continue to be tortured forever.
* ''Literature/PowersOfDarkness'': {{Dracula}}, in this Icelandic rewrite, is a [[HollywoodSatanism Satanist]] who runs a dark cult and preys on the innocent. Slaughtering many over the course of his unlife, Dracula conducts regular acts of HumanSacrifice where humans are killed so he may then [[BloodBath bathe in their blood]]. Trapping Jonathan Harker in his castle, Dracula intends to feed him to his countess and take over as many of the world's governments as he can to enact his Satanic conspiracy and TakeOverTheWorld.
* ''Literature/ThePragueCemetery'': [[VillainProtagonist "Captain" Simone Simonini]] is a backstabbing, manipulative, racist mercenary who lives by the motto "[[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain I hate therefore I am]]". Simonini started his career under the apprenticeship of an unscrupulous lawyer and betrayed him as part of a deal with the Piedmont government, selling out dozens of his companions. Planted as TheMole in [[UsefulNotes/WarsOfItalianIndependence Garibaldi's Thousand]] to gather state secrets, Simonini is exiled to Paris after sinking a ship just to destroy some confidential papers. As an agent of the Imperial secret service, Simonini organizes a conspiracy just to uncover it himself in an attempt to impress his superiors, sending his disposable friends to die of malarial fever in the French Guiana. A fervent anti-Semite who dumps the bodies of his own accomplices in the sewers, Simonini not only strangles a mentally ill woman to death just because he was afraid of having impregnated someone of Jewish descent, but is also revealed to have been the creator of ''Literature/TheProtocolsOfTheEldersOfZion''.
* "[[Literature/ClassicSingaporeHorrorStories Prahma The Horned God]]": The titular Prahma is an [[EldritchAbomination eldritch deity]] from ancient times who runs the Cult of Prahma in the Middle East. Demanding [[HumanSacrifice ritual sacrifices]] on a regular basis, Prahma would have his HighPriestess Sharkillah organize mass sacrifices of [[WouldHurtAChild children]] through disembowelment and feasting of their flesh. Running his cult for centuries until it was eventually overthrown, Prahma retreats into his bronze idol and has his immortal priestess Sharkillah resurrect him in modern times, by granting his followers ThreeWishes in exchange for being restored in the present. After being purchased by the unwitting Professor Rashid and his wife Carmen, Prahma grants the couple's wish for wealth by killing their only son, Adam, in exchange for the insurance and compensation money, and took further advantage of the grieving couple when they wished for Adam's return by possessing Adam's soul to infiltrate the human world.
* ''The President Is Missing'', by UsefulNotes/BillClinton & Creator/JamesPatterson: [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Suliman Cindoruk]], the head of the [[MiddleEasternTerrorists Sons of Jihad]], is in truth in his business [[TerroristsWithoutACause more for money than ideology]]. Suliman assists in terrorist attacks while arranging assassinations to cover his trail. When President Jonathan Lincoln Duncan goes missing, it is revealed Suliman intends to upload a virus to destroy the US's internet and power grid, completely sending the planet to the dark ages and also helping to poison the water supply, with massive amounts of casualties inevitable in the fallout.
* ''Literature/PresidentsVampire'': [[ActionSurvivor Zachary Barrows]] and [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Nathaniel Cade]] have faced some nasty villains in their quest to protect the United States with these the worst:
** [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Dr. Johann Konrad Dippel]] is an EvilutionaryBiologist and the ArchEnemy of Nathaniel Cade. With centuries of wicked and painful experimentation on humans, Konrad also [[HumanResources harvests people for spare parts]] to keep himself eternally young, which is showcased when he mutilates a young prostitute he frequents and tricks her into surrendering to death so he may use her life for his. When her pimp comes by, Konrad infects him with an agonizing flu strain he perfected, also intending on unleashing a ZombieApocalypse on the USA, killing countless people, even betraying his co-conspirator Helen Holt by infecting her with an agent to leave her permanently paralyzed and never aging. Escaping, Konrad begins selling his services to terrorist groups to utilize his strains and agents to kill more people for the highest bidder.
** [[SmugSnake Helen Holt]] is a born sociopath, one of the worst that the Shadow Company has to offer and the nemesis of Zachary Burrows. A vain monster, Helen allies with the vile Konrad and helps in his attempt to attack the United States with a zombie army in return for [[ImmortalityImmorality eternal life and beauty]]. After Zachary and Cade insult her, she plots her terrible revenge on them due to the perceived slight. Allying with the ancient SerialKiller monster known as the Bogeyman, she helps it in a murder spree that kills countless people in brutal mutilations and horrific murders. Her ultimate goal is to have it murder the U.S. President's daughter and young son as the ultimate way to get back at Cade by seeing him fail at his life's work.
** ''The President's Vampire'' (second book): [[DarkMessiah Colonel Graves]], real name Peter Sinclair, is a high-ranking member of the Shadow Company and the man [[WhoShotJFK who had President Kennedy assassinated]]. Finagling a pardon, Graves also subjects many people to horrific experimentation with the Snakehead virus to mutate many others into reptilian monsters which he feeds with innocents and others, kidnapping many people to experiment on, from terrorists to college kids who just wore the wrong shirt. Graves intends to start "doomsday" by unleashing them on the population of the heartland, even taking [[WouldHurtAChild children]] and making them into brain-dead incubators for the virus.
* ''Literature/{{Pressure}}'' & ''Deathless'', by Jeff Strand:
** ''Pressure'': Budding psychopath [[KidsAreCruel Darren Rust]] shows what a budding [[AxCrazy lunatic]] he is by dissecting a dead dog before leaving the protagonist Alex's life for years. Obsessed with the idea Alex is a killer like him, Darren [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures a little girl]] to force Alex to murder an innocent woman. Becoming a SerialKiller, torturing and murdering many innocents, Darren kidnaps and tortures Alex before killing his wife and [[WouldHurtAChild daughter]]. Later surfacing one more time, Darren intends to make Alex a killer like him or to murder him should that fail.
** ''Deathless'': [[AxCrazy Luna Booth]], a [[MonsterFangirl deranged fangirl]] of Darren after his conviction, seduces Alex to get close to something Darren had affected in life. After being rejected by Alex, Luna tries to [[SadisticChoice force him to murder one of his friends or die]], said friend dying from injuries she had inflicted. Luna later puts together a {{cult}} in Darren's name, killing numerous innocents and [[OrderedToDie forcing any failed members to kill themselves]] while planning to have the wife and five children of another friend of Alex's butchered. Having captured April, the girl whom Alex saved from Darren years ago, Luna tries to torture them into killing one another before revealing she had freed Darren from prison before finally breaking from him in disappointment over how ordinary he really is.
* ''Literature/PrettyLittleLiars'': [[ManipulativeBitch Alison DiLaurentis]] is the series's wicked BigBad. Even as a child, she would abuse her twin sister Courtney and even helped get her commited to an insane asylum by lying to her parents that Courtney wanted to kill her. She later [[CainAndAbel murdered Courtney]] in a fit of rage for simply switching places with her by having her BuriedAlive, kills Ian because of his relationship with Courtney, and later on kills Jenna simply because she knew the secret. Besides that, Alison pretends to be Ian in an IM conservation, stalks the girls as the second A, repeatedly blackmails them, and feeds them false information. She then tries to have someone else framed for her misdeeds. In one of her appearnces, she manipulates Emily's feelings for her, and then attempts to kill the girls of the book by having them burnt alive. She also sends Hanna fake tickets and has her sent to a mental institution. Finally, she fakes her own death and leaks a fake trial of evidence to the police which implicates the girls for her "murder", fully intending to have them spend the rest of their lives in prison, just to get her revenge.
* ''Pretty Little Things'', by Jilliane Hoffman: "Picasso"--Mark Felding--is a sadistic serial kidnapper and [[SerialKiller killer]] who targets young teenagers online, kidnaps them, and keeps them as his tormented, malnourished "pets" for months at a time. Possessed of a [[TheFundamentalist vigorous religious conviction]] that [[HeManWomanHater all women are whores]], Picasso eventually butchers the girls in his possession and poses them in artistic fashions for police to find, often torturing and mutilating them before their deaths and [[ILoveTheDead raping the corpses]]. When his crimes are discovered, Picasso murders his "favorite" of the girls by blowing her head off with a shotgun, before trying to kill his youngest victim yet while taunting Special Agent Bobby Dees that one of his victims was Bobby's daughter just to torment him.
* ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'':
** [[TheEvilPrince Prince Humperdinck]] is a man who loves nothing so much as to kill other things, having a menagerie of animals to [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals hunt and kill at leisure]]. Applying this philosophy to the real world, Humperdinck plans to start a bloody war so his nation of Florin can conquer Gildor. Forcing the lovely Buttercup into marriage, Humperdinck tries to have her murdered and {{frame|Up}} Gildor to give [[PretextForWar pretense for invasion]], having her rescuer and true love Westley subjected to his right-hand-man Rugen's wicked Machine for [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]], something he enjoys subjecting their victims to. Deciding upon murdering Buttercup with his bare hands, Humperdinck turns the Machine to its highest setting to give Westley the most agonizing end imaginable.
** [[AristocratsAreEvil Count Tyrone Rugen]], the "six-fingered man" Inigo Montoya has dedicated the past twenty years of his life to hunting, is the Prince's "[[TheDragon twin in misery]]". A cold-hearted TortureTechnician who seeks immortality through the science of human suffering, Rugen once offered a noble swordsmith named Domingo to slave for a year on a perfect sword, then offered only a tenth of his original price upon seeing the result. Rugen heartlessly murdered Domingo when he was refused and spared his son Inigo only a whim, [[WouldHurtAChild leaving the boy with two scars upon his cheek]] to [[ScarsAreForever forever mark the moment]]. Rugen now writes what he hopes to be the "definitive work" on torture, testing his skills upon the captured Westley for weeks on end. Rugen's crown achievement is a ghastly device he simply calls "the Machine" that he first demonstrates on a dog before subjecting Westley to it, leaving him broken and sobbing.
* ''Pure Hate'', by Wrath James White: [[TheBrute Malcolm Davis]] is a terrifying, dark-skinned giant with platinum fangs who never managed to get over his former best friend and his girlfriend cheating on him in high school. Becoming a SerialKiller to "practice" his revenge, Malcolm started on gay men, before killing couples and graduating to entire families. Finally attacking his old friend Reed, Malcolm kills his young children before raping, mutilating and murdering Reed's wife, leaving Reed alive to suffer. Malcolm goes on a killing spree of those in his way, [[CopKiller killing cops]], security guards and anyone who recognizes him before abducting and raping his ex-girlfriend, before allowing his accomplice to do the same, later killing her as well. When he and Reed encounter each other one last time, Reed attempts to talk sense into Malcolm before Malcolm firmly rejects all attempts and [[BoomHeadshot blows Reed's head off]] before being gunned down himself.
* ''A Quiet Belief In Angels'', by R. J. Ellory: The SerialKiller who plagues Augusta Falls, in truth Sheriff Haynes Dearing, begins [[SerialRapist raping]] and murdering [[WouldHurtAChild little girls]], reaching a total of eight before [[FrameUp framing]] the innocent German resident Gunther Kruger, setting fire to Kruger's house and killing his young daughter Ellie. The killer continues murdering victims, eventually murdering Kruger or pushing him to suicide and framing him of the crimes. Upon the novel's hero Joseph Vaughn moving to New York, the killer murders Joseph's wife and frames him for the crime before continuing to murder women and children under the radar, eventually reaching 32 known victims.
* "[[https://www.guernicamag.com/the-quiet-boy/ The Quiet Boy]]", by Nick Antosca: [[AbusiveParents Frank Weaver]] is the abusive, terrifying father of Lucas who has performed a demonic ritual to kill himself and [[OffingTheOffspring his youngest]], Todd, and turn their spirits into nightmarish entities that feast on pain. Though trapped in his house for months while using Lucas to scavenge for animals that Frank and Todd torture to death to soak in their pain, Frank soon enough escapes and [[SpreeKiller goes on a killing spree]] through the town of Rexford, butchering over half a dozen people with sadistic relish for the hunt. After eviscerating the neighbors of Lucas's teacher, Julia, Frank corners her and steals Lucas back from her protection, tearing the woman to shreds and [[TheBadGuyWins escaping into the night with a fearful Lucas in tow]].
[[/folder]]
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** First book & ''How to Steal a Dragon's Sword'': [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Green Death]], aka [[LargeAndInCharge Merciless]], is a colossal sea dragon who, over a thousand years ago, led the dragon race to [[KillAllHumans eradicate humankind]] before being exiled by Hiccup's ancestor. Throughout his exile, Merciless would sink countless ships by devouring them, and their inhabitants, before drifting into a slumber. After being washed ashore on Berk, Merciless [[MonstrousCannibalism devours another sea dragon]] that had also washed ashore with him because it "was full of itself". Merciless then announces to Hiccup that he intends to devour everyone on the island. After killing the Purple Death and being mortally wounded, Merciless swallows Hiccup alive. When he sneezes Hiccup out, Merciless decides to attempt to incinerate him and the others alive, relishing in their terror.

* ''Literature/KovacAndLiska'' series: [[TheSpook Frank "Fitz" Fitzgerald]]--real name unknown--is a [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse seemingly unremarkable]] truck driver who is actually the [[ThemeSerialKiller prolific murderer and rapist known as "Doc Holiday" who targets women and girls on holidays]], driven by [[FameThroughInfamy aspirations of notoriety]]. Introduced in "The 1st Victim" reporting his most recent victim in Minneapolis to Detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska whilst posing as a concerned citizen, Fitz abducts women and girls throughout Central United States, subjecting them to [[ColdBloodedTorture prolonged torture]] and sexual abuse before killing them and disposing of their bodies, having successfully killed eight women. In ''The 9th Girl'', when a haphazard attempt at framing him wounds his pride, Fitz targets the reporter Dana Nolan, intending to make her his "masterpiece". Fitz's actions are shown in ''Cold, Cold Heart'' to have left Dana traumatized even after his death.

** ''High Moor'' (Book 1): [[TheBully Malcolm Harrison]] is a lazy, hedonistic bully who becomes far worse as the opportunities arise. A town bully as [[TeensAreMonsters a young teenager]], Malcolm particularly terrorized local kid John and his friends, nearly subjecting the group to genital mutilation before trying to burn young Marie alive for humiliating him. In adulthood, [[DomesticAbuser Malcolm]] abuses and neglects his wife and kids, and, when given the power of the werewolf, immediately uses his abilities to [[PaterFamilicide slaughter and eat his entire family]]. Going on a killing spree that claims several more lives, Malcolm intends to murder an adult John, then take the man's friend Marie as a SexSlave, all out of a petty grudge at them both for crossing him in childhood.

* ''Literature/KateDaniels'': [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Neig the Undying]], also known as Neamadh and Nemed, is an ancient dragon who ruled the British Isles in the distant past when magic was last power. In ''Magic Triumphs'', he makes his return, horrifically murdering the inhabitants of several towns to feed on their bones and increase his power, along with anyone who might possibly get in his way as he seeks to re-establish his rule. He uses his venom to corrupt human victims into psychotic [[{{Mooks}} yeddimmur]], and even those of his minions who remain human still tend to be ensorcelled to burn themselves alive once they've delivered his messages as a show of power. A being who enslaves and tortures gods [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]], Neig desires nothing less than complete domination of the world--and in the end, he'd likely [[OmnicidalManiac end up destroying it]] out of malice and boredom. Even [[OverarchingVillain Roland]] fears to face him, firmly cementing his stature as the most monstrously terrifying and apocalyptic villain across the entire series.

* ''Literature/KovacAndLiska'' series [[labelnote:Appearances]]"The 1st Victim", ''The 9th Girl'', ''Cold, Cold Heart''[[/labelnote]]: [[TheSpook Frank "Fitz" Fitzgerald]]--real name unknown--is a [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse seemingly unremarkable truck driver]] who is actually the prolific [[SerialKiller murderer]] and [[SerialRapist rapist]] known as "Doc Holiday" who targets women and girls on holidays, driven by [[FameThroughInfamy aspirations of notoriety]]. Introduced reporting his most recent victim in Minneapolis to Detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska in his guise as a concerned citizen, Fitz abducts women and girls throughout Central United States, subjecting them to prolonged torture and sexual abuse before killing them and disposing of their bodies, having successfully killed eight women. When a haphazard attempt at framing him wounds his pride, Fitz targets the reporter Dana Nolan, intending to make her his "masterpiece".

*** [[OverarchingVillain Tarana]]/[[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], "[[LightIsNotGood The Light Bearer]]", believes himself greater than God and, after being cast out for his failed rebellion, seeks to doom humanity to prove his superiority. [[TheCorrupter Corrupting]] the peaceful Telar race into worshipping him, Tarana has them regularly commit [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice]] in his name and commit various atrocities throughout human history, including UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Capturing Sita with Heinrich Himmler during the Holocaust, Tarana painfully tortured her for information via burning, allowing her supernatural healing ability to constantly close the wound and draw out the pain. Growing bored of the Telar, Tarana finds replacement servants through IIC, a company that used the "Array", psychics who could [[GrandTheftMe take control of a person]] and force them commit horrific acts provided a sacrifice was provided. Using their horrible powers and the company, Tarana is able to secretly conquer much of the world and releases a computer program to turn people into mindless zombies under his command. Turning his former servants in the Telar and IIC against each other, Tarana simply sits back to enjoy the bloodshed and is enraged at Sita defeating both groups. As his ultimate plan to send humanity to ruin, Tarana makes plans to discover time machines so he can go back to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and make the Nazis win, uncaring for the utter dystopia he would leave humanity under as long as he gets to feel he won over the God he despises.

* ''[[Literature/TheMissing2010 The Missing]]'', by Jane Casey: [[DomesticAbuser Derek Keane]] was a heinous SerialRapist who had been assaulting women for years before apparently settling down with a family. In truth just using his family his family and a position as a local youth leader as cover, Derek moved onto [[WouldHurtAChild abusing and molesting countless children]], including his own son Daniel. When one of his victims, Daniel's best friend Charlie, fought back hard enough during an attempt to abuse him, Derek killed the boy, blamed Daniel, and forced Daniel to help him hide the body. Derek would later [[TilMurderDoUsPart murder]] his abused wife when she tried to stand up to him, and though eventually killed by Daniel, Derek's evil stained the town for decades, his burial spot for Charlie revealed by police to likely contain even more victims who Derek had [[SerialKiller taken to killing as further depravity]].

* ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'': [[AristocratsAreEvil Carl-Jan Rosenschiöld]] is a {{sadist}} who derives pleasure from harming women. Having already gone through two wives, the first of which he murdered and the second he [[DrivenToSuicide drove to suicide]], Rosenschiöld sets his sights on marrying Beatrice, a girl who is over forty years younger than him, solely because he wants a virgin to be his wife. On their wedding night, [[DomesticAbuser he rapes and nearly kills Beatrice]] after he discovers that she lost her virginity prior to their marriage, even though Beatrice had never made a promise to stay a virgin until they got married. He expresses no remorse for his crimes whatsoever, as he spends his remaining days in a brothel, overindulging in aphrodisiac drugs and sexually abusing their women.

* ''Literature/PrettyLittleLiars'': [[ManipulativeBitch Alison DiLaurentis]] is the series's wicked OverarchingVillain. Even as a child, she would abuse her twin sister Courtney and even helped get her commited to an insane asylum by lying to her parents that Courtney wanted to kill her. She later [[CainAndAbel murdered Courtney]] in a fit of rage for simply switching places with her by having her BuriedAlive, kills Ian because of his relationship with Courtney, and later on kills Jenna simply because she knew the secret. Besides that, Alison pretends to be Ian in an IM conservation, stalks the girls as the second A, repeatedly blackmails them, and feeds them false information. She then tries to have someone else framed for her misdeeds. In one of her appearnces, she manipulates Emily's feelings for her, and then attempts to kill the girls of the book by having them burnt alive. She also sends Hanna fake tickets and has her sent to a mental institution. Finally, she fakes her own death and leaks a fake trial of evidence to the police which implicates the girls for her "murder", fully intending to have them spend the rest of their lives in prison, just to get her revenge.

* ''Literature/LordPeterWimsey'''s "Unnatural Death": Mary Whittaker cold-bloodedly kills her doting great-aunt; sacks, hunts down and kills her innocent maidservant; seduces and kills a trusting village girl; tries to drug and kill both Lord Peter and an unsuspecting solicitor; bludgeons and tries to kill Miss Climpson (who was collecting for charity at the time); and tries to have her distant cousin, a devoted clergyman, hanged for her crimes. Her only motive was securing an inheritance that she would almost certainly have received anyway.

** ''The Girl Who Played with Fire'' & ''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest'': Alexander "Zala" Zalachenko is a Russian agent who took refuge in Sweden. Because of his high importance to the government, Zalachenko was allowed to do anything he wanted. His favorite activity was abusing his wife. He would often torture or beat her in front of their daughter. The last time, he beat her so bad he left her with severe brain damage, which resulted in his daughter, who we find out is Lisbeth, burning Zala alive in retribution. Surviving with hideous wounds, Zala became the leader of a powerful human trafficking ring where girls were forced into prostitution. Having many, many women sold into sex slavery or killed when their value diminished, Zala also had multiple murders committed by his [[TheDragon nightmarishly powerful son]], and when he found out his daughter's location, he spared no expense to murder anyone in his path to torture her to death himself.

* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Metatron]] was once a human named Enoch that turned into an angel by [[GodIsEvil The Authority]] to act as his regent. Despite his fanatical demeanor, [[HeteronormativeCrusader having attempted to kill his own brother Baruch for being gay]], he is revealed to be extremely power-hungry, as he [[TheStarscream turns on The Authority]] and traps him in a crystal. Under his stewardship the already fanatical institution of the church was prompted to commit several atrocities across the multiverse, ranging from mass MindRape of children to the genocide of both human groups and non-human species. Metatron became increasingly convinced that Lyra was the new Eve, so he planned on inquisitions across the Multiverse. Killing Baruch for once and for all, he marched his troops against Lord Asriel's rebel forces in a flat-out apocalyptic battle.

* ''Literature/HowToTrainYourDragon'' series: [[ItsAllAboutMe Alvin the Treacherous]], Hiccup's ArchEnemy, is a man defined by his lust for greed and power. In his first appearance, Alvin [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] the Hooligan tribe to help him find Grimbeard's treasure, betraying them by going to place them in slavery and letting his tribe eat Hiccup and his father Stoick. Upon escaping Grimbeard's treasure cavern, Alvin schemes with a small party of Romans to kidnap the Hooligan and Bog-Burgular heirs to [[WarForFunAndProfit incite a war between them]] in order to form a dragon army to claim the treasure from the caves for himself. Alvin later manipulates Humongous Hotshot to kill Hiccup and steal the Fire Stone for him so he can use it command the Exterminators on Lava Lout Island and let him conquer the archipelago. On Berserk Island, Alvin sacrifices Hiccup and his friends to the beast of the Berserk forests. Becoming leader of the Vikings when the dragons trigger a war, Alvin enslaves countless humans--killing them en masse for whatever reason--to find the Dragon Jewel for him so he can become King of the Wilderwest. Alvin later tortures Hiccup so he can reveal where the human rebels are so he can slaughter them. When Hiccup becomes King of the Wilderwest and tries to end the war between humans and dragons, Alvin breaks the truce by stealing the Dragon Jewel from him, and attempts to use its power to [[FinalSolution wipe out every dragon]].

* ''The Missing'', by Jane Casey: Michael Shepherd wears the mask of an upstanding member of his community, but is truthfully a cruel, homicidal man who [[DomesticAbuse abused his wife and daughter]] for years until, when his 12-year-old daughter Jenny revealed she was pregnant, Michael responded by [[OffingTheOffspring drowning the girl]] and dumping her naked body in the woods. Covering up his crime and attempting to pin it on a variety of townsfolk, Michael, when ousted by his wife, murders her in cold blood before trying to execute the two defenseless witnesses, successfully shooting one in the back with a crossbow before planning to kill the other with his bare hands.

* ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'': AM, the [[AIIsACrapshoot evil master computer]], has already killed all but 5 members of humanity by the time the story opens. AM keeps the survivors mutated and twisted so he may torture them helplessly as he desires. AM forces them to wander, changing the environment so they can never get used to it and subjects them to hideously twisted torments. When one of them finally rescues the others by killing them, AM transforms him into a [[FateWorseThanDeath sapient blob]], not [[AndIMustScream even leaving him a mouth to scream with]].

* "[[IncidentOnAndOffAMountainRoad Incident On and Off a Mountain Road]]", by Joe R. Lansdale: "[[SerialKiller Moon Face]]" lives in a remote cabin in the woods, and periodically kidnaps people from the nearby road to brutally torture and murder in his TortureCellar. Moon Face then cuts his victims' eyes out and drills "eyes" through the back of their heads, in a grotesque parody of what they were before he killed them. Heroine Ellen sees dozens of victims, including several [[WouldHurtAChild children]].

* ''More Bones'': Much like its predecessor, ''Ask the Bones'', this anthology has a couple of characters who go the extra mile in their depravity.
** "The Haunted Bell": The [[AristocratsAreEvil cruel baron]] is a tyrant who heavily taxes his peasants. He has a suit of armor made for him and goes to war, but when he returns, he beats the peasants, demands rent for his time away, and burns the huts of those who cannot pay. He is hanged when some peasants sneak into his stronghold and overpower his guards, but his evil continues after death, when he kidnaps more children and maidens and burns more huts. When he is being made into a bell, he attacks the blacksmith tasked to the job.
** "The Peasants' Revenge": [[FatBastard Lord Hatto]] is a VillainousGlutton who starves his peasants and refuses to give them food during a famine. When a group of them come begging for wheat, he locks them in an empty granary and sets fire to it in an attempt to kill them all, only for a bolt of lightning to turn them all into mice. Even then, he feels no remorse, only wishing he'd been kinder to cats so they'd devour the mice.

* "[[http://www.curculio.org/mrj/GSA2.html Lost Hearts]]", by Creator/MRJames: Mr. Abney is a seemingly [[BitchInSheepsClothing avuncular]] and [[FauxAffablyEvil kindly]] caretaker who takes in his orphaned 11-year-old cousin Stephen. Stephen soon notices the ghosts of a little Gypsy girl and a young Italian boy prowling the grounds, and it is revealed Abney himself is an occultist who wishes to achieve great power. To this end, Abney takes in children and once they hit a certain age, he cuts out and consumes their hearts which also condemns them to fate as lonely specters. Stephen is his next intended victim, and Abney uses his own journals to gloat over how ridiculous the concept that human justice can apply to him is, seeing nothing wrong with [[WouldHurtAChild sacrificing children]] for [[PoweredByAForsakenChild his own benefit]].

* ''Literature/TheLastDaysOfNewParis'': [[MadDoctor Dr. Josef Mengele]] is, as ever, a sadistic MadScientist who specializes on experiments on human lives. When [[ArtInitiatesLife sapient surrealist artworks]] start appearing all over Paris to fight the Nazis, Mengele turns to [[PlayingWithSyringes experimenting on them in sadistic and horrifying ways]], breaking them apart and slaughtering them in gruesome tests that involve peppering them with bullets and dissecting them while they're alive. Mengele even allies with the treacherous priest [[LesCollaborateurs Robert Alesch]] to sacrifice the lives of countless manifs to Hell, all in preparation for the creation of a living Hitler-manif that will rewrite the world to suit the Nazis' advantage.

* ''Pressure'', by Jeff Strand: Budding psychopath [[KidsAreCruel Darren Rust]] shows what a budding [[AxCrazy lunatic]] he is by dissecting a dead dog before leaving the protagonist Alex's life for years. Obsessed with the idea Alex is a killer like him, Darren [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures a little girl]] to force Alex to murder an innocent woman. Becoming a SerialKiller, torturing and murdering many innocents, Darren kidnaps and tortures Alex before killing his wife and [[WouldHurtAChild daughter]]. Later surfacing one more time, Darren intends to make Alex a killer like him or to murder him should that fail.

* ''The Haunted Forest Tour'', by James A. Moore & Jeff Strand: [[NamesToRunAwayFrom Pestilence]], the outer-dimensional being responsible for the growth of the titular Haunted Forest to begin with, is a FauxAffablyEvil sadist of a demon who arranges the events of the plot in order to invade Earth's dimension and conquer it. Making a deal with the corrupt Bob Booth to provide sixty [[HumanSacrifice sacrifices]] to him to gain enough power to fully break into Earth, Pestilence forces the forest into the town of Cromay, decimating it and killing over 230 people, before having Booth organize the “Haunted Forest Tour” to draw in tourists for him and his kind to slaughter and empower themselves. Kidnapping the protagonist of the book, Christopher Brummit, Pestilence merrily tortures him whilst revealing his plot and later tempts Christopher's own mother into sacrificing herself to it as the final sacrifice, brutally [[OffWithHisHead tearing her head off]] in front of her own son before using the power gained to extend the Forest's reach and allow the demons within to eventually massacre all humanity. Pestilence admits to himself that his ideal vision is a [[{{Dystopia}} world]] where humanity is tortured and ravaged by the monsters of his realm at their leisure, where he can bask under the mangled remains of his victims in a sea of blood.

* ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'': [[TheDreaded Agatha Trunchbull]] is the [[DeanBitterman headmistress]] of Crunchem Hall Primary School who rules the school with an iron fist. Shying away from illegal caning, the Trunchbull opts for more torturous methods easily dismissed by parents as wild stories. A ChildHater extraordinaire, the Trunchbull subjects the children to near-fatal punishments, her favorite being "the Chokey"--a refurnished cupboard laced with broken glass and nails. Out of greed, the Trunchbull murdered her brother-in-law for his inheritance, and [[EvilAunt violently abused her niece]], Jennifer Honey, breaking her arm in a spur of rage. Unrepentant, the Trunchbull threatens to break Miss Honey's arm again when she stands up to her. A psychotic disciplinarian who prides herself with never having a childhood, the Trunchbull set the standard for {{sadist teacher}}s everywhere.

* ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'': Johnny [[MeaningfulName Wulgaru]], alias [[IHaveManyNames Johnny Dark]], alias John [[PunnyName More Dread]], alias (John) [[NamesToRunAwayFrom Dread]], is a rapist, SerialKiller, PsychoForHire MisanthropeSupreme who was raised by his drug-addled prostitute mother for the precise purpose of being a weapon against the society she wanted revenge on. The BigBad, CorruptCorporateExecutive Felix Jongleur, views him as an attack dog: vicious, but useful when directed appropriately. However, he severely underestimates Dread's cunning and ambition, and when he sees the opportunity, Dread uses his {{Technopath}} psychic power to wrest control of the Otherland operating system away from his boss. He then launches an orgy of virtual destruction, indulging his sadistic tendencies by, among other things, torturing, raping, and killing the people of Dodge City. When the thrill of [[AGodAmI godlike power]] subsides, he then plans to use the resources of Jongleur's empire to wreak havoc in the real world. Meanwhile, the police team investigating Dread's trail of real world murders interviews a psychologist who describes him as one of the purest examples of a sociopathic personality that he'd ever seen -- [[LackOfEmpathy no empathy]], no remorse, only a fierce intelligence and the skill to manipulate others.

* ''Literature/MonsterANovelOfFrankenstein'': In this retelling of ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', the original novel's titular character and his libertine co-conspirator are worse in this novel than their original counterparts, from [[AdaptationalVillainy the original novel]] and [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade real life]] respectively.
** [[TheSocialDarwinist Victor Frankenstein]] is a medical student turned [[ScienceWizard necromancer and alchemist]], driven by the belief that as a powerful man he can do whatever he wants. Framing the young apothecary Friedrich Hoffmann for the vicious murder of the latter's fiancée, Johanna Klemmen, resulting in Friedrich's execution, Frankenstein uses Friedrich's brain to construct [[FrankensteinsMonster a patchwork being]] using the dark arts, having previously trapped a woman he calls "Sophie" [[AndIMustScream in her own severed head with her teeth and larynx removed]]. Abandoning Friedrich when his lair is compromised, and having created a magical bond between them, Frankenstein takes advantage of Friedrich's frenzied search for him to abduct hundreds of youths. Confronted by Friedrich, Frankenstein eventually reveals that the captives will be part of a performance [[CruelAndUnusualDeath involving various hideous acts of torture and murder]]. Frankenstein also reveals that he and his guests have full control over Friedrich and allows his female guests to rape the latter. Pressuring Friedrich into compliance by promising to bring Johanna back, Frankenstein expresses a morbid curiosity whether Johanna will still love Friedrich in his new form.
** The Creator/MarquisDeSade is a [[MadArtist depraved playwright and novelist]] who acts as a co-conspirator to Victor Frankenstein. Shortly after he is introduced, the Marquis [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sexually abuses]] the sapient severed head "Sophie" with Frankenstein's permission. Upon returning, the Marquis [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids expresses disdain]] for Friedrich's conscience, expressing his intentions to force Friedrich to perform sex acts as part of [[PerilousPlay the performance where hundreds of youths are sexually abused, tortured, and killed in various horrific ways onstage]]. Initially intending to rape Friedrich's "bride", the Marquis is only prevented from doing so due to Frankenstein's pragmatism.

* ''Literature/ParadiseClub'', by Tim Meyer: [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Marco Pressley]] is a wealthy man in charge of a [[ApocalypseCult deadly cult]] that seeks to summon the mysterious, [[EldritchAbomination eldritch beings]] from another dimension. Seeking to utilize a nightmarish and bloody ritual, Marco sends in {{serial killer}}s to massacre everyone in the area with one previous outing having killed a hundred campers. Having many more butchered at a tropical resort under an ostensible "[[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame game]]", Marco attempts to bond captives as hosts for monsters, using their families as leverage against them, and when his plans fall apart, attempts to kill a young boy for sheer spite so he might be the one winner.

** ''The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'': [[FauxAffablyEvil Martin Vanger]] is a polite, charming CEO who uses his position in society to cover up the fact that he is a SerialKiller and rapist of women, kidnapping them and spending days raping and torturing them before ending their lives. Martin has been committing his atrocities for decades, and his victim count handily reaches into the hundreds. Even worse is the reveal that Martin was raised to be a killer by his equally repulsive father, Gottfried, and though potentially tragic, it is made explicitly clear that Martin just enjoys raping and killing, made all the more obvious by turning [[VillainousIncest his own sister]] into his personal sex and torture slave after his father is out of the picture. Martin tries to subject Mikael Blomkvist to the same torments of his previous victims in the end, and simply excuses his crimes by proclaiming it is his hobby and he is living a "complete life".

* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePony: The Stolen Shadow'', by Anne Sikerski: [[EvilSorcerer Chameleon the Enchanter]] is an evil shapeshifting warlock. Chameleon steals Seashell's shadow, intending to use it to cast a spell to drag her to his lair and [[DeathOfPersonality permanently wipe her memory]] so she can be his slave forevermore, a fate he's done to others in the past; this is implied to include [[BadBoss his own goblin minions]]. As she seeks to regain her shadow, Chameleon attempts to subject her and her friends to this fate directly on many occasions, and has created a [[SinisterSuffocation choking]] magical mist trap that turns any caught in it for too long [[TakenForGranite into stone]]. Among the many evil witches and warlocks faced by the ponies, Chameleon stands out as one of the worst.

* ''Literature/TheKiteRunner'': [[DepravedBisexual Assef]] begins life as a brass knuckle-brandishing sociopath and a racist {{bully}} with a virulent [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain hatred of the Hazaras]]. Possessed of an admiration for UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler himself and considering him a visionary, Assef is already known as an [[EarAche ear-eating]] savage around his area and shows his true colors by raping Hassan alongside his friends after the boy humiliates him. Assef [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp graduates from bully to a member of the Taliban]] who introduces himself stoning a blindfolded man to death and [[WouldHurtAChild taking orphans to be sold into sexual slavery]], among them the now-deceased Hassan's son Sohrab as his personal SexSlave. Assef is no less adamant about his mission to massacre the Hazaras, and proudly accepts the term "ethnic cleansing" as one he likes. Assef views himself as taking out "garbage" around Afghanistan, but when everything is clear, Assef is little more than a domineering, depraved, remorseless bully from youth to adulthood.

* ''The Light at the End'', by John Skipp & Craig Spector: Rudy Pasko [[note]]said to be the inspiration for [[Franchise/BuffyVerse Spike]][[/note]] is a two-bit punk. When turned into a vampire, Rudy goes on a killing spree, publicly leaving victims all over [[BigApplesauce New York City]], even painting pictures from their blood. When annoyed by two teens talking in a theater, Rudy murders them and leaves the corpses to be discovered before also tormenting the people who knew him in life and killing several of those out to hunt him. When they invade his apartment, it is revealed Rudy has been turning several of his victims into thralls and has even [[WouldHurtAChild murdered several children]].

* ''Literature/MidnightMass'':

** First are "Messires Croup and Vandemar," the resident [[PsychoForHire monsters for hire]] of the London Below. Croup himself sums the duo up best when he cheerily remarks, "we have ''no'' redeeming features." Croup and Vandemar seem one beast split into two bodies, Croup as the brains and Vandemar as the brawn, but both are wildly sadistic and cruel. A man who fails to perform his tasks is set upon by Croup and hacked to pieces (and impliedly devoured by him). The two murder heroine Door's family and when her ally, the Marquis, tries to negotiate with them, they capture him and torture him for nothing more than entertainment. They give him a head start though...with Vandemar stalking after him, gleefully counting down the time to savor the hunt even more
** The angel [[BigBad Islington]] is a being drunk on its own glory and vanity. Islington was originally tasked with watching over Atlantis. When pressed on how Atlantis really sank, Islington's normally beautiful, serene features are replaced by a mask of fury as it shrieks that they deserved it. Islington is the one who commissioned Croup and Vandemar to murder Door's family and manipulated Door to him so she could open the gates of heaven, allowing Islington to conquer its kin and exact revenge out of nothing more than spite for its exile.

* ''Literature/InvasionAmerica'' series, by Vaughn Heppner: Jian Hong, Agricultural Minister of Greater China, stages an attack on an American oil rig to gain favor with the Chairman and discredit his rival. After [[ManipulativeBastard convincing the Chairman to invade Alaska]], leading to the deaths of thousands, Jian [[KlingonPromotion assassinates him to take power]]. Using his network to install a puppet government in Mexico, leading to the nation being stripped of food, he goes on to launch an invasion of America, triggering a [[WorldWarIII third World War]]. Objective-minded, Jian sacrifices over two million of his own soldiers to destroy an American tank plant. To keep America isolated, Jian increases tensions between them and Germany by staging a [[NukeEm nuclear terrorist attack]]. Shipping missiles to Mexico, Jian has them launched at America, killing one million people. Upon being invaded by a joint force of American and Russian soldiers, Jian forcibly drafts civilians as frontline troops. When the Australians revolt against his tyranny, Jian punishes their uprising with a genocide, killing seven million of them. Even as his own country is torn apart by the war with America, Jian stubbornly refuses to surrender his power, murdering almost his entire government for failing to find him a solution for the war he brought on.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Most of Honor Harrington's enemies have been fairly complex adversaries with understandable or even altruistic goals. Not so in the case of these two from ''Honor Among Enemies'':
** [[SpacePirates Andre Warnecke]] is the former dictator of the Chalice Cluster. Taking control of the Cluster during a revolution, Warnecke promised reform, but [[TheCaligula delivered oppression so severe]] that three million people died. After being run out of the system, he turned to [[RuthlessModernPirates piracy]], robbing and stealing from merchant ships in order to finance a return to Chalice. Coming upon the pacifistic world of Sidemore, Warnecke took power, executed all senior officials, and placed [[NukeEm nuclear warheads]] in all major cities in order to ensure the population's loyalty. When Honor and the HMAMC Wayfarer arrived on Sidemore to bring him to justice, Warnecke detonated one of his nukes to show that he wasn't bluffing, then offered to exchange the lives of Sidemore's urban population for his own personal safety.
** At first, [[SociopathicSoldier Power Tech 2nd Class Randy Steilman]] seems to be a simple [[TheBully bully]] with a large disciplinary record, until he brutally beats his crewmate Aubrey Wanderman to near-death because he didn't get a chance to beat him earlier. He then decides to desert the military by sabotaging the ship he is on and escaping in the confusion, but is caught attempting to injure a crewman just because that crewman was a harder worker than him. As a result, Steilman is demoted, and takes out his rage by sabotaging Petty Officer Ginger Lewis's spacesuit, hospitalizing and nearly killing her. Cruel and sadistic, Randy managed to be one of the most personal villains in the Honorverse while lacking the resources of other villains.

* ''[[Franchise/KingKong Kong]]: King of Skull Island'', by Joe [=DeVito=], Brad Strickland, and John Michlig: [[BigBad Bar-Atu]] is the HighPriest of the Atu, one of the two tribes that inhabit Skull Island, the other being the Tagu. While Bar claims to be able to communicate with the Gods, including the voracious [[PrehistoricMonster Gaw]], in reality he is a charlatan who uses fear to convince his followers to perform {{Human Sacrifice}}s to Gaw, who Bar pretends to summon by secretly slathering the sacrifices with a scent that attracts Gaw. The sacrifices are Bar's way of covertly [[FinalSolution genociding]] the Tagu, who he has stoked hatred of by claiming that they were the ones who caused the downfall of the island's once great civilization by angering the Gods. When Europeans become shipwrecked on the island, Bar convinces their captain to help him assassinate his rival, Kublai, in exchange for all of the treasure on Skull Island. During the search for the treasure, Bar [[DirtyCoward abandons]] all of his own men to be butchered by the rampaging Gaw, who also slaughters the Europeans before being slain by Kong. [[FakeUltimateHero After taking sole credit for summoning Kong to dispose of Gaw and the Europeans]], Bar has Kublai gunned down, murders the island's elderly Storyteller, and begins sacrificing people to Kong while plotting to massacre everyone who is still loyal to Kublai's widow, Ishara. When Carl Denham arrives on Skull Island, Bar offers him five native women in exchange for Denham's friend, Ann Darrow; when Denham refuses the trade, Bar has Ann forcibly abducted and sacrificed to Kong.

* ''Literature/ThePragueCemetery'': [[VillainProtagonist "Captain" Simone Simonini]] is a manipulative, hypocritical and backstabbing PetRat behind a vast HistoricalRapSheet. A master forger and mercenary who lives by the motto "[[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain I hate therefore I am]]", Simonini started his career under the apprenticeship of an unscrupulous lawyer and betrayed him as part of a deal with the Piedmont government, selling out dozens of his companions. Planted as TheMole in [[UsefulNotes/WarsOfItalianIndependence Garibaldi's Thousand]] to gather state secrets, Simonini is exiled to Paris after sinking the ship of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ippolito_Nievo Ippolito Nievo]], his own depressed friend, just to destroy some confidential papers, sacrificing a vengeful soldier to do the dirty work for him and killing not only Nievo himself but everyone onboard. Transferred to the Imperial secret service, Simonini organizes a conspiracy with his disposable pawns just to uncover it himself, inadvertently sending his friends to die of malarial fever in the French Guiana. Providing assistance as a spy during the UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar and the Paris Commune, Simonini takes advantage of the situation to profit off the conflict. A pivotal orchestrator of the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair Dreyfus Affair]], Simonini is also tasked with inciting a riot, persuading students to ignite it. Using the sewers to dump the bodies of his personal victims, Simonini murders his own accomplices, even going as far as to strangling a mentally ill woman whom he kept sedated and drugged because she was of Jewish descent and he could have impregnated her. Revealed to have been the creator of ''Literature/TheProtocolsOfTheEldersOfZion'', Simonini agrees to detonate a railway and cause havoc in cities even after his retirement.

* ''[[Literature/{{Dracula}} Powers of Darkness]]'': {{Dracula}}, in this Icelandic rewrite, is a [[HollywoodSatanism Satanist]] who runs a dark cult and preys on the innocent. Slaughtering many over the course of his unlife, Dracula conducts regular acts of HumanSacrifice where humans are killed so he may then [[BloodBath bathe in their blood]]. Trapping Jonathan Harker in his castle, Dracula intends to feed him to his countess and take over as many of the world's governments as he can to enact his Satanic conspiracy and TakeOverTheWorld.

* ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}: The Measure of a Man'', by Nancy Holder: Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli is a ruthless Immortal who gives himself unique advantages in the Game by killing other pre-immortals to pretend he has given them their newfound lives. Using them as cheap Quickenings or pawns, Machiavelli [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade murders rulers and popes, causes entire wars, and inevitably discards people when he's through with them]]. Seeking to [[WarForFunAndProfit cause a war]] between Venice and Turkey, Machiavelli abandons one pawn to be tortured to death; causes the death of Duncan's friend's son; and later returns in the modern day seeking a computer program that will allow him control of the world's computers, with the intent of shutting off even entire cities if it will get him what he want. Machiavelli murders his lover and co-conspirator, orders another pawn tortured before she is to be beheaded, and even tries to put Duncan in the [[SadisticChoice position]] of needing to behead another young Immortal and causing a plane crash or letting his own head be taken.

* ''VideoGame/JudgeDreddDreddVsDeath'', by Gordon Rennie: [[BigBad Judge Death]], the twisted leader of the Dark Judges, led his comrades in the [[GenocideFromTheInside utter eradication of their entire world]] into a barren wasteland of ghosts and wraiths. In Mega-City One, Death has countless innocents rounded up and subjected to "judgement" by himself and his brothers before being sealed off, only to return and direct the Dark Judges on new paths to slaughter until he merges his Deadworld with Earth to [[OmnicidalManiac kill all that lives]] for the sin of life.

* ''Level 26: Dark Origins'': This digital novel, by ''Series/{{CSI|Verse}}'' creator Anthony Zuiker, features Sqweegel, real name unknown, the most prolific SerialKiller in history within the CSI world. Sqweegel is known for incredible preparation and his seeming randomness. Once he locks in on a victim, Sqweegel proceeds to murder them, often after [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]] and [[SerialRapist raping]] them, with [[DepravedBisexual gender being irrelevant to his tastes]]. Sqweegel initiates the book's plot by sending in a homemade {{snuff film}} to the authorities, and proceeds to kidnap three teenagers who tried to illegally tried to buy beer before raping them with himself, a mop handle and a baseball bat. He burns six priests alive and attempts to torture the widows of 9/11 firefighters to death. His true enemy is the investigator Steven Dark, whose foster family was murdered by Sqweegel once Dark came close to catching him years ago. To “punish” Dark for cheating on his wife Sibby, Sqweegel had raped Sibby, possibly conceiving a [[WouldHurtAChild child]] which Sqweegel plans to kill, along with raping and killing Sibby. With a body count numbering in the high hundreds and the belief [[KnightTemplar he is an instrument of divine retribution]], Sqweegel remains the most terrifying enemy of Dark's career, and is the only known serial killer to receive the classification Level 26 to designate a monster that was previously beyond human comprehension.

* ''Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy'':

* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', by Jeff Rovin:
** [[Characters/MortalKombatShaoKahn Shao Kahn]], the demonic ruler of the hellish Outworld, is one of the sons of T'ien, the highest of gods, who originated from the creator of all life P'an Ku. Desiring to merge his realm with the Mother Realm--Earth--Shao Kahn sent his chief minion Shang Tsung there to open a portal and extend it enough to fit his demon army through. Sending his nephew Ruthay to serve as a communication device between them, changing his form in the process, [[EvilUncle Shao Kahn]] didn't care that it made Ruthay live in [[AndIMustScream a state of eternal agony]] and the fact that if the portal were ever closed it could result in obliteration of the Mother Realm. Having Shang Tsung kill countless innocent people in search for "the right soul", which could extend a portal, Shao Kahn took parts of Shang Tsung's each time [[YouHaveFailedMe he failed]] and eagerly waited for a way to Earth, so he could transform it into HellOnEarth, with masses of people tortured and burned.
** [[Characters/MortalKombatShangTsung Shang Tsung]] is an EvilSorcerer who developed an ability to [[YourSoulIsMine steal people's souls]]. Losing his memory on Earth after Shao Kahn sent him there, Shang Tsung immediately began [[SlashedThroat slitting throats]] of lone travelers after Shao Kahn returned his memories and ordered him to do so, and killed a teacher, a warrior and a holy man in his search for "a right soul" to use to extend a portal to the Outworld. Realizing that souls of the warriors is what he needed, Shang Tsung captured, brainwashed and enslaved the seven traveling cooks to rebuild the ancient Shaolin Temple on an island and then enlarges it, so he could create the Mortal Kombat tournament, where he would invite many powerful warriors from across the world. He killed countless warriors and sent their souls to Shao Kahn, so he could enlarge the portal little by little. After being defeated by Kung Lao twelve times, Shang Tsung used the Shokan prince Goro to kill him by ripping his heart out, and much later Shang Tsung planned to [[TheStarscream quit being Shao Kahn's lackey]] by using the magic artifact to create his own kingdom, only backing down when the heroes were close to destroying him and his forces, while, [[EvilIsPetty for petty reasons]], ordering his mercenaries to [[WouldHurtAChild kill a child]] who lived in the Temple of Rayden (sic).

* ''Nothing Lasts Forever'', by Roderick Thorp: In this novel which ''Film/DieHard'' was based on, [[BigBad Anton "Little Tony The Red" Gruber]] is a [[WesternTerrorists terrorist]] known for targeting industrialists and executing them. Taking over Klaxon Oil's building in LA, Gruber executes several of the executives and holds 75 hostages there, with only [[TheHero Joe Leland]] stalling his plans. Gruber eventually guns a hostage down trying to get at Joe, while revealing his true plan is to escape and detonate his explosives to wipe out the hostages, the building and everything and everyone half a mile all around in downtown LA.