Scariest Villain in the Discworld
- Thread starter prajuvikas
- Start date
I thought about it a little bit more and realised that there are 2 classes of villains in the Discworld.
The first is the kind of systemic villain who would have a world altering effect. The Lords and Ladies, The Audtiors and Coin even would fall under this class.
Then there are the more 'personal' villains who have a smaller sphere of effect but are scary on a more personal level.
For some reason, its this class of villains who scare me more. Perhaps it is because, it is this class of villain that one could imagine existing in our round world too...
As a slight non sequitur, it would be terrifying if Dorfl or Hex went bad
The first is the kind of systemic villain who would have a world altering effect. The Lords and Ladies, The Audtiors and Coin even would fall under this class.
Then there are the more 'personal' villains who have a smaller sphere of effect but are scary on a more personal level.
For some reason, its this class of villains who scare me more. Perhaps it is because, it is this class of villain that one could imagine existing in our round world too...
As a slight non sequitur, it would be terrifying if Dorfl or Hex went bad
I find it hard to choose any one villain, so I'll pick a few.
The Auditors: What can you do when the laws of physics personified decide that you need to die?
Ipslore the Red: It's not just that he cheated Death, or decided to plunge the Discworld into a war that could have very well destroyed it. He mentally rapes his son.
The Archchancellor's Hat: More mental violation and megalomania.
Vorbis: Rewrites his own personal reality inside his head, believing his own BS.
Teatime: Obvious, isn't it?
The Cunning Man: No eyes, makes people hate witches, and basically makes people hate everything.
The Auditors: What can you do when the laws of physics personified decide that you need to die?
Ipslore the Red: It's not just that he cheated Death, or decided to plunge the Discworld into a war that could have very well destroyed it. He mentally rapes his son.
The Archchancellor's Hat: More mental violation and megalomania.
Vorbis: Rewrites his own personal reality inside his head, believing his own BS.
Teatime: Obvious, isn't it?
The Cunning Man: No eyes, makes people hate witches, and basically makes people hate everything.
Penfold said:
I personally find the concepts behind Sir Terry's villains more scary than the individual villains themselves. 
Powerful villains, funny villains, annoying villains, boring villains, complex villains yes, but "scary' is hard to find. Maybe that's to Pterry's credit that for the most part, he refuses to give in to the old school version of the totally menacing, diabolically laughing villain and instead created adversaries who were the way they were because of their upbringing or culture, rather than simply a desire for power.
raisindot said:
Penfold said:
I personally find the concepts behind Sir Terry's villains more scary than the individual villains themselves.
Powerful villains, funny villains, annoying villains, boring villains, complex villains yes, but "scary' is hard to find. Maybe that's to Pterry's credit that for the most part, he refuses to give in to the old school version of the totally menacing, diabolically laughing villain and instead created adversaries who were the way they were because of their upbringing or culture, rather than simply a desire for power.
There is a very interesting thread in Small Gods (and in many other DW books but that is the one that springs to mind for me) about people fighting evil running the risk of becoming just as bad as the evil they are fighting against - Sergeant Simony is the one singled out but Urn and even Brutha are also at risk of it. But the strange thing is despite Pterry's awareness of this he still makes it clear that people like Vorbis, Mr Pin, Reacher Gilt etc. are still accountable for the consequences of their actions.
And of course the struggle of Vimes against his inner Beast is a big part of his character development. His answer to this seems to be to make sure everything is done by the book rather than dispensing arbitrary justice as Vimes the beast would - e.g. with Carcer in Night Watch. And Carcer is NASTY and doesn't have much to recommend him from what I recall of reading the book for the first time earlier this year.
Your comment about the diversity of villains is interesting. I think of Cosmo in Making Money who I think has to be one of the most incompetent villains in DW because he's handicapped by his irrational obsession with mirroring Vetinari. But he still does some real evil in amongst the insanity and is clearly a villain.
Again, in Men at Arms d'Eath and Cruces both do very bad things, especially Cruces, but there is the question of whether it is really them or whether something else (the gonnne) has taken them over.
This is one of those eternal debates that I don't think has any final answer - good and evil, free will and responsibility etc. etc. Good to know they have the same problems in fantasy worlds!
Not the worst, butI find Count de Magpyr (Vlad and Lacrimosa's father) rather scary - somehow the enslavement of the people in Escrow reminds me of Nazis in the countries they occupied. Being 'milked' for blood may not be the worst fate imaginable, but it is disturbing, a blatant show of disrespect for personal freedom.
Then there's Lily 'Lilith' Weatherwax... who didn't respect anyone or anything, and tried to control a whole nation 'for their own good'...
Then there's Lily 'Lilith' Weatherwax... who didn't respect anyone or anything, and tried to control a whole nation 'for their own good'...
