This is the first article in a weekly series.  Today I will be covering my favourite type of character: villains.  Villains are the spice in novels and well-developed villains turn good novels into great novels.  Here I will list my top 5 favourite villains in descending order.  Warning: this may contain spoilers.

1.  Niccoló Machiavelli from The Magician by Michael Scott.

If Michael Scott is good at one thing, it’s creating complex characters.  Machiavelli may be a villain, but he certainly has flashes of good and his backstory is quite sad.  He seems to reluctantly work for Dee and the Dark Elders, but he is also very pragmatic about it.  Throughout the series I have been unable to truly figure him out, although his character does take an interesting turn in the penultimate book, The Warlock.  I really hope to see more of him in The Enchantress because he’s a truly fascinating character.  I guarantee you, he is one of the best villains you will ever see in YA fiction (and regular fiction, for that matter).

2.  Satan from Paradise Lost by John Milton.

Yes, this is probably a pretty controversial choice, but as a character, John Milton’s Satan is a wonderful villain.  Charismatic, powerful and completely evil, he is the epitome of a villain.  He believes what he is doing is right and will do anything to achieve his goal.  After being thrown out of Heaven, Satan goes to Earth and convinces Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge in order to corrupt mankind and spite God.  The only reason John Milton’s Satan is not my favourite villain is because he’s portrayed as pure evil, rather than having any real redeeming qualities. Continue reading →