Nobody wants to see the baddie win, however much sense it makes to the story. Which of the worst villains in books do you want punished?
From cunning spies who evade discovery to baddies who literally get away with murder (and worse), novels that leave villains unpunished can be nail-bitingly frustrating. Even if you dont believe in karma, something still feels wrong about seeing the bad guys triumph. Here are some great fictional evildoers that I really wanted to face justice:
1. Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey
The cold, calculating Nurse Ratched is one of literatures most manipulative villains, reigning over a psychiatric ward with real sadism. In the books finale, when depressed patient Billy Bibbit proudly emerges from his bed with a woman, Nurse Ratched drives Billy to despair by threatening to tell his mother.
What worries me, Billy, she said. Is how your poor mother is going to take this. Billy flinched and put his hand to his cheek like hed been burned with acid. Nuh! Nuh! His mouth was working. He shook his head, begging her No! he cried. We watched Billy folding into the floor, head going back, knees coming forward. He was shaking his head in panic like a kid thats been promised a whipping just as soon as a willow is cut.
When Bibbit commits suicide, protagonist McMurphy hurtles himself at Ratched in anger and wraps his hands around her neck. While this attack leaves her voiceless and wipes out her authority she couldnt rule with her old power any more, not by writing things on pieces of paper the bitterest pill to swallow is McMurphys defeat, as the Big Nurse forces him to have a lobotomy that leads to his untimely death.
2. Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Assassin Anton Chigurh is another merciless baddie, who slinks away after leaving a slew of bodies in his wake. After killing Llewelyn Moss for stealing drug money, he decides to murder his innocent wife Carla Jane based on the flip of the coin.
He straightened out his leg and reached into his pocket and drew out a few coins and took one and held it up. He turned it. For her to see the justice of it. He held it between his thumb and forefinger and weighed it and then flipped it spinning in the air and caught it and slapped it down on his wrist. Call it, he said.
After shooting Carla Jane, a car runs a stop sign and hits his truck breaking his arm in two places, cracking some ribs and cutting his head and leg. Though this may feel like payback, the harm is short-lived as he manages to patch himself up with a torn shirt and continues on his way, relatively unscathed: They watched him set off up the sidewalk, holding the twist of the bandanna against his head, limping slightly.