The 25 most formidable fantasy villains

In Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Saruman is one of the most notable and powerful villains. Capable of breeding his army of menacing Uruk-hai and unleashing them on the people of Rohan and keeping Gandalf prisoner, he is outmatched only by Sauron. Ultimately, he is undone by his arrogance and belief in his own superiority. Still, for much of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, he is more than capable of holding his own and posing a grave threat to the various free peoples of Middle-earth, wielding his significant power for evil rather than the good for which it was intended.

Given that he is one of the mighty beings known as the Maia, it makes sense that Sauron would be one of the most powerful villains in both JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and the genre of fantasy as a whole. The only thing that keeps him from conquering all of Middle-earth is that he poured so much of himself into the One Ring, which he subsequently lost. Though he is, in Jackson’s films anyway, nothing more than a disembodied eye, he still comes perilously close to taking over all of Middle-earth, bringing about a period of darkness in which there would ultimately be no emergence.

As fans of The Lord of the Rings know, the Witch-king of Angmar is one of Sauron’s most fearsome lieutenants. So powerful is he that no living man can kill him. As a wielder of one of the Rings of Power, he can strike fear into the hearts of his enemies, and in the movie adaptation, he even manages to bring Gandalf to his knees by destroying his staff. Though he is ultimately defeated by Éowyn and Merry, who, after all, aren’t men, he nevertheless remains one of the most impressive and terrifying villains to have emerged from the imagination of JRR Tolkien.

In both JRR Tolkien’s original works and their adaptations, the villains remain some of the best characters. In The Hobbit,  the dragon Smaug is strangely charismatic yet completely terrifying. Much of this unusual combination can be attributed to the performance of Benedict Cumberbatch, who provides the voice for the giant beast and portrays him in motion capture. Though he’s not above a little bit of wordplay with Bilbo, the truth remains that Smaug is a tremendously powerful, malicious, and destructive being, as he shows most viscerally when he rains down fire and destruction on the unsuspecting residents of Lake-town.

In Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit, one of the most terrifying villains is the white Orc Azog, who is figured as Thorin Oakenshield’s archenemy. Gigantically tall and utterly relentless, he pursues Thorin and his companions through all three trilogy movies (a marked contrast to the original novel). He repeatedly shows that there is nothing he won’t do in his quest to destroy Thorin once and for all and, mounted on his fearsome warg, he comes very close to doing so, and he even manages to kill two of Thorin’s beloved kinsmen, Fili and Kili.  

In some ways, Voldemort is the paradigmatic fantasy villain. Raised in troubling circumstances but eventually becoming one of the most powerful wizards in the Wizarding World, he is utterly convinced of his own righteousness and blood purity, leading him to persecute muggles. To make matters worse, he is also tremendously powerful and strangely charismatic, able to bend people to his will and convince them to join him. If it weren’t for Harry Potter, it’s very likely that he would have succeeded in reforming the entire Wizarding World and making it a twisted reflection of his desires. 

Throughout the Harry Potter  series, the boy wizard faces several terrifying foes, but arguably one of the most viscerally unsettling is Bellatrix Lestrange, played with divine madness by Helena Bonham Carter. Bellatrix truly believes in Voldemort’s genocidal mission and is more than willing (and happy) to torture anyone who gets in the way. She is utterly amoral and a skilled witch, which makes her very difficult to defeat until she comes into conflict with Molly Weasley, who is more than capable of dispatching her before Bellatrix can harm Ginny.

The 1980s fantasy adventure Willow has recently returned to public consciousness thanks to the Disney+ series of the same name. Like so many other fantasy movies of the period, it features a terrifying villain in the person of Bavmorda, the evil queen whose attempts to kill the baby Elora Danan, who will bring about her destruction. In addition to being ruthless enough to try to murder a baby while it is still in the cradle, Bavmorda also shows herself to be a very powerful sorceress, capable of turning an entire army into pigs. 

Few Disney villains have exerted as strong a hold on the imagination as Maleficent. When she appears in Sleeping Beauty, she is not only quite powerful — capable of casting a killing curse on Princess Aurora — but apparently without scruples. As she proves throughout the rest of the film, she is more than a match to almost anyone who comes against her. In fact, she is only defeated when the Three Good Fairies join together with Prince Phillip. Even then, it’s an ear thing, particularly since Maleficent is even more formidable and dangerous in her dragon form. Phillip is only saved by good luck and fairy assistance.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney’s first feature animated film, set the standard by which all subsequent Disney villains would be measured. The Evil Queen is as vain and cruel as she is beautiful, quite capable of poisoning a young woman because she is more beautiful than she is. Furthermore, she shows just how far she’s willing to go to destroy the story's young heroine, up to and including her transformation into an old hag, so that she can deceive her stepdaughter into eating a poisoned apple. As formidably powerful as she is vain, she is a villain not to be trifled with.

Emerging as it did at the height of the Disney Renaissance, Aladdin remains one of the most polished and accomplished of the studio’s many feature films. Its enduring popularity stems largely from its main villain, Jafar, a sinister sorcerer whose thirst for power and domination leads him to seek out the lamp and try to claim Genie’s power for himself. Like the best of Disney villains, Jafar lets nothing stand in the way of his power, even going so far as to imprison Princess Jasmine in a giant hourglass. His only true weakness is his lust for power, which leaves him vulnerable to being outwitted by Aladdin.

The Black Cauldron has long had a reputation for being a bit of a black sheep for Walt Disney. Though it takes some significant liberties with its source material, it is nevertheless a fascinating film, in part because it is so much darker in tone than much of the studio’s other output. It also features one of the most terrifying villains to have emerged from Disney: the malevolent Horned King, a skull-faced creature who wishes to use the eponymous cauldron to resurrect an army of the dead with which he can conquer the world. Voiced by the late John Hurt, he is a being of tremendous power and malice, precisely what makes him so terrifying.

Anyone who watched The Wizard of Oz as a child is well aware of the formidable nature of the Witch of the West, the green-skinned sorceress who is the primary antagonist of the film. From the moment she appears, she terrifies both Dorothy and the young viewer, and it’s clear that Margaret Hamilton is having a grand time portraying the character. The Wicked Witch isn’t shy about causing harm to others, whether it’s setting the Scarecrow on fire (twice) or sending her legions of flying monkeys to kidnap Dorothy and leave the others frightened for their lives.

The big-screen adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe  is notable for several reasons, not the least of which is the presence of the White Witch, one of the greatest fantasy villains. In the astonishingly capable hands of Tilda Swinton, she becomes a character as captivating as she is deadly and dangerous. This is the type of fantasy villain who is more than willing to ensnare children in her schemes against the savior figure Aslan, and she is blessed with the terrifying ability to turn those who displease her into stone. 

The late Roald Dahl excelled at creating horrific and grotesque villains. The Grand High Witch is one of his finest creations, and she is brought to masterful life by the great actress Anjelica Huston. It’s obvious that Huston is having the time of her life in this campy role, but beneath the larger-than-life antics, there is a very frightening villain, a woman capable of eradicating children. Huston endows the character with a vampish look, and this is precisely what makes her so compelling to watch, even as the viewer can’t help but be aware of just how deadly and dangerous she truly is. 

Whatever the shortcomings of the various Fantastic Beasts films, one thing they do well is providing viewers with a terrifying villain in Gellert Grindelwald. This is particularly true as Mads Mikkelsen portrays him in The Secrets of Dumbledore, where he is shown to be a wizard with formidable and almost irresistible charisma. What makes him formidable, however, is the extent to which, like the later Voldemort, he is absolutely convinced of the moral rightness of his genocidal mission, which is undoubtedly what enables him to draw so many otherwise good and ethical witches and wizards into his orbit.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a skillful blend of multiple genres, with elements of martial arts cinema, fantasy, and melodrama mixed into a delightful and Oscar-winning whole. Of particular note is the film’s villain, the being known as Jobu Tupaki, who has in mind nothing less than the destruction of all of reality itself. Like all good villains, there’s also something deeply sad and sympathetic about Jobu, as she has suffered a great deal. As much as the film is about Michelle Yeoh’s Evelyn, it is also something of a redemption story for its villain, as well. 

The series Stranger Things is a genuine hit for Netflix, and it’s easy to see why. With its story about a group of kids who face off against a sinister creature named Vecna, it’s a throwback to 1980s-style storytelling. For his part, Vecna is a terrifyingly powerful being, all the more so in that he has a haunting backstory. Originally human, he has been twisted into something alien in appearance and mentality, driven by a seemingly insatiable desire for revenge against those who banished him into the realm known as the Upside Down.

In Philip Pullman’s magnificent series His Dark Materials and its various adaptations, one of the most compelling characters is Marisa Coulter. As an agent of the sinister theocratic organization known as the Magisterium, she is determined to gain mastery of the girl Lyra, but as the novels go on, she reveals far more complexity than a standard fantasy stereotype. She is undoubtedly ruthless — she can kill without compunction — but she is also someone who, in the end, proves that she is willing to sacrifice her very life to protect those that she loves. She demonstrates that villains in fantasy don’t have to just be evil; they can be as complicated and fascinating as the heroes.

The big bad of Game of Thrones  is, of course, the Night King, the formidable and terrifying leader of the White Walkers. With his icy visage and tremendous power — he is capable of, among other things, raising a dragon from the dead — he is almost unstoppable. He is, in many ways, the very embodiment of winter itself. When he sets out to bring the southern regions of Westeros under his dominion, it takes the combined efforts of the various peoples of the continent, led by Jon Snow and Daenerys, to prevent an age of neverending winter from taking hold and destroying all life. 

The series Shadow and Bone, based on the novels by Leigh Bardugo, is set in a fantastic version of Imperial Russia, and it focuses primarily on Alina, a young woman with the ability to summon light. Very soon, she finds herself caught up in the machinations of Kirigan, a sinister sorcerer with a hidden past. Ben Barnes, who had appeared in The Chronicles of Narnia films earlier in his career, imbues Kirigan with a suave sort of grace. While he is undoubtedly very powerful and bent on destruction, his motivations are at least understandable in that he seeks to free magic users from their servitude to the state.

Amazon has become a major entry into the world of streaming, and the company has invested a significant amount of money into its various fantasy properties. The Wheel of Time, based on the bestselling series by Robert Jordan, follows Aes Sedai Moiraine as she seeks to find a young person fated to become the figure known as the Dragon. Though he is largely unseen, the influence of the Dark One is constantly felt in this series, particularly through his insidious creations, the Trollocs and their eyeless masters, the Myrddraal. He is a formidable villain in that his intention is nothing less than to remake the entire fabric of time. 

The Shannara Chronicles might not have achieved the enormous success of so many other fantasy series on television, but its first season was a serviceable adaptation of Terry Brooks’ beloved classic, The Elfstones of Shannara. In addition to its action-packed story, it features a formidable villain in the person of the Dagda Mor, an immensely powerful demon whose purpose is to destroy the mystical tree known as the Ellcrys. This action will, in turn, unleash his fellow demons on the rest of the populace. Combining tremendous power with a relentless drive, it takes the combined efforts of several formidable characters, as well as tremendous sacrifice, to defeat him.

Few villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are as important or as powerful as Thanos. As portrayed by Josh Brolin, he is a hulking Titan whose desire is nothing less than eradicating half of the life in the universe. His genocidal intentions are made all the more terrifying in that they are rooted in what seems to be his genuine desire to ensure that the universe can actually sustain everyone who lives in it. As with so many other zealous villains, he is ruthless in pursuing his goal, willing to destroy anyone who stands in his way.

In his various iterations, Mortal Kombat’s Shang Tsung has been a terrifying villain. Gifted with the ability to steal the souls of those he defeats in hand-to-hand combat, he also has the ability to take on the appearance of others. Combined with his skills in actual fighting, it’s easy to see why he has remained a part of the franchise since he first appeared in the video game in the 1990s. He is the type of villain who keeps returning repeatedly, a potent reminder that evil must always be fought and that no victory is ever truly final.