Top Ten Stephen King Villains

[Roland17]

I know this is an old thread but just discovered it recently and was thinking...obviously the list was done before Under the Dome was published but a late addition must be (Big) Jim Rennie. Truly evil and truly crazy and scarily real - one of King's finest I reckon.

Otherwise the list looks spot on - Pennywise and Flagg (especially for parts in the Stand and Eye of the Dragon) deserve their places and I totally agree with references about Leland Gaunt and George Stark!

[Silhouette86]

I can't name the top ten, but I can name the top two.
1. Pennywise
2. Tak

[Lucky Rathen]

The cop in Desperation (can't remember his name) must be one of the baddest of the baddies. Leland Gaunt from Needful Things as well. What a bastard!

[JellybeanJay]

I have to agree with Norman Daniels. He is one scary dude.

I would also like to add Big Driver and his whole family! . Had to add spoiler quotes, didn't want to ruin the story for anyone that hasn't read it!

[blunthead]

The cop in Desperation (can't remember his name) must be one of the baddest of the baddies. Leland Gaunt from Needful Things as well. What a bastard!

Collie Entragian, who was my very first thought when I read the title to this thread, and who for some reason is my favorite sK character.

[Teen Tyrant]

This is my list of the top ten villains in the Stephen King multiverse. There are two posts so that it this will fit, first six and then four. These are all the “cosmic” level entities that I chose, not his human villains, which I would make a separate list for. These are ranked least to greatest and are how I see their level of power and evil based off of King’s material. Note that the Leatherheads from Under the Dome do not appear here as I do not see them as being evil, or at least no more evil than Atropos. They’re really just mischievous or playfully destructive.

10. The Worm- Only appearing in the Jerusalem’s Lot short story, which if you remember tells the story of what happened to taint King’s first evil town before Kurt Barlow’s vampires showed up. In the short story, the original curse of the town happened due to the worshiping of a giant, demonic Worm that has its own unholy book. The true power of the Worm is never explored other than being able to resurrect the dead into zombie-like ghouls and being able to make an entire town’s population simply vanish. Nor do we know how evil the Worm truly is, what its motivation is or where it fits into the grand scheme of King’s multiverse (which level of the Dark Tower it exists on). But, what little we do know indicates that the Worm is older than the world and is a creature from beyond the stars, and that allows it to make the bottom ranking of this list.


9. Andre’ Linoge- Like the Worm, we don’t know just how powerful Linoge is or where he fits into the big picture. He is obviously a servant of the Random, and directly or indirectly is also a servant of the Crimson King most likely. Like the similar Randall Flagg (possible colleagues?), Linoge looks like a man but is actually somewhere between a dark wizard and a demon. Most likely he’s closer to the former, as he is mortal and has even confessed to being ill and dying during his story, so he doesn’t quite fit as being cosmic but he’s certainly terrible enough to make the list. The full range of his abilities are still relatively unknown, such as how he knows so many secrets about people unless he directly reads their minds, although I think its scarier that he just somehow knows. It would not be the least bit surprising if he was aware of things happening on other levels of the Tower as well, so that’s another reason why he makes this list.


8. Randall Flagg/Marten/Walter- I think Flagg, the most well-developed of King’s complex villains, is the highest order of villain in the whole King continuum without qualifying as truly cosmic, mainly because his knowledge and power makes him nearly on that level. I have always felt that Flagg’s power did not wane from his retconning as being Walter, but rather that his Walter incarnation was sort of like a suit that he would step into, same as Marten, John Farson and Maerlyn. The Walter incarnation was more of a true traveller than the other forms, and so seemed to serve the Farson and Marten incarnations even though it was the same creature underneath it all. Don’t know if that make sense to anyone, but that’s how I see it. I will say that I am disappointed in his fate, not because of how he was taken out, but that it was ultimately not Roland who took him down. Still, having appeared in more stories than any other King villain, Flagg is more in tune with the goings on of the levels of the Tower than any other character and that practically qualifies him as cosmic.


7. The Creatures from N- The beings that N was so afraid of letting lose in the short story of the same name are rather mysterious, but going off of their descriptions and where they seem to hail from, they most likely dwell in the todash darkness and are probably the monstrosities described in Song of Susannah of remaining there after the Prim receded. We don’t know how powerful or cosmic they are, but we do know from N’s fears that if they were to be unleashed, our world would be plunged into darkness that we could never be rescued from.



6. The Outsider- The unknown thing from the end of Bag of Bones. Mike Noonan described the Outsider as being what waits us all beyond death. Its title is used to describe several other King entities such as Tak and It, suggesting that it exists outside of our universal confines and is possibly one of the todash monsters left behind after the Prim receded, though we don’t know for sure. It was left enigmatic, making it rather ominous considering that it only appeared at the end. It seems to echo the demon used to get rid of the undead boys in Sometimes They Come Back, in that it was summoned in conjunction with the spirit of Sarah.



5. Tak- Tak is almost certainly a creature of the Outer Darkness, as it is referred to as an outsider on a few occasions. It seems to have great reality warping powers, abilities of possession and mind control and an overall malevolence that makes you wonder what Tak would do if it were to ever free itself from its confines. Tak doesn’t seem to know or care where it fits into the scheme of the Tower, and while obviously a servant of the Random by default, would probably tell the Crimson King to take a hike if the King were to attempt to recruit Tak.

[Teen Tyrant]

This was going to be all of the remaining villains, but because of the character limit, this will actually be three and four, and then I'll put two and one after that.

4. The Long Boy- The most vaguely described entity in King’s mythos, what little we do know about it allows it to have such a high ranking spot on the cosmic ladder. All we know is that it has an “endless, piebald side”, a snout, anyone eaten by it doesn’t really die but lives on in insanity in its innards for eternity, and it is beyond human capacity to understand it or really even conceive it. Ironic, because King seems to suggest that the long boy is the manifestation of the sum of human corruption, insanity and negative thoughts, whether conscious or unconscious.



3. Black Thirteen- While kind of pushing it as being a thinking entity that is separate from its master, Black Thirteen cannot be overlooked in terms of cosmic evil. Feared to be the most powerful item in the universe if fully awakened, it is unclear if this pertains to all levels of the Tower or not or just the universes that exist down at the human level. It would be interesting to see which would prevail if Black Thirteen and the Talisman were to be placed next to each other. Capable of opening any door and sending anyone it wishes out into the farthest reaches of todash darkness, this is one ball that nobody should play with.

[Teen Tyrant]

And finally, the last two. You probably already know who they are without reading.

2. The Crimson King- Of the two top cosmic evils of King’s mythos, I personally feel that the Crimson King is lesser in terms of power and evil, but he certainly takes the cake as the main villain of the mythos. After all, the most threatening villain doesn’t necessarily have to be the most evil or powerful, just the one that poses the more imminent threat. Since the CK’s goal was destroy all of reality as it currently exists and reign over the resulting chaos, the CK has far more terrible plans than those of his one superior. Being aware of and existing on all levels of the Tower and being directly opposed to Gan (who is the stand in for God in King’s mythos) The Crimson King was certainly a powerful cosmic entity when we first met him in Insomnia and who could have guessed that he would turn out to be the main evil of the Dark Tower series, as well as the big boss behind virtually every other villain, human and inhuman, in all of King’s writing, whether they were all aware of it or not. Ultimately, every villain in King’s mythos serves the Crimson King either directly or indirectly, as his particular goal is such than any victory evil has over good anywhere lends him strength as it increases the chaos within the multiverse and therefore weakens the Tower even further, so the CK does not even have to directly employ other villains to work for him so long as they do their thing, as they are ultimately helping his cause anyway.


1. It- And so we come to It, the number one cosmic evil of King’s multiverses. A lot of people believe that It and the Crimson King are either one and the same, the same type of creature, or different incarnations of each other depending on which level of the Tower they are on at the time. I believe in none of these theories; I believe that King’s two greatest villains are separate entities with nothing in common aside from being pure evil, existing on one of the top floors of the Tower as well as outside the Tower itself, and serving nothing but ka, the Random, and themselves, and the first two only by default. The connections end there. It is described as coming from “outside everything” in the novel. Apparently existing between the universes of the Tower and the Macroverse, which surrounds the Tower in King’s mythos, It existed before the current universe did, suggesting that it is older even than the creatures of the Outer Darkness and other entities that existed after the Prim receded.


It was directly created by Gan, sometime after the Turtle was created. It did not desire to control or destroy these universes or any of the levels of the Tower. Rather, It only wanted to eat by feeding off of the fear and imaginations of lesser beings. Ergo, It sent an avatar of itself to earth, a mortal version of itself, to feed its main Deadlights counterpart that still waited out there in the big Nothing. It was for this reason that the physical It, while still being able to go beyond the physical and exist on several levels of the Tower at once (possibly the reason why certain people could never see It unless It wanted them to), had nowhere near the power of the main force.



The fact that Gan had to directly involve itself with the Loser’s Club in order to defeat It also shows just how powerful It truly was. Only the Crimson King has ever had to have direct physical involvement from Gan to defeat (Hand of God at the end of the Stand being an overall part of the same thing) and the only reason why the Crimson King required more effort on Gan’s part is because It only needed to be physically defeated to get the job done and It’s physical form was much weaker than dealing with the Deadlights directly.


So if the Losers had the power from their own childish strengths to destroy It, why was Gan so concerned that they succeed? Because It was pregnant and about to give birth. While these offspring were almost certainly going to be weaker than the original It and probably would only care about feeding as well, just imagine an army of miniature Its in service to the Crimson King! They would almost certainly work for the CK, either directly or indirectly, to consume human minds. The Crimson King clearly knew of It and obviously stayed away from It, not trying to recruit It or wipe It out so that he could be the only superforce on the Tower. This suggests that the CK did not want to challenge It, either fearing It’s true power of the Deadlights being turned on him if he did, or simply not feeling that It directly threatened him since it only wanted to eat humans. But It’s own purpose served the King’s as well because of the influence It put on Derry. And if It’s offspring had survived (Dandelo is almost certainly one that did), they would make excellent soldiers for the Crimson King, more useful and effective by far than the low men and vampires. This is why Gan could not allow It to succeed in bearing its spawn and had to directly help the Losers destroy its own creation, as the Tower would surely have fallen if the Crimson King became the master of It’s children.


All this is what leads me to believe that It is the greatest evil King ever created, and the most powerful. Just because the Crimson King was the main villain doesn’t mean that he has to be superior to It, and I do not believe he is. Let’s face it, the CK didn’t even register as a blip on It’s radar. It wasn’t even afraid of the Turtle, only annoyed by him. It was only afraid of the Losers and only because it suspected that Some Other was helping them, that Other being It’s own creator and the one force, other than ka, more powerful than Itself. This will hopefully add some new ideas to the endless discussion about It and the Crimson King, as well as where each ranks in the hierarchy of King’s cosmic evil.

[sam peebles]

I like a lot of what you're saying Teen Tyrant, and completely agree that It is definitely number one, but I have a few questions. Flagg is also John Farson and Maerlyn? Did I miss something? I know that Flagg is Walter and Marten, but I didn't think he was Maerlyn or the Good Man. I've read a little bit of the comics, and I actually thought Maerlyn was Flagg's father (according to the comics, which I'm not sure are official canon). Can someone clarify this for me?

[Teen Tyrant]

***SPOILERS***

And here are my top ten strictly human villains of King’s creation, in the order that I feel is least to greatest.

Frank Dodd- As the man who put the curse on Castle Rock to have horror after horror, you can’t really have a list of human King villains without putting him somewhere. Deeply disturbed and sexually frustrated, a guy who can kill so many young women and get away with it is bad enough, but the fact that he was a cop is a punch in the face to a town’s population.

Jack Torrence- Yeah, I know the Overlook Hotel poisoned him against his family and set him to try to kill them, but the capacity for the violence he showed was already there, buried within the booze. With the exceptions of the Dead Zone, Roadwork and Pet Sematary, the Shining is the most pessimistic and tragic tale King ever wove because of the breakdown of this loving family, to the point where a father is fanatically out to murder his own son. Extreme man, extreme.

Mrs. Carmody- This one is a bit personal for me, because as a Christian it really aggravates me when extremists like Mrs. Carmody get all Old Testament on you by saying that God demands blood sacrifice and yadda yadda yadda. Willing to sacrifice even innocent children in order to convince her sheep that the Mist would go away if God was pleased, I could not have been more delighted when she was shot. Other than It, no King villain ever truly got the end they deserved, but I’m glad this psycho hag did.

Rainbird- An assassin, an assassin working for a secret government agency to silence witnesses, an assassin who is obsessed with death to the point where he must look each victim in the eye to see if they show any sign of beholding the afterlife as they die, and now he wants to try killing a child to see what that’s like… well heck yeah, throw him on the list, he’d fit nicely.

Maxwell Devore- Money-grubbing, power-hungry old geezer who thinks everything belongs to him and so wealthy he could commit murder in the middle of the day, out in the open, and get away with it, and all so he can take his granddaughter that he doesn’t even care about away from her genuinely loving mother. Grandpa, you can keep the Christmas money, just drop dead and that’ll be the best present you could give by far.

Annie Wilkes- King’s own nightmare about being hijacked by crazed fans, with his own twist. Annie is one of the most frightening female villains of not only literature, but all media, ever. In fact, although other female villains may be more powerful and evil, I think Annie probably the scariest and most psychotic fictional female villain period, eclipsed only by real-world female villain, Aileen Wuornos.

Henry Bowers- As stated in the novel It, if there had ever been a truly evil kid walking the earth, it was Henry Bowers. Slowly going insane by his numerous losses at that hands of the Losers’ Club, as well as being poisoned slowly but surely by It, Henry is a bigoted, homicidal little maniac who simply has no concept of how far is “too far” in terms of revenge.

Norman Daniels- Norman is basically Henry Bowers as he would have grown up had he not been committed to a mental asylum. Henry’s deal was being racist; Norman’s deal is being anti-woman to the extreme, so much so he makes Tom Rogan look like a Women’s Rights activist. Not only does this super-corrupt police officer enjoy beating his wife around all day, but he also gets off on biting people to death. That’s just sick.

Big Jim Rennie- I honestly could not tell until near the end just who was the true villain of Under the Dome; Big Jim or his son Junior. Mainly because Junior has his own villainous agenda, which included killing his father, but in the end, Big Jim not only caused the whole town to suffer but also killed three people by his own hand and was willing to let his son die for his own quest for power. In the end, that cinched it for me. Confessed by King to be his version of Dick Cheney, virtually every tragedy that occurred after the initial chaos cause by the Dome passed, other than his son’s activities, could be laid at Big Jim’s feet, and I was extremely disappointed that he did not survive to be arrested at the end, so that he could see all his power lost.

Greg Stillson- Ultimately, Greg Stillson remains as King’s greatest human villain, even above Big Jim. Why is that? Because Big Jim confessed to being a small town guy; he only wanted one town in his pocket. Stillson wanted the whole world in his pocket, and would go to any lengths to get it. John Smith’s horrible vision showed that Stillson was going to send the whole world into the Dead Zone by causing a nuclear war. When Smith took action to stop it, what did Stillson do? Hold up a kid as a human shield. Disgraceful. He, thankfully, did get to see his power lost, and I rather like how the movie showed him going out by later committing suicide when he realized he had no political future. That will teach the jerk for kicking a dog to death.