While it has carved out a niche for this blog on Tuesday, this post has been long in the making and is the sister of one I wrote almost a month ago. While that one focused on fantastic heroines to aspire to be, this article will focus on some of the best female villains to secretly want to emulate.
Many female villains exist for either villain sex appeal or take it many magnitudes further and use their charm and manipulative ability becoming fem fatales or full on Vamps. Today I will be fixating on some of the most impressive females that evil has to offer in fiction. And they are not limited to the sex appeal roles.
Queen Azshara (Warcraft)
There are many great female villains created by Blizzard Entertainment, but there is only ONE Azshara and she will not be denied! Before she became the Queen of the Serpentine Naga. she was the Queen of Elvenkind. She was known for her remarkable beauty, to such a degree that all the Elves loved her, and the nobles worshiped her like she was a physical G-d. And as discovered far too late by the non nobility, she was and is an exceptionally powerful mage. so powerful in fact, that she was casting a mind control spell that inspired awe in the entire elven race towards her. And that Empire was roughly the size of North America.
But her immense strength as well as the rituals she made use of attracted the attention of the Omnicidal Burning Legion and their master, the Dark Titan Sargerus. So powerful was Azshara that almost all the lesser Demons that came within her presence were instantly enslaved to her will and the greater ones either steered far away or outright ran in terror rather than confront her. And she was MORTAL at the time. One who had the ability to contest all the Legions Demons up until its very masters which only numbers 3. the lesser two are full on reality warpers with prime invincibility and created such other powerful villains in Warcraft such as the Lich King. The most powerful, the Dark Titan is a Physical Planet.
But as normally happens in stories, the villains are stopped but the destruction of 2/3rds of the world did not stop Queen Azshara. As she and her followers began to drown, a dark voice reached out to her. The voice of the Old G-ds, the other major villains who rival the Legions Power, promised her revenge in exchange for a "Gift" Now, she is the Serpentine Queen and has complete control of all oceans as of the writing of this post. Who knows how powerful Queen Azshara has become now that she is a G-dlike entity in her own right? Especially considering she is the most powerful mortal mage who ever lived...
Yvonnel Baenre (Legend of Drizzt)
Oh, you thought I was gonna put her daughter here right? Quenthel Baenre is worthy of being on this list, but her mommy is much better suited and deserves the spot more.
Now, lets talk about Yvonnel The Eternal . Known as Matron Baenre and for much of the series, the ruler of the incredibly dangerous Drow City of Menzobarranzen. And considering that the intrigue there would give the entire Song of Ice and Fire Universe a run for its money, that is quite a feat. But for those of you who are not aware of this deadly and powerful Priestess of Lloth, you may be wondering why others who are might be confused by her inclusion on this list. That's when the Eternal Part becomes important. She back! And now she is young and beautiful, but maintained all the wisdom she possessed in her last life.
When you consider the sheer number of badasses that she is the mother of, it hard not to place her on the list. For example, Jarlaxle, Gromph, Triel, and Quenthel, who are all magnificent bastards within the forgotten realm universe, are her children. (Google those characters if you do not know them. Trust me.) But a list of her accomplishments would be far too long, but I'll highlight the major ones: Destruction of House Do'Urden (yes THAT Do'Urden), finding a way to live forever via memory implantation, killing the first Dwarven King of Mythral Hall, Being the Spider Queen's favorite pet for her entire life (both of them of them) And in her new life, breaking Drizzt's mind and defeating Demogorgon who is considered one of the most powerful Demons in the Abyss. And unlike many on this list, she is still at large. beware readers, in her new body, she has yet to be defeated!
Kyouka (Fairy Tail)
You may have noticed that the last two had a lot of themes that appeal to male gaze. Well do not worry, for if Kyouka is attractive, it is very irrelevant to her as shes a lesbian and could care less about male gaze. Oh and she's a Demon. A really powerful Demon at that. Her tricks of the trade are in torture, and as one of the leaders of the Dark Guild Tartaros she does these tasks quite well. Her secondary task is recruitment. And as a Social Darwinist, only the strongest survive her selection process.What really makes Kyouka frightening is her ability to torment people who normally are immune.
Countless action girls and male shounen characters are brought to their knees by her power. And she is so ruthless that her own teammates who have a blood lust equal to her own do what she says out of fear of being her next victim. Keep in mind that these Teammates are ALSO Demons. While she may not posses the raw power of some of the other women on this list, readers who are introduced to her never forget her brutality. And before she is finally beaten, she brings on permanent PTSD on a good number of main characters in the cast.
She may be dead, but the scars she left on the other characters will never fade.
Flemeth (Dragon Age)
Ah Flemeth. The Witch of the Wilds, Mother of Countless Daughters, Kidnapper of multitudes of children. But she has better things to do than all that... Right? Flemeth is an example of exactly down to the t what I expect in a Female Villain and only one other on this list can contest her for truly my favorite on this list.
But the infamous Witch of the Wilds has a multiple choice past with conflicting stories. And with such a mysterious purpose, only a fool knows to trust her. But at the same time, you have no choice but to do as she says. And with the ability to foresee the future she is near impossible to out gambit.
Just what is her purpose? So far she happens to be a Dragon sometimes, or is the Human Crone the illusion? Her daughter, Morrigan knows not what is going on with her mother. Only that killing Flemeth may be but a minor inconvenience to the witch. The Elves worship her as well. Is there a connection perhaps?
What we can say for sure, is that the possibilities of Flemeth appearing again are quite high. Especially after the events of Inquisition, big plans are in motion, and Flemeth is certain to be near the epicenter of it all. She has spent so much time hiding on the outside, but that will likely be over now.
Melisandre (A Song of Ice and Fire)
Anyone who survives in the Universe of Song and Ice and Fire probably has earned a spot on some list . But not only does the Red Priestess survive, she thrives off the chaos of the world. Spreading the word of the Lord of Light, usually violently, even more usually using fire. When she is going Inquisition on Heathens, she is busy creating assassin babies and helping make an ancient prophecy come to pass. So cunning is this woman that she convinces parents to murder their children and vice versa. The Lord of Light requires great sacrifice.
What are her motives? Who, or what, is the Lord of Light? So many questions, and even less answers than normal for this universe. And I predict that we have not seen the full extent of this woman's power. Fantasy novels have this tendency to save all the really cool magic stuff for the end. But as Game of Thrones races to its conclusion, we should see more of this stuff.
As of now though, as far as Melisandre is concerned, we know nothing, just like Snow
Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Azula is the resident Knight of Cerubus on this page. What this means is that everything gets drastically worse whenever she is involved in the Avatar Universe. Fire Bender is for squares. Child prodigies shoot lightning instead. Normal villains conquer cities or maybe even a collection of town. Magnificent Bastards conquer entire continents, attack people mid transformation, and banish G-ds from whence they came.
Azula manages to keep her pride in check despite the fact that the emotion oozes from every pore on her body. She might have some serious issues deep down, but clearly that doesn't stop her one bit. And as she continues to cause set back after setback for the heroes, she sets in the fear from the viewers standpoint that good may not be able to prevail.
When a villain can create an aura of hopelessness, they are exactly what a story needs.
Lanfear (Wheel of Time)
As any who know me can say, I saved the best for last. Not only is Lanfear my favorite character on this list, she is quite frankly my favorite female character, ever. Now, lets get to the good part. Who is the Daughter of the Night? Why does she wear white? And most importantly, why does the idiot hero refuse to tap that?
I did point out that sex appeal alone is not enough for me to like a character. But Lanfear is stunning, but also the most powerful female mage to ever live (you should be seeing a theme at this point) and joined The Dark One because women scorned who are filled with lots of pride and enough magical power to destroy civilizations tend to do that. None of the villains trust her. Its all about me is in full effect with Lanfear, and even compared to the other chronic backstabbing disorder villains, she is as trustworthy as a media source covering a candidate they dislike.
Still, she does more good for the main characters, unintentionally most of the time, than many of the other heroes do. And its always interesting when a villain does not hide from the heroes and actively talks to them, even if in disguise. Even better is when a character is genre savvy enough to play with the heroes emotions and tempt him with power and a seductive smile. But Lanfear does even better stuff than what is outlined.
She is a master of dreams. And people feared her in ancient times for driving people to suicide in their sleep. Most villains talk the talk, but Lanfear walks the walk, and one must hope they do not get caught in one of her rampages, lest terrible things happen to them. Is she a Vamp, Fem Fatale, Traitor to all? Who knows with her. Only the Daughter of the Night knows of her own goals.
But quite frankly the best aspect of Lanfear with dialogue included, is that she is one of only a few villains that understand that the Dark One has no intention of letting his servants rule when he wins. Lanfear knows that the only way she can rule the world, and universe is to kill G-d and the Dark One and rule as the only omnipotent being left. And she has the tools to do just that.
Her many many many gambits may have failed in the end, but countless tears were wept for one of the most lovable of lovable traitors in fiction.
