It’s come to this! Just four remaining.
We’ve finally found out who you, our readers, think are the top villains of each of our categories: O’Brien, Orwell’s sinister Ministry of Truth member, is your top Authority Figure; Hannibal Lector, Harris’s hungry human hunter, is your favorite Manipulative Bastard; Tolkien’s big bad Sauron is your most villainous Monster; and Satan, the introspective ex-angel of Milton, is your #1 Anti-Villain. Check out yesterday’s full results here.
Shakespeare finally got the old exeunt last round, with Iago getting knocked out by Dr. Lector. Iago’s conniving proved to be no match for Lector’s hands-on experience — sometime you just have to take care of business yourself. I’ll bet Lector gets a good academic psychology paper out of the experience, too.
Two match-ups remain until we hit the finals tomorrow. The last four are some popular, well-adapted villains, and three of the four are from the 20th century, with the exception of John Milton’s 1660s poem.
Hannibal Lector versus Satan feels like it’s the one to watch today: two demons who were locked away because they wanted to be a god. I think these two would bond over being misunderstood by a world they don’t think is ready for their power, and would have a fun time swapping tips on being smugly superior. But ultimately, I don’t think they can tolerate the other’s existence: the universe just ain’t big enough for the both of them.
Sauron and O’Brien are probably not going to face off personally — they don’t strike me as the types to get their hands too dirty. This one’s going to be fought between their two equally wicked and bloodthirsty armies: orcs and cops.
We’ve got more staff reflections on our favorite villains coming on the blog today and tomorrow, along with our personal brackets — all thoroughly busted at this point. If you filled out your own bracket (a blank one is here), share it and tag us! We’d love to see your picks.
