So, for those of you who don`t know there is a trope created by TV Tropes called Complete Monsters (also known as Pure Evil). They are regarded as the very worst of the worst characters from a certain franchise. There are a lot of requirements for these trope but the main ones are the following:
- The character has ABSOLUTELY NO REDEEMING QUALITIES. Even if a character has some redeeming qualities at the start of the story he/she could still become a Complete Monster if he/she loses them. Even one single redeeming quality is enough to disqualify a character from this trope.
- The character in question commits horrible, atrocious crimes that are presented seriously within the story and their actions are worse than the actions of most other villains in the story. We also take into account their resources and their ability to cause harm to other people. This means that if a character has more resources (if for example he/she is a ruler that commands thousands of people), then he/she needs to comit bigger atrocities in order to stand out. If a character has less resources to harm people (for example, if he/she is a lone serial killer), then he/she qualifies if their crimes are heinous enough considering their resources. If a character`s actions are not heinous enough by the standards of the story then he/she can`t be a Complete Monster. The character`s crimes must pass several different heinous standards in order for the character to count as a Complete Monster:
- The baseline standard - This is a common standard that all villains need to pass, no matter the work they come from. This means that the villain needs to commit crimes that are worse than animal cruelty, theft, abuse (unless the abuse is REALLY extreme but that rarely happens) and trying to kill the main characters (because this is something most villains try to do).
- The standards of the work - This means that the villain should be compared to other villains from the same work (or franchise) to see if his/her actions are bad enough to make him/her stand out. This means that a villain who comes from a lighthearted series like My Little Pony needs to be compared to other villains from My Little Pony and not to villains from grimdark franchises such as Warhammer 40000, A Song of Ice and Fire and Berserk. Similarly, a villain who comes from a work with high heinous standard should be compared to other villains from the same franchise and not to villains that come from My Little Pony.
- The resource standard - This means that we should also take into consideration the villain`s resources and their ability to hurt other people as I already mentioned.
- The system standard - This means that if a villain is part of an organization or a group, then the villain needs to be the worst member or one of the worst (if the organisation is big like the Galactic Empire for example)
3) The character`s motivation for commiting those crimes or the character him/herself are never portrayed sympathetically and he/she has either no excuse for his/her actions or their excuse is not portrayed sympathetically. Even if the character in question has some traumatic moment that has shaped his/her personality, it doesn`t excuse their actions and the narrative doesn`t try to make you feel sorry for them.
4) The character has enough understanding of human morality to tell right from wrong and make decisions. This means that characters who are severely mentally ill, possessed or brainwashed or from a race or culture that can`t comprehend morality or has an entirely different morality can`t qualify. However, characters who are mentally ill can still qualify if they can tell right from wrong despite their mental illness (for example, the Joker).
5) The character is portrayed seriously and is not a Comic Relief (a character you are supposed to laugh at and not take very seriously). Even if the character is funny he/she can still be a Complete Monster if they are portrayed seriously despite their sense of humor. If the character is treated as a joke by the narrative itself (which often happens in kid`s shows), then he/she can`t be a Complete Monster.
6) The character must make AT LEAST ONE APPEARANCE in the story itself. Characters that are just mentioned by other characters and make no appearance can`t qualify. Aside from that, if all the crimes commited by the character happen off-screen/off-page and are only vaguely described, then he/she can`t be a Complete Monster. That being said, flashback characters can qualify under certain circumstances if they have enough personality.
7) The audience is not supposed to feel bad for a Complete Monsterr when something bad happens to him/her because their comeuppance is completely deserved and the narrative doesn`t try to make the audience feel sympathy for the Complete Monster.
8) The character must come from a work which has at least some semblence of plot and is not pure exploitation and is more complex than "bad guy does evil things for no apparent reason" type of plot. A horror film or book can still contain a Complete Monster but it needs to have some plot. For this reasons films like Human Centipede and Serbian Film don`t contain Complete Monsters because they are viewed by TvTropes as plotless exploitation even though the villains are extremely repulsive.
9) A character must meet ALL of the above mentioned criteria in order to be a Complete Monster.
Below, I will copy and paste the entries of all 9 characters from the series that are listed as Complete Monsters on TV Tropes and are considered to be the worst of the worst:
- King Joffrey I Baratheon graduates from a spoiled prince to a "vicious idiot" of a ruler following the death of his supposed father Robert. Having once tried to kill his fiancée Sansa Stark's younger sister and lowborn friend for standing up to him, Joffrey swiftly orders the execution of Eddard Stark, Lord of the North and father to Sansa, even knowing it will mean war. Throwing aside all pretense of charm, Joffrey also begins regularly tormenting his captive bride-to-be, forcing Sansa to gaze at the severed head of her father while having his Kingsguard beat her at his leisure. A whimsical sadist, Joffrey responds to a bard's taunting song by ordering him mutilated and when his rule drives starving peasants into accosting him, orders them all be put to death in a bloody riot. Lusting at the mere thought of violence, Joffrey forces one prostitute bought for him to beat another, later restraining and shooting the survivor to death for his own amusement. Not even family is safe from his insanity, with Joffrey threatening to kill his mother, ordering his uncle assassinated, and having all of Robert's bastard children—including babies—murdered to secure his false claim to the throne. A blossoming teenage psychopath even without the years of most of Westeros's worst behind him, Joffrey's short rule is marked by such cruelty he is said to have possibly grown to surpass the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen for sheer depravity.
- Petyr Baelish, aka "Littlefinger", is a manipulative, self-serving man who believes that "chaos is a ladder", and orchestrates a variety of Westeros's misfortunes to climb to the top. Owning and operating a brothel whose workers he abuses, mistreats, and even mutilates to suit his clients' desires, Baelish callously has any who cross him sent off to be butchered, notably handing off Ros to be tortured to death by Joffrey Baratheon. Out of both ambition and a petty desire to possess the hand of Catelyn Stark, Baelish kick-starts the War of the Five Kings by seducing Lysa Arryn into murdering her husband while Baelish stages an assassination attempt on Catelyn's crippled son, turns kingdoms against one another, and personally arranges the death of Catelyn's current husband Eddard "Ned" Stark and many of his men. Profiting off the massive, bloody war that costs thousands of lives across Westeros, Baelish murders Lysa and shifts his lustful attentions from Catelyn to her young daughter Sansa, psychologically abusing the girl before sending her off to be raped and tortured so as to later "save" her from her fate and convince her to team with him in wiping out her own family. His scheming leading to unfathomable death and devastation through the kingdoms and empowering monsters like Joffrey and Ramsay Bolton/Snow, Baelish is willing to doom countless lives—even those of his apparent loved ones—so long as it brought himself good fortune, proudly boastful that the climb to power for power's sake is the only thing that truly matters to him.
- Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain, is the most feared knight in Westeros and works for Tywin Lannister and his family. A violent sadist who had once burned his brother Sandor's face for playing with one of his toys, Gregor is introduced in the Hand's tournament where he murders another contender via splintered lance; when Loras Tyrell manages to unhorse him, Gregor slaughters his own horse for failing him and attempts to murder Loras. When Gregor's own brother interferes, Gregor tries to kill him as well. When next seen, Gregor is head of the occupying Lannister forces at Harrenhal where he selects prisoners to be tortured to death by one of his men known as the Tickler. When Harrenhal is lost, Gregor has every prisoner put to the sword, leaving hundreds of corpses for the next arrivals to find. In season 4, Gregor is seen practicing his sword skills by butchering prisoners in wholly one-sided duels before he enters into a Trial by Combat representing the Crown against Prince Oberyn Martell who wishes to force Gregor to confess to the murder of Oberyn's sister Elia and her children. When Gregor gets his hands on Oberyn, he shoves his thumbs through the prince's eyes before squeezing his head until it explodes, wanting to hurt the man as much as possible while he roars out his guilt in killing the children before he raped and murdered Elia.
- Lord Walder Frey, head of House Frey, after a few episodes of pretension as nothing but a doddering old pervert, proves his true evil when he conceives of the Red Wedding. For the sake of getting back at Lord Robb Stark for not honoring his wedding vow, Frey has Robb, his pregnant wife, his mother, hundreds of his bannermen, and even Robb's direwolf Grey Wind massacred in one of the most devastating acts of treachery Westeros ever sees. When his wife is taken hostage, Walder throws her away and remarks "I'll find another." Spending the rest of his life rubbing his hands over the power he backstabbed his way into, Lord Walder violates every single value even the cutthroat world of Westeros upholds.
- Craster is a particularly nasty Wildling who resides beyond the Wall, making his living as an ally to the Night's Watch by providing them with supplies, shelter and info. Craster delights in antagonizing them, however, hiding behind the fact he's necessary to them to avoid reprisal. What makes Craster sickening is how he rules his self-given kingdom: Craster routinely marries any daughters he has when they come of age, beating and raping his many wives and daughter-wives. If they bear him sons, Craster sacrifices them by leaving them out for the White Walkers.
- Ramsay Bolton/Snow, the bastard son of Lord Roose Bolton and the most vicious member of House Bolton, is a sadist with a knack for torture and flaying others alive. After capturing Winterfell, Ramsay proceeded to play twisted games with the captive Theon Greyjoy, pretending to be an Ironborn agent who comes to save Theon—killing his own men to keep up the ruse—and culminating in Ramsay bringing Theon to the Dreadfort and subjecting him to prolonged, hideous torture, including flaying bits of him and castrating him. All that remains of Theon afterwards is a broken, obedient shell whom Ramsay dubs "Reek." In his spare time, Ramsay and his equally psychotic lover Myranda release girls into the woods to hunt them for sport, also using the girls to feed Ramsay's savage hounds. When Ramsay makes Theon negotiate a surrender with other Ironborn, Ramsay guarantees their safety, only to have them flayed alive and displayed as gruesome trophies. After marrying Sansa Stark, Ramsay rapes her on the wedding night and continues to sexually and physically abuse her throughout the rest of the marriage. Ramsay cements his rule over his hold by murdering Roose and having his hounds eat his infant brother and stepmother. When he finally engages the Northern armies, Ramsay is apathetic to the death of his own men and shoots the preteen Rickon Stark dead—moments before he reaches Jon Snow. With few matching his pointless savagery, Ramsay Snow exemplified every negative stereotype about bastards in Westeros.
- Karl Tanner is a former assassin and sworn brother of the Night's Watch. Taking over Craster's Keep in a mutiny, Karl has his Lord Commander Jeor Mormont killed to drink wine from his skull while allowing his men to rape and abuse Craster's daughter-wives as they see fit. Having the only male child left to the cold, when Bran Stark and his group arrive Karl plans to torment and kill them all, even trying to force himself on the teenage Meera while forcing her brother to watch.
- King Aerys II Targaryen, aka the Mad King, grew into a paranoid pyromaniac and one of the worst of his family's dynasty. Terrified of any threats to his power, Aerys begins murdering or torturing those who incense him, having one man's tongue torn out for making a joke. Becoming obsessed with the destructive wildfire, Aerys uses it to burn entire cities when he deems them to house traitors, even inviting a Northern lord to the capital before burning him alive when Aerys's son is accused of kidnapping the lord's daughter. His tyranny causing a massive rebellion, Aerys goes to war hoping to exterminate all Houses who oppose him, and eventually plans to burn all of King's Landing and his own half-a-million citizens within to kill his attacking enemies.
- Euron Greyjoy once oversaw the burning of the Lannisport fleet. Banished from the Iron Islands by his brother King Balon after the Greyjoy Rebellion, Euron takes to the seas to follow the "Old Way", torturing and robbing crews, taking slaves, and raping women by the thousands. Returning to the Iron Islands to murder Balon and claim the Salt Throne, Euron joins Cersei Lannister in a war to conquer Westeros, intent on spreading his vile pillaging across the whole world.
According to these criteria, the most evil characters from the series are Joffrey, Littlefinger, Gregor Clegane, Walder Frey, Craster, Ramsay Snow, Karl Tanner, Aerys Targaryen and Euron Greyjoy.
Do you agree or disagree with this listing?
Submitted July 17, 2022 at 04:51AM by AggressiveMechanic47 https://ift.tt/uBjdxmN
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