Ah evil. Killing, torturing, outright destroying, these qualities and others are what we deem as evil. In fiction and especially video games, we see and sometimes even face characters who have committed some horrific things. This list is a tribute to those characters responsible for some of the greatest tragedies in gaming, yet seek absolutely no redemption for said acts and indeed would do them again several times over if they could. Those characters who are completely reprehensible. Now as I said in my last top ten, I have not played every game in existence and chances are my tastes are completely different from yours. So if a character you consider the most evil does not appear on this list, don't sweat it. Also, this list will only be including characters from video games, not video games based off comic books, movies, novels or TV shows. So no Joker. So with that out of the way, lets begin.
10.) Dr. Angus Bumby (Alice: Madness Returns)
Angus Bumby represents everything that could be wrong with a psychiatrist, he uses his training and knowledge of the human mind to make his patients repress their entire personalities in order to turn them into mindless dolls that do anything he says, so he can make them into prostitutes and make money. And his patients? All young children who came from bad homes and live in his orphanage giving him access to them 24/7. But this is only the tip of the iceberg that is Bumby's depravity. As a young university student Bumby was smitten by Alice's older sister Elizabeth despite her complete uninterest in him. He was obsessed with Lizzie despite her rejecting him time and time again and this obsession grew to the point where one night he broke into the Liddel's household and raped Lizzie, murdered her, and set the house on fire beginning Alice's descent into madness. He would then attempt to condition Alice into a mindless sex doll like his other patients when she was released but failed. In the end Bumby is many things, a murderer, rapist, manipulator, and overall evil doctor. And when he is confronted by Alice for these horrific acts? No remorse whatsoever. Bumby is a truly evil human, turning damaged children into sex dolls, raping and murdering without remorse, and all under the guise of a kind and generous doctor. Truly diabolical.
9.) Darth Nihilus (Knights of the Old Republic 2)
Nihilus is an example of an all encompassing terrifying evil. It wouldn't even be accurate to call him a person anymore due to his nature as a wound in the Force, he doesn't even have a body anymore, his spirit is possessing his armor. He instinctively feeds on the life energy of others, capable of draining the life from entire planets and reducing them to nothing but wastelands. His strength in the Force has grown to where he can sense nearly anything happening in the galaxy, bordering on omnipotence and he uses this ability to seek out those strong in the Force so he can drain their energy, gaining even greater power and also sustaining himself. One could make the argument that he's not truly evil as what he does is based on self preservation instead of maliciously seeking out life, but I disagree. He knows full well what he is doing and he has no problem with it. The Sith seek power above all else, and Nihilus has found a way to continually grow more and more powerful with each person he kills, with each planet he destroys. The lives of millions mean nothing to him as long as his hunger is satisfied for even the briefest moments. He is selfishness, gluttony, and nihilism personified as befitting his title "The Lord of Hunger."
8.) Four Kings [Dark Souls]
The Four Kings were once wise kings who ruled over the city of New Londo, appointed by Lord Gwyn and entrusted with a portion of his Lord Soul, essentially making them demi gods. However shortly after Gwyn left to tend to the First Flame, a certain serpent tempted the Kings with the promise of dark power. Corrupted by the Abyss, the Kings twisted their knights into the twisted Dark-wraiths and began draining the humanity from all humans in order for them to become the Dark Lord [kind of hard to fill a singular role for four people but whatevs]. The reason the Four Kings are on this list is to illustrate how far a descent into evil can take you. These four were once regarded as wise kings, and humans no less who were chosen by Gwyn to lead humanity. But instead they gave into the Abyss and became monsters determined to become one with the Dark, killing or worse, Hollowing thousands of people, and being the catalyst for New Londo to be flooded in order to keep them and their Dark-wraiths at bay. They were responsible for the deaths of thousands, and by the time you face them in the Abyss, they have become completely unrecognizable as human beings, instead looking like twisted gray masses with black holes for hearts [I'm not kidding, look closely at the picture.]
7.) Alma Wade [F.E.A.R series]
Children are a product of their environment. So what do you get when you have an immensely powerful psychic brutally experimented on, forced to give birth as a child to twins, and finally sealed into a giant ball of psychic repressing steel? You get Alma. I'm sure there are those who would argue that Alma isn't technically evil since she acts as she does because of her horrific childhood but that's just an excuse. Alma is well aware of what she does when she uses her powers to liquefy people, trap people in their darkest nightmares, and even warp reality itself to spawn monsters from her nightmares. The scariest thing about her though? Its worse if she loves you. She ruthlessly stalks her own children in her child form and due to her own uncontrollable power, getting too close to her is deadly, and if she takes an interest in you its likely she will try to have her way with you in her adult form. And the thing is, Alma is dead. Remember that ball I mentioned earlier? Sometime before the story of F.E.A.R begins, life support is cut off and her body dies. But her powers essentially make her a god since she continues to exist and can even become pregnant. Nothing can stop Alma and this is part of what makes her evil. She has the mind of a child, and with limitless power at her fingertips she can literally do anything she wants, something no child should have since they don't understand responsibility or morality. She is without morals, killing indiscriminately and doing absolutely anything she wants without thinking about others, and she has no sense of responsibility as she allows her powers to run wild and in the process nearly destroys reality itself.
6.) Kefka Palazzo [Final Fantasy 6]
You knew Kefka would be on this list at some point. Where do I even begin with this guy? Practically everything imaginable has been said about him. The symbolism of his boss fight, becoming the God of Magic, his extreme nihilistic mindset, his contempt for all life, including his own. Starting off as a jester, throughout the plot of Final Fantasy 6 Kefka is shown to be a narcissistic, nihilistic, psychotic jester who only finds joy in absolute destruction. Poisoning an entire town's water supply, torturing and extracting the power of Espers in order to empower himself, and causing the end of the world itself by disrupting the Warring Triad, and even after the human race and indeed all life on the planet is on the brink of extinction Kefka is still determined to destroy everything, using the Light of Destruction to destroy any remaining towns or humans left. But for as evil and twisted as Kefka is, there is an air of tragedy to him as well that prevents him being at number 1. Throughout his final battle, and especially his lines during the final phase of the fight, it seems as though Kefka not only desires for for all life, he desires destruction for himself as well. Either way he gets what he wants during this battle, if he wins, he will continue destroying the world until there is nothing left, but if the party defeats him, he will know true bliss by being destroyed. A complex villain, but nonetheless an evil one.
5.) Albert Wesker {Resident Evil series}
Wesker was the original backstabber in video games. Throughout Resident Evil 1 this guy is working behind the scenes to cover up all evidence of Umbrella's involvement in the original outbreak of the T-Virus and even enlists Barry Burton's help by threatening his family. Upon releasing the Tyrant however, he is presumably killed and we think we've seen the end of him. But the most fearsome trait of Wesker has always been his ability to plan for any eventuality. By injecting himself with an experimental virus and allowing himself to be killed, Wesker was able to survive his wounds and became Umbrella's ultimate Tyrant. From that point on Wesker dedicated himself to collecting bio-weapons the likes of which would eventually eclipse the T-virus in lethality for goals that would for the most part remain uncertain. He is a schemer and has no morals, living by a philosophy that only the strong survive and the weak should die. All throughout his career as a bio-terrorist he has been responsible for the some of the greatest tragedies in the series and due to his abiltities granted by the virus he carries, its unlikely he would ever recieve karma for his many crimes. Until Resident Evil 5 and he turned into a.... something that will never be mentioned again.
4.) SHODAN [System Shock series]
I had a hard time deciding whether or not to put SHODAN on this list due to her nature as an AI.... but then I remembered something. SHODAN is not a typical AI, she's perhaps the most accurate depiction of a true Artificial Intelligence ever seen in a video game. Meaning she is not simply a computer system running on pre-programmed instructions or acting under any sort of guidelines.... she is capable of making decisions and forming plans on her own, and due to having her moral restraints removed from her programming, she is perhaps the most evil character on this list in terms of a lack of empathy or compassion to other living things. Its not even accurate to call SHODAN a "she" as she is all things considered, a computer program with no true gender. But regardless of gender, the fact stands that this character is pure evil, possessing a God complex and thinking of humans as little more than insects, manipulating others around her into doing her bidding by destroying her creations, horrible mutants. During this long trek all she does is taunt you, appearing to you at your weakest and taunting you over your failures and your supposed inferiority all the while she sets out to create her own reality where she will become the equivalent of a god. Diabolical, a megalomaniac, and treacherous.
3.) Ridley (Metroid series)
Ridley... at first eye's glance, hes an alien pterodactyl who can breathe fire and serves as the second to last boss in most Metroid games. Under the surface though? Ridley is Samus's mortal enemy and a constant reminder to Samus of why she became a bounty hunter. Ridley is a space pirate who killed Samus's parents in front of her and after growing up Samus hunted him and his fellow Space Pirates, destroying him and taking revenge for her parent's death. But that was no the end for Ridley. If anything, it would only serve to deepen the hatred these two share for each other. Whether its through cloning, cybernetic enhancements, or resurrection through an alien parasite, Ridley has always without fail, been able to return in order to get revenge on Samus. And each time Samus barely manages to defeat him, all the while presumablely hoping that each encounter will be the last. Ridley is a special kind of nemesis, a unique form of evil. He is the kind that will never dissapear until he has exacted his revenge. He is a ghost from Samus's past that will continue to haunt her for all eternity and each battle leaves new scars, both physical and mental that will eat away at Samus until Ridley finally knows victory. An unstoppable and ever present evil.
2.) Pyramid Head (Silent Hill 2)
Oh I can hear the typing of keyboards now.... Pyramid Head isn't evil! He's the physical manifestation of James's desire for punishment for killing his wife! You are correct. 100% correct in fact. But you know what else he is? The manifestation of James's subconcious desires that he has repressed for good reason. James is not exactly normal, nor balanced mentally. He's sexually frustrated, has deep seated anger towards Mary for how she treated him during her final months, and yes does desire punishment for his sins. So how does this all manifest in Silent Hill? A sexually crazed, wrathful, and masochistic monster wielding a giant knife [later spear] that rapes several other monsters in Silent Hill that represent James's sexual desires, killing Maria repeatedly in order to show James's own anger at Mary, and wears a giant pyramid shaped helmet lined with spikes on the inside in order to constantly punish itself. I don't care what anyone says, this thing is evil in how its formed from the worst, most disgusting parts of a person's mind. [a mind which was already messed up to begin with by the way.] Its only redeeming trait is how it is trying to force James to see and accept his part in Mary's death, but even that could written off as the beast's own desires to inflict suffering and pain on others as its "creator" set out to free himself from tending to his cancer ridden wife. I could very well be mistaken about Pyramid Head, but that's part of why the Silent Hill games are so good, and why Silent Hill 2 is so good. There is so much room for speculation and forming theories. And in my opinion Pyramid Head is evil, I mean he was made through the darkest parts of a person's mind, and from a person who murdered his own wife no less.
1.) Diablo [Diablo series]
Diablo was always going to be Number 1 on this list for one reason. He is literally pure evil. He is the Lord of Terror and one of the Prime Evils. As far as evil goes in gaming, there is literally nothing darker than Diablo and his siblings. But Diablo himself is unique among the Great Evils in that he is the youngest among the Prime Evils, and the most treacherous. He planned for himself and his brothers Baal and Mephisto to be banished to Sanctuary so they could rule over humanity and exploit the Nephaelem. He planned for his own inittal destruction in Diablo 1 and 2 so he would be sealed in the Black Soulstone later on and gather the other Evils into himself. Why? So he could become the Prime Evil, or Tathamet reborn. While he may not have committed the same amount of tragedies as other characters on this list, Diablo himself is at once the most reprehensible and least likely to atone or seek redemption for his crimes against the High Heavens and against mankind due to his very nature as evil itself. He is literally evil incarnate, and now that he has taken all the other Great Evils into himself, no other gaming character even comes close to encompassing all that he does. He is Terror, Hatred, Destruction, Sin, Lies, Pain, and Anguish incarnate in one being. Destruction is not possible for this unstoppable force of pure evil, at best he can only be sealed away, and even then it is unlikely to ever stop him from returning. Diablo, the most evil video game character of all time.
