Your Favorite Baddies.
From the Guardian:
Ever since Milton gave Satan all the best lines, the allure of villains in literature has been widely recognised. I'm certainly not immune to their charms. When I was little, for instance, my chief heroine was Cruella de Vil. Similarly, Naughty Amelia Jane was my most dog-eared Blyton. (Katy Carr, Jo March and Anne Shirley, meanwhile, seemed to me at their best at the beginning of their respective novels - when they were untamed and disobedient.)
I don't agree with all of her picks -- we all know how I feel about Heathcliff, for one, and even though it might make me horribly insensitive, I'm not on Team Bertha, either... -- but the question is a fun one. I saw an interview with Patrick Stewart ages ago in which he talked quite a bit about playing heroes vs. villains. He said most actors preferred villains because, assuming they're written well, they're much more interesting. I buy that.
So. I love Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert. He's way (way way way) more fun than Ivanhoe. Aaron Echolls from Veronica Mars, especially in the second season. The villain from A Drowned Maiden's Hair*. And I always love anti-heroes -- like Dexter the Crime-Fighting Serial Killer. Your faves?
*I don't want to give the identity away to anyone who hasn't read it yet. Why haven't you read it yet?