Evil takes many forms, both in history and in fiction. Some villains terrify us because they are selfish, others because they are unpredictable, and some because they believe they are right.
What makes the Skeksis terrifying in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019) isn’t only their cruelty, but their utter selfishness. They believe the world exists to serve them – and that their survival is worth any sacrifice. That kind of arrogance feels timeless, and sadly, not limited to fantasy.
Amon Goeth, portrayed chillingly by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List (1993), on the other hand, embodies senseless cruelty: his violence is cold, random, and terrifying because it lacks reason. But what makes him even more disturbing is how he saw people not as individuals, but as categories. Once we begin to divide the world into “us” and “them,” it becomes easier to strip the other side of their humanity. From there, cruelty no longer feels like cruelty—it feels like order, justice, or even duty. These mechanisms are not locked in the past; they have resurfaced again and again throughout history, and they feel unsettlingly present in our own time as well. Watching Goeth is a reminder that evil does not always follow logic. Sometimes it simply destroys, because it can.
Rond Savage, my own antagonist in Starborn Alive, lies somewhere between these extremes. He is not random, and not purely selfish – but his pursuit of control makes him just as dangerous. He justifies every sacrifice as necessary for humanity’s survival, and that belief gives his cruelty a chilling sense of purpose.
Perhaps what makes some villains unforgettable: not their power, but the unsettling reminder of how close they can be to us – and how easily conviction can turn into cruelty. Every one of us faces choices, small or great, where our values are tested. Most of the time those choices are mundane, but at their core they ask the same question: will we act out of fear and selfishness, or will we choose empathy and responsibility?
For every time we knowingly choose the morally blurred path, it becomes easier to do it again. And it is always easy to justify those choices. The road to hell, as the saying goes, is paved with good intentions. Most antagonists do not begin as evil – they are shaped by decisions that felt reasonable in the moment. Anakin Skywalker did not start out as Darth Vader in Star Wars, but step by step his choices led him there. Yet his story also reminds us of something else: even the darkest character can make a different choice. In the end, redemption is still possible.