In some books, there are characters that make me so utterly infuriated that I want to scream every time their name appears on the page. Half of the time, they’re not even villainous characters, just ones who repulse me on a fundamental level because of their personalities. Much like our lord and savior, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pride and Prejudice fame, my good opinion once lost is lost forever in regards to people (and fictional characters) that I have never met, unless there’s a crazy redemption arc.
The characters in the list below are (mostly) characters that don’t have moral flaws (except for two who are straight-up evil). Characters who do genuinely evil things obviously are not my favorites because I have a moral compass and will not tolerate even fictional characters who intentionally harm others. I decided not to include many villains because those are all pretty self-explanatory, and instead wanted to focus on characters that I detest as people as opposed to antagonists.
Heads up, there will probably be some spoilers here. It’s going to be nigh on impossible for me to communicate my hatred for some of these characters without giving away their arcs, so if you don’t want a single spoiler, maybe cover paragraphs with your hand as you read or something. Or skip this post entirely. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.
Let’s talk my least favorite literary characters!
Picture from Warner Bros. Wiki
Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. This one goes without saying, minus the fact that I just said it. Umbridge is unanimously the most universally detested character in the Harry Potter series, even more than Lord Voldemort, who is a murderer. The thing about Dolores Umbridge is that she’s so real. She’s not this figure of nearly-mythical proportions bent on world domination and untold magical power, she’s just a bigot who lets hate and bias fuel her choices, no matter how it impacts those around her. There are, unfortunately, Umbridges all around us in the world, which makes her even more hateable because we know people like her in real life. Also, she tortures children at her school, which is crazy.
Picture by Beth Gilbert Art
Elain from A Court of Thorns and Roses. I’m Elain’s number one hater. I think she’s absolutely useless. “Oh, but she’s sweet and loves to garden.” That doesn’t help ANYONE. She let her baby sister go hunt in the woods every day to support their family. She’s incredibly rude to Lucien, who has done nothing wrong ever in his life (don’t come for me about this, I just think Lucien deserves to be happy). She literally just sits around in the gardens, seeing the future and not contributing to the story outside of her one moment in A Court of Wings and Ruin. As much as I love everything SJM writes because it’s always so action-packed, I’m dreading the release of Elain’s book because I don’t care about her happiness. Frankly, I don’t even know what the plot could possibly be about because she’s useless and doesn’t do anything. Of course, I’ll still read the book the day it releases out of principle alone, but if she and Azriel end up together, I’m going to have a mental breakdown.
Picture by StarsThatDream
Adam from Shatter Me. THIS IS A SPOILER-RIDDEN PARAGRAPH. If you haven’t read past the first book in the Shatter Me series, you might want to skip this one. I’ll give you five…four…three…two…one…okay, here’s why Adam drives me absolutely bananas. To me, he’s very possessive of Juliette, and not in a fun, “she’s everything I could ever want” kind of way. His possessiveness comes across more like “no one else can have her”, which I’m not a fan of. He also spends a lot of the series moping around and letting his feelings impact his actions when he should be focusing on the bigger picture of the revolution. Is it that hard to compartmentalize?
Picture by PhantomRin
Adrius/the Jackal from Red Rising. This is another no-brainer. Dude is seriously messed up in the head. The profilers on Criminal Minds would have a field day interviewing him, even just after the first book—not to mention his later disturbing transgressions. Every interaction with him in every book makes my skin crawl because he’s so creepy and has zero remorse for any of his actions. This guy is a textbook psychopath. I loathe him, not just because of his actions, but also because Pierce Brown brings him BACK as a plot device and I think it’s unnecessary. Maybe once I finish Light Bringer, I’ll change my mind, but I doubt it. The Jackal is so awful that he needed to stay in his grave.
2012 Cover of The Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye. I hate to say it, but I hated this book and I hated the main character. In fact, I think I hated this book because I hated the main character. Holden is whiny, entitled, and hypocritical, and every time he calls someone else a phony, I wanted to slam the book shut because he’s the real phony here, in my opinion. I think I read Catcher too late, when I was a legal adult, because most people I know loved this book, citing it and its protagonist as relatable. Maybe I never had the teen angst phase necessary to relate to Holden, and that’s why I just find him annoying.
Picture by Elizianna.The.One
Sabine from Crescent City. MORE SPOILERS HERE, HEADS UP. If you’ve read any of Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City novels, you know exactly why Sabine makes this list. She resents her daughter, Danika, for being more powerful than she is, and instead of mourning her in a normal, healthy way, Sabine is incredibly cruel to Danika’s best friend, Bryce. She also encourages all of her followers to harass Bryce as well. I can’t stand bullies, real or fictional, so Sabine is infuriating. I know that everyone has different ways of mourning and different healing processes, but she’s just mean the entire series.
Picture by Amari
Poppy from From Blood and Ash. This is a hot take, considering how popular the From Blood and Ash series is, but I stand by it. I love a strong female main character, but Poppy to me was such a pick-me girl that I put down the second book in the series after, like, six chapters and never picked it back up. Yeah, the circumstances in which she exists stink and I would probably make the same choices that she did if I was in that situation, but she was just portrayed as such a try-hard version of a strong, brave woman that it turned me off of the series entirely. I’m sure I’ll try From Blood and Ash again as some point, because I refuse to let that be the book/series that defeats me (no matter how much I detest a book, I will never DNF it simply as a matter of pride), so maybe, hopefully, I’ll like Poppy more the second time around.
As per usual, these are just my opinions. If you love one or more of these characters, feel free to try to change my mind in the comments, but heads up—I will die on this hill. If there are any characters that you cannot stand that I didn’t mention here, feel free to put those in the comments as well! The point of putting my thoughts out there in a blog is to learn about the thoughts and opinions of others, so long as they’re communicated kindly. Cheers, and happy reading!
Sequels and Scribbles 