Fandom Friday-The Top 13 Big Bads in The Dresden Files

Last week I did an editorial on my favorite anime, so this time for Fandom Friday I'm going to blab about my absolute favorite series of novels, The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. They're far from flawless, but these books capture so many things I absolutely love about fiction that I can't help but adore the crap out of them.

The series is about a wizard living in modern day Chicago who also works as a private investigator. He strives to do good and make a buck at the same time while trying to maintain a decent relationship with both the ordinary world and the magical one. It's a combination of urban fantasy and detective noir, with dashes of flavor from dozens of real world mythologies, blended together seamlessly.

One of the best parts about the series is the villains, so I thought I'd count down my Top 13 Favorite Big Bads in the series. Why Top 13? Well there's fifteen books and one villain is in three of them, plus it's my favorite number, and has a thematic connection to magic in the series.

Now, I need to point out that because these books are usually mysteries, most of these characters being Big Bads of the books they're in is kind of a spoiler, so let me say right now that I would really prefer you not read this article if you haven't read all 15 books in the series. I highly recommend the audio book versions read by James Marsters, but ebooks and physical copies are just as good. Once again, this list will spoil all fifteen books to some extent, but to mitigate that I'll keep their real names in the alt text for the pictures, and try to keep the descriptions as spoiler-free as is possible. And to those who are fellow Dresdenites, I am aware some of these character's status as "Big Bads" is questionable, and I'd to debate that in the comments.

13. The Scarecrow (Proven Guilty)

My least favorite Big Bad from one of my least-favorite books. This is more likely due to the fact that this was the last book I read in my first read-through of the series, due to not being able to find a copy in high school, but regardless it's a fairly weak entry for the most part. This horror-movie villain invades the real world to scare and kill, but he's got next to no personality, and is really just boring. Sorry, pumpkin-head.

12. The Hexenwulf (Fool Moon)

While the book itself is definitely the weakest one in the series, the Big Bad in it is not. Make no mistake by this low placement, the Hexenwulf is by no means a poor baddie. The spot on the list really just shows how tough the competition is. This villain was a dark mirror of Dresden himself, one that showed where a path like his could lead, if left unchecked, and their combination of brutality and efficiency made them a dangerous foe indeed.

11. The Shadowman (Storm Front)

Dresden's first enemy was by no means a slack either. The Shadowman was a great antagonist for the first book: a fellow magic-user with raw energy to spare and completely immersed in the power of black magic. He was no genius, but the Shadowman was a clear representation of what happened when any wizard stepped too far past the line.

10. The Gray Ghost (Ghost Story)

Let me say right off the bat: I smegging love this book. It's very much the Love it or Hate it book in the series, plus so spoilery that it's hard to really talk much about it. The villain is a returning one, though their identity is a secret, and they work well through mystery and subterfuge. What really gives them a bump is their sheer insanity and the quality of their minions.

9. The Veil-Tearer (Grave Peril)

What makes this villain work is a combination of continuity and planning. While this Big Bad (obviously) failed to kill Dresden, their actions caused more pain and suffering than perhaps any other villain on this list. The only thing that makes them less interesting is that their actual personality is pretty rote and boring.

8. The White Court Vampire (White Night)

I love the separation of vampire kinds in the Dresden Files, and easily the most seemingly benign and deeply insidious is the White Court of Vampires. The only court that is technically mortal, these beautiful elites prey on normal humans, viewing them as cattle to eat. Not literally, they're more classy and terrifying than that: they eat psychic energy, slowly killing the victim. They fight through subterfuge and cat's paws, but when cornered they turn out to be just as deadly as any monster. The Big Bad of this book is a great example of their kind, and he really came to live for me through James Marster's aforementioned audiobook, who makes the villain's descent into madness deliciously enjoyable to listen to.

7. A Badder White Court Vampire (Blood Rites)

Some people feel like this villain was a little underwhelming, but I disagree. There are good story reasons for what happens in the climax, and as a baddie this book's Big Bad is downright terrifying. They're a personal threat to Harry himself, unimaginably powerful, and more dangerous than they let on. They're the perfect image of the White Court: beautiful, devious, and completely devoid of empathy.

6. Faerie Queen (Summer Knight)

One of the most fascinating things about The Dresden Files is the way it handles Faeries. Like a lot of magical creatures, Butcher goes back to the original mythology in many aspects, and their portrayal here is as terrifying and alien as it is beautiful. And when one of the Queens of Faerie, effectively gods, goes mad? That's bad news for Chicago's local wizard. What works the best about this particular villain is the balance between sympathy and horror they elicit from the reader.

5. Mastermind (Changes)

At what is looking like the midpoint of the series, Changes is what the first eleven books were leading up to, the ultimate adventure that forever changes...well, everything. It's called Changes for a reason, folks. The Big Bad of this book has far-reaching political power, godlike personal power, and is easily the most dangerous being Harry has gone up against up to that point. The battles are epic in scale, the villainy evil enough to make Hitler blush, they have it all.

4. The Scariest Thing Harry Has Ever Seen (Turn Coat)

One of Harry's most useful and dangerous Wizard abilities is the Sight, the ability to see things at the most True level, to see what something really is. It's great for detective work, but what has been Seen is always fresh in the memory, never dulling with age. Which is why when Harry sees this Big Bad with his Sight, he spends hours puking and writhing in existential horror. Evil on the deepest level imaginable, this horror is as intelligent as it is malevolent, and remains memorable for the lasting impact it had on the wizard's psyche.

3. Sharkface (Cold Days)

The first time an Outsider, a being from outside the universe itself, appears as the main antagonist in one of the books, Sharkface threatens Harry physically, psychically, and mentally. With a crazy as hell design (that I really wish there was fan art of) and some of the best moments in the series, this creature is able to stick in the mind long after the book is put down.

2. Cowl (Dead Beat)

Dead Beat is a lot of people's favorite book in the series, and while it isn't mine, I do see why. Some people might scratch their heads at my choosing Cowl for this book, mostly because there isn't really one singular villain, there's a bunch of necromancers all working against each other. Of them, Cowl is by far the most threatening, powerful, and mysterious. He's the only Big Bad so far whose identity remains unclear after their book, and his continuing roll in the series bolsters the larger Myth Arc. No other villain on this list inspires as much paranoia and theorizing from the fans.

1. Nicodemus Archleone (Death Masks, Small Favor, Skin Game)

The only reoccuring Big Bad so far, with three different books under his belt. A villain built on a charming surface hiding an unrepentant vicious and genocidal soul. The leader of the Knights of the Blackened Denarius, mortals who have bonded themselves to fallen angels for power, and the one who has lead them since biblical times. Regardless of just his sheer staying power, Nicodemus works so well and holds our interests and attention through his ruthless pragmatism and his mysterious goals. What does he really want? We don't know. But until we do, this man with a silver coin and a noose around his neck is by far the best villainin the series so far.

Did you like the list? Did you disagree with my choices? Please comment and let me know, though please don't spoil the series for others. I'll be back next week with a review on a little film by a guy most people are only hearing about now, what with him writing directing the next Star Wars...

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