The top ten villains in fiction

Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) was born in Wexford on the South-East coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his four brothers were brought up by his father (an elementary school teacher, historian and artist of note) and mother (a drama teacher). After leaving school he got his degree from Dublin university and qualified as a primary school teacher, returning to work in Wexford. In 2001 the first Artemis Fowl book was published and he was able to resign from teaching and concentrate fully on writing.

Colfer's latest book is The Reluctant Assassin, the first in his new W.A.R.P. series.

One of the author's top 10 villains in fiction, as told to the Guardian:

Ernst Stavro Blofeld – Thunderball

James Bond's nemesis in three of Ian Fleming's books and several movie adaptations. We first encounter Blofeld in the novel Thunderball where he masterminds the theft of two nuclear bombs and uses them to blackmail the world's governments. What impressed me about Blofeld with his meticulous and dispassionate organisation of the plan. Every conceivable obstacle is planned for and, indeed, Bond only recovers the bombs by an almost incredible stroke of good fortune.

Read about the other villains on the list.

Blofeld appears on John Mullan's list of ten of the best secret societies in literature and Marcus Sedgwick's top 10 list of tales from cold climes.

Also see: Derek Landy's top 10 villains in children's books.

--Marshal Zeringue