Are you sick of reading fantasy novels with goody two shoes protagonists who wanna save the world? Want a list of dark fantasy novels with ruthless, competent villain protagonists willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want? Or wanna see a bunch of villain protagonist examples from great books?
If you answered yes to the questions above, you’re in luck:
Whether you’re looking for dark fantasy books that follow an evil protagonist, or stories where heroes transform into villains, I’ve got you covered.
To be clear I’ve actually read the novels I’m gonna recommend to you. I didn’t just scrape blurbs from the internet or use Ai to generate a list. In addition to being a dark fantasy author, I love dark stories with morally-grey characters and villain MCs. you can read on with confidence, knowing the stories below have my personal seal of approval.
TLDR: List of the best villain protagonists in dark fantasy novels.
Click on any link below to learn more about these villainous characters and the story they're part of.
- Ruka (Kings Of Paradise by Richard Nell)
- Kai (Death God’s Gambit by Jay Cartere)
- Khellus (The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker)
- Glokta (The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie)
- Tyron (Book Of The Dead by RinoZ)
Keep reading to find out why these are the best villain protagonists from dark fantasy novels, and which you’ll enjoy reading about most.
What makes Ruka a villain protagonist?
Ruka starts the story by roasting and eating a child’s corpse.
Granted, he was also a child, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say cannibalising children is a pretty villainous move no matter your age.
He lies, manipulates, tortures, and does whatever necessary to accomplish his goals.
But he’s not an evil bastard for the sake of it. As the series progresses, Ruka becomes a classic example of someone doing horrible things for the greater good.
Why you’ll love this book:
If you wanna follow a villain who rises up from nothing by stepping on the corpses of the fallen and scheming his way into power using propaganda and theatrics, Kings Of Paradise is the perfect story for you.
This trilogy is an underrated gem.
What makes this villain protagonist unique?
Ruka was disfigured at birth, becoming an outcast among his people.
His mother—the only person who showed him kindness and protected him—dies, leaving him at the mercy of people without mercy. Without the protection of his mother’s authority, Ruka flees across the frozen tundra, hiding from society.
In his battle for survival, Ruka ruthlessly hunts other outcasts, eating their flesh to stave off starvation.
After years of hard living, Ruka returns to his people. Hardened by his harrowing experiences, he turns his deformity into an advantage. He creates a mysterious shaman persona, playing on his culture’s assumptions, fears, and superstitions.
He uses showmanship, theatrics, and tricks to disguise his self-serving schemes as religious prophecies.
Ruka transforms from a hunted child into a religious prophet. His journey is tough, cruel, and entertaining as hell. Watching him manipulate tradition and culture to his own ends is an especially intriguing journey.
Deep down, he still sees himself as that weak, vulnerable deformed child. But he wears a ruthless mask and suffocates his softer side in order to prevail in his unforgiving world.
Ruka also has a magical mind palace where everyone he’s ever killed lives on. It’s like a penance he forces upon himself. Every child he ate continues on in his mind. But that’s not all, his mind palace also has magic properties, granting him one of the most powerful and devastating abilities in fiction. I won’t spoil how it works here, but if you like tactical magic that can turn the tide of battle, you’ll be impressed.
How villainous is this protagonist?
Ruka’s ruthless and commits terrible acts, but it’s all for the greater good. Even the cannibalism. Kinda.
His only choices were: eat babies or starve—what else was he supposed to do?
At first, Ruka acts to avenge his mother and dismantle the hierarchy that conspired against her. But as the series continues, he works to create a better future for his people. To bring them to a paradise where the cold winter no longer decimates their population.
He’s a perfect example of a villain whose ends justify the means. Even if some of his choices are rough to read.
Villainy Rating: 5/10
What makes Kai a villain protagonist?
Kai is a low-level goon with eyes on the top spot of his crime family.
He starts the story by betraying his boss, extorting a local shopkeeper, and leading a co-conspirator to their demise.
Kai isn’t affected by sentimentality or a drive to do good; he sees people as tools or pawns for his plans. Even when it seems like he’s acting virtuously, his true intentions are self-serving.
Innocent lives caught in the crossfire of his schemes are the cost of doing business—he wouldn’t shed a tear or waste a thought on them.
Everything he does serves his goal of gaining more power and control.
Why you’ll love this book:
If you’re looking for a LitRPG kingdom-building story where you watch a necromancer villain protagonist build his evil empire from nothing, Death God’s Gambit is the perfect story for you.
This is a story where the villain MC outthinks his enemies instead of punching them with bigger numbers. There’s a bunch of political intrigue, shaky alliances, and power plays. Noble houses, crime families, demons, and corrupt government ministers vie for power and advantage in a morally-grey world where might makes right.
Kai is a competent, cold, calculating MC with a side of British wit. Dark humour balances the harsh realities of crime, murder, and exploitation. Kai won’t spend pages ruminating on the ethics of murder and mayhem—every thought focuses on analysing another angle, finding another path to the win.
Full disclosure: I’m the author this story. You can read it for free on Royal Road here: Click here to read.
What makes this villain protagonist unique?
Kai is the son of a god. Not that one. His father’s Death God, a scheming, ruthless bastard of a deity.
Like father, like son.
But this doesn’t make Kai an all powerful chosen one from the jump. In fact, being Death God’s heir grants him as many disadvantages as advantages. His heritage comes with strings attached, prices to pay, and a whole lot of enemies.
How else could Death God ensure his heir’s up to the task?
Kai doesn’t just chase power for the sake of it. He’s obsessed with gaining control over his life and situation. Building a criminal empire and kingdom is a means to an end—his ultimate goal is complete freedom. He’ll scheme, manipulate, and kill whoever gets in the way of that freedom.
It’s just business. Literally, because he’ll raise them from the dead and put them to work.
Why let your enemies rest in peace when you can turn them into sleepless husks that never complain about their workload?
How villainous is this protagonist?
Kai’s a murderous, ruthless son of a gun.
Torture, manipulation, and extortion are just a few of the tools in his box.
Betray a kid by selling him to a dragon for an improved contractual agreement? Kai wouldn’t bat an eye.
Kai’s not cruel for fun, but he won’t lose sleep over a corpse pile. Those are valuable potential workers, after all.
But he’s not all bad. Earn Kai’s loyalty and he’ll protect you like an investment.
As long as you don’t cross him—he’s not the forgiving type.
Villainy Rating: 7/10
What makes Khellus a villain protagonist?
Khellus sees people as tools for his use. Unlike someone like Kai, he doesn’t even consider that people could be anything other than instruments in his plans.
Khellus has no loyalty to anyone or anything.
The story begins with him manipulating a local man to help him cross a dangerous region. When monsters kill their gathered comrades and injure the man, Khellus doesn’t even entertain the possibility of helping him. In Khellus’ mind, the man’s useless now. When Khellus left that man to die without a second’s thought, I couldn’t believe it—it was so cold and sudden. I’d thought K-dog was gonna be a respectable anti-hero.
But no.
Nothing matters to Khellus except his goal. You either aid him, or he’ll destroy you. And if aiding him leads to your destruction anyway? Sucks to be you.
This guy takes ‘cold, cunning protagonist’ to another level.
If being a sociopathic creature masquerading as human wasn’t enough, Khellus perpetuates a holy war that kills thousands of people. He turns a blind eye to rape, murder, and all sorts of terrible stuff because it serves his mission.
Though his active on-page deeds aren’t the worst I’ve read, he’s one of the most villainous characters I’ve experienced.
Why you’ll love this book:
The Darkness That Comes Before takes place in a dark world full of misery, mystery, lore, and depth. The setting feels like it has history. Like we’re only scratching the surface of its secrets.
If you love realistic warfare mechanics and logistics, you’ll eat well reading this story. Plus, the political intrigue and faction machinations are some of the best I’ve read. It’s difficult to find well-written political intrigue and scheming, so that was a pleasant surprise.
Also, if you’re into long ass, flowery descriptions, this book serves that by the bundle. I personally hate that sorta writing and had to skim those parts, but different strokes for different folks.
What makes this villain protagonist unique?
Khellus thinks he’s better than you.
Because he is.
Raised by a mythical cult and trained to master ‘what comes before’, he can dissect people’s thoughts, motivations, and desires with ease. More importantly, he can direct their thoughts, motivations, and desires to fit his own design and purpose.
Khellus plays people like instruments.
He sees humanity as ignorant children, too stupid to perceive the truth. Using his overwhelming abilities of perception and manipulation, he rises from a nobody to a messianic holy emperor.
How villainous is this protagonist?
Khellus is a genuinely despicable villain.
He might not twirl a moustache or eat babies, but the consequences of his actions are far-reaching and terrible.
Khellus has no regard for anyone. He single-mindedly and ruthlessly pursues his goals without care for anyone he tramples along the way. Even those close to him are nothing but the shortest path to his destination.
Love is just a chain he uses to control others.
He’ll condone anything. War, rape, murder—he has no limits. People mean nothing to him. Khellus is an unrepentant force of nature. His only redeeming quality is his extreme competence.
However, he eventually works toward saving the world. Because of that trajectory, I can’t give Khellus a full 10/10, but he’s damn close.
What a terrible guy.
Villainy Rating: 9/10
What makes Glokta a villain protagonist?
Glokta works as a torturer for the Inquisition.
At the start of the story, he questions why he does the things he does, then tortures a merchant for avoiding taxes. Not out of duty to king or country, but to confiscate the man’s juicy coffers. After that escapade, he conspires to frame a man for a crime he didn’t commit.
Glokta’s a busy man.
The interesting thing is, Glokta knows he’s a bad guy. He’s fully aware of his role as the crooked hand of a corrupt system, but he does what he’s told.
He’s got a job to do, after all.
Why you’ll love this book:
If you love interesting, morally-grey characters operating in a cruel world, you’ll be right at home with this series.
These books have the best character work I’ve ever read. The internal monologues are funny and distinct to each POV character. Political intrigue and corrupt officials lurk around every corner, just like the real world. This is my favourite book series, and I strongly suggest you read it ASAP.
What makes this villain protagonist unique?
Glokta is a vulnerable, disabled man who lives in constant pain.
Before the war, he was a promising young nobleman. A master swordsman. But, although war never changes—word to Fallout—those who war are always transformed.
Getting captured and tortured molded Glokta into the man we see in The Blade Itself. Vindictive, cynical, and cunning.
A hurt person hurting people.
Others underestimate him, but he outschemes them at every turn.
And he’s not all bad. He shows compassion and helps others multiple times, even at great cost to himself. It’s this duality of character that keeps him interesting and stops him from becoming a caricature.
How villainous is this protagonist?
Glokta is just following orders.
Not a great excuse, granted. But there’s a real threat hanging over his head—failure could be fatal. Quitting his job is tantamount to quitting life.
He’s not cruel for the sake of it. Sure, he hates the world for what happened to him, and he’s willing to commit unspeakable acts, but it’s more work than pleasure. He doesn’t take glee in getting his hands dirty.
Glokta might be a ruthless, merciless torturer when the situation calls for it, but he maintains a semblance of humanity, doing a little good when he can.
Villainy Rating: 6/10
What makes Tyron a villain protagonist?
At the start of the story Tyron robs graves to craft his skeleton soldiers. Disrespectful, maybe, but not too villainous.
A few books later, he’s buying corpses en masse and converting his enemies into an undead workforce.
He makes deals with and summons unspeakable abominations into his world, and wipes out an entire family’s bloodline.
Every setback and event makes him more ruthless and unscrupulous.
Why you’ll love this book:
If you enjoy watching an underdog rise from nothing, this story has that in spades. Tyron begins the story weak, almost helpless, and hunted.
And that’s not all, you’ll watch as Tyron sheds his heroic ideals and descends into becoming the villainous monster his world forced him to be.
The LitRPG mechanics are satisfying, and it’s fun to watch Tyron optimise his necromancy build and upgrade his undead army piece by piece.
Tyron doesn’t become overpowered fast either. He progresses at a realistic pace, which is a little frustrating and makes for many slow moments. But this slow-burn also makes Tyron’s eventual glow-up from dinky little graverobber to city-terrorising necromancer feel earned.
What makes this villain protagonist unique?
Tyron didn’t wanna be a villain. He wanted to save people. To help seal rifts and kill monsters.
But when he gets the forbidden necromancer class, he’s branded as an outlaw and hunted down. Even so, he begins by attempting to prove the world wrong by exposing its flawed system. He aims to use his creepy necromancy for good.
Think of how helpful an army of skeletons could be for society!
But the cruel reality of his enemies’ depravity disabuses him of his childish ambitions. He takes his gloves off and gets his hands dirty.
Tyron is a scholar and a craftsman at heart. Book Of The Dead paints necromancy as more of a science project than hand-waving magic, making Tyron both a scientist and a dark magician.
He tests, trials, and keeps meticulous notes—his ‘book of the dead’—get it? Cunning and strategy are his strongest weapons.
How villainous is this protagonist?
Even with his growing ruthlessness, Tyron only kills bad people.
He works to overturn the cruel society that made him a villain, abolishing magical slavery while he’s at it.
Sure, he might spend his days butchering corpses, turning enemies into skeletal soldiers, and enslaving souls—he’s not exactly Mr. Emancipation. But he’s pretty chill if you don’t cross him or his loved ones.
Villainy Rating: 4/10
Which Villain Protagonist Dark Fantasy Novel Should You Read Next?
What do you want from your next read?
If you’re looking for kingdom building, political intrigue, and a ruthless villain protagonist:
Kai builds the foundations of his criminal empire and dark kingdom in book one.
Forced to contend with the agendas of noble houses, gods, crime bosses, and government ministers: Kai gathers allies, makes deals with devious gods and financially astute dragons, and even enslaves an obnoxious vampire on the path to reaching his goals.
Kai must outwit, outmanoeuvre, and outplay his powerful enemies. And if that doesn’t work, he can always use his trusty teleportation and backstab combo, or send his undead wraith to burn everything in its path.
Destroying people and property tends to make negotiations smoother.
If you love dense prose and lore:
Read The Darkness That Comes Before next.
I gotta warn you: Khellus is not the main character of this series. He’s the most interesting, compelling, and important character. But for some reason, the author fumbled the bag and rationed out Khellus POV chapters to us like porridge to starving orphans.
If you’re like me, you’ll be thinking: ‘please, sir, can I have some more Khellus?’ But your pleas will fall on deaf ears.
However, the actual main character isn’t that bad, though he does get annoying nearer the end of the trilogy when he’s depressingly pining for a certain woman like there’s no other fish in the sea.
But if you’re a sucker for prose and lore, give this story a shot. You’ll get a buffet of both.
If you love a multi POV character-focused story filled with grey protagonists:
This series follows multiple morally grey protagonists in a cruel, unforgiving world. The character work is some of the best I’ve ever read. Amazing interiority, compelling development, realistic reactions.
The story turns classic fantasy tropes on their heads, and the writing is both beautiful and concise. Do yourself a favour and read this ASAP.
If you wanna follow a strong and cunning villainous protagonist doing bad things for the greater good:
This underrated story folows multiple protagonists but the highlight is Ruka. His manipulative scheming using storytelling and propaganda is a joy to read. Plus, the questionable methods he uses to achieve his noble goals will have you wincing and wondering if you should be rooting for this monster.
If you love crafting and necromancy:
Tyron is a crafter at heart. Most of the story centres on Tyron getting the materials he needs, gaining experience to craft better undead, and building his army of bony boys.
Watching Tyron go from barely being able to keep a trio of skeletons at his side, to fielding an entire undead army is super satisfying.
Have you read these books? Were my villainy ratings off—is a 6/10 too low for a baby eater? Who are your favourite villain protagonists?
Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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