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Another vote from me "off the grid". I voted for the Tisroc. The cold, calculating way he manipulates those around him, even his own son whom he claims to love, to advance his power.

I really enjoyed the White Witch, especially once her character was expanded upon in Magician's Nephew. I loved Tilda Swinton's portrayal as well; it made me appreciate the character even more. I wish Lewis has written on how she returned from the North and conquered Narnia. Or what she did during her exile.

I’m taking some creative license here and I’m going to say Calormen. Lewis doesn’t “flesh out” his villains very much, and I understand his reasons. Evil is evil. But the Calormene culture reminds me so much of the general fallen nature of man. Here are some abbreviated examples manifested through individual characters:

The Tisroc - ready to sacrifice his own son in his greed for power.

Rabadash - his lust drives him to extreme and unwise lengths.

Rishda - willing to put aside his religion for personal gain and then making a measly attempt to earn respect from Tash when it suits his needs.

Lasaraleen - foolish and caught up with parties, reputation, and materialism.

Pug is kind of a favorite with me just because of his funnier personality- the way he just excuses his slave-trading as "I've got my living to make,", his generally jolly attitude, and his pathetic wheedling while trying to sell Caspian make him more fun to listen to than most Narnian villains. Not that he's a huge villain of course.
Then there's Shift, who's mainly funny to me in that his relationship with Puzzle reminds me a lot of Abbott and Costello...

I shouldn’t be surprised that The Lady of the Green Kirtle is voted so far up the list of favorite Narnia villains (not surprised voted 2nd most vile).

Though I have always felt that Lewis could have developed the Lady more as a character than he did (it would have been cool to see more of the fear and the hatred behind her mask of deceit), she’s still interesting regardless. Maybe it’s something about evil witches that hook people. Maybe it’s because Jadis is so iconic that The Lady cannot help but be memorable.

And maybe it’s something more basic in Narnia lore: A wannabe tyrant who’s downfall before her triumph occurs due to her own hubris; She’s the villain that almost was.

If Jadis is like Darth Vader (unredeemable tyrant for the first 2 stories) the Lady is the equivalent of Kylo Ren: A villan-wannabe who seeks to be all-powerful like Darth, yet is too human to not ultimately fail. Kylo Ren is a borderline sociopath, but also full of (evil) humanity that keeps him from being powerfully evil like Vader was - to the point where we wonder if he is not as beyond redemption as he looks.

The Lady is like that: She’s a sociopath who murdered Rilian’s mother. Yet seems to have treated the enchanted Rilian with fondness. She controls the Underland by a spider’s thread and is undone by an honest Marshwiggle. She could have let them all go, as the prince insisted, but instead she seems unstable enough to go all serpent-like and try to kill all of them, shedding what little humanity she might have had left. Her death is justified, and yet it is an inverse of the Queen’s death: Almost sad, for what might have been.

When I was a kid, the White Witch was to me as the Boogie-Man is to other kids. Every word that came out of her mouth was either a threat, a trick, or something else that scared the you-know-what out of me. I didn't really understand Aslan, as I hadn't come to know Jesus yet (and even after I had been a Christian for years I never knew Narnia had so much Christian symbolism). So it seemed the Witch was unstoppable... except for this awesome but kind of random random lion. And the way he described her army basically gave me the impression that "if it was evil, it worked for her". So you had all the usual villains - Dracula, Shredder and so on - and they were all just minions compared to her. And then came The Magician's Nephew, and her power just seemed to spiral out of control. She destroyed an entire universe! She could hear thoughts now, turn people to dust, and do all kinds of other nasty things - and she was totally cool with that. Even Tumnes was afraid of what else she might do besides just turning him to stone. This was also because of the way people would refer to the Witch as just her, as if they were afraid she would overhear them calling her a witch. The kids' only hope was Aslan... and she killed him! I'm sorry, but none of the other villains in the Narnia books can compare to that IMO. So as much as I agree with all that was said about Miraz, Tash, the Tisroc, Pug and the rest, if I had to pick a "favorite" this one is a no-brainer. She was Narnia's original evil, the nightmare fuel of a young Geekicheep, and by far the most evil character in the series. And that made it SO AWESOME when Aslan came back and kicked... uh, I mean, defeated her!

Valiant_Nymph said:
I really enjoyed the White Witch, especially once her character was expanded upon in Magician's Nephew. I loved Tilda Swinton's portrayal as well; it made me appreciate the character even more. I wish Lewis has written on how she returned from the North and conquered Narnia. Or what she did during her exile.

I couldn't agree more! She did a fantastic job of portraying the White Witch, the closest I've ever seen to the one I imagined while reading the book. She didn't look much like how Lewis described her, but her attitude, personality, etc. is much more how I thought a real White Witch would be - more so than Barbara Kellerman IMO.

And it's funny you mention the time between MN and LWW - I actually wrote a little fan fiction about that. It's not published anywhere cuz it needs some serious editing, but it was a fun idea to play with. Maybe I'll polish it up and put it on my blog someday. I have a lot of ideas on that subject that I think would make a great story, but sadly Lewis never went there. But then again, he never goes there with Tash or the Lady of the Green Kirtle either. But I guess that mystery is also kind of what makes them cool.

Anyway, sorry for the way-too-long post! Next time I answer one of these "favorite Narnia {whatever}" posts, I think I'll just write a blog post about it and post "the short version" on here. But if you made it this far, thanks for reading!

Jadis/the White Witch, especially in her earlier form (in The Magician's Nephew), because she is just so darn scary. Anyone who can destroy every living thing but herself, with a single word, has to be beyond a supervillain. And yet she illustrates very well how futile and self-defeating evil is. She becomes the indisputable ruler of a totally dead world; she gains immortality, only to find it's an immortality of misery. Even as the White Witch (slightly less scary), she gains and maintains her power only by freezing "her" kingdom in a perpetual winter and turning all her enemies to stone.

The Green Witch (Lady of the Green Kirtle) would probably be my runner-up. A less terrifying and dangerous villain, but the way in which she very nearly overcomes the adventurers in The Silver Chair — by magically clouding their thinking and almost persuading them that the outside world and everything they knew there (including Aslan) is just a dream — is one of the most brilliant and memorable sequences in any of the Chronicles.

I would say Jadis/the White Witch because she was the first villain I encountered when first reading these books. What she does reminds me of a lot of villains who want so badly to rule they will do anything to get it and they will silence anyone who dares to challenge them. Her manipulation of Edmund also adds another element to her character as when I first met her through books she could seem scary and unapproachable one minute then somewhat nice ice queen the next. This was a way to get what she wanted but it showed what lengths she would go to.

Granted it has been awhile since I have read the books so I do not have much to say on the other villains.

Favorite is especially difficult because it's so subjective. For meanest, I'd go with the White Witch for the line about asking the animals celebrating their visit from Father Christmas if she'd "like my dwarf to find your tongue with his whip." For most conniving and Machiavellian, I'd answer Lord Sopespian for murdering Miraz (in the film, participating in manipulating him in the book) and blaming the Narnians out of his own sheer hunger for power.

For favorite, though, I'll have to go with the Lady of the Green Kirtle. She is introduced in a way that immediately creates a sense of menace, the description of a bright green snake the color of poison and then Rillian seeing and being charmed by a beautiful woman with a garment of the same color. What I truly find fascinating about her as a villain is that, in contrast to the White Witch who is so angry and hostile that as a reader I wondered how Edmund doesn't see it, she puts on a convincing facade of friendliness and desire to help the party of Puddleglum, Eustace, and Jill. In the final scene in which she tries to brainwash them into thinking that there is no sun and that the world above is a figment of their imaginations, she is even more chilling than the scariest and meanest dragon or giant because her power of seduction is so strong that her music, voice, and magical powers of persuasion almost seem like they're going to work. This is far more memorable, and teaches a lot more of a lesson, than if she had just immediately turned into a scary serpent like she would as the final boss in a video game. If Netflix does make a show or movie based on The Silver Chair, I hope they get the atmosphere of this scene right and get an actress who can seem both alluring and menacing and don't just turn it into an action battle with a scary creature.

What an interesting point, Tumnus!

Yes, the Lady of the Green Kirtle is a scary villain. She's also very mysterious; we don't know much about her, and we don't really even know what she was planning. She's got not only Rillian, but an entire civilization of gnomes, under her control. She can turn into a deadly snake, and (apparently) turn people's blood to fire (if her threat to Puddleglum was legit, which we can probably assume it is). Another thing both witches have in common is they threaten to do far worse than they actually do (thankfully for the heroes and Uncle Andrew ). But yeah, she is a very different character and one that needs to be done right. If she and Puddleglum are done well, the battle at the end will be way better than any video game.

PS: It's funny you mention video game boss battles, because as a game programmer myself, I have many thoughts on that subject; that's a whole other thread I would love to talk about some time.

PS2: Love your signature and avatar. Very cool.

Yes, the lotgk is a very scary villain... I remember the portrayal of her snake transformation in the Focus on the Family audio drama scaring the tar out of me when I was 11. I was also chilled by her control over Rilian's mind!
My hope for the film adaptation of this scene is that it be very quiet.... the snake should glide off to hide at first after transformation, and then always be slipping off into shadows as the characters pursue it, and then suddenly lashing out from the darkness after a tense pause or two. The room where it takes place would ideally be built like a cathedral or something, with lots if pillars and doorways to hide behind. Hopefully that would help avoid the 'boss battle' feel a little bit ( which would I presume be instant chaos as soon as she transforms) and maybe represent the way the Lady always hides in shadows and deceptions, lying in wait times strike.