The 10 Most Villainous Characters In Star Wars, Ranked
"Star Wars" has one of the biggest worlds in fiction, a vast universe with extensive mythology, a sense of history, locations that feel tangible, and characters that come across as real, living beings.
This last bit is important, because "Star Wars" has given plenty of memorable characters, where even small players can turn out to have galaxy-changing importance. Then there are the villains, of which "Star Wars" has plenty, including some of the most memorable villains in cinema history, with their own stories worth exploring.
But while we all know the menacing man-turned-machine Darth Vader or the devil-looking Maul, are they really the worst villains in the franchise? As "Star Wars" has evolved and grown over the years, its villains have become less flashy and more, well, evil. That's why we're ranking the most evil and villainous characters in George Lucas' galaxy far, far away. As a note, this list does not count the video games, otherwise, Vitiate would definitely be here.
10. Jocasta Nu the apathetic librarian
There are many characters in "Star Wars" who don't act out of malice, necessarily, but they still do small acts of pure evil that end up having big consequences. One of those characters is Jocasta Nu.
You remember Jocasta, right? The Chief Librarian of the Archives, and former member of the Jedi High Council, first appeared in "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" as the keeper of Jedi knowledge, and helper to those who seek to learn more. Except that is not at all what she did in her brief appearance in the films. Instead, when Obi-Wan Kenobi asks her for help identifying the planet Kamino and it doesn't show up in the archives, she immediately mocks him and tells him the planet must not exist.
That is not just bad librarian behavior but had this woman simply cared a teeny tiny bit more about the issue, they could have uncovered the clone plot sooner. Because she didn't care, Kenobi had to look into things on his own, then get captured, and force the Jedi to use the clone army they didn't know they had to rescue him — kickstarting the Clone Wars and eventually the fall of the Republic. Is Jocasta Nu as bad as, say, Vader? No, but this Hologram-book jockey is still pretty evil.
9. Cad Bane the child kidnapper
The thing about "Star Wars" villains is that they are all extremely cool, including bounty hunter Cad Bane. As cool and badass as this cowboy-inspired bounty hunter is, he is also a cold, evil bastard.
You see, Bane is known for doing one thing extremely well — kidnapping children. Not once, but several times over the course of both "The Clone Wars" all the way to "The Bad Batch," Bane was hired for his particular set of skills to kidnap Force-sensitive kids for nefarious Empire business. Of course, Bane is a professional, so he never asks any questions nor cares as long as he gets paid. But because of his actions, Darth Sidious (and later Royce Hemlock) performed horrific experiments on the kids. Sure, he didn't personally slaughter younglings, but taking kids away from their parents for money is still quite evil.
Making matters worse, Cad Bane also replaced fan-favorite Durge in "The Clone Wars," which is pretty evil when you think about it.
8. Jar Jar Binks the gullible
No, this is not a joke about the Gungan Sith Lord. Instead, the clumsy Jar Jar Binks deserves to be on his list because he is personally responsible for the rise of the Empire.
That's right. In "Attack of the Clones," Padmé leaves Coruscant due to the assassination attempts on her so she puts Jar Jar in charge of representing Naboo in the Senate. The problem is Jar Jar is gullible as hell, so when Supreme Chancellor Palpatine suggests that he doesn't have enough power to help their friends, Jar Jar ... proposes giving the Supreme Chancellor emergency absolute power. It is this power that Palpatine uses to order the deployment of a Grand Army of the Republic and start the Clone Wars. It's also this power that Palpatine uses to change the constitution toward the end of the war and eventually declare himself Emperor — turning the Republic into a brutal, Sith-led dictatorship that results in the death of billions.
Sure, Binks redeemed himself by saving sweet, adorable Grogu from Order 66, but that doesn't take away from the role he played in allowing Palpatine to ruin everything.
7. Pong Krell the ruthless leader
"The Clone Wars" introduced many new villains to the "Star Wars" franchise, but arguably none as cruel, ruthless, and evil as Pong Krell. The Jedi was a notorious general during the Clone Wars, known for getting results — at the cost of rather high casualty numbers.
A character who initially seems like nothing more than a harsh commander takes a dark turn when it becomes clear Krell is kind of the "Star Wars" equivalent of Colonel Kurtz from "Heart of Darkness." He purposely leads hundreds of clones to their deaths for no reason, devising disastrous battle plans designed to decimate his own battalions. When he realizes there is dissidence amongst his ranks, he orchestrates a battle between two clone battalions, tricking them into thinking the other side is made up of enemy infiltrators — causing countless deaths. He is nothing more than a pure, spiteful bigot who doesn't see clones as people, but as tools and abominations to be discarded at will.
6. Syril Karn the pathetic worm
Most villains we've seen in "Star Wars" have been rather grandiose, stemming from the over-the-top serials that inspired the original film. They have grand plans of absolute power and do grand acts of utter destruction to show they're serious. That changed with "Andor," the best "Star Wars" title in decades, and with Syril Karn.
Syril is like no other "Star Wars" villain we've ever seen. He is not a genocidal maniac or a power-hungry would-be dictator. He is simply a bureaucrat in the service of advancing his career. He doesn't have deeply held beliefs or desires, he is just a bootlicking weasel. All he wants is validation from the Empire, and a chance to prove he is not an incompetent fool who failed to capture Cassian on Ferrix. He keeps getting humiliated, has no power whatsoever, yet is relentless in trying to rat Cassian out. He is just an opportunist, a loser willing to sell out his soul, his friends, and (especially) his mother if it means his bosses praise him.
5. Darth Vader the killer of younglings
There are few things as evil as the murder of children, and no one comes anywhere near close to matching Anakin Skywalker's record for dead kids. The Chosen One, the guy meant to bring balance to the Force, showed he had a mean streak when he slaughtered a Tusken Raider camp, including the children, and considered them animals. But it was when he betrayed the Jedi and the Republic and pledged allegiance to Darth Sidious that his turn to evil was complete.
What better way to test the loyalty and the capacity for evil in a person than ordering them to kill every Jedi in the temple, including the younglings? Sure, Darth Vader eventually did find some redemption by shoving the Emperor down a reactor shaft, but that does not make up for the killing of younglings (one of our top 100 "Star Wars" scenes) or for the decades of torment he inflicted on the galaxy as the Emperor's number 1 enforcer.
4. Hux the planet killer
Speaking of pathetic weasels, here's Armitage Hux. Introduced in "The Force Awakens" as kind of the new Tarkin, Hux is nothing like the former Grand Moff. He is more childish, prone to outbursts, and easy to annoy with a few "yo mamma" jokes.
But much like Tarkin, Hux is also in command of Imperial legions and superpowered weapons. His biggest crime, of course, is using Starkiller Base to blow up not just one planet, or two, but five planets making up the entire Hosnian system. This meant the destruction of the capital of the New Republic, killing billions in the process. Unlike Tarkin, Hux was not testing the power of the station, but was fully aware of its destructive capabilities and of the billions he was executing due to Starkiller Base destroying five whole planets.
If we go by the number of deaths, Hux is probably the single deadliest villain in the "Star Wars" franchise.
3. Tarkin the cold bureaucrat
Granted, Tarkin did not kill as many people with the Death Star as Hux did with Starkiller Base. What makes Tarkin more evil is the absolute coldness with which he orders the destruction of Alderaan and the disregard for the billions of people he blew up.
Here is a man who does not covet power — he already has it. He doesn't really care for ideology. He just cares about doing his job and getting results. And he is not above absolute cruelty and evil to get those results, like when he tortured Leia for information in the first "Star Wars," or when he oversaw the sterilization of the entire planet of Geonosis (which killed most of its population) in order to keep the secrecy of the Death Star project.
"Star Wars" doesn't always focus on the evil of bureaucracy, but when it does, it truly shows how government work is the cause of the majority of the worst acts of evil in the franchise. And when it comes to bureaucrats, Tarkin is by far the most evil.
2. Palpatine the evil emperor
Was there any doubt that Sheev Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious, aka The Emperor, would be near the top? Everything about him screams "evil."
Sheev's evil machinations started long before the events of the movies when he murdered his master in his sleep before plotting an invasion of his home planet Naboo, all so he could get elected Supreme Chancellor. And that is before you even get to how Palpatine orchestrated the entire Clone Wars, which killed millions of people, to become Emperor. He ordered the annihilation of the entire Jedi Order, killing thousands, and oversaw the construction and employment of the Death Star which destroyed a whole planet. He ordered the birth of a clone army, only to then discard it at a more convenient time in favor of the stormtroopers.
Nearly every single evil deed in "Star Wars" somehow involves Palpatine, but even that is not enough to top this list.
1. Dr. Gorst the torturer
Yes, there is someone more evil than Palpatine. Someone so cruel, so malevolent he simply had to top our list for the most evil "Star Wars" characters. That person is Dr. Gorst, the Imperial torturer introduced in "Andor."
Dr. Gorst may not be a Forse user, he may not be in a position of much power to order the destruction of an entire planet. Instead, Gorst is a torturer so sadistic he developed a torture method that uses the dying screams of Dizonite children to inflict horrendous pain on his victims. Vader may have killed children, and Palpatine may have ordered children kidnapped, but neither have such a twisted mind to think of interrogating people using the screams of dying children. What's worse, like the best Imperial villains, Dr. Gorst is completely indifferent as to the source of his new torture method. He takes immense pride in such an effective weapon. When it comes to sick and evil people in "Star Wars," no one comes close to Dr. Gorst.