Terrifying Villains From Children's Stories

It’s pretty easy to scare children, but genuinely frightening adults takes more work. Still, some of the best authors manage to do both with their creatively violent villains. Sometimes, these villains terrify us more as adults because we better understand the brutality of their actions.

Some of the most beloved children’s stories are shockingly bloody and ruthless, leaving adults in disbelief at how savage kids’ books can be.

1. Cruella De Vil — The Hundred and One Dalmatians

Cruella De Vil is a cruel woman, as her name suggests. Kids know to hate her because she’s after the sweet little puppies. But it’s not until you’re older that you realize just how horrifying and awful she is. She wants to skin these adorable puppies for a coat, a beyond-violent image that only sinks in later.

2. Miss Trunchbull — Matilda

Miss Trunchbull scared us plenty when we were kids, but once you’re an adult, you realize that she’s a literal child abuser. Roald Dahl has a knack for creating brutal villains who genuinely strike fear into the hearts of children — and adults. Trunchbull locks children in spikey closets, hurls shotput balls at them, and chucks them over metal fences by their hair. It’s a miracle she never killed a child.

3. The Queen of Hearts — Alice in Wonderland

The Queen of Hearts, also known as the Red Queen, is one of the most violent criminals from a children’s book. Her level of cruelty is all too real for many adults. We can’t imagine how much bloodier Alice in Wonderland would be if it weren’t a children’s book. This medieval-style villain routinely threatens to chop off the heads of her people, as well as this lost little girl.

4. The Wolf — Little Red Riding Hood

The Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood doesn’t seem super scary when you’re a kid. Of course, he’s the villain — he’s a wolf! But reading this classic fairytale as an adult reveals how sinister and scary he is. This is no ordinary wolf. He’s cunning, with the intelligence of a human but the appetite of a wild animal. The idea of a wolf impersonating a sweet old grandma while he’s digesting her makes our stomachs turn.

5. Baba Yaga — Baba Yaga’s Assistant

Baba Yaga’s Assistant is a brutally graphic novel, and Baba Yaga deeply unsettles us. A witch with an appetite for children is creepy when you’re a kid, but when you’re an adult, the true horror of this cannibalistic witch becomes obvious. Beyond her taste for kids, Baba Yaga’s tests have layers of psychological torment.

6. Other Mother — Coraline

Other Mother is one of the most chilling villains in a kids’ book. Part of her terror is that she looks and sounds like Coraline’s mother, which creates a false sense of safety. She wants to take out Coraline’s eyeballs and sew buttons in their place. The idea makes us queasy. When she transforms into a freaky spider creature, she only becomes more frightening.

7. Slappy the Dummy — Goosebumps

Clowns and dummies don’t scare children as much as they scare adults. The Living Dummy story in Goosebumps features a creepy dummy named Slappy. Everything about him, from his picture on the book’s cover to his murderous habits, sends a chill up and down our spines. At one point, he even tries to decapitate two young kids.

8. The Grand High Witch — The Witches

What can we say? Roald Dahl really knows how to create messed-up villains. The Grand High Witch in The Witches is described as grotesque with “worm-eaten” features. Roald Dahl explains her appearance, giving us a clear and disturbing image. Aside from her repulsive appearance, her sinister hunt for children is alarmingly calculated.

9. Nagini — Harry Potter

Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grindelwald — Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Voldemort is scary, but something about Nagini, his loyal serpent, leaves us fearful. The snake’s dedication to Voldemort makes her equally as evil and deadly. Her speed and striking force wake up our fight-or-flight instinct, and her human intelligence makes her cleverly creepy. JK Rowling also describes her as an enormous creature with a python’s strength, paired with a nasty venom.

10. The Witch — Hansel and Gretel

As the Brothers Grimm told it originally, The Witch has no other name, although some retellings call her the Gingerbread Hag. People often compare her to Baba Yaga, who loves tormenting and eventually gobbling up small children. She’s scary when you’re a child, but the imagery of her seasoning, marinading, and shoving the kids into a fiery oven is wholly unnerving.