"He saw a hideous beast armed with a deadly weapon"
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In recent years, prestige television has offered up a wealth of anti-heroes: Walter White of Breaking Bad, Tony Soprano, and Dexter Morgan, to name a few. These complicated characters gesture toward the complexity of human relationships, but on the rare occasion you're in the mood for some unadulterated evil, fairy tales are where it's at. So get ready for the worst of the bad; these villains will make you remember just how Stygian children's stories can be.

Big Bad Wolf from "Little Red Riding Hood"
Before Silence of the Lambs's Buffalo Bill was killing women to wear their skin, the Big Bad Wolf was dressing in the clothes of old ladies he ate. With a full belly and a granny getup, he asks Red Riding Hood to join him in bed. The moral of the story? Let sleeping dogs lie if they look like Nana.

The Witch from "Hansel and Gretel"
The Witch's favorite meal is human children. Enough said.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf from "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"
The Boy Who Cried Wolf is no baby eater, grandma eater, or any other type of cannibal. What's worse is that he's totally annoying! The Boy wastes the other villagers's time whenever he pretends to need help. Well, let's just say he got what he had coming.

Wicked Stepmother and Stepsisters from "Cinderella"
Chores: they're boring, they need to be repeated constantly, and no one pays you to do them. So when your family leaves you with all the chores, that's just stooping low. No one's nominating these guys for Stepfamily of the Year.

The Mouse King from "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"
Anyone who has lived in a New York apartment knows: you don't want to have a mouse problem. Master of the creepy tale E.T.A. "Uncanny" Hoffman may have let the Nutcracker defeat the Mouse King, but he knows just how scary the concept of a sword-wielding rodent can be.

The Pied Piper from "The Pied Piper of Hamelin"
One part creep, another part Kenny G, the Pied Piper lures the children of the village away with his pipe-playing. Sure, the villagers owe him money, but shouldn't the punishment fit the crime?

The Queen from "Snow White"
There is little in this world so precious as a delicious snack, so when the Queen serves Snow White a poisoned apple, ostensibly ruining a favorite fruit for life, we can only surmise that Queen is very bad news.