Good guys are traditionally the ones who come to the rescue and save the day, but more and more—in both film and fiction novels—we’re seeing the opposite. Villains and criminals who decide to put their evil quests and troubled morals to the side, and fight for a bigger cause.
These villains show us the best and worst sides of ourselves: the fact that we can make mistakes, be selfish, take wrong turns and fail to get everything right the first time. But they also show us that one bad decision—or even a series of bad decisions—doesn’t define us. That it’s never too late to change, make amends and learn from our mistakes.
For a long time in fiction, especially fantasy, heroes and heroines were portrayed as perfect, who could master the sword in a day and save a kingdom while never messing up their hair or getting irritated at how everything just kept going wrong. And so I grew up thinking that the ideal and, perhaps even the normal, was to always make the selfless choice, to always put others first and to never pause and consider why.
It was only as I got older and delved into darker stories—twisted re-imaginings of fairytales, or magical worlds with crooks taking the hero’s helm against all odds—that I started to question what the idea of ‘perfection’ was. And why it was so wrong to put my own dreams and desires first. I started to realise that one mistake didn’t make me a bad person and that, actually, those mistakes made me better: they shaped who I became and helped me to learn and grow.
Besides, who doesn’t love a group of ragtag group of misfits teaming up to save the world, when they’re normally so good at destroying it?
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
“I’d rather die on an adventure than live standing still.”
Lila lives in the real world, where she has to steal to survive. And Kell lives in a world of parallel Londons, where he is one of the last magic-wielders who can travel between them. Lila is a thief. Kell is a smuggler. And when the Londons start falling apart, they have to work together to stop the threads of magic from unravelling.
Now, I have a soft spot for Kell BUT… oh, Lila. The queen of thieves and snarky pirates.
Lila makes her living as a pick pocket in book one of this magical series (what? That’s a good pun!), and then she’s thrust into a world of different Londons and a boy with a strange, ever-changing coat, and a battle for magic and the safety of the world. And she takes it in her stride.
Lila longs for adventure, thirsts for the magic, and though she’s used to looking out for number one, when the world’s on the line, Lila has her knives at the ready.
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The Shades of Magic Series
Legend by Marie Lu
“Brave thoughts, but am I ready to follow through on them?”
This book is a legend (HAH) of dystopia. Set in a world where the US is now the Republic and pretty much always at war, it follows: June (a wealthy military prodigy) and Day (a kid from the slums who just so happens to be the most wanted criminal in the country).
They’re not destined to meet and they’re certainly not destined to change the world together. Until June’s brother is killed and suddenly the fingers all point to Day, who just wants to find a cure for the plague and his family. But now the perfect soldier is out for blood, until she realises that she’s hunting the wrong prey and there are terrible secrets that the Republic she was groomed to serve may be hiding.
June and Day are both deadly, snarky and motivated by their families (either to save or avenge them!). While June is at the top of her class, Day has managed to give the government the slip forever, so when these two finally come together and military tactics are combined with street smarts, the corrupt forces around them better watch out!
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Legend
Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
“Sometimes we’re not who we want to be because we’re supposed to be something else.”
This book takes place in the City of Sin, and that should really tell you everything. In the City of Sin, gangs rule the streets and casinos rule everything else.
Enne Salta might have been raised to do what’s right and watch her reputation, but then her mother goes missing and she leaves behind her finishing school and everything she’s ever known to find out why. And on her way, she finds Levi Glaisyer, who is not exactly the kind of guy who lives on the right side of the law.
What he is, is a totally bad-ass bisexual gang leader and con man, who will steal your heart. And probably your wallet too. And he has the best influence on Enne, who begins as a bit of a pompous proper young lady, and then soon turns into a total bad-arse who does what it takes to survive. Including trawling casinos and dealing with ruthless gangsters.
If I could have anyone watching my back, it’d be Levi, Enne and The Irons.
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Ace of Shades
The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell
“The only rule that counted was to not get caught.”
Gangs! New York! Magic! Someone get me a Manhattan.
Set in 1902, this book follows Esta, who is a magical thief that steals artefacts from a group called the Order. She toes the line between good and bad because, yes, she travels through time to rob people, but the Order is bad news and she’s fighting against them.
So basically she’s the epitome of morally grey.
Esta travels back to 1900s New York to join a gang on a heist (and meets magician Harte Darrigan! – Yes he deserves an exclamation mark) and discovers a plot more sinister than she bargained for. And so, it turns out, she might have to start thinking of a way to save all of her magical kind from being destroyed. But if I was a Mageus, I’d rest easy knowing that Esta and Harte had my back.
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The Last Magician
Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
“I live on the cusp of two worlds, trying desperately to fit into one.”
Look, my debut was about a murderous siren and a pirate prince, so there’s no way I’m not putting a swashbuckling book on here!
Alosa, pirate captain, is sent to retrieve an ancient map and she’s willing to put her life on the line to get it, because the job and the treasure is what counts.
Alosa is the pirate warrior of dreams and I would call her the female Jack Sparrow, except she’s too busy kicking arse to bother with rum. Raised by the Pirate King, she’s not exactly well-versed in showing mercy to her enemies, and she has no problem putting her life on the line to get to the treasure.
Though soon she realises some things are more important: like protecting the people closest to her and putting the good of the sea above the gold. Combine that with some killer banter, and Alosa is the girl you want on your team when the world’s ending.
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Daughter of the Pirate King
Alexandra Christo decided to write books when she was four and her teacher told her she couldn’t be a fairy. When she’s not busy making up stories, she can be found organizing food crawls over London and binge-watching Korean dramas. Alexandra has a BA in Creative Writing and currently lives in England with an abundance of cacti (because they’re the only plants she can keep alive). She is also the author of To Kill a Kingdom.
Les Miserables, of course ;)
And my favorite Disney movie, Tangled! (Not a book, sorry).
Also came here to say Les Mis.
How about the Stormlight saga. Kaladin much?
@2 – HAH I was actually going to re-edit my comment and say this is also a big theme in Sanderson’s works, both in Mistborn and Stormlight. Even Shallan and Dalinar can count as ‘criminals’ in some way (although obviously Dalinar’s ‘criminality’ isn’t really legal since he was acting within his culture’s codes in a sense).
No love for Jean Lefleur, the Quantum Thief?
Or Belisarius from Quantum Magician?
There’s Lindsay Abelard from Schismatrix uber-diplomat turned con artist that fakes it until he makes it. T
Also Anwar from Charles Stross Rule 34 a ‘former’ identity thief in way over his head, but who provides the information that helps save the day.
Sephina L’trel from John Birmingham’s The Cruel Stars, pirate, smuggler, con artist and den mother who becomes embroiled in the fight against the Sturm.
Edit: And let’s not forget Sparky Valentine of The Golden Globe. Granted, he did make most of his own problems…
Almost any book in the ShadowRun series.
In The Lies of Locke Lamora, the title character puts his escape in jeopardy to save the nobles of his city. Definitely worth a mention!
And another vote for pretty much anyone in the original Mistborn series!
STAR WARS, of course.
The Clocktaur War series (Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine), by T. Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon. A forger/ninja accountant, an assassin, and a murderous-while-formerly-possessed paladin are sprung from jail for a suicide mission to a neighboring country. They’re kept in line by carnivorous tattoos that chow down if they deviate from the goal, and paired with a young and rather sheltered scholar. Really, an awesome duology.
The book I’m reading one day at a time this month:
A Night in the Lonesome October, by Roger Zelazny.
We’re hoping Jack the Ripper can save the universe.
(That’s not a spoiler. It’s on the back cover blurb.)
Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales.
Lies of Locke Lamora and Brent Weeks’ Night Angel trilogy came to mind first, but there are so many examples within almost everything I’ve…Glen Cook’s Black Company books where at any point the Taken and the Lady might be villains or heroes, hero moments for characters like Logain in Wheel of Time, the Hound in Game of Thrones, etc.
@@.-@.Pilgrim, someone else who appreciates Lindsay Abelard in Schismatrix – awesome.
For that matter, John Newhouse in Sterling’s first novel, Involution Ocean, is also a criminal, whose search for a supply of drugs leads him on a voyage in something that looks very much like a whaling ship on an ocean of dust.
Actually, most of Bruce Sterling’s heroes wind up on the wrong side of the law.
Ian McDonald’s The Dervish House plays with this, but it’s his Brasyl that really hits it on the head.
How about slippery James Bolivar diGriz, aka Slippery Jim?
Philippa @@@@@ 14,
The original, the one I was a fan of and had forgotten about over the years. I wonder if it’s worth a re-read?
@14,
It’s tough to beat the Stainless Steel Rat
@15,
The original, yes. The sequels, not so much.
Not sff, but Simon Templar. Another would be Hawk, Spenser’s sometimes colleague from Robert Parker.
The Coldfire Trilogy by C. S. Friedman, Gerald Tarrant has unrepentantly done terrible things, but ends up doing good in spite of himself in the end.
9. the-6th-jm
One of my all time favorites! I always read it this time of year. And I say I’ll read one chapter per day, but it never works out that way. And if anyone’s reading this who hasn’t read A Night in the Lonesome October, what are you waiting for;)
*acquires Daughter of the Pirate King*
Quite a few of Jack Vance’s heroes are morally questionable rogues. And Shuos Jedao in Yoon Ha Lee’s Ninefox Gambit is a war criminal and multiple murderer (although how you measure criminality under a government like the Hexarchate might be a moot point)
Also, Roger Zelazny’s protagonist in “Damnation Alley,” Hell Tanner.
How has this thread gone this long with no mention of Vlad Taltos?! (And his friend Kiera the Thief. Obviously, she’s a thief.)
In general the law is what the Powers That Be decide it should be, so lots of things can make you a criminal. Saving thousands of innocent lives can make you a traitor, in at least one case that sadly I’d be spoiling if I even mentioned it.
Trying to overthrow tyrannical kings or emperors is pretty much always a one-way ticket to criminal status, examples too numerous to list.
But maybe you’re looking for people whose career in ordinary non-political crime is already well underway before the start of the book? In that case I’d suggest _City of Brass_, where the main character is a con artist and charlatan, right up until one of her fake rituals actually summons something dangerous. And then something else dangerous shows up with a deadly grudge against the first thing, and doesn’t really care if ordinary people get caught in the crossfire…
Nobody’s spoken up yet for Scott Lynch’s Locke Lamora and his gang of honest thieves and swindlers, the Gentleman Bastards? They may not actually save the day, but as they go along their way pursuing riches they seem to get rid of a lot of much worse characters.
There is a novel called ‘Villains by Necessity”, by Eve Forward (daughter of Robert L. Forward!) which is the epitome of this trope.
A small plucky band of assassins, thieves, undead, and black knights team together to save the world from overwhelming goodness and light
I read a lot of hardboiled crime novels, so I’m used to rooting for bad guys. My favorite is Parker in the books by Richard Stark. I like Parker’s lighter secret sharer, Dortmunder, in books by Stark’s alter-ego, Donald Westlake, too.
In SFF, though? Elric of Melnibone is the very picture of an evil sorcerer prince. He’s in service to an evil god of Chaos, after all, and he brings about the the end of the world.
Riyria Chronicles? Royce is definitely a criminal that you’re rooting for.
Cycle of Arawn- Dante is no saint.
@23, For certain, the Gentleman Bastards were maybe my first thought as well. Though V.E. Schwab’s books also immediately came to mind and they were on the list.
Don’t forget Martha Wells’ Death of the Necromancer. The protagonist is an analog of Moriarty (and actually has a real motive now).
Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo are excellent. Most of the main characters are members of a gang. Their leader Caz has very little in the way of scruples. When a new drug that increases a mage’s power even as it kills them threatens to destabilize several countries and start a war, Caz is hired to pull a dangerous heist that will cut the drug off at its source.
@16/14, technically speaking, Slippery Jim was a lawman. Technically. Okay, sure, he pulled some grifts in pursuit of crime fighting…
Angus Thermopyle in the Gap Cycle novels by Stephen R. Donaldson.
Shadowspawn from the “Thieves World” books. He was a thief who killed an evil god. And Tiana from “Demon in the Mirror.” She was a blood thirsty pirate who killed an evil magician.
Another vote for The Lies of Locke Lamora! The whole Gentleman Bastards series is perfection.
The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings. The title character is a thief, who winds up drafted (or perhaps seduced) by a goddess to save the world from an evil god.
Confessions of a D-List Supervillain
@30 , The Stainless Steel Rat aka Slippery Jim diGriz, is very much a con man and grifter. Although he is recruited to the side of right, there is never an option to become a 9-5 clock puncher and he regularly uses resources in a less than legal manner. The fact that his boss is also a former criminal is not lost on the audience either. Personally I love it when his first heist is foiled and he is herded into the office, to be shown that he is not actually a bad person.
I’m still waiting for a big screen version to be be filmed.
I’m surprised and saddened that no-one has yet mentioned Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. (Twin to the more well-know Lev)
Now that was a different and fun read, with the figure of ‘mad scientist’ Dr Impossible being the most likeable and relate-able character in the book. Even as we watch him take another tilt at taking over the world, even though he knows it’s going to end with him incarcerated again, just like every other time.
JDzed@37: I’m not sure he saves the day, but that is still a really good book!
@36/Hazmoid, I did say “technically”.
Who would you want to see cast as Jim DiGriz? I kinda think George Clooney channeling his Danny Ocean days would be a decent fit.
Les Mis several caught right away, but of the “everyone and their mother has some vague idea” group, I’d say Lord of the Rings. It doesn’t get more fatedly chaotic than Gollum saving the world.
I’ll add the 2 books from the Tales of the Kin series by Doug Hulick. A character from the criminal underworld working hard to save his skin and pretty much saving the city he lives in.
The Skeen books, by Jo Walton. Jack of Shadows, Zelazny.
No male authors. Nice! Girl power.
@16 Swampyankee
God yes. I was thinking Stainless Steel Rat all the way through reading this article.