The Lord of the Rings offers its fair share of evildoers, and Peter Jackson's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies just scratch the surface. Across three parts, the novel describes the Third Age rise to power of its titular tyrant, Sauron, the Lord of the Rings. Literature's greatest villain and by far the most well-known in The Lord of the Rings, Sauron was actually following in the footsteps of an evil that may have been greater than him. The wider legendarium contains even more complex characters, raising the question of who the most evil characters in LotR actually are.

Morgoth was Lord of the Rings' original villain, and he gave way to a whole host of evil beings. Created by Middle-earth's God, Eru Ilvatar, along with the others of his species (the Ainur), Morgoth sought the Godly ability to create life and rapidly descended into full-blown rebellion. He...