I am not a big fan of the Adonis myth, but I am a big fan of Adonis, weirdly enough. I like his evolution from Dumuzid to Tammuz to Adonis and how he is always linked to the fertility of the land. Ishtar and Dumuzid are quickly becoming an otp of mine.
I have mixed feelings about Aphrodite and Adonis as a pair. They love each other a lot, on Ovid's myth she is said that to prefer him above heaven. I find it hard to just ignore his birth and upbringing, but at the same time, his connection to Aphrodite is so timeless that I cant ignore that either.
Ranking every manhwa villainess and antagonist I could find: Redo edition
Abou a year ago, I made a very popular ranking of all the villainesses in manhwa that I could find. You can read the original right here:
Ranking every manhwa villainess and white lotus I could find.
In the time since that original ranking was made, I have read many more of my favorite nice of trashy and/or entertaining soap dramas, many of my opinions over which villainess was the best or the worst have changed since then.
So, I will be making a new list based on my new opinions, but there will be some rule changes as well.
1: The character must be an actual antagonist, not a protagonist given the villain title, so characters like Roxana or Rita/Verta won't be included because evil protagonists are so popular in the manhwa community, they deserve their own list.
2: Because there are actually over 100 villainesses in the manhwa community in reality, I will only be including 50 of the ones I could remember at the top of my head along with some honorable mentions, so if a villainess you were looking for isn't here, that is why.
3: Because I have found more villainesses to use, the picture limit will be exceeded so this will be a multiple part series.
4: I am ranking based on my own opinions.
Now, let's begin.
Honorable mentions: Ahn Yena and Gloria Kellen
I found the former character on a Pinterest folder labeled modern villainess. She is from a manhwa called undercover chaebol high but that's about all I know about her because I could not find an English translation of this one for the life of me! For that, Ahn Yena can only reach an honorable mention.
As for Gloria, she is a side antagonist in villains are destined to die. She was just memorable enough to be mentioned multiple times and was even shipped with Derrick, somehow both a match made in heaven and hell at the same time, but whereas other side villains on this list show up throughout the course of the plot, she doesn't do anything after a few chapters of the hunting arc, this was the only rank I could give.
Now to get to the actual list.
The worst of the worst
Starting off with the worst of the worst written ladies. Villainesses who either add very little to the story or are too pitiful of a character to even find their shallowness or failures entertaining
#50
At the very bottom of the list, Sumin can thankfully say it is no longer her position, as it has been given to none other than Sheria Mirchen from I thought my time was up!
Sheria matches many of the traits most OI villainesses are given: Dim witted, jealous, passive aggressive in plain sight, and eager to steal the female leads man. The reason however she is placed at the very bottom is of her lack of purpose in this plot, Sherry shows up as an important character FOUR times, the first two to be a rude snob towards Lariette, the third time to try and fail to seduce the male lead, Asrahan, and the final time to ultimately get her ass kicked after spreading false rumors, thus losing her life as a noble girl.
And that's it, that's all she does. She isn't close to a main villainess as she was likely only included as a petty response by the author towards the readers who pointed out that Lariette was a trashy person who sexually harassed Asrahan.
Villains like Sumin were at least funny to watch even if their entire character was just nasty personality traits, at least Sumin had a reason to exist and played a fundamental role in the narrative. Sherry on the other is a living "Kick me" dummy who was added in last minute to protect Lariette's ego. You could easily rewrite this story, take Sherry out of it, and I promise you that almost nothing will be changed.
#49
Claire/Sena- I am the villain
Similarly to Sherry, Claire is also a character you kind of just forget exists. What makes her slightly better is that she is intended to play a vital role later on when season 2 gets released, at least I'm hoping she will because for the past 80 chapters of this comic, she hasn't been seen much and when she was included, most of the time she was just monologuing. Claire isn't what I would yet call a terrible villainess since she's actually here to serve the plot and therefore, has a reason to be here but until she has anything to deliver to the table, a spot on #49 is where she shall remain. I wish I could say more but there really isn't much to go off of.
#48
Tatiana- I stole the female leads first love
Tatiana's whole thing as far as I know is that she's an attention whore with main character syndrome who steals the fiancés of the FL, Karina. As characters go, she is as shallow as they come. Besides the bracelet she wears that forces most people to fall head over heels with her, Tati has about the same level of unique character writing that the rest of this assembly line manhwa has. She's important to what's going on but she isn't really special as a subversion, and she gets outsmarted by Karina and the strongest plot armor there is to offer. (Like those stupid magic earrings that can conveniently record what people are saying) The only reason she ranks above Claire and Sheria is because she at least serves the plot as the main villain.
#47
Isabella de Mare post regression- I am the queen in this life
I'm considering Isabella before the regression and Isabella after the regression to be two separate characters because they basically are. One was a clever and unempathetic sociopath who played the game rigged against her to become the queen and the other spends the first half as a bratty teenage girl and the second half written as a prostitute and punching bag. I get that Isabella is a teenager, so it makes sense that'd she be less successful than her adult counterpart, but I oftentimes feel more pity for her than satisfaction seeing her suffer. I don't even like seeing her on screen anymore because when she isn't being mutilated or being put up on display as societies biggest slut, the author writes her sexually assaulting Caesar while he's drunk or in the manhwa, she is drawn groping her sister, because the author hates Isabella so much that not only do they want to torture her, they also are willing to include SA for soulless shock value to justify said torture.
I'm sorry, but I will never forgive the writing team for initially taking a woman who was against sexual assault, only to make her a repeat offender, not because they wanted to tell a story, but because they wanted justification for reasons why Isabella should go through the worst character torture they would think of.
#46
Catherine Ernst- She wasn't my daughter
Now, Catherine is my favorite character in this particular manhwa and I, like many of my mutuals, argue that she did not deserve the role as the big bad which is precisely why she is placed so low. The level of uncomfortable character torture the author put her through is only slightly less terrible than what Isabella experienced. Not only was her youth drained thanks to making a contract deal with a demon, thus causing her to rapidly age into an old lady, but her punishment alongside her parents is to be imprisoned in a location that fills with water to her ankles, but every time she bends down to drink it, the water is drained, combine this with forcing her to starve while smelling delicious food in the next room, Catherine is basically forced to go insane as she suffers from dehydration and starvation but is unable to die of either.
And guess what? She was punished like this for being a FIFTEEN-year-old manipulated by her shitty bio mom and dad. This is after her dad openly replaces her with her half-sister after he finds her to be "too lowly" and improper for his liking, traits that he blames her for because her mom is only a physician with minimal standing. This is also after Catherine's crush leaves her for her much kinder, sweeter, smarter, and way better sister, Aisel, it is after Diana more or less gave up on her just like Alicia told her she would by bringing Aisel in to live as a noble while doing the bare minimum at best and nothing at all for at worst for Catherine.
Of course, the author justifies this torture by writing Catherine to be the most evil and despicable little girl who makes deals with demons and viscously beating children but then what does that say about Diana as a mother? Alicia wasn't doing jack shit until way later so if Catherine was supposedly always a brat, then she clearly got it from somewhere... Just saying.
#45
Tite Lovure- The empresses two wolves
AKA: Off brand Rashta. That's not an exaggeration; she literally is just like Rashta but rushed and written even worse, so the lack of originality is one reason why she's down here. Second reason: Like Rashta and many others on this list, Tite only exists for torture porn, the most egregious example being her death when she gave birth to an amalgamation of creatures fused into one child with the idea that the child in question is the child of multiple men, basically: Tite was given a violent childbirth death that made her the butt of a slut shame joke.
And this was all because... She dared to covet Sephia's position as empress. Because while nobles like Sephia will build workhouses for the poor to live in and preach about donating to charity, anyone who dares to call out the amazing empress deserves a humiliating death. Making Tite comically evil won't change the fact that workhouses are practically slave camps
EDIT: Okay so I actually got Titè's ending wrong, she didn't actually die but I didn't have all of the chapters unlocked at the time and I assumed that the moment she passed out was when she died, we all know what we say about assuming, lol.
#44
Charlote Angelo- The villainess maker
The idea of Charlotte as a character is interesting. She's meant to be a rare case where a villainess gets redeemed instead dying or facing severe consequences to her actions. The problem is that the redemption for Charlotte was rushed, like REALLY rushed. One minute she was antagonistic toward Ayla, next minute they're working together as tailors? I like a redeemed villain as much as the next guy but not like this. Other than that, Charlottes reasons for being this low are the same as the original list reason, there's just nothing else that revolutionary about her, but I can appreciate the Cinderella vibes. At least she isn't the second worst villainess anymore, good job Charlotte.
#43
Alicia- She wasn't my daughter
Catherine's biological mom and the one who should have been the big bad alongside Calypso instead of their daughter. As a villain, there isn't anything too special about her other than she's supposed to be a physician. I'd prefer to see her as the actual villain since she's the one who emotionally manipulated Catherine (even if it was done lazily) Unfortunately, Alicia is somehow easier to sympathize with than a teenager after both her baby daddy and daughter coldly abandon her once she is no longer useful. Had Alicia been treated as the awful villainess she should have been and not as someone easier to sympathize with, she would have been higher than the best out of these selected villains. She tried to be an evil mother character, and I could appreciate a villainess of a physician profession, you don't see too many villains in the antagonist position in manhwa as much as just noble ladies with nothing else.
*
*
*
Mediocre, could have been better.
These villainesses fulfilled their roles as antagonists and they aren't being excessively brutalized compared to male villains, but they either aren't prevalent enough or they aren't allowed the potential to keep me on the edge of my seat.
#42
Benela Verdi- The princesses' jewels
The picture from my original list is funny so I reused it.
The princesses' jewels is a story all about stereotypes, ugly people are evil and beautiful people are good, so Benela was given a red color pallete at all times while appearing stereotypically seductive with evil stepmother vibes. The irony though is how she is shamed for seducing Arianna's father and written as a promiscuous vulture while Arianna gets to have a harem consisting of the world's most handsome men, with no eyes being batted. We never got to see the ending of the manhwa since the artist being exposed as a predator cut the series short, lucky for us, that means we can make our own ending and presume that Benela defeated Arianna once and for all and all the men who were taken away from their homelands could return home to reassume their responsibilities. But as the princesses' jewels will never be completed, we will also never know what else Benela would have done, with such little information, she is stuck here.
I don't care what this woman could have done, the fact that she wants Arianna gone is enough for me support her rights and her wrongs.
#41
Fleur Williams- Darling, why can't we get a divorce?
First off, I want to take the proper time to acknowledge that I got it wrong that Fleur was a groomer. (At least in the manhwa) What happened was that I read the novel description too fast and confused the Crown Prince going missing 16 years BEFORE meeting Fleur with him meeting her right after he was declared missing and returning when he was an adult. It didn't help that the novel referred to him as a boy instead of a man.
As for how she is an actual character, Fleur is unique in the way that she actually has a reasonable backstory that while not justifying her cheating on her husband to see the crown prince, it does explain that the relationship between her and the old count she married was purely transactional, he wanted to marry her because she was young and good looking and she married him to escape poverty after her parents lost everything, an interesting decision to make for a character designed to be hated. Sadly, Fleur isn't special in any other way. You know she's evil right when you meet her, she cries for pity points, and she pretends to be a doormat. A generic antagonist in a generic story.
#41
Giaret- The dragon king's bride
To be fair, the dragon king's bride is very obviously some form of race fetish softcore porn put on webtoon for the sake of easy fame, so expecting a well written depiction of a villainess or even just an Arab inspired woman in general from the same comic that writes middle eastern inspired characters as barbarians who can't control their need for sex with pure and pale European eighteen year olds was asking for too much.
Giaret is ranked higher than Fleur and Benela because I can see her a little more as a threat over the latter two. While her behavior is very immature for what she's supposed to be. A Queen who wants to stay in her position in spite of her husband's death is wee bit more original than a mistress and in any other manhwa, she would have been the Fl of an isekai. Unfortunately, she is yet another dime a dozen antagonist but maybe one day we will find a manhwa that doesn't sexualize or demonize cultures outside of Asia and Europe.
#40
Elena Lopez- To whom it no longer concerns.
Elena is very extra evil looking if that makes sense. She does fall under the category of white lotuses, but she doesn't have the innocent appearance as her older sister. You look at the way she is designed and the clothes she is given and just know right away that she's supposed to be inspired by courtesans. Her big theme is that she's a singer, primarily a soprano, who wants easy fame and fortune while stealing her sisters evil looking ex-fiancé. The same company who made Marry my husband also produced this comic so it wouldn't surprise me if they just took the template for Sumin and said "Yep, that'll do it"
Elena may be unoriginal in her character but she's a little more entertaining for her insanity and she's also not a racist caricature. Though that's not saying a lot since to whom it no longer concerns has some very questionable depictions of the middle east.
#39
Iris von Conrad- Villainesses have more fun
Iris went from being a punching bag I couldn't see as a proper villain to a chaotic and insane antagonist in the recent months I have thought about her character. The best way to describe her relationship dynamic with Reilynn was described by a commenter on a forum, that they are both like Batman and The Joker. Iris hates Reilynn but that hatred is what makes Iris feel alive, it gives her a reason to wake up in the morning at all, her goal was never to start successful business ventures centered around perfume and fashion or to pursue true love with the crown prince. It was always about attacking Reilynn, I have to admit, I really like that idea for her, it's still as simple as a villainess hating on the perfect FL for having everything that she doesn't but there's some more complexity added to it surrounding WHY she feels the need to be so nasty. So, the ending of the novel where Iris has a mental breakdown after Reilynn decides she isn't worth the trouble anymore and leaves her alone in a prison cell feels so much more impactful.
You might be wondering why Iris is even in mediocre if I have so many good things to say about her, and that is due to her lack of potential in what I just described. The Joker is always defeated in the end by Batman too, but you still feel that he is a threatening guy during the actual fight, so the reward of his defeat actually feels REWARDING. Iris isn't really allowed to do much of anything within the first five minutes before Reilynn thwarts her plans and humiliates her on top of it. The times you think Iris will finally get to show off her skills, such as arranging the beginning of a war to break out between two countries, feel like a waste of time when they don't even get far enough to see the damage caused that would normally explain to the audience in greater detail why this character deserves to be punished. At the very least, we should be seeing arcs surrounding defeating Iris last longer than a few panels.
#38
Arielle/Yuriel- I fell into a reverse haram game
Another example of a pure evil villainess who is slightly better than Iris with her menacing skills. The first thing I will say is that this girl is on the levels of Matthias, that tells what kind of character she is. If you don't know what that means than I'll be more direct: Her goals are sex, that's it, there is some power she also wants from the men she plans to court but for the most part, she's an unhinged and horny pest who only wants "A man who can sway his hips well" as she puts it.
As for her crimes, they are what you'd expect out a character like her. When she isn't torturing fish, she also dabbles in catcalling, unwanted flirting, and would probably be doing worse if she had the power of Yeldria, that's not even mentioning her becoming an attempted rapist after she tried assaulting one of the male leads. She doesn't care for the word "no" nor can she handle rejection, and she isn't afraid to use underhanded measures to force others to please her. There isn't anything wrong with wanting a rapist as the main villain, as common as it has become and as much as the topic is often misused as shock value and even glamourization, it is still unfortunately a common source of trauma. The problem with Arielle being written this way is that it is only there to justify the original Yeldria... who also didn't care for consent and would invade other countries to take men against their will as her concubines. So, what the hell was the point of Arielle being a creep if og Yeldria is glorified for being a badass tyrant who took what she wanted like it was no one's business? Why are her victims falling in love easily with current MC in her body? You see, that is why Arielle fails as villain and can only reach the mediocre level, on one hand she could be a scary person but on the other hand, her actions are only "scary" because she's the bad guy, not because sexual assault as it is terrible.
#37
Lariessa de Balloa- I am the queen in this life
Right from the get-go, Lariessa is written to be a delusional and erratic girl who will stop at nothing to make Alfonso hers, I guess on one hand I can be happy that we weren't conned out of a well written antagonist since we already knew she was like that from the moment we meet her but it doesn't make any less disappointing to see ANOTHER woman in this comic demonized for doing the exact same thing Ariadne is doing (Albeit done more poorly) and is later promptly punished by losing what little beauty she had since she was described as ugly in the novel and is consequently killed by a heart attack after seeing what she had become.
Personally, I only rank her this high because the authors never try to hide what she is really supposed to be, and she's a side antagonist so I'm not expecting her to be the true big bad when this comic already has its clear main villains in Isabell and King Leo. She did technically succeed at her role; I just wish that she wasn't the butt of many delulu jokes both within the series and fanbase. She does admittedly have a backstory that explains her need to be adored by Alfonso, but it really doesn't matter in comparison to her... *gasp* Daring to have a crush on the handsome and perfect crown prince Alfonso!? How dare she! Doesn't she know that Ariadne is the only woman for him!? She's earned it after all the self-inflicted pain she suffered!
Overall, I'm just not a fan of mentally ill coded characters being portrayed as lunatics who need to be separated from society, she also low-key reminds me of Joanna of Castile too.
#36
Mia Bionce- Perks of being a villainess
Now I love this comic, it fell off a little in the later chapters, but I still am fond of the early seasons but Mia... Well, she tried. She's not terrible and had some potential as a manipulated villainess but she's rather generic. The idea of her starting off as a gullible girl who was only listening to those who had more power than her and claimed they knew best and later ending up as a pure evil false saintess is not bad, we get to see her origin story in action after all, but this manhwa has been more centered around business ventures as of lately and according to novel readers, Mia sort of just disappears in relevancy for a bit before returning for the final arc as the final boss. Sad, really, she sounded like she had so much potential, it wouldn't surprise me if the comic was always supposed to be about Deborah and her journey of modernizing the world she transmigrated too and the additions of white lotuses and all the soap opera drama were there so the series wouldn't be buried by copy and pastes of the same book.
Still, a participation trophy is better than being sabotaged at every corner.
#35
Sumin Jeong- Marry my husband
Winning our most improved award, we have Sumin, one of the classic examples of modern-day villainesses. I was harsh on her in the past and I still hold the same opinion of her character that I did back then, that she was never once depicted as smart, even in the past, and so it wasn't as disappointing to see her act like a moron post regression. However, marry my husband is designed to be junk food media, it's been made clear it's for people who want something quick and satisfying to read for the time being. She's a fun character who cracks me up with her devious crime streak going from being a fake friend dedicated to stealing everything Jiwon has, to a full-blown murderer who can't be trusted alone with anyone vulnerable or in a car while on the drivers side.
My only problem with Sumin is the backstory she was given to explain her hatred for this specific woman. It makes no sense, basically Jiwon's mom had an affair with Sumin's dad, causing him to abandon his daughter with his ex-wife in favor of his mistress, this takes a toll on Sumin's mom's mental health, and she starts regularly verbally and emotionally abusing her daughter by describing her as a burden who only knows how to take as well as telling her that it's her fault that her dad left her. When Sumin meets the daughter of the woman who slept with her dad, Jiwon, she becomes friends with her only because she believes she's suffering just as much but after seeing that is not the case, Sumin becomes spiteful and seeks out to destroy Jiwon's life because... If it's Sumin's fault that her dad left, then it is technically Jiwon's fault that her mom was a homewrecker to begin with?
See? It's extremely contrived and even flat out stupid. Which prevents Sumin from going any higher since now she's supposed to be a sympathetic villain and not a comical one you shouldn't take seriously.
#34
Aishia Selir- Divorcing my tyrant husband
I had to use the novel art for her; it's just too well drawn not to use an example.
Aisha is another redeemed villainess who got her redemption right at the end, but it was built up a little more than Charlotte's so I can cut her some slack. It's not a surprise for me to say that I prefer her over Robelia, but I have even more reasons now to respect her more and it's because unlike Robelia who buys slaves and continues to love her shitty tyrant husband instead of divorcing him like the title would imply, Aisha is playing the role of the conniving white lotus mistress because her life is on the line. The Og Aisha was killed not long after transmigrating to the world the story takes place in after she disagrees with the high priest's plan to infiltrate the palace and conquer the country, with the Aisha we know and love actually being some random girl who looked like the original, so this actually does a good job at explaining why she isn't good at being evil.
Still, while the reason for her dim behavior is explained, that doesn't justify that she was still a weak antagonist for so long before the high priest arrived, but on the bright side, she does get a happy ending, which is more than many women on this list can say they got.
#33
Fonta Magnus- The tyrants only perfumer
For another silly fantasy fulfillment that is a well-made junk food story, Fonta fits the tone perfectly. Someone on reddit described her and the prince she teamed up with as a team rocket parody, and I absolutely see it lol. Her thing is that she is a rival perfumer of the main protagonist, Ariel, and while she continuously failed after getting caught stealing secret formulas or losing a contest after making a perfume her partner has an allergic reaction to, she kept going until it culminated in her final defeat and decision to turn her life around instead of brewing in her own self-pity. I got to admit, for an antagonist of this specific genre, I find it amazing that she is one of the rare examples of a villain who knows what they're doing now isn't getting them anywhere and gives up while their head is still on their shoulders.
That being said, while Fonta has a lot going for her, she isn't a threat for very long and as such, she doesn't have enough to get her out of #33
#32
Sarah Snowither- To my husband's mistress
She's mostly referred to as Rianca throughout the story, but her real name is Sarah, she just stole her new name from her half-sister.
To my husband's mistress is a mess in general but the saving grace was the "mistress" in question who steals the main character, Leticia's, husband and life before proceeding to stab her and leave her to die in a river. Her evilness even goes as far back as childhood, revealing that as a little girl, she would steal what belonged to her half-sister, commit arson, and summon demons to help her steal whatever she wants after she was ordered to hand back the real Rianca's bracelet. You know, normal things for children to do on a Saturday.
This particular comic is just hilarious in its attempts to make you feel sympathy for the female lead. Not only is everyone comically evil (which is a tradition for these manhwa) but after the in-laws believed that Leticia was dead, they went out of their way to fill her coffin with trash. With characters that over the top, you know you're going to get some villains that are at least entertaining in the way that their insanity can't help but keep you interested in their antics. That's why Sarah is placed here, she's bratty, she's narcissistic, she hypnotizes the husband into betraying his wife, so he technically doesn't have to face blame, and most of all, she has a stunning wardrobe. (Save for like, one dress but I won't get too nitpicky for once)
But alas, there are better antagonists to choose from.
*
*
*
Almost perfect but not quite there yet.
Villainesses who did a good job for the most part as antagonists, but something happened that prevented them from reaching their true potential
#31
Mielle Roscent- The villainess reverses the hourglass.
Starting off this section, we have Mielle. A character that really intrigued me because she was above the female lead in status instead of the other way around. (The Aria's father plot twist isn't canon because I said so) This actually provided a classic underdog point of view for Aria and at the time, it seemed like Mielle would be a challenging foe to defeat, which... No, no she's actually very dumb, so dumb that the narrative doesn't even try to lie to the readers and convince you she is smart and Aria is just smarter. In canon, Mielle is stupid and the only reason she even defeated Aria in the first timeline was because Aria was simply dumber than her stepsister.
Given that she is twelve-seventeen throughout the story and is rightfully considered inept, I will accept that Mielle was never planned to be intimidating but even then, she was treated like the main bad guy everyone had to look out for which really ruins it because Mielle's ally, Isis, not only did a better job at being intimidating but she was the only organizing most of the schemes to put them at the top while Mielle was busy being a petty rich kid.
On a brighter note, I do like how her entire character is a critique on rofan protagonists who are praised for being generous and kind for doing the bare minimum while they simultaneously look down on the "filthy commoners who dare to think they can steal what is rightfully theirs" The whole idea that Aria only lost before because she was dumber than an already stupid girl gives me a laugh when I think about protagonists getting called a genius when they really just have common sense.
#30
Amaryllis Firenze- Ashtarte
Antagonists who either once a human before turning into a monster or were never a human but appear to be one have always been some of my favorite types of antagonists in horror media. So when I was requested to read Ashtarte and I learned that the antagonist, Amaryllis, was the latter example, I was excited. Key word: WAS
Amaryllis is the result of a miscarried baby being transformed into a homunculus, she isn't human, but she passes for one, not even she knew what she was, the crisis she had was actually sad, I felt terrible for her. Now you'd think that a character who just found out they were an abomination made by man as a tool would be important to what happens next... and you'd be wrong! That's right! The lesson was never that the king and the brothers should have cherished both Ashtarte and Amaryllis, it was only that they chose the wrong daughter to favor. Rylie is just an evil spoiled brat until the very end and then she just dies.
Like... I feel like even the author missed the entire point of their own story when they gave the shitty family a half-assed redemption for favoring one daughter and casting the other aside but the girl who had the most reasons to believe she would be dropped by the same people who claimed to love her died and was never even granted the option for any form of character development. It sucks too; she did so well up until the end.
#29
Krista Zemensia- Remarried empress
Talk about character assassination of the highest order. Krista technically isn't what I would call villainess even, up until that cheap move the author pulled, she was just an antagonist whose goals were just like Navier's, to keep her power as a queen by any means necessary, because let's be real: Heinrey was NOT a steady hand! She was well liked by her people and many still referred to her as the queen, which threatened Navier's dreams. While Navier did have every right to be uncomfortable as she was supposed to be the next queen when Krista was still being referred to as "your majesty" What ticked me off was how she was saddened that Krista didn't show her compassion while her ladies in waiting were already telling her to ship Krista off to isolation as punishment for being mean... When Navier didn't even offer that kind of compassion to Rashta, a slave, because she believed she was stealing everything away from her. Sound familiar?
It got to the point where Krista had to be quickly written as a jealous love rival who always wanted to get in Heinrey's pants and even going as far as to write her as someone who would court him while he was drugged! They had to give her the "She's actually a creepy rapist!" treatment even though Kaufman was the one who drugged Heinrey and what do you know? He got off Scott-free.
Krista deserved so much better than what she got. She had potential as an antagonist who could force Navier to have a little introspection, but no, we can't have Navier ever considering that she might be wrong.
#28
Diana- For my derelict favorite
Again, more wasted potential. She could have been a lovely lady who could have been a great depiction of refusing to admit fault and doubling down until you're in hell, hell she has the whole religious hypocrisy theme here, but no, that would mean asking the FL to take some introspection herself and realize that she is dehumanizing another woman while finding any reason under the sun to justify her slab of meat she calls a husband. I and many others have talked about Diana before and what makes her a failed villain, because it's kind of bullshit how the consequences of selfishness and poor decision making as a high ranked official only matter when Diana is wasting money or denying the poor her healing abilities but Cael can murder an entire ducal family described as being incredibly powerful and nothing happens... No wars, no power vacuums, no outrage, nope! Only Diana telling him off and leaving him, which is considered to be worse than any of the other consequences above because Cael is for some reason owed a relationship for murdering his crush's abusers. (Watch Heathers and you'll know why that trope isn't as cute as it sounds)
The reason Diana fails as a villain isn't because she isn't an accurate depiction of religious hypocrisy, it's because the reason she's viewed as an evil traitor falls apart pretty quickly once the logic of for my derelict favorite is called out as what it is: Nonsensical. Helios and Cael are allowed all these accommodations, but Diana can't even receive an actual apology from Hestia.
#27
Yoon Ari- Tears on a withered flower
Is she even an antagonist? I guess because everyone hates her and the current path she's going down is one of a willfully ignorant rich girl who wants to baby trap Micheol herself now.
For the first time in a long time, we were given a mistress character that wasn't one-note. Gae Nim surprised me by allowing Ari to be a complex character currently going down a dark path. She believes the answer that will solve her relationship troubles with Micheol will be a baby, which as I'm sure you know, actually makes these kinds of situations worse nine times out of ten, bringing in new life won't do anything but hurt it if everyone is still unhappy. We currently don't know how she's going to do this but judging by the dialog that tells us she's upset that Micheol is wearing protection, there might be a classic "Poke holes in the condom" trope.
However this is all just speculation, Gae Nim likes to end their chapters on cliffhangers, so we don't actually know for sure what Ari is going to do, we just know she's starting to act hostile to anyone who questions her beloved boyfriends' intentions with her and planning on keeping him with her if there's a baby in the mix.
One aspect I find unique about Ari is that she isn't a character opposing the Fl, Hae Soo. Aside from mentioning her a few times, Ari doesn't seem to think about her as an enemy, just as her boyfriend's clingy ex. Ari is instead a character opposing Micheol since he wants to get his ex-wife back while Ari is willing to do anything to make him stay with her, as far as we know, this is her first relationship ever and she isn't used to hearing the word "no"
The only part that annoys me is how Gae Nim apparently didn't realize that chapter 59 was just Micheol SA'ing Ari, he forced himself in her home, she expressed that she was still angry at him and wasn't in the mood to see his face, and he forced a kiss on her while taking off her clothes without so much as a ask before he forced her on the bed. Ari seems to just forget this ever-happened afterwords, and it really ticked me off, she even tried telling him not to penetrate her because it wasn't a safe day so that just makes her reasoning for wanting a baby with Micheol especially confusing since she's been wanting to have his child before ever happened.
#26
Seon Gyeong- Trapped in a soap opera
The artist who draws for Trapped in a soap opera used to draw horror, so I guess that explains why she's terrifying with her gaping toothless mouth and gaping black holes for eyes. It's the classic creepy long haired girl trope but it's not often that trope is used in romance or dramas, even when she isn't drawn to look scary in the moment, there is still an uncanny valley feeling whenever you look at her. She might not be the most successful in her role as a villain, but she hardly needs to when the horror comes from her expressions alone as a woman deeply scarred by the burden of a strange and incurable disease returning after she forced it on another person.
Here's where Seon Gyeong starts to feel iffier as a character. the "disease" she suffers from is what is supposed to be her fate, spirits are essentially torturing Seon Gyeong emotionally and physically, causing her nerve pain, mood swings and aggression to name a few, supposedly the spirits are doing this to force her to accept her fate and become a shaman, which she actively refuses as she doesn't want to leave her old princess styled life behind. Keep in mind though, this is a very shady shaman who is claiming this since mental health is often something for parents to be ashamed of in Korea. Seon Gyeong's "illness" would most likely be some kind of personality disorder if trapped in a soap opera was grounded in real life.
It's one thing to accidentally give a character stereotypes of symptoms from a personality disorder as Seon Gyeong's problems are said to be rooted in the supernatural, but it's another thing entirely when one of the ML's (Can't remember his name but he was blonde) is canonically bipolar and that's his justification for acting like an obsessive yandere who was even said to have SA'd Sera in a different timeline.
I am not accusing the author of being an ableist nor am I saying you can't have villains with canon mental disorders, they probably just wanted to explain why blondie acts the way he does but this is a lesson for us to learn, if you're going to write mental illness into a story, then maybe don't excuse the man who acts like a menace to everyone around him while demonizing a woman for doing the same thing.
#25
Eunbi Chae- A child that looks like me
We all love a classic wealthy mean girl as our antagonist. That is exactly what Eunbi is. Snobby, a gossip, passive aggressive, and petty. To think that her dislike for the FL started because she refused to take designer lipstick from her, lmao.
Right now, this manhwa isn't complete and currently on a season hiatus but the chapters that included Eunbi didn't portray her as some kind of dastardly mastermind like Sumin, she's just a self-centered young woman who isn't afraid to throw a few people under the bus if it means she can advance as the pretend girlfriend of the male lead. It's refreshing to see an antagonist who's just a bitch and not some kind of lunatic.
Like all rich girl antagonists, Eunbi is secretly in a troubling homelife where her brother is the one pulling the strings, he's using her to take advantage of the ML's amnesia from a car accident and place her by his side to later become his wife so they can marry into a powerful family, basic drama storyline. Right now, that's about all I currently have since there are only 45 available chapters of a child that looks like me and aside from the brother plotline, Eunbi is a refreshing but one-note example of a bully that follows her victims into the workforce. Her character design is gorgeous though.
#24
Aileen Hascatore- I didn't mean to seduce the male lead
I was pleasantly surprised to see a character go so long before she was dumbed down a few notches.
Princess Aileen was the original protagonist of the novel the MC transmigrated to and already, we were already given a description that she was an awful person by explaining the synopsis of her getting Ryan drunk and pretending that they slept together in order to trick him into proposing to her as an act of honor. There was no SA involved but still, very scummy thing to do. So right from the get-go, Aileen is already portrayed as a bad person.
And with her oaths as weapons to enslave hundreds of people to be at her Beck and call, including Ryan's father, she proved right then and there that she could disturb the reader. She has tortured and killed others who have either betrayed her or became too big of a threat to her personal mission, and she also doesn't resort to murder right away, when she suspects another person to be against her, she will slowly ruin their life in subtle ways until society has completely turned their backs on them, leaving her as the only one to lend a hand. When all else fails, Aileen resorts to the witch captured and living in her dungeon to get her out of a sticky situation, which is a funny jab at how Mary Sue characters can escape any problem they have with any magic bullshittery imaginable.
Her ability to show restraint in her early appearances did wonders for her character and the oath system, while confusing later on, was solid symbolism for the cheap excuses used by many OI to justify a noble woman owning slaves, they didn't just end it with "Aileen bought slaves but no one cares" It HAD to look like a realistic way an author would try to write loyal yes men for their Mary Sue. Sadly, in order for the actual FL, Eleanor, to best the villain, Aileen had to lose some points in the intelligence skill just so the story wouldn't end with Eleanor dying of dehydration in a dungeon.
Also, she's doing all of this for the blandest man on the planet... Girl if you're going to be enslaving other people, could the goal you're reaching at least be a little more worth it than a blondie with a bondage fetish? You're a princess ffs! I know there's a whole reason why the King wants Ryan to marry Aileen but come on... It's kind of ridiculous.
Anyway, I just reached the picture limit, click here for part two of this long list.
Started writing and finished on: October 28th, Tuesday 2025. I might edit it later if I find something new to add.
The name given in the Old Testament to old Semitic mother-goddess, called in Phenicia, Ashtarte; in Babylonia, Ishtar; and in Arabia, Athtar and many other. The origins of Astaroth can be traced back to various cultures, with roots in the ancient deities of war and sexual love. She was known as Inana, then Ishtar then Astarte before demonization process began. As the figure evolved through time and different belief systems, particularly within medieval and early modern Europe, Astaroth was reinterpreted as a male demon. Practitioners of various esoteric traditions view her as a teacher and guide, particularly in matters relating to intellectual growth and the hidden aspects of existence. Rituals involving Astaroth may focus on divination, self-discovery, and the unveiling of truths that resonate personally with the practitioner.
Astaroth is a powerful entity within the realm who can offer considerable assistance in a variety of mortal matters, from decision making and emotional guidance, to influencing relationships and access to secrets. She can enhance creativity, lead one to find purpose in their life and heal from certain situations and events. Some people even argue that she's another variation of Aphrodite and Lucifer, however I can see why, due to her association being planet Venus and the frequency of her energy being similar. She can make you knowledgeable in all arts, medicine, altered states of consciousness, sciences and mysteries to uncover.
She is a direct goddess, so her signs are usually few but very clear. If she seeks you out, you will know without a doubt. She may appear in your space suddenly, either to observe you, communicate with you, or point out the connection that already exists between you.. Learned that on my own quickly and trust me when I say all of them know when are you prepared, they really know. What led me to her in first place, is self realisation I'm not really going anywhere with procrastination and my desire to reach fullest potential I didn't do much about, so I've been thinking about seeking her out and Paimon aside from Lucifer. Her presence is really intense and causes pressure at the back of your head or around your ears. Astaroth is feared greatly because she reveals what people aren't ready to hear. She exposes all the lies and commands you to remember your truth. Half hearted and mindless approaches aren't tolerated, she won't let you stay the same and will corrupt the illusion you believed to be true if that means rebuilding you.
Therefore, her domains are love, sexuality, protection, and justice, and it is in these areas where she mainly works with her practitioners. She also masters the enhancement of sensuality, personal magnetism, and energetic attraction, helping to awaken a presence that impacts both the external and inner. Additionally, she can assist in necromancy, teaching basic knowledge about contact with the spirits of the deceased, and guiding on paths such as psychic and blood vampirism.
Just as she promotes creation and abundance, that includes destruction. Astaroth can manifest herself in various forms, I mostly hear she appears as a beautiful woman, sometimes with wings or horns. She could be depicted as fully feminine with rounded hips for fertility, or as an androgynous figure embodying both male and female attributes.
In the back of my mind is a burnt picture of her with masculine and strong body with androgynous face and wavy black long hair. For some reason all I can think is about calling her, "her" or "they".
General signs of her spirit reaching out:
Repeated, unprompted thoughts: You may experience an insistent pull to research her for no logical reason. For example, you find yourself thinking about Astaroth more and more frequently.
Themes of love and sexuality: A heightened awareness of or focus on love, relationships, and sexuality, both physically and emotionally.
Pursuit of hidden knowledge: An overwhelming urge to acquire secret or mystical knowledge.
Fertility and growth: An increased focus on creation in any form, whether new artistic projects or personal growth.
Intellectual manipulation: An increased aptitude for—or temptation toward—manipulation and philosophy.
Tarot cards:
Justice, The Empress, The high priestess, The Lovers, Ace of Cups, Three of Pentacles.
Symbols:
Lion, dove, horse, dragon, eight pointed star
Astaroth has a maternal, patient, charismatic, and dominant personality, but is also multi facaded. She loves to teach and deeply enjoys spending quality time with her students, as well as guiding them in everything they need to learn. Her energy is both moonlit velvet and infernal fire.
She's not just teaching, she's reminding you. Enroll only if you are prepared to lose your old mind to awaken as something far more dangerous and greater.
