The Villain Squad Tag

This tag was created by Lainey to help promote The Young Elites and The Rose Society by Marie Lu. You can see her video here.

I was not tagged by anybody to do this (because I have no book blogging friends) but I recently read both The Young Elites and The Rose Society and remembered that this tag exists and thought it would be really fun. Who doesn't love a good villain? I will be incorporating mostly book villains; however, there may be one or two from TV. There may be some spoilers ahead - and I will mark the responses that have them - so proceed with caution.

THINK OF YOUR OWN VILLAIN IDENTITY AND POWER!

• I would be The Writer. My power would be that I could manipulate the written word and change it to anything I want it to be. For example, if my squad's enemy was driving to a location, I could change a "no parking - tow zone" sign so that he would park there. And then he would get towed. Bam. Brutal. Okay, obviously there would be way more that could happen with this but my brain isn't thinking big picture today. Besides, being towed is a pain. Take that, enemy!

THE LEADER – PICK A VILLAIN TO LEAD THE SQUAD.

• She had to make the list at some point: Queen Levana. I guess its says something when her prequel, Fairest, is my second favorite book in the Lunar Chronicles series, right?

THE KILLER SMILE – PICK A VILLAIN WHO’S JUST EXTREMELY ATTRACTIVE

• Draco Malfoy. I'm sure not everyone classes him as a "villain," per say, but I think the title fits. There are obviously characters in the Harry Potter series that are way worse, but it's not like Draco is a shining example of good, either. When you strip away all of the Voldemort-supporting stuff, he's still a bully, which can definitely be equated to a villain. Anyways, that argument aside, he's just really attractive (and I'm talking about movie!Draco). In the last few movies, he is always wearing a nice, fitted suit and, for some reason, that always got me. During my re-watch of the films in December, I had to google Tom Felton and see how old he was while filming the Deathly Hallows films just so I wouldn't feel like a creep for finding him so attractive. It's a real problem.

THE LOOSE CANON – PICK A VILLAIN THAT MARCHES TO THE BEAT OF THEIR OWN DRUM 

• Definitely Jaxon Hall from The Bone Series and The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon. Spoilery stuff for The Mime Order ahead! When we first meet Jaxon, we think he is on Paige's team. He is on Paige's team. His betrayal at the end of book 2 in this series was a huge shock to me. While there are worse people in these books, and while there are worse things that Jaxon could have done, he is definitely Paige's enemy now. I still love him (love to hate him? that distinction isn't necessary), and I hope he continues to march to the beat of his own drum as the series continues. He's weird, guys. Let's not lie to ourselves. He's weird and he's a TRAITOR and I'm still mad about that ending, my God.

THE UNHINGED ONE – PICK A VILLAIN THAT ISN’T PLAYING WITH A FULL DECK.

• I'm really disappointed because while I was thinking about this tag this morning I could have sworn that this prompt said "that has a few screws loose" instead of what it does say. I was all set to make a really funny (read: probably not that funny) pun about how my choice quite literally has a few screws loose because it is a dying computer system but, alas, it could not be. Anyways: AIDAN from Illuminae. I don't really wanna go into spoilers for this one so, if you haven't read this book, please read it. Thank you. This has been a PSA.

THE REDEEMER – PICK A VILLAIN THAT’S ON A PATH OF REDEMPTION/WOULD PLAY BOTH SIDES

• While The 100 is a book, I'm picking a character that only appears on the TV show (I think. I've read the first two books in the series and I don't think he is in it): John Murphy. When the series starts out, Murphy is a villain, no doubt about it. Slowly but surely, he starts to come around. In season two, while Finn is murdering an entire Grounder village, Murphy is not! Wow! What kind of role reversal?! I really do just love Murphy and I'm glad he has shown some sort of humanity.

THE EVIL ONE – PICK A VILLAIN THAT’S JUST BAD TO THE BONE

• At first, I considered putting Wolf by Wolf's version of Hitler here, but even I don't want Hitler on my squad. Sorry, Adolf. I considered Voldemort, because, duh. Doesn't everyone pick Voldemort for this thing, though? Besides, I don't want to put Draco through that again. I think my answer is The Darkling. What would this tag be without a Leigh Bardugo character? Is he really "bad to the bone?" Do I really care? You're in my squad, Darkling. Let's go.

THE ONCE-WAS-GOOD – PICK A VILLAIN THAT DIDN’T ORIGINALLY START OUT AS A VILLAIN.

• This is too easy: Adelina Amouteru, the star of the books this tag was created to promote. While I certainly don't think that Adelina was ever a perfect angel, she has shifted into the role of a villain so well. I don't know where the third book in this series will take her, but I hope it isn't towards total redemption; I am captivated by her decisions and her actions and I want to see just how far she will go.