There are villains on movie and television we know straight up aren’t to be supported. Then, there are characters some viewers may sympathize with, even if their choices are not justifiable nor should they ever be emulated in real life. Here are eight female villains that are a bit more morally grey and nuanced than most, causing audiences to lowkey root for them as a character, though they may still abhor their actions.
Daenerys Targaryen – Game of Thrones
Some hardcore fans of the Dragon Queen may claim Daenerys isn’t to blame for the problematic choices of the writers in Season 8. All she wanted was to empower herself and the most vulnerable – to create a new world where no one would ever be enslaved or treated the way she was. After being raped, abused, exploited, and having her best friend killed right in front of her, while her choices at the end of the show aren’t at all justifiable, they can certainly be understood from the perspective of a traumatized young woman who worked so hard for power – only to have the precious things she worked hard for seemingly taken away from her. She appears to descend into madness at the end of the show (although others may interpret her actions as more calculating) and is “betrayed” by the man she loved, Jon Snow. What she did wasn’t in any way okay, and it seems her descent into villainy was foreshadowed all along, as she promised to “burn” everything down and “show no mercy” in her pursuit of getting people to bend the knee. Perhaps people around her should have taken her more seriously, and realized they shouldn’t mess with a woman who could withstand fire and basically resurrect herself – and had a team of dragons behind her. That being said, many viewers of the show are more loyal to Daenerys than Jon Snow ever was.
Gone Girl – Amy Dunne
This villain choice may be highly controversial, but some fans are indeed Amy Dunne apologists. Of course, such a movie should never be mirrored in real life – it’s more of a cathartic fantasy film than it is a how-to guide. It’s more likely that some viewers of the movie resonated deeply with Amy Dunne’s “Cool Girl” speech and understood her predicament of having a narcissistic partner cheat on them after she put so much labor into the relationship. The psychopathic Amy Dunne is not someone we should ever aspire to be, but she certainly knows how to strike back, ten times harder than the way she was struck. For that, audiences are both awestruck and fearful. We don’t agree with any of her choices, but damn, we can’t help but admit that she got him good!
Death Becomes Her – Helen Sharp
Goldie Hawn plays Helen Sharp, a scorned lover who patiently waits seven years for revenge on her enemy, Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) who “stole” her boyfriend. She drinks a potion that gives her “eternal” youth, and while this revenge fantasy does not quite pan out as expected and all of the characters end up suffering, at least she got her lick back, and we got to give her credit for the commitment to justice. She was really in it for the long haul!
Kill Bill – O-Ren Ishii
O-Ren Ishii played by Lucy Liu is one of the “villains” of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad that Uma Thurman’s character Beatrix Kiddo hunts down in her pursuit of justice. Yet her tragic backstory of seeing her parents assassinated, only to become one of the most powerful female assassins of Tokyo, is what makes viewers lowkey root for her and respect her as a formidable opponent to Beatrix.
Imposters – Maddie
Maddie Jonson (played by Inbar Lavi) is a con artist who works for the Doctor (played by Uma Thurman) and runs off with the funds of the men and women she seduces into a relationship. People don’t root for her because of her actions, which are deplorable, but rather her impressive skills of persuasion, and ability to morph in a chameleon-like way as a way to survive in what she perceives to be a cutthroat world. People can sense by the way she falls in love with the FBI agent tracking her and the way she seems to feel remorse when confronted by the people she conned that she doesn’t entirely lack in empathy.
Who Were We Running From? – “Mother”
Melissa Sözen plays “Mother,” in the Netflix series Who Were We Running From, a fugitive on the run protecting her daughter Bambi as they travel all over the world in disguise. The TV series unravels the real reason why Mother and Bambi are on the run, and it becomes clear to viewers that Mother has a terrible temper and a severe sense of overprotectiveness that causes a nasty habit of murdering people who disturb her peace or threaten (or even attack) her daughter. We don’t endorse this, but at the same time, her cutthroat maternal instincts are definitely impressive!
Pearl
Starring Mia Goth, Pearl is a movie about a struggling woman living with her German immigrant parents, one of whom is in ailing health. She is isolated and abused by her domineering mother, Ruth. When Ruth tries to stop Pearl from pursuing her dreams as a movie star, she becomes murderous, and horror ensues. Viewers sympathize with Pearl because of her terrible upbringing, even if they’re terrified by her actions.
Carrie
At school, sixteen-year-old Carrie is bullied by her peers on the daily. When one of her bullies gets in trouble, the bully and her friends convince popular Tommy Ross to invite her out to prom as a prank, and dump a bucket of pig’s blood on her after making her prom queen, to publicly humiliate her. However, Carrie has been developing telekinetic powers – the ability to move things with just her mind – and she gives everyone at prom a deadly night to remember. Anyone who’s ever been bullied may lowkey root for Carrie as she gets her revenge and see this as a cathartic film. Carrie is a victim-turned-villain people tend to low-key root for.
