The highly anticipated release of Wicked has us reflecting on some of our favorite childhood stories and characters and thinking about who the real heroes are of these tales. This story and many other great ones have taken what we thought we knew about the villain and flipped it on its head. We can’t help that we love the villain, and the more morally gray, the better! Villains are often the most complex and interesting characters in a story, so it is no wonder we are all so drawn to them. Getting to know how they became who they are has become a trope we can’t get enough of in modern storytelling. So, here are a few great “bad guy/girl” origin stories to get you started in your own villain era.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

The people in Elphaba’s small town have often ostracized her for her green skin and sharp mind. So, she sets off to a new life in Oz, where she will learn to become a powerful sorceress and change the world. She will start by saving the Animals, who face exile from Oz, a place that she once thought would be a utopia, but turns out to be slowly crumbling from poverty, famine, and lack of support from those in power. Elphaba will have to trust herself and her new abilities to make a difference, especially as she faces the mysterious Wizard, forcing her to become something to be feared.

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Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Coriolanus Snow is the manipulative and terrifying president of Panem in the Hunger Games trilogy. While he is cold-hearted and hates everyone who dares to stand against him, he was not always this way. Forced into poverty after the war, it is up to him to protect his family’s decaying image. The 10th Annual Hunger Games are around the corner and so is his chance of glory. He is to mentor the weakest tribute, a girl from District 12, with no real chance of winning. But as the games begin, it is a fight both inside the arena and out for Snow to protect his tribute and create a champion, forever intertwining their fates.

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Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

Rae’s life is falling to pieces, so when a second chance at life shows itself, she takes it without hesitation. Sent into the fantasy world of her favorite books, she finds herself, not a damsel or princess, but an evil queen who rules beside the dangerous Emperor, in a kingdom on the brink of war. She steps into her new role with grace and power, ready to assemble a team of villains and monsters to stamp out the warring armies. But as more lives are lost, the emperor gets increasingly violent, leaving Rae to push herself to the limits and see how good she is being bad.

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Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

Children have feared Ursula, the soul-stealing half-octopus woman from The Little Mermaid, for many years, but no one ever asks what her story is. She was once just a girl named Evie. Evie never felt more alone in her seaside town than after her best friend Anna died. Left in despair, she turns to magic as an outlet for her grief and shame. One day, she sees a girl on the shore of her small town who looks just like Anna and finds a new friendship. After meeting a handsome prince who is smitten with her, Evie feels like her life is finally coming back together. But then, the girl tells Evie a dark secret that will keep her from her true love on land. Evie agrees to use her magic and help her, realizing, too late, what she has given away.

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She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan

Two children are born, one is destined for greatness, and the other is destined for nothing. Set in China in 1345 during the harsh Mongol rule, Zhu has a hard enough time living as one of seven children in poverty, not to mention always being in her younger brother’s shadow. But after an attack leaves the two siblings orphaned and penniless, their fate seems sealed, death coming for them quickly and first takes her brother. Determined to overcome her destiny of nothingness, she assumes her brother’s identity and joins a monastery where she learns she has powers much greater than she ever knew. After the Mongols destroy Zhu’s sanctuary, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to survive and gain the glory she deserves.

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When Embers Fall by Hailey Bryant

Ember has been waiting for the war to come her way, but once it arrives, she realizes she is unprepared to fight as a Defender. Leading the Fighters, bent on conquering the land they lay waste to, is Alcmene, who does not mind all the bloodshed of this post-apocalyptic war and will do whatever it takes to win. When the two women meet, there is instant tension that treads the line between passion and hatred. They know they will be the end of each other, but when powerful dark magic is revealed, it changes everything for these two and their world.

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Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Based on the characters in the Grimm Brother’s story, Cinderella, readers go on a dark and twisted journey with Isabella, the ugly stepsister who cut off her toes to try to win the prince’s affection. Isabella has always cut parts of herself away to be more like her stepsister, Cinderella, so what is a few toes if it means becoming queen? But it seems no matter what she does, her efforts to be sweet and kind only turn her more resentful and cruel. But now she has a chance to change her fate, right all the wrongs against her, and prove she is much stronger than glass.

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And I Darken by Kiersten White

The Ottoman courts took over the upbringing of Lada and Radu after their father abandoned them, leaving them to be political pawns for the empire. Lada waits and plots until she can return to Wallachia, claim her rightful place as the princess, and get revenge on the Ottomans for their cruelty. Her brother Radu only wants a place to feel safe, which he is lucky enough to find in Mehmed, the son of the sultan. Mehmed is defiant towards his crown and has a mysterious pull on both Radu and Lada, forming a dangerous triangle that could ruin not only their lives but the lives of everyone in the kingdom.

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