An overarching antagonist is an essential part of any narrative TV series. Sometimes you get your regular, run-of-the-mill baddies hellbent on world domination, but on occasion, one that’s dark, eerie, or strange comes up.
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This is typically the case with horror series, but some non-horror series can feature villains like this, too. Whether it’s because of the nature or the design of these unfriendly characters, something about them doesn’t sit quite right with viewers.
White Walkers — ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011-2019)
Thousands of years before the events ofGame of Thrones, the continent of Westeros was inhabited by a race of nymph-like creatures known as the Children of the Forest. When humanity crossed the Narrow Sea and invaded Westeros, they began indiscriminately slaughtering the Children. Desperate, the Children created the White Walkers, a race of ice-cold phantoms possessing superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes. The goal was to use the White Walkers to destroy humans, but the Children soon found that they could not control the White Walkers and their need to kill.
The White Walkers are nearly unstoppable: they can raise the dead and cannot be killed except by Dragonglass or Valyrian steel, two incredibly rare materials. They don’t need food or water — their only basic requirement is to kill: and the more they kill, the larger their undead army gets.
The Kikimora — ‘The Witcher’ (2019-)
Appearing in the pilot episode, “The End’s Beginning,” the Kikimora is an enormous insectoid creature that dwells in swamps and other foul-smelling places. Though its animalistic and predatorial nature isn’t super terrifying, its appearance is certainly disturbing.
It appears to be a spider/crab/frog/human hybrid, with limbs and appendages sticking out from multiple different angles, all of which can be used to grab its prey from afar. In only the first episode of the series, it is one of the most powerful foes Geralt (Henry Cavill) fights in the first season ofThe Witcher.
Spectres — ‘His Dark Materials’ (2019-2022)
The Spectres inHis Dark Materialsdon’t look super scary at first glance. They appear as some sort of dust cloud or plume of smoke. But it’s their nature that makes them creepy.
They feed on Dust, a particle responsible for consciousness, and they take it primarily from children. This means that children who are attacked by Spectres are turned into hollowed-out shells of themselves. The body is still active, but nobody is inside. It shouldn’t take much explaining to understand why that’s so creepy. Oh yeah, and they can fly, so don’t think you can escape them so easily.
Weeping Angels — ‘Doctor Who’ (1963-)
The Weeping Angels are one of the most iconicDoctor Whocharacters from the revival series, likely because of their nature. They appear as statues of angels, remaining perfectly still with their hands covering their faces, almost as if they are crying: it’s quickly made clear that things aren’t always what they seem.
The second you blink or look away, they move and are not friendly. It turns out they’re an ancient race of aliens who, unlike manyDoctor Whovillains, don’t really have an exploitable weakness. They possess the perfect defense mechanism in that they turn to stone when no one is looking at them. You can’t just keep looking at them indefinitely because they can shut off lights with their mind allowing them to move through the darkness. Featured first in the episode “Blink,” these unholy abominations have been fueling fans' nightmares for over a decade.
The Skeksis — ‘The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ (2019)
The Skeksis are a vulture-like race of aliens that invade the planet Thra. Initially, they get along quite well with the native gelflings and podlings, but things turn for the worse when the Skeksis develop a desire to rule the planet indefinitely. For this, they need to remain immortal.
They achieve this by sucking the life force out of the native creatures using the mysterious Dark Crystal. They then harness its power to make themselves younger. They are ruthless and have no mercy, apart from just looking creepy. Plus, their voracious manner of eating is enough to make anyone’s stomach turn.
Titans — ‘Attack on Titan’ (2013-)
The Titans aremonsters that serve asthe primary antagonists for most of theAttack on Titananime and manga series. They appear as giant, naked humanoids with slow, lurching walks and creepy smiles permanently etched onto their faces. They feed on human flesh and are nearly impossible to kill. This is because they have the ability to instantly regenerate flesh from any wounds they suffer. The only way to kill them is to strike the nape at the back of the neck, which is easier said than done.
They’re enough of a threat as it is, but it’s the abnormals that are the most dangerous. An abnormal titan is one that behaves differently. The first that appears is about ten times the size of the others and has no flesh. The second is fast and covered in thick armored plating. Though, there are plenty of other abnormal titans with varying degrees of creepiness.
Myrddraal — ‘The Wheel of Time’ (2021-)
The Myrddraal, also known as the Fades, are faceless, phantom-like creatures that act as the Dark One’s lieutenants inThe Wheel of Time. They’re so spooky because everything about them feels so inexplicably wrong. They reside deep in the uncanny valley, creeping out viewers worldwide.
With a pale, translucent complexion, no eyes, long dark hair, and razor-sharp teeth, these creatures prefer to stalk victims before calling down a horde of Trollocs on them. Even the audience can feel their eyeless glares burning into the characters when they’re present. They’re also tough to kill and quick in combat, despite being unable to see. What’s worse is that inRobert Jordan’s original series of novels, it is said that Fades are so thin that if one is facing you and turns to the side, it will appear to vanish into thin air.
The Joker — ‘Gotham’ (2014-2019)
The Joker (Cameron Monaghan) is pretty unsettling in almost everything he appears in. This is largely because he is intelligent but frighteningly unpredictable and violent.
He laughs in the face of death and at the sight of people suffering. He enjoys chaos, and he has nothing to lose. There are a lot of dangerous villains inGotham, but not even the ones with supernatural powers are as dangerous as the Joker is.
The Witches of Dathomir — ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ (2008-2020)
For much of theStar Wars: The Clone Warsseries, the origins of Sith assassin Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman) are kept a mystery. However, in “Nightsisters,” Ventress returns to her home planet Dathomir, where her history is revealed. She comes from an ancient race of witches skilled in an ancient art of magic that is lost to the rest of the galaxy.
The women of Dathomir are trained as witches and assassins, while the men are trained as brutal fighters. The classic prequel villain Darth Maul (Sam Witwer) is also revealed to be from Dathomir. The foggy environment and echoing whispers of the Nightsisters are pretty creepy, and their ritualistic practices even more so. They’re so sinister that even Emperor Palpatine (Ian Abercrombie), Lord of the Sith, won’t go near them.
The Colonists — ‘The X-Files’ (1993-2018)
The Colonists are a race of aliens appearing inThe X-Files. They don’t look like much when you first see them. In fact, they look like nothing more than your stereotypical gray alien: it’s the history behind them that makes them unsettling.
The Colonists are an ancient species, predating humanity itself. They inhabited the Earth long before we did, but they were forced out due to the Ice Age. Since then, they’ve been waiting patiently in the deepest reaches of space for their return to the blue planet. The idea that such creatures could exist somewhere out there, waiting to reclaim Earth as their home, and that we have no way of knowing about is profoundly terrifying.
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