Michael Myers, an example of a Pure Evil character from the Halloween movie franchise.
Pure Evil characters are under Rank 1 -. These characters are considered the most evil characters in their respective story. They are devoid of any redeeming qualities. They are also the most heinous and the most wicked villain within their story who committed atrocious crimes against others. These villains are often selfish, unconcerned about how their actions can seriously harm and endanger others, willing to hurt whomever to get what they want done, and are not willing to change their evil ways.
These characters fall under these traits:
- Has Moral Agency: This character has clear moral agency and is shown to be knowledgeable about what is right and wrong. These characters are capable of doing good and can make the change to do what is right, but chooses to be evil.
- Surpasses the Heinous Standards: This character is shown to be one of the most heinous characters in their story. They surpass the standards within their story to be considered above the average villain and they surpass the general standards due to the severity of their actions.
- Crosses the Moral Event Horizon: At some point these characters surpass the Moral Event Horizon due to a seriously heinous crime they committed. This means that they are past being simply irredeemable.
- Has No Sympathy: They are not portrayed in a way where the audience is supposed to understand them or feel sad for them. They may have had a bad past, but due to their actions, they undo their own sympathetic past.
- Has No Redeeming Qualities: The character has no good qualities. They are portrayed to be nothing but evil and self-serving. Their motives are not redeeming either as they are only doing what they do for their own selfish reason.
- Has the Screen Time to show their actions: Their worst acts are on screen to show the audience how bad they are.
- Has Individual Capability to stand out: Despite who they are and what power or access to resource they have, this character is capable of counting as Pure Evil even if other characters with different resources appear.
- Shown to be the Worst: Their actions make them stand out as one of the worst in the story.
Pure Evil characters come in four classes.
- Class A: This is a type of pure evil character that can easily shown to be evil and dangerous. Often, in television or movie media, this character have a dark theme song associated with them and is usually portrayed to very serious and dangerous with little to no comedic moments. Whenever they appear, the tone is much darker and foreboding. These characters are easy to tell by their appearance (consistent evil grin, "dark" or "evil" in their name, darkness related powers and abilities, etc.) and their dark tone presence to be evil and dangerous (e.g. Trigon (Teen Titans), Slade, Yami Bakura, Yami Marik, Black Beetle, Evil Entity (Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated), Horned King, Michael Myers, Invictus, Zamasu's Goku Black incarnation, and The Lich (Adventure Time)).
- Class B: This is a type of pure evil character that is portrayed to be like any average individual without the indication on first sight that they could be a villain. When these characters appear, they are often giving off the false portrayal of someone who is harmless, friendly, and may even give off a false sense of being a hero. Even when their true colors are revealed and they change the tone, they still retain the appearance of someone who is harmless. They are often non-action, but some are capable of fighting (e.g. The Dollmaker (Gotham), Hugo Strange (Gotham), Shou Tucker, Madame Lorraine, Duncan Taylor and Leonard Dekkom).
- Class C: This is a type of pure evil character that is between a Class A and Class B pure evil. When in doubt about the class they fall under, a pure evil character is bound to fall under this. This character can appear to be harmless and then appear outright as a dangerous villain. The character can switch between this multiple times throughout their appearances. If the character has superpowers, they may have a superpower to show a monstrous or demonic form while their original form gives off the false impression that they are harmless (e.g. Griffith, Frieza, Light Yagami, Syndrome, Isshiki Otsutsuki, Sosuke Aizen, Jerome Valeska, Bill Cipher, Arba, Donquixote Doflamingo, Captain Kuro, Haido, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, Granny Goodness (Young Justice), and Vilgax).
- Class D: This is a type of pure evil character that is shown to not only be a non-human but on first-sight they are shown to not have normal moral agency. These characters are often otherworldly beings, artificial intelligence, and in most cases have little to no speaking lines during their entire appearance. These characters are not personified to be human. Only exception is they take possession of a human. Unlike the other classes, they lack personification. On first sight, these characters may appear as if they are following their own natural instinct or programming, but in fact they have clear moral agency (e.g. King Ghidorah (MonsterVerse), Gigan, XANA, and Skynet).